Worthingwhistle
New Member
Hi , I’ve been a stand in when needed ref for my sons team for the last ten years, but I’ve now taken the plunge to become a proper ref , had my first two of five trainee games yesterday , this is how it went ,please feel free to comment on anything good or bad you may think
First game was a U12’s on a 4g pitch , the home team where local to me so I knew quite a few of the parents and players but managed to keep a bit of distance between us prematch
Pregame checks etc all good , match was a bit one sided with home team 6-1 up by half time,away manager was getting a bit “enthusiastic “ with his appeals but nothing over stepping the mark. At that age group tackles and challenges where all clumsy with no real malice but soon found out that if I didn’t blow for a foul ,the boys thought the next challenge was a freebie, a couple of the lads where a good head taller and bigger than the others and it was difficult to decide if it was a deliberate push or just a size difference when the opponent was bouncing off them, game finished 10-2 with the away teams manager complaining I’d cost his team at least 6 goals!
Second game of the day was an under 16s on 4g again, two very good footballing teams ,good coach’s very respectful ,I didn’t hear a peep out of them all game. Fast faced game ,definitely tested my fitness. I felt my positioning wasn’t great at times ,kept finding my self having to look round players to follow play,
The players have seemed to work out that if they’ve got something to say they’d do it behind your back so you have know idea who it was. CARs did an ok job ,definitely better to have them than not,
I missed one incident late in the game as away teams goalie had the ball in his hands ready to clear up field ,I turn round to jog up to half way line ,I didn’t see goalie scuff his kick straight into the back of retreating CF which in turns ricochet forwards to a teammate ,screams of offside ref make me spin round to just catch the player missing an open goal ! While I haven’t a clue what had happened I jog over to the CAR and ask what had happened but he just replied “I was watching you“!
The game kind of got a bit niggly as the home team realised they were going to lose 0-4 at this point ,but the player’s responded well to a blast on the whistle and a telling off. The heavens opened for the last 5 minutes with hail and sleet but throughly enjoyed it. Knees ached a bit this morning though.
Definitely need to work on positioning, signals and keeping an eye on the ball at all times.
First game was a U12’s on a 4g pitch , the home team where local to me so I knew quite a few of the parents and players but managed to keep a bit of distance between us prematch
Pregame checks etc all good , match was a bit one sided with home team 6-1 up by half time,away manager was getting a bit “enthusiastic “ with his appeals but nothing over stepping the mark. At that age group tackles and challenges where all clumsy with no real malice but soon found out that if I didn’t blow for a foul ,the boys thought the next challenge was a freebie, a couple of the lads where a good head taller and bigger than the others and it was difficult to decide if it was a deliberate push or just a size difference when the opponent was bouncing off them, game finished 10-2 with the away teams manager complaining I’d cost his team at least 6 goals!
Second game of the day was an under 16s on 4g again, two very good footballing teams ,good coach’s very respectful ,I didn’t hear a peep out of them all game. Fast faced game ,definitely tested my fitness. I felt my positioning wasn’t great at times ,kept finding my self having to look round players to follow play,
The players have seemed to work out that if they’ve got something to say they’d do it behind your back so you have know idea who it was. CARs did an ok job ,definitely better to have them than not,
I missed one incident late in the game as away teams goalie had the ball in his hands ready to clear up field ,I turn round to jog up to half way line ,I didn’t see goalie scuff his kick straight into the back of retreating CF which in turns ricochet forwards to a teammate ,screams of offside ref make me spin round to just catch the player missing an open goal ! While I haven’t a clue what had happened I jog over to the CAR and ask what had happened but he just replied “I was watching you“!
The game kind of got a bit niggly as the home team realised they were going to lose 0-4 at this point ,but the player’s responded well to a blast on the whistle and a telling off. The heavens opened for the last 5 minutes with hail and sleet but throughly enjoyed it. Knees ached a bit this morning though.
Definitely need to work on positioning, signals and keeping an eye on the ball at all times.
