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We saw 2 big changes for the new season: 1) the move away from the volt kit to anthracite and 2) the introduction of the new badge The training wear kitlocker (FA referee store) provide are unbadged and there is no option to add the new FA badge (only county badges). Refstop will apply the...

I’m looking for a set of touch line buzzer flags in good working condition. Please let me know if you have a set.

I had a big decision today in the last minute of the game and a decision where someone was always going to feel aggrieved. The away team are winning 3-2 and the match had been competitive, even but overall scrappy on a hard pitch. It was one of those games where everyone is calling for every...

I had a situation yesterday which hit my match control slightly. I'd pulled the away captain in on 2 occasions along with a player to warn him that the actions of his players were unacceptable and they are risking a sin bin. Both of these players screamed at me (separately, 10-15 mins apart)...

This was a comment that I heard from a parent when I was standing next to the touch line. For context, I normally do OA games but given it's so hard to find a ref for youth games I occasionally take charge of my son's team. I actually find it harder than OA football, identifying fouls can be...

For some context, I have only been refereeing since 2019 and do 95% OA football at Step 7 ranging from Division 5 through to Division 1. I'm on the promotion scheme and have fulfilled all the requirements for Level 6 next season. I If I look back to some of my early games after doing the...

I did a men’s Saturday afternoon game yesterday at a public park. Mid way through the second half, we ended up in a situation where 2 of the home team’s match balls had been lost along with 1 of the away team’s match balls. We were left with Nike training balls which you could see had a...

An interesting situation towards the end of the match. I ref on a league with roll on roll off subs, in the second half one team used 5 and the other 3. There was a sin bin I had to deal with, a couple of stoppages for injuries, 2x yellow cards. I added on 3 and a half minutes. There was one...

I lost control of the match today. The amount of abuse I received and the confrontation at the end by supporters accusing me of cheating is not an experience I’d like to repeat so I’m trying to take some learning points away to turn it in to a positive. Here’s what happened for context...

I noticed while playing my son's FIFA 21 that there is now a timer that counts down the period of advantage and you can also press L2 + R2 to take the free kick rather than the advantage. Wouldn't that be a useful feature in real life? :)

I stumbled across this youtube video today and saw the referee had a chat with the players of each team before the game. Is this common? I've not seen this before in the games where I have been AR so I wonder if it was due to the nature of the cup game? I've started the link at the beginning of...

A couple of incidents from today which I’d love to hear your thoughts on. The first incident happened from a corner. The ball gets sent in to the penalty area and the attacker drops his head slightly for a header (it was brave but I wonder if he’d do that again) and the defender kicks him in...

Interested to hear the thoughts of other members as to whether this is DOGSO? Note that this is a friendly. In my opinion it's a clear DOGSO as there is no attempt to play the ball. However, I'd also be interested to hear how this situation should be handled/managed specifically in a...

Does anyone know if any of the academies have restarted following COVID-19? Many grass roots teams are now playing but I suspect the academy setups are a bit more difficult to maintain social distancing. The local lower division academies around me in Essex haven't yet restarted (not that I...

This morning I saw a familiar face appear on twitter and clicked through to their profile. Long story short, there was a comment about a serious injury happening during a game from a couple of months back and I realised that I refereed the game. The comment wasn't offensive, it was purely...

Scenario: The blue team are attacking and there is a challenge on the half way line, I play on as I didn't see too much wrong at the time and the ball gets hit towards the corner. While the ball is moving I notice the 2 players on the half way line squaring up and confronting one another as the...

This was worth a watch, some naughty tackles over the years some of which only penalised by a yellow card (the Carragher tackle on Nani was a shocker). The suggestion is that some of these decisions would have been changed by VAR although the tolerance for tackling has reduced over the years too.

I had a challenging U18's game at the weekend. Although it was a friendly it was very competitive between 2 good teams who tried to play football. The away team were upset that I missed a foul in front of them in the first half, they claim the other team went through the back of their player but...

Team A is attacking, the CAR flags for offside. One of their players could be offside but the other one not so I'm not sure if his flag is correct or not. I wait a few seconds and see how it develops. Team A are in the penalty area, shoots and the goalkeeper saves it then it goes out for a goal...

In the adults games I have refereed recently, I've noticed the amount of calls for free kicks for pushing in the back at every high ball (free kick or thrown in) is excessive. It's got to the point where I'd be giving a free kick every time a free kick was taken if I were to take notice of the...