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I'm sure we'd all agree that bullying of junior officials by senior officials (or in any other combination) is unacceptable and should be called out. I think where we are all struggling @Anubis is to get from our individual experience of a referee handing us as AR or 4th a coin to bullying...

Age cut off is difficult legally and practically I'm not sure it helps. Surely simpler is we all sign a disclaimer that says we have satisfied ourselves we are fit enough to take the text and absolve the FA and anyone else of any responsibility if we keel over whilst doing it - I can't see any...

Early morning, as soon as possible after a hot bath, with an empty bladder all help. Most important though is being relaxed, which is hard when you are worrying about it = white coat syndrome. Although BP is a poor indicator of any problem you are likely to have during a fitness test, of...

Good luck to anyone doing the second round of fitness tests this Sunday. Looks like we are in for a scorcher - I did wonder whether there is a threshold above which it might be considered too hot to be sensible in some locations? 9am starters should be OK, but the 11am L3 starts, which will...

Good spot - the old diagram was definitely more teeshirt than armpit

I thought at the time that the ref signalled the goal incredibly quickly and wondered whether she had forgotten about GLT and just gone with what she saw. However that wouldn't explain the delay when they were waiting to kick off. There was a (close, but not that close) offside decision in...

We need to be careful making generalisations about age and fitness. I can think of referees in their 20s and 30s in local football who can't keep up with play. Equally, I know of at least one well into his sixties who will breeze through the Level 4 fitness test and certainly doesn't look out...

This one is black and white. There are of course other GK offences that are routinely ignored - 6-second release and deliberate parry that's not really a save and regather, but those are the subject of much debate on other threads. If his bouncing technique was up the spout and he lost control...

My view is the same as the one I had when I was playing (admittedly mainly in the lower echelons of) semi-pro football. If I'm not enjoying it, I'm never going to earn enough to be worth the amount of my non-work time spent on it & I should do something else. If I am enjoying it, I'm getting...

I was definitely guilty of that and, speaking to other refs, I think it's very common when you first start. Probably even more so if, like me, you've played at a reasonable level for years. In my early days, I definitely confused empathy for / understanding of the game with continuing to...

2p or 10p for me. My loss rate during the game is high - doesn't seem to matter where I try and keep them. I'm too stingy to go with anything more valuable and 1p / 5p are too small

I think there is a lot about personal physiology at play here. I could do the 2.7k Cooper easily - I'd have a good 200-300m extra in the locker without busting a gut. In contrast, I've had to work hard to get ready for the new L3 test & although I was never in danger of not getting to the end...

Like a number of referees I know who came to refereeing later in life after playing, I started out (unqualified) refereeing my son's team when no ref was appointed. My worst fear was being, or giving the impression of being, biased towards them. Net result is where there was doubt I...

Got mine done this morning as well. I still find 40 reps hard work, but it helps doing it in a group and on a running track, rather than my normal grass training surface. What was great was not only the mutual support from colleagues, but the FA invigilators being supportive, rather than...

2 minute 'Blue Card' sin bins have been part of the Official FA Small Sided LOTG for years in place of yellow cards. Standard practice in properly sanctioned Summer tournaments in this neck of the woods

My view : 1. If no-one is appealing, you better be 100% sure and have big balls to give it. Being the only one to see something is not a great starting point for selling any decision and you may well be wrong anyway. Maybe behaviours are different in your leagues, but where I referee I can't...

Thanks - that's really helpful. I've always had plenty to spare on the old Cooper, so never trained for a fitness test. This one is much harder for me, so I've had to practice, as much as anything teaching my body how to start and stop 40 times. For anyone else close to the wire, here are...

Does anyone know whether on the day we get the audio file or equivalent, or just a whistle to start and stop ? I'm particularly interested in the 5 second to go bleep on the audio file

He couldn't have been booked for SPA as the penalty was given. Not sure what it was for - reckless would seem harsh. Persistent or dissent maybe ?

I had the same whitecoat problem and spoke to the GP about it. I could feel my heart racing as I sat in front of the person putting the armband on - couldn't get the thought of a whole season of hard work going down the drain out of my head ! He said it's not unusual and taking single readings...