The Ref Stop

My End of Season Review

OldNavyRef

RefChat Addict
Level 5 Referee
So my last game was just cancelled meaning the end of my first full season (I qualified Feb last season).

I have really enjoyed this season and am excited to have a crack at level 4 next season. I was checking some of the promotions tables and noticed a handful of referees get their level 5 February time then get their level 4 December time; this is my ambitious aim (but as all grassroot refs know, two coaching reports make it difficult to gauge if you are actually a good referee or not).

I probably refereed over too many leagues, and fell foul of quite a few politics because of it (league secs disliking other league secs etc and using you as a weapon in their ego wars), and I think the sensible thing for next season will be to go from regularly refereeing across 5 leagues, to trimming that down to 1 or 2. As I want to keep myself open on MOAS (not sure if this makes a difference for level 4 but the higher level of games on my step 5 league will be good).

I do feel I might have over refereed in short spaces of time throughout the season. As I recently went on holiday and came back to referee a game this Saturday, I thought the break might make me rusty but the opposite happened. I felt I could take on a lot of the feedback I had tried to apply in the past (not ball watching, reading the game to know where the ball is going and actually watching the players), and my concentration was much greater. The game went really well, and I didn't feel it was an easy game to referee but I felt in a good headspace for it.

My fear/challenge for next season is dealing with benches. I just don't get a lot of opportunities to do it and at step 5, the benches will take every inch you give them and can spot an inexperienced AR1 a mile off. AR1 at step 5 feels impossible, watch the line, handle your responsibilities, plus keep the benches in check.

Another thing I struggle with is remembering repeat offenders, and also going back to players to warn them when I play advantage.

I think being 5ft9 and 85kg has made my speed and ability to float around the pitch a little difficult especially when doing several games a week, so hopefully going to cut down to 75kg will be of benefit.

My howler from this season was I flagged offside due to a completed lapse of concentration for a goalkick in front of a crowd of 700 at step 5. Then the team conceded from the proceeding dropped ball in a 0-0 game (as the ref in the middle immediately blew his whistle then realised I was an idiot), then after conceding, they immediately conceded from the kick off again making it 2-0, the game ended 2-0 and my blunder was early in the game so I just wanted the ground to swallow me up.

My win was right at the start of the season, someone hit a corner, hit the post and immediately regained control and started driving into the box, I whistled for a double touch. great success, had to explain to the players who in good spirits laughed about it.

3 cup finals as an x 2 AR including one in the local League 1 stadium and x1 as a fourth.

I will be 31 when the season returns so no lofty ambitions of being a premier league ref, but I do want to go hard for the next few years.
 
The Ref Stop
So my last game was just cancelled meaning the end of my first full season (I qualified Feb last season).

I have really enjoyed this season and am excited to have a crack at level 4 next season. I was checking some of the promotions tables and noticed a handful of referees get their level 5 February time then get their level 4 December time; this is my ambitious aim (but as all grassroot refs know, two coaching reports make it difficult to gauge if you are actually a good referee or not).

I probably refereed over too many leagues, and fell foul of quite a few politics because of it (league secs disliking other league secs etc and using you as a weapon in their ego wars), and I think the sensible thing for next season will be to go from regularly refereeing across 5 leagues, to trimming that down to 1 or 2. As I want to keep myself open on MOAS (not sure if this makes a difference for level 4 but the higher level of games on my step 5 league will be good).

I do feel I might have over refereed in short spaces of time throughout the season. As I recently went on holiday and came back to referee a game this Saturday, I thought the break might make me rusty but the opposite happened. I felt I could take on a lot of the feedback I had tried to apply in the past (not ball watching, reading the game to know where the ball is going and actually watching the players), and my concentration was much greater. The game went really well, and I didn't feel it was an easy game to referee but I felt in a good headspace for it.

My fear/challenge for next season is dealing with benches. I just don't get a lot of opportunities to do it and at step 5, the benches will take every inch you give them and can spot an inexperienced AR1 a mile off. AR1 at step 5 feels impossible, watch the line, handle your responsibilities, plus keep the benches in check.

Another thing I struggle with is remembering repeat offenders, and also going back to players to warn them when I play advantage.

I think being 5ft9 and 85kg has made my speed and ability to float around the pitch a little difficult especially when doing several games a week, so hopefully going to cut down to 75kg will be of benefit.

My howler from this season was I flagged offside due to a completed lapse of concentration for a goalkick in front of a crowd of 700 at step 5. Then the team conceded from the proceeding dropped ball in a 0-0 game (as the ref in the middle immediately blew his whistle then realised I was an idiot), then after conceding, they immediately conceded from the kick off again making it 2-0, the game ended 2-0 and my blunder was early in the game so I just wanted the ground to swallow me up.

My win was right at the start of the season, someone hit a corner, hit the post and immediately regained control and started driving into the box, I whistled for a double touch. great success, had to explain to the players who in good spirits laughed about it.

3 cup finals as an x 2 AR including one in the local League 1 stadium and x1 as a fourth.

I will be 31 when the season returns so no lofty ambitions of being a premier league ref, but I do want to go hard for the next few years.
Are you ex or current navy?
 
My howler from this season was I flagged offside due to a completed lapse of concentration for a goalkick in front of a crowd of 700 at step 5. Then the team conceded from the proceeding dropped ball in a 0-0 game (as the ref in the middle immediately blew his whistle then realised I was an idiot), then after conceding, they immediately conceded from the kick off again making it 2-0, the game ended 2-0 and my blunder was early in the game so I just wanted the ground to swallow me up.
How did teams take this? How did you take it? Having incorrectly disallowed a goal for offside at Step 5 this season I was cut up for ages. Really knocked my confidence as an AR. Intrigued how things transpired for you?
 
How did teams take this? How did you take it? Having incorrectly disallowed a goal for offside at Step 5 this season I was cut up for ages. Really knocked my confidence as an AR. Intrigued how things transpired for you?
Try incorrectly disallowing a goal for offside in the first half of your step 2 debut in front of 1000+ as a confidence knocker :wall: Looking forward to my next one to put in to practise the learning from it.
 
How did teams take this? How did you take it? Having incorrectly disallowed a goal for offside at Step 5 this season I was cut up for ages. Really knocked my confidence as an AR. Intrigued how things transpired for you?
The striker ran straight over to me on the first goal and started giving me it. Second goal he just eye balled me, I then shrugged at him and he yelled something along the lines of "do not shrug at me like that mate". Pretty heated and my shrug was sarcastic and completely out of order on reflection.

Then for the remaining game he would say things like, "wouldn't be going with him ref, doesn't know the offside rule". That coupled with the crowd behind me, made for a long game.

Then at full time during handshakes gaffer gave me possibly a 2/3 minute speech about how it wasn't good enough. I got a little defensive over the indefensible, I did apologise and openly said it was a lapse of concentration.

The team that won, had comfortably won the league and were getting presented that night. So noone expected the underdog team to get anything from the game.

I thought it was going to be a hard pill to swallow, but I'm old enough to know it was a mistake that I guarantee I won't repeat again, so I feel quite good about it, as I have learned from it.
 
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@OldNavyRef @RefereeX this surprised me as well! I was 15 when I did mine in August and I wasn't the youngest! There were 20 ish people on my course and 3 were over 18. I'm certain there was an U14 gate crasher also 😂.
 
I was a CPO (WTR) when i left many years ago. Navy football is a breeze compared to outside.

Are the facilities at Temaraire still the Navy's main football venue?
Never done a navy game, too far for me.

But yeah Temaraire is where most of the games they need a ref are advertised.
 
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