Sunday football on Thursday

[PP62]

I refereed a Sunday league game yesterday evening and wondered if any of you have noticed how different the behaviour of the players is for midweek games. Very little backchat, no reckless tackles, good banter between the players themselves. Could it be because they had been at work all day and not just back from an all night session in the pub????? Just saying....

 

[DanCohen17]

Interesting, because I always noticed in midweek games at Supply & Contrib level there was a change in behaviour from weekends, but in reverse!
Midweeks were almost always worse to officiate, whether middle or line. I continued to notice the same behaviour patterns when I stopped refereeing and went back to playing at Supply level. Could be that after a long day's work, players are frustrated/pent up etc, whereas weekends (because they're far less likely to be hungover/drunk) are easier!

 

[PP62]

I agree with you there Dan. Last season I experienced terrible behaviour while on a contrib line. However, supply and contrib players generally don't turn up to Saturday matches still drunk or hungover unlike Sunday league games.

 

[jack.prescott]

Interesting, because I always noticed in midweek games at Supply & Contrib level there was a change in behaviour from weekends, but in reverse!
Midweeks were almost always worse to officiate, whether middle or line. I continued to notice the same behaviour patterns when I stopped refereeing and went back to playing at Supply level. Could be that after a long day's work, players are frustrated/pent up etc, whereas weekends (because they're far less likely to be hungover/drunk) are easier!

Cheers Dan, got a supply league line tomorrow night!

 

[OIREF!]

This is an interesting point. I would agree that there can be a different atmosphere at midweek evening games. In general it can be a little more relaxed but not always. I've had, and witnessed, some midweek stinkers.

 

[HertsFinest]

I've had the total opposite experience

Had 3 midweek evenings last season

1 abandonment due to mass confrontation
1 threat to kill that resulted in a personal hearing
1 that resulted in SFP on a player that essentially broke his leg in two

Here's hoping my Thursday game next week hasn't spoken to the previous 3

 

[YorkshireReferee]

I've had two Thursday 'Sunday League' games this month so far and they were quite different. The latter was full of dissent and awful to officiate (partly because of the weather). The first of the two the players seemed to be too tired to moan. It was a warm day, quite sunny, maybe that played a part.