"You've got talent and elegance"

Today, I was assistant referee for two games. The first game was a U14 wich went very smooth with nothing to talk about.
The second one (U16), I was working with the referee's boss. The first half went very well until a second before half time. I flaged for a throw in and the player of wich the throw in went against, looked at me and said: "How can it be for them, he touched it. (3 seconds pause.) You fucking pine." First of all, I don't have the slightest clue on earth of what is a pine, so couldn't bring it down to OFFINABUS (Offensive, insulting, abusive) language. The word fucking should have helped me guess that it was abusive, but I didn't take any action, just gave him the dirtiest look he might ever get. At half-time I was talking with the ref and he complimented me on my flag-handeling, aswell as our visual communication. He told me I had alot of talent and was elegant when signalling. The second half was a bit more difficult than the first as the play became a bit rougher and the tackles were flying in. The ref gave two yellows and did well to keep that count low. The first booking was for a foul wich he played advantage and booked the player a good 3 minutes after the original offence. The second for dissent.
Overall a good day for me and was happy to be able to find some time to referee. Hope I can build on this performance and become better and better.

Squeezing through

As I am into my exams I had very little time to write on my blog. Since my last post, 1 may, I managed to squeeze in 4 games as linesman. The four games were very easy and controversy free, except a strange incident during the fourth game. I was on the opposite side to the dugouts, so in front of the spectators. There was one person following me up and down and everytime I waved my flag for a decision, threw me a volley of abuse. It was strange because no-one ever complained about one of my decisions so it was relatively quiet, except for the guy who passed the whole game abusing and criticising my decisions. Strange...yes but not surprising.

Also during my third game I was on the spectators side and heared a very amusing comment by one of the parents. They spoke in french but I'll translate it. (The names are fictive as I don't know the people.) The critics were directed to the central referee.

Mike : Ref come on, wake up, you've missed yet another straightforward call.
Paul : (To Mike) Ok , calm down, it's only a game.
Mike : Yeah but I hate these refs from here, when we're at home, they call them against us and when we're away, the refs are against us again.
Paul: Well, if there's no refs than there's nothing to rant about, so don't get these refs fed up otherwise you'll have to find something else to rant about every Sunday morning.

Well said ;) !

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2nd referees meeting

Unfortunately, I had to miss the referees meeting. The meeting was about fouls and cautions.

Gear review Part 1

(Click on the image to enlarge. Numbers will appear next to the gear reviewed wich correspond with the numbers used in the description)

1. Watches. I always referee with two watches. No real fuss about them, just two good watches.

2. Tape! You never know when you'll need it!

3. Wristband. I rarely wear it but maybe some day, I'll try it out.

4. Whistles. 1 of them is a Fox 40 Mini, 2 of them are Fox 40, and 1 of them is a hockey referee whistle. I use then hockey referee whistle when I referee in a park and the referee on the field next to mine has the same whistle as mine. The only problem with this whistle is that there is a pea inside and sometimes get's stuck.

5. Underarmour shorts. Good to have them in your bag. When it's cold or windy it gives me more comfort.

6. Notebooks. Got three notebooks so I'm safe if I loose one. Small, fits well in a pocket.

7. Notebook with cards. I saw that in the Premiership, the notebooks are not made the same as the cards tend to slide in from the side and not from the top. I don't really like refereeing with the cards in notebook as the cards get often stuck!

8. Coin. This is a gift from a fellow referee. These are poker coins glued toghether. One side white, the other side black.

9. Badge. Federation de Soccer du Quebec badge. Arbitre.

10. Yellow and red standard cards. Use them for day time kick-offs.

11. Bright yellow and red cards. Use them for evening and late kick-offs.

12. Legea shorts. Very comfortable and light. 4 pockets with cover-up at the back so that the cards don't go flying around while running.

13. Refer to 5. My error!!!

14. Socks.

15. Pen. I usually have 3 or 4 in my bag but settled to only show one.

Gear review Part 2

(Click on the image to enlarge. Numbers will appear next to the gear reviewed wich correspond with the numbers used in the description)

1. Black Adidas shirt. Very light and comfortable. Pockets easy to open and the zipper wich replaces the buttons are much more easy to use. This shirt was the one used by the referees during the 2002 World Cup and the Euro 2004.

2. Yellow Penalty shirt. Good shirt, light but I don't particularaly like the black part under the arms. Also, the collar is very loose and sometimes jumps around when running. Would have prefered a

zipper insead of buttons.

3. Green Sportira shirt. Probably the one

I use the less but still very good. What I like

about this shirt is that there is a velcro for our

badges. Not so light and looks a bit big on me.

Not a big fan of collars but it's still good to have

three different colours. As we don't have a

sponsor, we have to buy our gear ourselves so

that's why I have three different companies

for my shirts.

Referee's meeting

Well the meeting was extremely pleasant. Happy to see some old faces and had a good time. It was a very light meeting, just going over the rules and talking a bit about what's ahead for the season. I was shocked though to see so many new (and younger) faces. I, 15 years old, am one of the oldest in the bunch. Not that it's bad because young referees can make very good ones, but there is an obvious lack of experience. Having said that, it may be an opportunity for me to impose myself as one of the top referee's in my area.

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Elleray and Winter autobiographies

Having read both autobiographies by probably two of the most controversial figures in the history of English refereeing, I decided to review and compare both books.

David Elleray's autobiography is really focused on his refereeing and his housemastering at Harrow. He hardly talks about his friends, never talks about his personal life. Even though, it is a very good read. He reviews alot of big matches in wich he was called to make big decisions. He talks very humourousely about his realtionship with Roy Keane, whom he sent off 4 times in his career and explains almost every decisions he made. Excellent read. 8/10

Jeff Winter's autobiography is different to Elleray's. Winter goes a bit more personal, he talks very freely about his family and his boot-boy days when he was a die-hard fan of Middlesbrough. He doesn't explain his decisions like Elleray does but talks a bit more about his life in general. 8/10

Liked both books alot. They are written in two different styles but both are worth reading,. I would recommend both books.

2 games last night

Last night I go my first appointements on the new season. They were as inter-provincial league friendlies as linesman. After 45 minutes journey north I arrived at the Rosemere Stadium. The first of my two games was rather challenging as they were two physical and quick teams who played the offside trap. Got every of my offside decisons right in my mind and the referee was pleased with my performance. The second game was quite boring to be fair, and with 20 minutes to go I flagged a foul after a player was clean through but had to barge his opponent out of the way. The croud errupted in violent style and it showed me the reality of refereeing in this new league with a lot at stake. Oh yeah, it was friendlies!!!

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Off Season

As you might have noticed, in Canada, we are in off-season. The season starts in about 2 months time. When it starts I will have a full recap of every of my game, referee and assistant aswell as my rare duties as 4th official.

Stay tuned!!!

183theref.

Last season's disciplinary highlights

Pre-season friendlies:





U-12 P.A.T vs Anjou..... Anjou GK booked for hauling down an attacker. Probably in a normal seasonal game I would have dismissed him. It was a friendly, so I took the sensitive approach.





Season Matches:





U16 Girls P.A.T vs R.D.P..... R.D.P. Defender # 3 booked for dissent after arguing a call with my linseman after an "offside" goal had been scored. Surprisingly, I booked the player without my linseman calling me over. His body language seemed to show that he was afraid of the player arguing with him. I ran over almost 30 yards to book her. The ground was almost empty so it was very easy to hear what she was shouting at him. She was very cooperative afterwards. (Surprising?)



U12 P.A.T(1) vs P.A.T(2) (Local Derby)..... P.A.T (1) Defender #6 booked for a foul inside the penalty area after I consulted my linseman whether to only book the player or send him off for a denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity. My linesman told me that the defender's foul was only worthy of a yellow card and I am thankful I went across to have a chat with him, otherwise I might have dismissed the defender.

P.A.T (2) Midfielder #13 booked for a foul on a much quicker winger. A cinical foul that no-one could argue about.





U14 Girls P.A.T vs Anjou.....P.A.T Defender #12 booked very harshly after she blocked her opponent off in a 1 vs 1 race down the touchline. The winger was a bit quicker so the defender wisely put herslef in the winger's way. A lot a referees would have let that one pass without a booking but in my view, this booking was important for the match control. (I should have know better though)


Anjou Midfielder #15 booked for a trip in the center circle 60 seconds after I booked the P.A.T. defender. No option but to book the Anjou midfielder, it was a cinical trip that broke a P.A.T. counter attack. Had I not booked her, I would have looked very biased especially after I booked a P.A.T. defender harshly 60 seconds earlier and awarded a hotly disputed penalty for handball at the start of the second half. I did also turn down a penalty appeal for P.A.T with 5 minutes remaining and the score 1-1. I got the decision right though.




Seniors P.A.T (1) vs P.A.T (2) (Local Derby).....P.A.T (2) Midfielder booked for a cinical trip on a forward breaking alone against the last defender. No choice.





U12 Cup Final P.A.T(1) vs P.A.T (2) (Local Derby)(Same teams as above).....
P.A.T (2) Midfielder #17 booked for a mistimed challenge on the touchline. No complaints.





U13 P.A.T vs Villeray..... P.A.T Defender # 11 dismissed for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity. Before I had my red card out, he was already walking off the field. He knew it.


P.A.T Midfielder # 7 booked for a high challenge while going 1vs1 with a striker in the center of the park. I was about 5 yards away and had a perfect view.


Villeray Defender and P.A.T Ddefender booked for a clash off the ball. Unable to determinate who was the instigator, I settled for two bookings. The Villeray defender pleaded enegertically, but in my mind it was one of the easiest bookings I ever issued.


P.A.T. Midfielder #13 booked for a clash after I had blown my whistle. A melee started and I was quick with my linseman(woman) to intervine. The melee started after the P.A.T player swore at the Villeray manager. I settled for a booking for the P.A.T Midfielder and a vocal warning to the Villeray manager.





So, it was an unfortunate way to finish the season with a card fest but in my eyes I had an excellent season. I refereed over 60 games and only had to issue 12 yellow cards and 1 red. My man-management skills improved alot and I am waiting in anticipation for the next season.





183theref.

Ready for summer!

Just finished shopping for my footwear.

My choice stopped on some flashy Nike Legends and some old school Adidas Copa Mundial. These were not very difficult choices due to the fact that referees are required to wear black boots and also that I hugely prefer leather boots.I do have dodgy achillies tendons, so I was looking for shoes with some good insole cushion.