Assessment #1

“You haven’t passed your assessment”

I was sitting on the other side of the bench with both legs on either side and

IFAB Law 11 Clarification

It’s not often that IFAB comes out with a clarification on something from the Laws of the Game but when it’s something as special as Law 11, they can make an exception.

We’ve talked about amendments in the past which generally happen on an annual basis as the sport evolves and things are being introduced. Clarifications, on the other hand, take effect immediately and are used to eliminate confusion in the interpretation of Law by referees and all other stakeholders.

DOGSO-H or Offside?

To give you a bit of a teaser/backstory, have a read of Third Blind Mouse’s piece on this situation.
https://thirdblindmouse.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/dogso-h-or-offside-i-cant-decide/

People may think that the laws/rules of sports are simple. This scenario can show just how mind-boggling a scenario in football can be.

Week 13

My request for late night games worked because two rescheduled games appeared for the week. I accepted both game offers and prepared for a bit of travel. The first game was Monday night at a local school. I had already been there a few weeks ago so I knew what to expect in terms of facilities.

Monday

I arrived at the school about 27 minutes before kick-off. I was rather annoyed at being three minutes past when I wanted to be there. To my utmost annoyance, the security guard at the entrance of the school didn’t permit me to enter through the entrance I did the last time. That meant I had to walk around the boundaries of the school. Arrival went from 27 minutes to 7 minutes before kick-off. I was clearly not happy

Week 36 Match Incident

An opponent is lingering in an offside position behind a defender. The ball is on the other side of the field and kicked forward. The defender runs into the other half to receive the ball and play it back in. Offside attacker gives chase.

Week 40

If last week was busy, this was the craziest of the past four years. Not really refereeing-related. I didn’t sleep three nights this week which was brand new to me. Do I say I’m busy every week? I hope not because this one was really busy.

Only two games were scheduled for this week but negligible travel.

Week 37

The first day of the week was a couple of Mens recreational games with my instructor who I took my referees course with. It had been a while since I had seen him so it was definitely nice. That’s a lie. I was super excited about it. It was only the second time in four years I had seen him.

I was brought up and taught both in my youth and early years of refereeing with a simple phrase/saying.

Week 22 – Part 3

This part is almost exclusively for the weekend’s activities.

Saturday

I had a very interesting game on the Saturday. I had never officiated at this level before and it was a promising prospect. I had been fretting a bit about getting some business wear together because pre-game attire was a suit! I hadn’t worn one for years including a shirt. I’m so used to wearing t-shirts including at work because it just worked that way in my field of work. The closest I had got to was business casual for certain games. I ensured I had everything ready the night before so I could find it easily the next day and just in case I needed to borrow something last minute from someone.

Week 21

Refereeing is absolutely not a walk in the park (despite what my posts on the blog may lead you to believe). 😉

There’s definitely some lost sleep over it and some recently. It has its ups and downs. Speaking of which,

The Beginning Part 2: My First Game

With a lot of interest in my last post, From the Beginning, I’ve decided to continue and elaborate more on my story leading up to the first game.

Now when I had first tried to be an AR, I hadn’t taken a Referee Course yet so I was thrown out to the wolves. My first game was a U15 Boys line so I was briefed by one of my classmates MS, the school’s senior team goalkeeper at the time, on the basic signals. He was a football fanatic so there was credibility on his instructions and I remember them to this day during games.

Game Day: Sunday 19th October 2008; 3:15pm kick-off