One definite, 17 minutes into my first ever game (OA), on my own with no support from a mentor etc.
There was a handball on the line, I had a great view, didn’t lose the offender and immediately blew, awarded the PK and called the player over.
I took my notebook out, and for some reason I gave a warning rather than the red card. I still don’t know why, but my mind seemed to go blank at the time. Likely just caught up in the whole first game thing, rather than a conscious decision to ignore a mandatory red card.
There have been a few where I’ve decided to give a player already on a caution one final bite of the cherry, and opted to read them the riot act. But those were for borderline offences where it wasn’t a nailed on caution (in my opinion) so I wouldn’t say I bottled those, but rather made a judgement call on what I’d seen/heard at the time.
We all make mistakes, either through a lack of experience, ignorance (not being aware of law changes etc), or other factors.
We all have periods where are heads aren’t in quite the right place, so we might not be paying enough attention, or our positioning might be out. Those are part and parcel of being human, and understandable.
But, there are referees out there who wilfully disregard the laws of the game, because they don’t want the hassle, are trying to look after their club marks etc. That’s what I do t understand.
Incidentally my best ever club marks came in a match where I had 1 red card for OFFINABUS after a player called one of his team mates a f***ing c**t.