The Ref Stop

Sloppy Referee

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.turning out in your tired kit thirty minutes or so before kick off and leaving your shirt out on a Sunday morning is another....both are acceptable for different reasons.

Shocking.

Did I smarten up for those cup final appointments, I sure did.....did I manage a tie, not a chance, did I tuck my shirt in, no way hose, did I stop wearing my maroon and yellow off road running shoes, nope. Was I in the wrong no.

Double shocking. :cool:
 
The Ref Stop
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Someone mention sloppy referee?? I think @Mintyref (Mr Tumble) had to go away down under after his last scruffy final appearance!!! I wonder how he went on educating them former convicts? Is he back yet?
 
you never get a second chance to make a first impression, referees should get it right first time, that includes looking smart. and lateness is rudeness
ger the basics right and the stuff on the pitch will follow,
 
After my first league cup final recently, I remembered how much it meant to the players and managers of the teams. I remembered that when I played at the same venue for the same cup final, it was such a big occasion and it meant so much. I think that even if it's just a hobby for some referees, it's important to keep up high standards to improve our first impressions, but also to make the whole occasion a little more professional. Obviously you have to still enjoy it and go out with a smile, but high standards and good presentation go a long way and adds a little more to the whole occasion for us, and also for the other teams
 
I think i have told this story before but its one of my favourites. Had a game a few years ago now, i called my assistants during the week and said there is no need for shirt and tie on this league but if you could be relatively smart, trousers and a polo maybe? No problem.

Very young assistant arrives, looks very smart in trousers shoes and a FA polo, after 10 minutes or so chatting i asked him if he had already put his stuff in the changing room as he didn't have a bag. "No, you told me to wear trousers and a polo". Yes, i replied but i didnt think i would have to tell you to bring your kit and boots, i thought that was just a given. He turned round and shouted "There you go mum, i told you i would need my kit!". Luckily he didn't live far away and mum went off to collect it.
 
I think i have told this story before but its one of my favourites. Had a game a few years ago now, i called my assistants during the week and said there is no need for shirt and tie on this league but if you could be relatively smart, trousers and a polo maybe? No problem.

Very young assistant arrives, looks very smart in trousers shoes and a FA polo, after 10 minutes or so chatting i asked him if he had already put his stuff in the changing room as he didn't have a bag. "No, you told me to wear trousers and a polo". Yes, i replied but i didnt think i would have to tell you to bring your kit and boots, i thought that was just a given. He turned round and shouted "There you go mum, i told you i would need my kit!". Luckily he didn't live far away and mum went off to collect it.
Would've been interesting if he lived further away. Reminds me of that EFL AR who was wearing smart shoes to run the line
 
Would've been interesting if he lived further away. Reminds me of that EFL AR who was wearing smart shoes to run the line

Or the EFL 4th official who decided not to get changed and put a track suit over his suit. He didn't expect the referee to get injured, but he did ..! Cue a significant delay while the 4th official went to get changed ... :)
 
Or the EFL 4th official who decided not to get changed and put a track suit over his suit. He didn't expect the referee to get injured, but he did ..! Cue a significant delay while the 4th official went to get changed ... :)
Guarantee that was the first time he did it and it just had to happen😂
 
No one is enforcing anything on anyone.

Expecting someone to turn up to a game on time and to behave in a professional manner isn't a high standard.

Teams pay us to provide a service, part of that service is turning up on time and behaving in a professional manner.

I was with you there until you said ironed kit! :)
 
My wife and I are in the Iron & Steel Industry..... She does the Ironing, I'm in technical sales!!!

My customer yesterday had shorts and flip flops on..... I was shocked at his un-professionalism, I had to take two looks at his 240K Rolls Royce parked in his personal parking bay!!! Some on here are stuck in another era!!
 
I was talking general sloppiness, i.e. turning up very late for a cup final.
I wonder if they considered replacing him as referee. If they were meant there an hour before hand, without being informed, I (as a League official) would have promoted the senior to referee and found a new assistant. The last thing clubs need for finals is the officials not to be "switched on".

Attending looking sloppy is one of those things, but being unprepared for the match is unforgivable
 
My wife and I are in the Iron & Steel Industry..... She does the Ironing, I'm in technical sales!!!

My customer yesterday had shorts and flip flops on..... I was shocked at his un-professionalism, I had to take two looks at his 240K Rolls Royce parked in his personal parking bay!!! Some on here are stuck in another era!!

It doesn't matter what your customer wears, unless you're going to turn away his money because of his flip flops.

However, if a salesman came to see you in shirts and flip flops that would be different, as that would show that they don't take you seriously enough as a client, or just don't care either way, to at least make an effort to get dressed.

Teams pay us for a service, part of that service involves turning up in time and not looking like worzel gummage. No one is saying that you have to wear a shirt and tie to every game, or that your boots should be polished to a high shine.

But, I think it's fair for teams to expect a referee to have clean kit and boots, that preferably don't look like they spent the last week stuffed in a carrier bag in the boot of the car.

Last season my wife's team had a game where the referee turned up in a dirty tracksuit, didn't have flags (he gave both CARs a high vis vest each).

Apparently he was an extremely bad referee, I had my own game so didn't watch them play, but the first thing my wife mentioned? How he was dressed and how he turned up late without the correct equipment.

You like to say that players don't notice your appearance, and that might make you feel better about it, but it simply is not true. While dirty boot won't make you a bad referee, but if a referee turns up with dirty boots and kit etc then they will be thinking that if you can't be bothered with that what else won't you be bothered about.
 
A ref gets remembered for his decisions and not any of the other window dressing! Yes it matters more at the higher levels but it’s got absolutely zero effect if you have a crap game. Learn your craft and the fancier stuff will come along.
 
A ref gets remembered for his decisions and not any of the other window dressing! Yes it matters more at the higher levels but it’s got absolutely zero effect if you have a crap game. Learn your craft and the fancier stuff will come along.

Disagree, you start with the basics. Sometimes you can't help it when you miss a penalty, violent conduct, handball, etc, it happens no matter how good you are or how high a level you are.

But what time you get there and how you look is entirely under your control, and you only get one chance to make a first impression.
 
A ref gets remembered for his decisions and not any of the other window dressing! Yes it matters more at the higher levels but it’s got absolutely zero effect if you have a crap game. Learn your craft and the fancier stuff will come along.

what fancy stuff?

Cleaning your boots isn't fancy.
Cleaning your kit isn't fancy.
Turning up a reasonable amount of time before a game isn't fancy.
Making sure your kit doesn't look like it's been.
screwed up in the boot of you car isn't fancy.

These are all basic things which are well within the referees control, and all things which take almost no effort to achieve.
 
If that was me in the middle, and assuming there was a 4th official, the AR in question would be swapping with him. Would the players, who have worked hard all season to get to that cup final, be tucking into a bacon, sausage and egg sandwich 20 minutes before kick off? No, of course they wouldn't? So any match official doing it wipes out all credibility he may have had, but also does the same for his team mates. If I saw it as a league official then the offender would be off the game full stop, we'd find a replacement one way or another.

A long time ago, when I first got L3, I had a game with an assistant that I knew was unprofessional from having worked with him before, usually turning up very late. I coaxed him to get there on time and to my surprise he did. He then took a phone call during the team sheet exchange, with managers and secretaries from both teams in our changing room, and despite my glares carried it on throughout, and for a fair bit longer as well. The first and only time that I completely lost it in the changing room (once he had put the phone down), as not only had he made himself look unprofessional but he had tarnished his colleagues as well. Away club secretary, who I've known for years, told me after that I looked so angry he thought I was going to hit the AR …!
If you decided to swap AR and 4th would you not find yourself in trouble with the appointments officer?
 
Or the EFL 4th official who decided not to get changed and put a track suit over his suit. He didn't expect the referee to get injured, but he did ..! Cue a significant delay while the 4th official went to get changed ... :)
An EFL referee and can't be bothered to get changed - lazy and unprofessional.
 
Control the controllables.

I’ve been a teacher for over twenty years, a referee for three, and I am continually struck by the parallels between the two. I have no doubt my teaching experience has helped me become a better referee, and I suspect any referee becoming a teaching would be at an advantage because of their experience in the middle.

A similar argument (re: dress) runs through education. I turn up to school each day looking smart. This doesn’t mean I teach good lessons, but it helps sets the tone, it helps me tune in to my job (my students may not believe it, but I don’t always wear a shirt and tie. I sit writing this in shorts and t-shirt), it helps establish my status as a professional. However, @Sheffields Finest is right, if I teach a rubbish lesson, my jacket ain’t going to stop the kids misbehaving.

I know some fantastic teachers who look a bag of spuds, their lessons are great, beacuase they are good teachers, despite what they look like.

But I have seen some teachers struggle, for all sorts of reasons, and, if they don’t look the part, pupils will use it against them. It is tangible, and an easy target. Looking the part probably increases one’s self-confidence, it certainly inspires confidence in you from others, and so much of teaching - and refereeing- is all about confidence.

Control the controllables - I cant control the mood my class (the teams) are in when they arrive at my classroom (pitch) but I can control their first impressions, and this will set the tone and help me (although I admit, it won’t stop me subsequently screwing everything up.)
 
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