Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:29 am
VIDEO EVIDENCE AT FOOTBALL ? KEEP IT FOR ME the debate about football on here is what it's all about for me, we have post upon post on here about the game and its incidents. Thats what makes this game of ours so great.
I had a few years out of Fellows Park to become a Programme Editor/ Press Officer/ sometimes Sectetary for a local non league club up here and one of the things I had to do was mark Referees Performances. We had a big platform behind one goal and I COULD SEE EVERYTHING as my good mate and fellow Saddler Brian Adshead of Staffs FA will vouch for as he used to ref us I could see things clearly at the other end of the pitch from my lofty position.
It got to the stage where I figured I could do better, so off i went and took my referees course. I t was then and only then that I realised that the game as a referee is about angles, what is blatantly obvious to one on the terrace is not so clear from ground level on the pitch, players have an annoying habit of getting in the way as well and if you cannot see properly you cannot give the decision.
Diving is very difficult to call and you need to be 100 percent sure to book or send off for this offence.
People who I have refereed say i was rubbish same as every other referee we see on the F Lg but there is a lot of politics in the refereeing world believe me the best referees dont always progress, often due to the obsession with youth these days, you have to be young to progress, you have to referee a certain way in different leagues to progress, when you hit the Flg the man in the stand is the man you have to please, which explains the way a lot of referees perform on Saturday afternoons.
Refereeing takes over your life, you have to be permanently available, if you have a job where you cannot have a lot of time off that is difficult, especially for the much loved 2pm Reserve team games. You end up booking holidays to run the line at Mansfield, Chesterfield etc, two or three games a week oh and training and meetings as well . You stop doing Sunday football and you are too big for your boots, keep true to your roots and you are lamblasted for doing it as well so as referees we will never win video refs or not.
DONT CHANGE A WONDERFUL PRODUCT THAT KEEPS EVERYONE TALKING FOR DAYS AFTER THE GAME BESIDES AS MY MATE EARPY SAYS IT HAS TO BE BOTH HANDS TO GIVE THE SADDLERS A HAND BALL AT BESCOT (Local rules apply apparently!)