A&H

First Game tomorrow Very nervous

I completely agree Graeme, but sadly your first contribution was.......... 'I stop and start one ticking up watch. Not for every time the ball goes out of play, but I will if it gets stuck up a tree/in an adjacent field, for subs and for issuing cards'.......... :)
 
The Referee Store
Sheffields Finest said:
I completely agree Graeme, but sadly your first contribution was.......... 'I stop and start one ticking up watch. Not for every time the ball goes out of play, but I will if it gets stuck up a tree/in an adjacent field, for subs and for issuing cards'.......... :)
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And if you don't selectively cut out half of that post, you'll see me talking about how I pair that watch with another one that runs all the way through....
 
I never stop either watch. I used to have one running and stop and start the other one, but a combination of bad luck and forgetfulness caused me a major problem as the always running watch failed mid game, and I'd forgot to restart the other. Had to ask a manager who I knew was timing it how long was left, not really a good place to be in. Now I leave both running and estimate stoppages, if there is a major stoppage then I'll make a not of how long that lasted.

Agree that any kind of audible alert on watched is a really bad idea. The players don't know that you are running it without stopping, so if they hear beeping and then concede a goal after the beep you are likely to get grief. Even if you are stopping it, can you imagine if it beeps just as a stoppage time corner is coming in and just before someone heads it in. You are going to have hell to pay ...
 
Just finished my first game.
I think it went OK. I told managers it was my first game and they were both very kind and supportive. I made a controversial corner decision however and everyone was saying it was a goal kick but I stuck with original call. A boy I'm not sure who said "Are you stupid ref" which I ignored. Also a mother of an away team player challenged me a few times but for the most part I ignored her as nobody else was complaining. And after the game all the players were nice and thanked me so overall think I did ok.

Thanks for all the great advice.
(In the end in regards to the watch I just kept it running until I blew for half time then restarted it for second half)
 
Well done Pylon, you're not a refereee virgin anymore :cool: and you can go into your next game with some experience under your belt.

One learning point, don't ignore the dissent, once they get away with it, it steps up, make a point of having a word / issuing b0llocking / even carding depending how you took the insult. Don't worry about the age either, if they are old enough to say that then they are old enough to face sanctions....
 
I have made a habit of writing in my notebook the exact start time of each half (e.g. 3:04pm) after the coin toss and as walk in for the second half. I wear two watches so its the last resort if something goes wrong with both watches and/or my timing. The only time I have ever had to use the written time was when I forgot to start both watches.
I carry a cheap third digital watch in my kitbag.
 
I use the watch on my left arm as a stopwatch and the watch on my right arm as a reference to the real time (e.g 3pm ko). Whenever I need to stop the clock, I simply pause the stopwatch then start it again when play restarts - once the stopwatch reads 45 (or whatever the duration of your half is) I blow my whistle, I don't actually track 'stoppage time' although I could reference it if required based on my second watch.
 
I have a watch that vibrates rather than bleeps. If I press a button the countdown stops but the count up keeps going and a separate count up of tome added on starts. While paused it vibrates every 10 seconds to remind me to restart it. So I can see how much time is gone, how much remains, of that how much is added on. There are never any dramas.

On my other wrist I have a normal digital watch and I write the start time of each half on my match record card.

Sometimes it helps to indicate that the 'clock is stopped' by ostentatiously having my hand on a button.

To the OP: best of luck. Don't worry too much about timekeeping in your first match. Ask 10 refs and you'll get 11 different ways of doing things. Enjoy yourself.
 
I had two watches - one was a stopwatch and ran constantly upwards to 45 mins; on my left arm I had a countdown timer, which I stopped as necessary. When I had NAR I also asked the senior to run his watch as a game watch, making stoppages as necessary. Nobody seems to ask AR to keep time anymore.

Two other points:
- I don't like the AR's watches to been. It can cause issues for the Referee as the sole time keeper.
- perhaps the best example of failing to restart your watch: Mike Peck who referred the Man U v Sheffield Wed match in 92/93 season (where Fergie time was involved). The referee stopped his watch failing to restart and was guessing how long was left. And he also did not ask his senior AR how long was left! Man U scored a late winner and won the Premier League for the first time.
 
Don’t mention Fergie time, the Wendies would be massive if that hadn’t of happened. That game coined the phrase and the legend / myth / truth was born.
 
I didn't realise he had a watch, thought they were just playing until Steve Bruce scored (twice) .... :)

Only joking of course, iconic moment of the Premier League even if it did lead to me being thrown out of the pub for abusive language aimed at a TV screen. Shows the importance of getting your watch strategy right though.
 
Trip said:
I have a watch that vibrates rather than bleeps. If I press a button the countdown stops but the count up keeps going and a separate count up of tome added on starts. While paused it vibrates every 10 seconds to remind me to restart it. So I can see how much time is gone, how much remains, of that how much is added on. There are never any dramas.

On my other wrist I have a normal digital watch and I write the start time of each half on my match record card.

Sometimes it helps to indicate that the 'clock is stopped' by ostentatiously having my hand on a button.

To the OP: best of luck. Don't worry too much about timekeeping in your first match. Ask 10 refs and you'll get 11 different ways of doing things. Enjoy yourself.
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Its a spintso?

Do I get a prize? :)
 
Agreed. I recommend against stopping either normally. Invariably, you will forget to restart one. I wear two. A Gshock stopwatch on my left and a Garmin on my right. My Garmin is a back up and yes.... I have had a Gshock die on my mid game. I stop both at the end of half time. If we encounter a very long injury delay, I may stop the Garmin to help track a VERY lengthy delay (i.e. broken leg/ambulance/treatment on the field) absent something that is clearly going to talk a while, I let them both run.

I don't use a beep or vibrate alarm. There are typically enough slight pauses that I can glance at my watch as we go (i.e. player retrieving a ball, during a substitution, during run of play while there is no chance of a challenge for a ball for a second). Once we get toward the end is when I really start to watch it closely. Ultimately, the time and any stoppage is up to me
 
Don't really know why you are all set against stopping one of your watches, I always did it, but that's why I used two. Yes there were times when I forgot or failed to restart it properly, but I still have the power of mental arithmetic to allow me to estimate the required amount of stoppages.
 
Mintyref said:
Don't really know why you are all set against stopping one of your watches, I always did it, but that's why I used two. Yes there were times when I forgot or failed to restart it properly, but I still have the power of mental arithmetic to allow me to estimate the required amount of stoppages.
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The danger is, as happened to me, the one that is running constant fails. The watch died on mine, and I'd forgot to restart the other one, so I was a bit stuck.
 
RustyRef said:
The danger is, as happened to me, the one that is running constant fails. The watch died on mine, and I'd forgot to restart the other one, so I was a bit stuck.
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Yep. Happened to me as well. The other issue for me is I referee in extreme cold at times and getting my gloves off to start/stop is a hassle and gets complicated.
 
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