Referees

I took the referees’ course in February 1972 (I was 16 at the time), passed it, and despite my young age was able to officiate at men’s matches from the beginning of the 1972/73 season.

I was covering men’s matches on the Saturday, which was a daunting task at times and boy’s games each Sunday which was something of a refreshing relief. I was still playing football elsewhere and that didn’t interfere with my refereeing duties.

It has never been easy being a football referee. They have all my sympathy, all the way up to the present day and you are definitely on your own unless you have been provided with two official ‘lino’s’ for the bigger or more important matches. I don’t know if clubs still offer ‘club linesmen’, basically teams having someone offer themselves up to ‘run a line’ as I knew it, and they were usually given the tasks of ball in and out of play, corners and throw-ins. Anything more and you were likely to find yourself in all sorts of problems.

Someone told me that if I doubted I was going to be paid following a match then hang on to the match ball. It only came to that on one occasion if I remember correctly, and the club concerned soon came running to me with my hard-earned fee. I think the fee was generally around £4 in those days. £5 if you were lucky. I was riding a 1968 Honda C50 on L plates at the time so it wasn’t at all expensive getting to and from grounds.

I send you my best wishes.

I think GeniusGreaves is a retired referee so he is bound to give some valuable input if he reads this article.

Did it when I was younger for a bit.

It absolutely is hard and TV replays have given an unrealistic expectation of consistency.

By and large, they do a great job - with some obvious exceptions.

The biggest improvements in refereeing would come from:

- Players not cheating.
- Players showing respect.

Did some games when I was around 18, just Sunday league stuff cos I was out injured. Some caaants will argue ANYTHING when they're on a football pitch, you've gotta have thick skin and act confident on decisions made in a split second even if you're not sure about them, otherwise people will jump on you.

I quite enjoyed being on the other side of it for a bit, but it's a pretty thankless task and I imagine if you do it at a higher level where there's actual stakes and people more competent at pushing boundaries it must be ten times worse.

comment by fridgeboy (U1053)
posted 10 hours, 8 minutes ago
Not a ref but I was good friends with Gavin Ward at school, who's been involved in the Prem and countless football league matches. Saw him on MOTD the other day and it shocked me back at school that he wanted to become a ref and it still shocks me now. He was climbing the ladder at 14-15 so I've seen the hard work he had to put in. He was a terrible footballer though. I always think refs become refs because they can't actually play the game but that's probably my own ignorance.

The part I don't get is, what's the draw? What makes you want to stand in the middle and take that abuse? You're never thanked if you do a good job but you're torn apart for split second 50/50 decisions. What makes you want to do it.
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Tbh I was looking for a part time job with hours that suited me and I love Football, so reffing seemed like a good idea. You do earn your money though.

comment by Winston (U16525)
posted 8 hours, 58 minutes ago
Did it when I was younger for a bit.

It absolutely is hard and TV replays have given an unrealistic expectation of consistency.

By and large, they do a great job - with some obvious exceptions.

The biggest improvements in refereeing would come from:

- Players not cheating.
- Players showing respect.
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The cheating part makes a referees job so hard. We do have sin bin cards for dissent, not that I've had to use one as yet.

Fridgeboy

Two out of the three referees that took the course are/were very good players. I was ok, just too old to play now.

comment by downsouf (U4095)
posted 9 hours, 53 minutes ago
I took the referees’ course in February 1972 (I was 16 at the time), passed it, and despite my young age was able to officiate at men’s matches from the beginning of the 1972/73 season.

I was covering men’s matches on the Saturday, which was a daunting task at times and boy’s games each Sunday which was something of a refreshing relief. I was still playing football elsewhere and that didn’t interfere with my refereeing duties.

It has never been easy being a football referee. They have all my sympathy, all the way up to the present day and you are definitely on your own unless you have been provided with two official ‘lino’s’ for the bigger or more important matches. I don’t know if clubs still offer ‘club linesmen’, basically teams having someone offer themselves up to ‘run a line’ as I knew it, and they were usually given the tasks of ball in and out of play, corners and throw-ins. Anything more and you were likely to find yourself in all sorts of problems.

Someone told me that if I doubted I was going to be paid following a match then hang on to the match ball. It only came to that on one occasion if I remember correctly, and the club concerned soon came running to me with my hard-earned fee. I think the fee was generally around £4 in those days. £5 if you were lucky. I was riding a 1968 Honda C50 on L plates at the time so it wasn’t at all expensive getting to and from grounds.

I send you my best wishes.
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Cheers

I was told, get the money before the game. So far so good.
I do referee girls games as well. They're pretty easy and they don't tend to cheat. If anything they're too honest.

comment by Insufferable-Piffle (U4388)
posted 13 hours, 10 minutes ago
Don't envy you at allreffed a few games many years ago as favours, wasn't qualified like you but stopped as the abuse put me right off

Good luck
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Cheers.

comment by T-BAD (U11806)
posted 2 hours, 11 minutes ago
Did some games when I was around 18, just Sunday league stuff cos I was out injured. Some caaants will argue ANYTHING when they're on a football pitch, you've gotta have thick skin and act confident on decisions made in a split second even if you're not sure about them, otherwise people will jump on you.

I quite enjoyed being on the other side of it for a bit, but it's a pretty thankless task and I imagine if you do it at a higher level where there's actual stakes and people more competent at pushing boundaries it must be ten times worse.
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Yeah being confident and brave is key. Easy to be swayed by players, coaches and supporters.