The Man In The Middle

As promised, an entire post dedicated to my exploits, (or lack of maybe), of refereeing around Bedfordshire. But before I get on to me, I would like to comment on the boys at the top. The guys on the Select Group. The men who take charge of the Premier League games week in, week out.

I have spent most of the season defending them, using lines such as, "they only get one look" and, "most of the people commenting haven't refereed a game in their lives", and although I'm right, it's starting to get ridiculous. So many big decisions are getting called wrong that referees are under the largest amount of scrutiny that I can remember, and even though we are universes apart, it does affect us meer mortals on grass roots football. Today's performance by Chris Foy was the last straw for me. The red card he issued to the Man City captain just encapsulates all that is wrong with the Laws of the Game at the moment. Yes, he went in two-footed and yes, he left the floor but did he actually touch his opponent? He got as much of the ball as you can physically get, and very, very little, (if not, none) of his opponent, yet still got sent off? It was a horrible decision, and it wasn't sold very well either. You could even go so far as to say it wasn't even a foul. There was a long pause by Foy before giving a free kick and only a couple of United players remonstrated. I think everyone was surprised when a red was flashed.

I'm not a huge fan of Chris Foy. He is an average top-flight referee, but the mistakes this season haven't come from the new boys. The likes of Jon Moss and Neil Swarbrick, premier league newcomers they may be, have given good accounts of themselves this season. I can list a fair few high profile mistakes that have come from others though. Martin Atkinson's red card in the Merseyside derby. Phil Dowd's red card for Chris Boyd, (I think) at Aston Villa. The penalty debacle from Mike Jones and his assistant at Old Trafford against Newcastle. Even the best referee in the world at the moment, Howard Webb, gave a penalty to Everton despite the Everton attacker kicking the floor, and not making contact with the defender.

The Webb decision is almost forgiveable, but the one that stands out for me was the red card issued to Gary Cahill by Stuart Attwell. While a whole 45 yards away from goal, Cahill was deemed to be "denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity" for Scott Parker. Stuart Attwell has a history of strange decisions, (remember the 'Ghost Goal' anyone?), and this equally strange decision just proves he shouldn't be in the Select Group.

I mention this simply because a similar situation occurred in my game today. The quick left winger for Blues got past the Whites right-back only to be pulled back, and yes, he would of been away, but no way was it denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity, (otherwise known as DOGSO). Despite the Blues protestations that Gary Cahill was sent off for exactly the same thing, I had to remind the player that that decision was wrong and to "keep his thoughts to himself". Incidentally, the purpitrator got a caution, which was spot on.

I enjoyed my game today. I turned up a full hour before kick-off, (as Father Mitten wanted to get home for the Manchester Derby) and went about my pre-match routine. One of the referees main jobs is to make sure the playing conditions are safe and that everything is ok with the pitch and the players equipment. After all the pre-match jazz was finished, 5 minutes in I get the two assistants in and outline what I want from them. These being "club" assistants, the general instructions go along the lines of, "ball in and out of play and offsides only. No free kicks". I was pleased to see them both be completely honest and non-biased throughout the game, and this helps massively.

The game itself started at 100mph. Despite these two teams only being Under 15, they were very, very good footballers with one team playing in the Eastern Junior Alliance and one in the MK League, two high quality youth leagues. This was a county cup quarter final, so both teams would be putting in 110%. A couple of fiesty early challenges went in and things had to be calmed down pretty swiftly. The first 10 minutes of any game is the stage where a referee establishes what his intentions are with players. I saw that things were happening quickly, with robust challenges going in, so I slowed it down. Blowing up for every little push or pull or trip. It is a skill to control the pace of a game as a referee and you shouldn't feel rushed. My first 2 cautions came as 2 players squared up to each other after another particularly strong challenge. Perfect. It is always good as an official to get a caution for each side as your first cautions. It outlines that you're not going to take any aggressive behaviour, and I think that showed for the duration as the game as there was not a similar situation again. Blues went 1-0 up after about 25 minutes after a good move, and they had deserved it.

That was the score at half-time, where things had settled down somewhat after the two cautions. I was generally content with my first half performance and was particularly pleased that I didn't let too much go, which is often a weakness of mine. This and positioning especially are two areas I need to work on. The actual decision making can only be a success if you are in the right position to make it, so positioning for a referee is one of, if not THE most vital attribute for an official. And seeing as I had the cheek to deny that when I first started out, I should know!

The second half started with as much vigour as the first, as Whites had been sent out by their manager with renewed aggression. I could of had their striker in the book for a late challenge but opted for a bollocking instead, which was probably the best thing in hindsight as it calmed him down for the rest of the game. 10 minutes into the second half was probably my biggest decision of the game. The Blues left-winger, who had pace to burn, careered into the Whites' area and then cut back, and was tripped by the Whites defender. Gut reactions are 95% of a referee's decision making, and my instant reaction was 'Penalty'. I knew I was right, but I was still surrounded by defenders who thought they knew better, naturally. I was tempted to caution one of them, but a loud word with them within the audible circle of the vicinity once again proved enough. So, 2-0 and given that the Blues seemed to be coasting and Whites had seemingly run out of ideas, it's easy as a referee to switch off and coast along with them. This is the worst thing you could do, and I know from experience that I couldn't. Whites however, got a goal back, thanks to a sloppy bit of defending from the Blues and all of a sudden, with 18 minutes left, the game was wide open.

Once again, this is where a good referee is seperated from the fantastic. However, I don't think I managed this passage of play as well as I did in the first 10 minutes. I had lost my concentration slightly, concerned with my lack of fitness, (as I'm still on the recovery road from my groin injury) and tackles that appeared in the first 10 minutes started to creep back in, until the Blues scored a 3rd goal ten minutes from time, which seemingly knocked the final wind out of the Whites' sails. The game coasted to a finish, with me very much not coasting, as anything could happen, of course.

What did I do well today? My communication was fantastic I felt, with a couple of very good advantages, guiding the players well and they seemed to respond well. My whistle tones were good, as players subconsciously don't like hearing a monotoned whistle, as it apparently gets them worked up! My penalty decision was spot on and the 4 cautions, (I had one more towards the end for 'Delaying the Restart' or more commonly known as 'Kicking the Ball Away'), were all correct although one more wouldn't of been a bad thing. What do I need to work on? My positioning has never been a strong point, and although mine was ok today, it could easily be improved. Also, my concentration needs to be worked on, as there were some small stages where my mind wandered a little, and if a major incident happens in this time, I'm not going to be well placed. I do blame this, at the moment, at having little to focus on in life generally, so my brain isn't trained enough to concentrate constantly. Otherwise, it was a solid performance from me and hopefully some good club marks can get me a county cup semi final or maybe yet another final, (which would make it 5 in 6 years), but I won't hold my breath!

Well, I hope that's given some of you some sort of insight into the eyes of a football referee. It is a lot more than running around blowing a whistle occasionally and there are a lot of things that create an excellent referee. Just remember, the next time you're having a go at a referee for not giving that penalty for your team, just think about it from the referee's point of view. It's a shame no one does!