I am sure there is a downside to this suggestion but I thought I would ask anyway.
Sometimes as referees we have what we perceive as a poor game often because the teams (players) giving us a hard time. Often this leaves the referee in a poor mental state as they reflect on decisions that may have contributed to the players bad behaviour. Usually the players are to blame and their ill-discipline leads to a downward spiral of control and confidence in the referee. This may ultimately lead to a referee resigning over time sadly as they feel the blame is with them.
When I have personally asked another referee about a particular team that I have had a problem with all too often the other referee will say he had exactly the same issues and we both breathe a sigh of relief that it is not us but the team that is the problem. My suggestion is referees should be able to look up or be informed of teams that are particularly notorious so we can steel ourselves and mentally prepare. The downside is that referees will go to a match with pre-conceived ideas but I would counter that we would be better prepared rather than taken by surprise.
Referees often pride themselves on their own tolerance in the forlorn hope that the player(s) will improve and respect the ongoing patience but we all know through personal experience that we end up wishing we had dealt with the dissent in the first few minutes rather than in the 70th minute.
The professional football leagues publish yellow/red cards by team and I believe the referees secretaries can look up facts and statistics by team. Are they not allowed to publicise these stats to us?
Sometimes as referees we have what we perceive as a poor game often because the teams (players) giving us a hard time. Often this leaves the referee in a poor mental state as they reflect on decisions that may have contributed to the players bad behaviour. Usually the players are to blame and their ill-discipline leads to a downward spiral of control and confidence in the referee. This may ultimately lead to a referee resigning over time sadly as they feel the blame is with them.
When I have personally asked another referee about a particular team that I have had a problem with all too often the other referee will say he had exactly the same issues and we both breathe a sigh of relief that it is not us but the team that is the problem. My suggestion is referees should be able to look up or be informed of teams that are particularly notorious so we can steel ourselves and mentally prepare. The downside is that referees will go to a match with pre-conceived ideas but I would counter that we would be better prepared rather than taken by surprise.
Referees often pride themselves on their own tolerance in the forlorn hope that the player(s) will improve and respect the ongoing patience but we all know through personal experience that we end up wishing we had dealt with the dissent in the first few minutes rather than in the 70th minute.
The professional football leagues publish yellow/red cards by team and I believe the referees secretaries can look up facts and statistics by team. Are they not allowed to publicise these stats to us?