One bit of advice

[Justylove]

its worthy of its own thread

" Fellow referees and their contribution to your game"

whist am not 100% saying never listen , trust any other referee, am with Rob here, 75% are to be avoided.
clearly folk might be pals who are also referees, or, establish friendships after becoming referees
All any referee really cares about tho, is their game at the end of the day

def colleagues, not friends

I'm going to agree and disagree here. In England, at lower levels of the game, there is some competition, competition for the big games or the finals at the end of the season, other than that there's not competion for promotion, as it's simply if you meet the standard, you'll get promoted.

5-4 is the first time that you're in a competitive situation, even if you meet the requirements for promotion, you might be the 11th name on the list based on observer marks and the FA only wants to take 10 referees from your county, so you missing out and one of your colleagues goes up in your place.

At 4 and above, you're in a merit table so are actively competing against everyone else in your pool, and naturally you may end up missing out because one of them is ahead of you in the merit table.

BUT the flip side is that the things that contribute to the merit table are observers and club marks. Any advice that is given, ultimately it's how you as a referee choose to use it and the type of game that you have that will define what marks you get from observers and clubs.

As with any walk of life, you'll naturally find that there are people you connect with more. There are people in the game that I actively dislike, but sometimes have to work with them, likewise there are people I really enjoy working with.

Over time, you'll build up a network of people you can trust and bounce ideas off of. For me I've got a small group of about 7-8 referees at the same level as me that are my 'trusted circle' and we have a WhatsApp grpup that we talk about matches, AR's observers, clubs, incidents etc and it works very well and is hugely supportive. Outside of that circle there's pretty much nothing I share that is not already in the public domain.

Refereeing can be a very lonely pastime, every game you can get slated for things that are correct but clubs or spectators disagree with and with the advent of more games being videoed with highlights and incidents being posted online, having a support network within the game is crucial. I can talk to my wife about things, and whilst she's supportive, she doesn't have the depth of understanding that someone who has had the same experiences as you on the FOP.

In a nutshell - find your own mini support network of like minded people and use it to support each other, but even in that group use your own 'filters' to work out what's important when it comes to advice being dispensed.

 

[Anubis]

More sweeping statements in there again...

It's not my/our fault you're "Billy - no - mates".

Trust me, its like who is taking the babe to the prom when the appointments come out
oh how did he get that game

every, and yes, every, top ref secretly wants their colleague to fail....

one less rival for the cup final, big game, sticky on euro badge


take a tv high profile mistake, To a man, the thoughts will be ' glad that happened to him and not me"

colleagues, not friends

 

[RustyRef]

It is true to say that you need to be careful who you take advice from. I was once in a large referee changing room where one guy was telling everyone, proud as punch, that he had penalised the attacking team for encroaching at a penalty by giving an IDFK. So I said "the penalty was missed or saved then", and he said that no it had been scored. I tried to tell him he was wrong and it should have been a retake, but he was adamant he was right and just shouted me down, and worryingly other referees in the room were nodding along with him.

But equally there are a lot of very helpful referees out there. The problem is that when you are starting out you don't know which referees fall into which category, and for that reason you do need to be careful who you accept advice from.

 

[Big Cat]

There are people in the game that I actively dislike, but sometimes have to work with them

Aye, we've all been there

It is true to say that you need to be careful who you take advice from. I was once in a large referee changing room where one guy was telling everyone, proud as punch, that he had penalised the attacking team for encroaching at a penalty by giving an IDFK. So I said "the penalty was missed or saved then", and he said that no it had been scored. I tried to tell him he was wrong and it should have been a retake, but he was adamant he was right and just shouted me down, and worryingly other referees in the room were nodding along with him.

But equally there are a lot of very helpful referees out there. The problem is that when you are starting out you don't know which referees fall into which category, and for that reason you do need to be careful who you accept advice from.

Aye, we've all been there an'all

 

[santa sangria]

Take your time

 

[PinnerPaul]

It is true to say that you need to be careful who you take advice from. I was once in a large referee changing room where one guy was telling everyone, proud as punch, that he had penalised the attacking team for encroaching at a penalty by giving an IDFK. So I said "the penalty was missed or saved then", and he said that no it had been scored. I tried to tell him he was wrong and it should have been a retake, but he was adamant he was right and just shouted me down, and worryingly other referees in the room were nodding along with him.

But equally there are a lot of very helpful referees out there. The problem is that when you are starting out you don't know which referees fall into which category, and for that reason you do need to be careful who you accept advice from.

That's exactly what Keith Stroud did at Newcastle a few years ago wasn't it?

 

[PinnerPaul]

It is true to say that you need to be careful who you take advice from. I was once in a large referee changing room where one guy was telling everyone, proud as punch, that he had penalised the attacking team for encroaching at a penalty by giving an IDFK. So I said "the penalty was missed or saved then", and he said that no it had been scored. I tried to tell him he was wrong and it should have been a retake, but he was adamant he was right and just shouted me down, and worryingly other referees in the room were nodding along with him.

But equally there are a lot of very helpful referees out there. The problem is that when you are starting out you don't know which referees fall into which category, and for that reason you do need to be careful who you accept advice from.

I was once told by a very experienced referee when the new GK procedures came out, that attackers couldn't enter the PA until the ball had left the box!

The obvious flaw that a winning team could keep the ball there indefinitely completely passed him by!

 

[RefIADad]

One for the more experience refs if you could give a new ref one bit of advice what would it be

I actually have three pieces of advice.

1) Look and act confident and professional
2) Hustle and work hard on the field
3) Call fouls - keep the game safe first, then worry about letting the game flow

 

[RustyRef]

That's exactly what Keith Stroud did at Newcastle a few years ago wasn't it?

I think so from memory. It wasn't Keith in the changing room with me though ...

 

[PinnerPaul]

I think so from memory. It wasn't Keith in the changing room with me though ...

 

[Tim - 2013]

Hmmm.

Which call you make is the most important?

The first one.

You're human. Nobody believes it on the pitch, but it's true. They probably think that because no human would be a referee.

Referees don't make mistakes. Ever. It never happens.

We just rehash the good ole days here discussing them.