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You are the ref

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Being a "retired" referee has never sat too well with me and for a long time I felt I still had something to offer out on the green stuff. I get a lot of satisfaction from my work as a Referee Tutor working on behalf of The FA, converting players, coaches and volunteers into qualified referees in the hope that they will enjoy the "dark" side of football as much as I did. I also take a lot of professional pride in the reports I write after each time I have been out to assess a referee. I'm hoping that they take something of value out of the reports and it helps their game. I value the friends I've made through refereeing, some have reached the dizzy heights of the professional game in England and appear on my TV screen almost every...
A Danish fan has to pay the national FA a fine of about 250.000 euro’s. He attacked German referee Herbert Fandel in 2007′s match between Danmark and Sweden. Danish FA confirmed the court ruling that the man has to pay them because of the damage the FA suffered from the incident. According to DBU Secretary Jim Stjerne Hansen the fan has ‘attacked Danish football integrity’. The match was abandoned with 3:3 on the scoreboard by referee Fandel. Uefa decided that Sweden wins the match with 0:3. To fresh up your mind: here’s the situation. Continue reading...
‘Referees in the media’ will be published at the beginning of the week on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading. “I know it’s not easy to clinch another final match gig because there are so many good referees in Asia now. But I’m sure it’s the dream of everyone who will soon hang his whistle and I’m one of them.” Abdul Malik Bashir. Source: AFC Singaporean referee Abdul Malik Abdul Bashir who will turn 44 on Wednesday has two more years to achieve his goal. “There has been a personal discussion with the referee. He admitted everything, apologized, and said it does not happen again.” Says former Bundesliga referee Frank Fleske, now regional director, about a local...
Zanetti had a big smile on his face after he kicked the ball hard behind his own goalie. Just couldn’t stop laughing about this stupid action. But what he didn’t know that the goal in the match Parma – Inter didn’t count. Referee Antonio Giannoccaro took over the signal of his assistant Claudio La Rocca, who made an offside call for the attacker close to Zanetti. What would you say: stupid action by the defender or correct call by the assistant because the attacker is influencing Zanetti’s play although he didn’t touch the ball? Continue reading...
A 50 mile trip saw me arrive slightly after the referee but before both assistants at today's Supply League game, my first "active" trip to a football game since December 5. In the shelter of the wall alongside where the home supporters were standing, it felt fine, but on stepping out into the biting wind, it didn't take long for my feet to freeze. I say "active" as I enjoyed a trip to a South Midlands League game with my friend and colleague, Slim from my National Course for FA Referee Tutors from back in July 2009. It was nice to watch a game of football without having to write up a report afterwards. I did sit with the assessor and it was reassuring to note that he was picking up the same things I note in my games. The game today...
‘Referees in the media’ will be published at the beginning of the week on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading. Best wishes for 2012. I wish you a good refereeing year! “My hope is that we can officiate the final of the tournament. Everything will depend on the performance of us on the field.” Neant Alioum from Cameroon about his appointment for the African Nations Cup. “I enjoyed it when a match went well and all persons involved gave me a handshake afterwards to thank me for the match. That’s the biggest appreciation a referee can get.” Michael van Praag, chairman of the Dutch FA and former amateur referee. “Sometimes the reactions of the players are clever and they...
The Ajax fan who entered the pitch and attacked AZ goalie Esteban will spend four months in prison. Dutch court punished him with six months jailtime, with two months of conditional release. The 19-year-old ignored his stadium ban of three years and went to the cup match, where he invaded the pitch in 36th minute. The goalie defended himself and then kicked the attacker twice, while lying on the ground. Dutch FA’s prosecutor has rescinded the red card and will not punish the AZ goalie. The judge punished Wesley van W. for grievous bodily harm with premeditation, because he made bets about attacking the goalie. He also took into account that the boy has been sentenced before. The court holds Wesley responsible for the fact that people in...
‘Referees in the media’ will be published at the beginning of the week on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading. “He’s really looks better than the last time I’ve seen him.” Says lawyer Sven Menke after visiting Babak Rafati, who’s recovering from an attempted suicide. “Oh yes, of course I miss it. It’s like a player, when he finishes playing. I miss it a lot, but on the other hand, it’s good because you are still involved, still hungry and can explain better to the referees what they need to do.” Massimo Busacca misses refereeing now he’s the head of Fifa’s refereeing department. Read full interview on Fifa.com “I’m very happy. It’s a nice appreciation and a good...
Dutch public radio station 3fm had collected 8.621.004 euro’s for mothers all over the world who are victims of war. The money goes to the project ‘This one’s for mama’ from the Red Cross to provide these women a shelter, food and medication. Three dj’s moved into a house of glass for a week without eating, just drinking some shakes with necessary ingredients. This year was the seventh edition. But the final amount of money is not reached yet. There’s an ongoing online auction with items from famous people. One of the items is a set of cards, referee clothing and a match ball from referee Bas Nijhuis. You can buy it via eBay. Highest bid so far: 157 euro’s. Your bid should be at least 160 euro’s. The auction stops at 5pm (CET) next...
Goalie Esteban from AZ Alkmaar got karate kicked in the back by an Ajax supporter. He recognized it just before the fan was close behind him. The man fell down and the goalie kicks him while lying on the ground. Referee Bas Nijhuis gave the goalie a red card. AZ coach Verbeek took his team off the pitch because he doesn’t feel safe anymore. The match is abondoned. Referee Nijhuis, who got promoted to Elite Development this week, after the match: “I couldn’t do anything else then apply the rules and give a red card.” What do you think the Dutch FA will do: punish Ajax for fan doing karate kick on goalie or AZ for leaving the pitch? Rematch? Let me know what you would decide. Embedding the video was impossible, so watch the highlights on...
German referee Manuel Gräfe let a penalty kick being retaken in a penalty serie. Twice! The cup match between Fortuna Düsseldorf and Borussia Dortmund ended goalless after 120 minutes. In the penalty serie Blaszykowski from Dortmund thought he made the 2:2 (after 4), but Gräfe was resolutely pointing to his whistle, demanding the Polish player from Dortmund to re-take the penalty kick. Immediately after that Andreas Lambertz from Düsseldorf misses. He walks away, head in his hands. But what he did not realize is again the call for a re-kick by the referee. Goalie Weidenfeller and a field player who came running from the middle line heavily protested and got both a yellow card. But I think the referee’s decision was correct (no replay...
Uefa has selected twelve referees for the European Championship 2012 in Ukraine and Poland. You can find the Uefa list with twelve referees and the fourth officials here. I’ve searched the internet for reactions from each appointed referee, which you can find below. European referee boss Pierluigi Collina on Uefa.com: “The 12 are all referees from the elite group, so they are the top referees in Europe. They have all refereed UEFA Champions League matches during the past two seasons. What they can guarantee are two main elements – quality and experience. And only one referee, Howard Webb, was at UEFA EURO 2008. So there has been significant turnover.” Cüneyt Çakır from Turkey was appointed after a lapse of sixteen years without a...
‘Referees in the media’ will be published at the beginning of the week on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading. “Frank De Bleeckere was a great referee, on who should be named along with Belgian top referees like Marcen Van Langenhove and Alex Ponnet.” Says Anderlecht chairman Roger Vanden Stock in a statement because of the retirement of referee Frank De Bleeckere. “Foreign referees often behave differently. For example the English referees, whom you can call rather bluntly ‘asshole’ or ‘**** you’ straight into their face.” German player Arne Friedrich about different refereeing cultures. “The important thing for the young ones is to know how to act determinedly in the...
It’s in the rules how to restart play when a ball bursts. But it’s more theory than practice. Tonight, I saw for the first time that a ball actually bursts during play. It happened in the match between Bayern Munich and Cologne in German Bundesliga this Friday evening. Laws of the Game about bursting balls: “If the ball bursts or becomes defective during the course of a match: • the match is stopped • the match is restarted by dropping the replacement ball at the place where the original ball became defective, unless play was stopped inside the goal area, in which case the referee drops the replacement ball on the goal area line parallel to the goal line at the point nearest to where the original ball was located when play was stopped.”...
A Bahia player had the ball and after play has been stopped due to an injury he expects the ball back after a dropball. But that’s not what Figueirense striker Pottker decides. The attacker kept the ball, runs towards the goal and scores. So far, nothing wrong according to the rules of the game. But Bahia players experienced it, to put it mildly, pretty unfair. That’s also what Pottker realises after some cheering. For him it was too late, because referee David Baquini da Silva gave showed him a red card for this. The Brazilian FA is considering if they need to punish the referee for not handling according to the Laws of the Game. Will be continued. Continue reading...
What doesn't kill me can only make me stronger ... Harumph to that statement. I'm currently on day 5 of taking oral antibiotics (phenoxymthylpenicillin 250mgx2 anyone? Maybe a flucloxacillin 500mg is more to your liking?) to continue the treatment of my sore elbow. A lot of people would love to have time off work at this time of year but for me it detracts from my own preparations for Christmas. I don't need time to go out shopping. After last year where I spent unhappy hours tramping from shop to shop on the trail of an elusive present, I gone back to shopping online. Online shopping certainly fits in with my "Not fit for work" lifestyle. The strength of the antibiotics make me fatigued and unable to concentrate, often drifting away...
It seems that the Spurs fans have confused Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy, with Premier League Referee, Chris Foy. Following the recent Stoke Spurs game at the weekend, the Spurs fans went to twitter and gave Sir Chris a bit of grief over decisions during the game. It seems quite obvjous that there not the same person, however this didnt stop this blog getting 200 threats when Howard Webb gave a penalty against Poland at Euro 2008! Continue reading...
I'm not the best of patients. The routine of carefully timed taking of tablets/capsules to ensure they are taken on an empty stomach/full stomach/with food doesn't fit in with my often full days. That isn't a problem for the next week as I'm officially on rest. For the first time in 25 years I have been declared unfit for work and will remain so until I have been reviewed at a clinic later this week. It also means that my plans for pre-Christmas drinks have been put on hold as they interfere with the antibiotics I'm taking (well until Friday at least). Perhaps that's just as well as I have very little energy and a hangover would probably wipe me out. I can drive for short distances but after taking a trip to the County FA to check on...
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