The Ref Stop

Double Header Appointment.

Regularly do 2 on a Sunday, middle on mens oa Sunday league, then middle on women's oa national league. Regret it on Monday, but do it all again the following Sunday! šŸ˜‚
 
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The Ref Stop
Here's one to ponder. You have a Sunday League Cup Final (middle)... do you take a game the day before on the Saturday?
Asking for a friend!
 
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Big Cat said:
Here's one to ponder. You have a Sunday League Cup Final (middle)... do you take a game the day before on the Saturday?
Asking for a friend!
Click to expand...
If the cup final appointment is coming, am staying away from games for at least 7 days before the Final!!!
Many may find that excessive, but it works for me
 
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Richard smith said:
If the cup final appointment is coming, am staying away from games for at least 7 days before the Final!!!
Many may find that excessive, but it works for me
Click to expand...

I've got last season's County Cup final middle on the Tuesdsy 6th October. Got a fast paced Academy game on the Saturday before. Plenty of recovery time in between.
 
If the afternoon game is high profile, i.e. not a grass roots game, it is a big risk to do a game in the morning. There's the obvious risk of you getting an injury, or the game could be held up due to a player injury.

Those higher level afternoon games typically have a rule that the officials have to be there 60 minutes before kick off. It used to drive me round the bend when I had something like a Women's Premier / National League game, or Women's FA Cup game (where officials were supposed to be there 90 minutes before) and the assistants would rock up well after the required hour, sometimes with just minutes to spare before kick off, often already changed in muddy kits.
 
What about going out on the razzle the night before? That said, the my favourite tipple doesn't taste the same when filtered through a facemask and I have to imagine the barmaids are out of a Kylie Minogue video, rather than wearing Perspex shields more fitting of an operating theatre
 
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Big Cat said:
What about going out on the razzle the night before? That said, the my favourite tipple doesn't taste the same when filtered through a facemask and I have to imagine the barmaids are out of a Kylie Minogue video, rather than wearing Perspex shields more fitting of an operating theatre
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Staying in "on the razzle" is more my form these days to be honest BC.
Kylie never really did it for me. I've always been more of a Salma Hayek type-of-guy pre match. :)
 
Yep, frequently have to double headers as in the lower leagues here, and masters league, we only get appointed as centre referee's, very rarely with linesman. So I've had 9am K.O on my own, followed by 11:00 K.O on my own on a Sunday morning pouring down rain as one example
 
Kes said:
Got one coming up this Saturday. :oops:

Both open-age. 1pm kick off followed by a 3.30pm kick off (same venue). Both 90 mins, both full match fee.

At age 54, it's gonna test the old hamstrings somewhat and my sometimes dodgy Achilles but it seems there's a bit of a referee shortage in our league this month so I've agreed to do it. :rolleyes:

Anybody else been asked to do similar recently? :)
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Yes, tail end of last season. Cramp was kicking in about 10 minutes into game two but I managed to get by without being out of position on too many occasions. I think I got lucky!

I often bump into refs who are on their way to their second match, doesnā€™t seem uncommon in my area.
 
there was a time in my locality, that every other ref was doing a Double header to ensure that games were covered
Thankfully not happening to me too often now
 
Well, I managed to get through both matches without falling over.

My legs are what you might call "stiff" today but you expect that at my age anyway. A bit surreal turning up to the venue at 12.15 and still being there at 5pm. I was physically and mentally tired at the end I have to say but I'd do it again - just not every week. :)

First match was fairly straightforward. Very one-sided and no cards or major incidents.

Second game was of a poorer standard, more evenly matched, but was "marred" for me by the presence of a section of about 30-50 drunken :rolleyes: spectators chanting, egging their home team on and generally winding the away team up!! They've built a big new club house up there in the last two years, very nice with all mod cons which the locals clearly now use as a Saturday afternoon all-day boozing venue. It means you now get a crowd of around at least 100 people there for every home match (don't even go there with Covid social distancing on the sidelines :rolleyes:) with many of them half-cut by 2.30pm.

Two yellows and a red (VC) in the last 10 mins made for an interesting finish but I suppose that's grass roots for you. :wtf:
 
Don't often do back to back games these days, but I've got 2 games on Saturday and another Academy match on Sunday morning. May have to get an ambulance on standby for Sunday afternoon! :p
 
Kes said:
Well, I managed to get through both matches without falling over.

My legs are what you might call "stiff" today but you expect that at my age anyway. A bit surreal turning up to the venue at 12.15 and still being there at 5pm. I was physically and mentally tired at the end I have to say but I'd do it again - just not every week. :)

First match was fairly straightforward. Very one-sided and no cards or major incidents.

Second game was of a poorer standard, more evenly matched, but was "marred" for me by the presence of a section of about 30-50 drunken :rolleyes: spectators chanting, egging their home team on and generally winding the away team up!! They've built a big new club house up there in the last two years, very nice with all mod cons which the locals clearly now use as a Saturday afternoon all-day boozing venue. It means you now get a crowd of around at least 100 people there for every home match (don't even go there with Covid social distancing on the sidelines :rolleyes:) with many of them half-cut by 2.30pm.

Two yellows and a red (VC) in the last 10 mins made for an interesting finish but I suppose that's grass roots for you. :wtf:
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Those spectators were probably abiding by the Covid rules. What are the rules again?
My friend's predicament was somewhat taken care of by the Appointments Gods putting him on the line the day before the Cup Final
Very curious...
The following week, my friend has a fitness test on the Sunday and was wondering whether to take a gruelling game on the Saturday
Maybe the Appointments Gods will take care of things again (not realising just how fit my friend is haha)
 
Tuesday I had two games, ref followed by AR. The AR game was easy enough. Young well-trained ref did great.

But I had a lot of work in the ref game. Ten yellows leading to two reds. Relegation dogfight. Team with ā€latin temperamentā€ failed to take their early chances, conceded and the second half was their relegation coronation. It was emotionally draining. Only two dissent cards, no handbags and I slowed the game right down - I mean I really slowed it down - to stop the guys crazy... point being... physically fine for the next game but I was shaky with the flag for 10 mins.

Bonus: flagged a top of the table upset last night. Dropped the flag for the first time since 2014 - and Iā€™m sure itā€™s on video! Still managed to tip the ref with no flag tho ;)
 
Done a double-header yesterday due to ref shortages. Couldā€™ve cried when I arrived at the first match and seen it was grass on soft ground! Made a conscious effort to conserve energy for the second game as I knew it was on 3G with better quality teams.

Second game cramp kicked in early and I felt I wasnā€™t getting around the pitch as much as I usually do but didnā€™t find I was ever out of position in a fast game.

Checked my stats afterwards and Iā€™d covered slightly less than my average for the first game (just under 5 miles) and almost 6 miles in my second! Which is the most Iā€™ve covered by far. Just goes to show that your mind doesnā€™t know jack **** sometimes!
 
Double header today like almost every Sunday. OA Sunday League follow by an u18 match. No idea what I've travelled but I keep myself fit so no real issue with fatigue.

0 cards as well which must be a first for a double header. Maybe everyone was just out to enjoy it with it being the last weekend for at least a month for grass roots. It was a balmy 14 degrees in South Yorkshire too in November. Lovely stuff
 
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