Games
12-13, 2017-18
"We were very impressed with your
pre-match speech," says the steward. "We've never heard anything like
that before." Look, I don't want to show off here, but it's extremely rare
as a referee in this country to have 'impressed' someone. At all. So forgive me for cherishing the moment and going into
some more detail.
 |
Fictional linesmen - marginally
better than none at all. |
I've tried lots of different pre-match
speeches down the years. In the US there was a particularly difficult boys' "elite"
league where all the players had supposedly signed a Code of Conduct. During
the games, though, there was little sign that they'd taken it on board - among refs it was known as the Whiney Suburban Brats' League. I ended
up taking a printout of the Code to games, holding it up to the players, and
telling them I was sure that over the coming 90 minutes they would all be taking
very seriously the document that they'd read, signed and promised to honour. It
was surprisingly effective.
In my current country, I've tried being
nice and I've tried to be stern...
Want to read more? Click here to order Reffing Hell: Stuck In The Middle Of A Game Gone Wrong by Ian Plenderleith (Halcyon Publishing), published on August 8, 2022.
Just new to the blog and I have just completed my referee course too. This blog is a masterpiece and is compelling reading. I had thought about doing a similar blog but I doubt whether I could beat this.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading and the generous comment. I would encourage you to write a blog, nonetheless. First, it's very therapeutic after a bad weekend. Second, and more importantly, I don't think there are nearly enough referees online discussing their experiences and shaping the honest, open dialogue we very much need about the Laws of the Game, and how to better handle the pressure that refs even at the lowest levels are facing every weekend.
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