There are times in life when you simply don’t fancy doing something. Could be the weekly shop, making dinner or even a shower after an evening of football. It’s what I like to refer to as an ‘Urgggg’ moment – when even the thought of it is enough to put you off, resulting in you desperately searching for a good excuse not to do it like, ‘It looks a bit cold’ or ‘I’ll do it right after X factor.’ Yesterday evening I was hit with the urgggg’s big time……
Cramped into Oxford Circus tube station, 4 to 5 people deep, sweating from the heat and my own natural panic of so many people, the thought of just turning back and not going to Welling crossed my mind. It was cold, I was tired and my room still needed sorted out – all the reasons and excuses I could ever want to be honest!
This is what the Colin of previous years would of done though, the new improved 2008 model is a bit more single minded thankfully! After waiting for the third tube I happily popped myself on and continued on my weekly adventure! Easy!
So, I guess you’re all wondering what I learnt last night? Well we covered a couple of issues. Firstly how to use your assistant referees and what they are responsible for. Secondly, how to position yourself on the field of play so that you can see as much as possible, keep up with play and predict how play will run. All really interesting and has got me thinking on a couple of ideas which I will hopefully develop over the next few weeks and put into words!
Just as a little side note – Portsmouth versues AC Milan tonight!!!!!! One to remember as I don’t think it will be happening again any time soon. For some reason I fancy the blues to sneak a win here by the odd goal. Let’s say 2-1 with Distin scoring the winner.
Thursday 27 November 2008
Thursday 20 November 2008
Referee Course - Day 1
Last week I promised to keep all my loyal readers updated on how my referring course went. Unfortunately there’s not really a lot to talk about really, I even think the creative masterminds behind Dear Deirdre would struggle to turn the evening into a tale to catch the imagination of the nation but I’ll do my best. At worst, it’s going to be short and sweet.
Being the absolute paranoid man towards being late and finding places , coupled with my natural hatred of rush hour ,I hoped on a train from Charring Cross far too early and found myself in the culturally backwater that is Welling just after 5pm. After walking through one of the most despair inducing high streets I’ve ever seen I managed, using my legendary powers of map reading, to find the location of my course, in a church just off the main high street.
Satisfied that the church was the correct location I retired to have a quiet beverage in the local drinking parlour to mix with the locals and partake in general merriment. This was thoroughly enjoyable for 2 minutes before I decided that the book in my bag offered considerably more entertainment.
As the hour dawned nearer I went back to the Church only to find its hall occupied by the brownies! After finding out that the start time of 7 for the course was wrong and that the brownies had the hall tell 8 I retired back to the warmth of the pub, cursing the slackness of the FA and the evil masterminds behind the brownies....
Having received a phone call from the guy giving the course, apologising for his boss getting the times royally wrong, I made my way back to the church hall to start the course just after 8. All seemed good with the instructor Owen, telling us all about what a ref needs to do to before a match starts, such as inspect the pitch, equipment (balls, goalposts, corner flags etc ) and players themselves. Did you know the importance of socks pulled up over shin guards? – helps them stay in place, even under a challenge hopefully.
So overall? Enjoyable evening, with some good information and hopefully it will continue in this vain. I’ve got plenty of reading material to mull over so I should be tucking into that during the weekend. I’m guessing I’ll never watch Match of the day in the same light again though.
Being the absolute paranoid man towards being late and finding places , coupled with my natural hatred of rush hour ,I hoped on a train from Charring Cross far too early and found myself in the culturally backwater that is Welling just after 5pm. After walking through one of the most despair inducing high streets I’ve ever seen I managed, using my legendary powers of map reading, to find the location of my course, in a church just off the main high street.
Satisfied that the church was the correct location I retired to have a quiet beverage in the local drinking parlour to mix with the locals and partake in general merriment. This was thoroughly enjoyable for 2 minutes before I decided that the book in my bag offered considerably more entertainment.
As the hour dawned nearer I went back to the Church only to find its hall occupied by the brownies! After finding out that the start time of 7 for the course was wrong and that the brownies had the hall tell 8 I retired back to the warmth of the pub, cursing the slackness of the FA and the evil masterminds behind the brownies....
Having received a phone call from the guy giving the course, apologising for his boss getting the times royally wrong, I made my way back to the church hall to start the course just after 8. All seemed good with the instructor Owen, telling us all about what a ref needs to do to before a match starts, such as inspect the pitch, equipment (balls, goalposts, corner flags etc ) and players themselves. Did you know the importance of socks pulled up over shin guards? – helps them stay in place, even under a challenge hopefully.
So overall? Enjoyable evening, with some good information and hopefully it will continue in this vain. I’ve got plenty of reading material to mull over so I should be tucking into that during the weekend. I’m guessing I’ll never watch Match of the day in the same light again though.
Sunday 16 November 2008
Small change is best for pies
Wednesday night saw Didier Drogba make a choice that will probably hamper his goal to get back into the Chelsea first team. Due to the outstanding form of Nicholas Anelka, and injury this season, Drogba has hardly featured for the new look Blue’s under Phil Scolari. Given the chance to get some much needed match time against Burnley in the Carling Cup, Drogba seemed to have taken his chance with relish, scoring a tidy finish against the Championship team.
Drogba then celebrated his goal in front of the away fans, causing a small minority to respond to this, throwing coins down towards him on the pitch. Drogba responded to this by giving a single finger gesture and then threw a coin back into the crowd. It is because of this action that Drogba has been charged with violent conduct by the FA, with a hearing planned for Tuesday. He has until Monday evening to respond to these charges.
First of all it is important to realise that both Drogba and the fans who threw the coins, are both equally wrong in their actions. We live in a supposedly civilised world and if you were walking down the street with your sister or mother you would not expect anyone to throw anything at you, you would not even consider it a possibility. My question is this then, why do some football fans, and unfortunately they probably are fans, find that once they get inside a stadium the normal rules of society don’t extend that far, that they can do what they want. A few years back the AC Milan keeper, Dida, got hit by a flare from the crowd, this year a referees assistant got hit by a coin in the head, supposedly intended for Harry Redknapp. These actions clearly need to be stamped out of football. The question is how?
An FA spokesman has said that, “The FA wants anyone found guilty of throwing missiles to face the strongest possible action. That includes life bans from attending football matches." This is a highly encouraging sign from the FA that they acknowledge that any missile from the crowd is unacceptable and that the people doing this have no right to be anywhere need a football ground. The problem is how do you police this? Surely with all the CCTV cameras and stewards in modern grounds today it must be plausible to expect some of the perpetrators of these actions to be identified? But, for whatever reason, this does not seem to happen, or at least, does not happen within the public eye. This is something that the FA, the police and the grounds need to work on together to ensure these people are identified and banned from grounds for life.
This leaves Mr Drogba carrying the can on this coming Tuesday as he was the only individual identifield that evening. Drogba has only himself to blame in this matter and his actions are inexcusable. Even in the heat of the moment one must realise that throwing a coin towards a group of people is a stupid idea at best and it is right that Drogba gets punished for this action. What is equally important is that the people who throw the coins onto the pitch are found and named and shamed as well, so that others are aware of the repercussions of such acts and will hopefully be more inclined to save their spare change for a half time pie.
Drogba then celebrated his goal in front of the away fans, causing a small minority to respond to this, throwing coins down towards him on the pitch. Drogba responded to this by giving a single finger gesture and then threw a coin back into the crowd. It is because of this action that Drogba has been charged with violent conduct by the FA, with a hearing planned for Tuesday. He has until Monday evening to respond to these charges.
First of all it is important to realise that both Drogba and the fans who threw the coins, are both equally wrong in their actions. We live in a supposedly civilised world and if you were walking down the street with your sister or mother you would not expect anyone to throw anything at you, you would not even consider it a possibility. My question is this then, why do some football fans, and unfortunately they probably are fans, find that once they get inside a stadium the normal rules of society don’t extend that far, that they can do what they want. A few years back the AC Milan keeper, Dida, got hit by a flare from the crowd, this year a referees assistant got hit by a coin in the head, supposedly intended for Harry Redknapp. These actions clearly need to be stamped out of football. The question is how?
An FA spokesman has said that, “The FA wants anyone found guilty of throwing missiles to face the strongest possible action. That includes life bans from attending football matches." This is a highly encouraging sign from the FA that they acknowledge that any missile from the crowd is unacceptable and that the people doing this have no right to be anywhere need a football ground. The problem is how do you police this? Surely with all the CCTV cameras and stewards in modern grounds today it must be plausible to expect some of the perpetrators of these actions to be identified? But, for whatever reason, this does not seem to happen, or at least, does not happen within the public eye. This is something that the FA, the police and the grounds need to work on together to ensure these people are identified and banned from grounds for life.
This leaves Mr Drogba carrying the can on this coming Tuesday as he was the only individual identifield that evening. Drogba has only himself to blame in this matter and his actions are inexcusable. Even in the heat of the moment one must realise that throwing a coin towards a group of people is a stupid idea at best and it is right that Drogba gets punished for this action. What is equally important is that the people who throw the coins onto the pitch are found and named and shamed as well, so that others are aware of the repercussions of such acts and will hopefully be more inclined to save their spare change for a half time pie.
Tuesday 11 November 2008
I'm going to try and be a referee!
Wanker, cu*t, bastard... these are some of the delightful phrases that get hurled at the bastion of justice on the pitch, the man in black, the referee. A thankless task that gets harder and harder every year with every mistake, every error, highlighted beyond comprehension on TV and radio. In comfy studios around the country so called pundits analyse football matches to death and often it is the participation of the ref in the game that forms one of the main taking points. Rarely praised, open to criticism, even hatred, the task of the referee to uphold the laws of the game is a hard one indeed.
Which is why I start on a course to be a ref next week.....
Why on earth do I want to become a referee then? What part of me wants to run the gauntlet of abuse they receive each and every match? Why do I want people who I will never meet potentially hate and loath me like no other? These are questions that I’ve asked myself recently and to be honest I have no real answer to them, they’re not even real considerations to me.
I guess part of it for me is the chance to fully understand the laws of the game. So many times have I watched a match and tried to get my head round the current version of the offside trap or trying to work out why someone got sent off for dangerous play – what on earth constitutes dangerous play these days? Is it just missing a tackle, clattering someone from behind or just the old fashion elbow to the head? Have you ever wondered what is the official definition of dissent and if it’s actually worth a yellow card? All these questions and more lurk in the dark and murky corners of my head, my instinctive lust for knowledge on every aspect of the game drives me to obtain as much as I possibly can.
Having never been blessed with athletic prowess or much confidence as a child, football pretty much passed me by in my school days. No one ever wanted the fat kid on their side, especially if his idea of an attacking run was nipping off to the tuck shop when the ball was down the other end! My own personal love of the game was born the day we got Sky Sports into our home and I was exposed to the Premier league in all its pomp and glory. Soon to follow was a trip to Wembley to see England and then regularly seeing games at Fratton Park, home of the mighty Portsmouth. At the time Portsmouth were a poor side in the old division 1 but I was well and truly hooked, giving up countless hours to radio and TV coverage, computer games, magazines, anything that I could get my hands on really. I grew in love with the game and to this very day that love holds still strong.
Seeing if I can become a referee is a chance for me to try and be counted and give something of myself to help the enjoyment of others. All I think of is the beauty of the game and the need for the man in the middle to keep it beautiful. It’s a responsibility I do not take lightly and one that I’m not even sure if I can do. Still, I look forward to the challenge of it and seeing what can happen. Hopefully over the next few weeks I can update you all on my experiences and maybe see you the other side of it all if it all works out well – who knows? My first lesson is next week so will update my blog from week to week with what happens and how I feel. Hopefully it will be an eye opener for us all.
Colin
Which is why I start on a course to be a ref next week.....
Why on earth do I want to become a referee then? What part of me wants to run the gauntlet of abuse they receive each and every match? Why do I want people who I will never meet potentially hate and loath me like no other? These are questions that I’ve asked myself recently and to be honest I have no real answer to them, they’re not even real considerations to me.
I guess part of it for me is the chance to fully understand the laws of the game. So many times have I watched a match and tried to get my head round the current version of the offside trap or trying to work out why someone got sent off for dangerous play – what on earth constitutes dangerous play these days? Is it just missing a tackle, clattering someone from behind or just the old fashion elbow to the head? Have you ever wondered what is the official definition of dissent and if it’s actually worth a yellow card? All these questions and more lurk in the dark and murky corners of my head, my instinctive lust for knowledge on every aspect of the game drives me to obtain as much as I possibly can.
Having never been blessed with athletic prowess or much confidence as a child, football pretty much passed me by in my school days. No one ever wanted the fat kid on their side, especially if his idea of an attacking run was nipping off to the tuck shop when the ball was down the other end! My own personal love of the game was born the day we got Sky Sports into our home and I was exposed to the Premier league in all its pomp and glory. Soon to follow was a trip to Wembley to see England and then regularly seeing games at Fratton Park, home of the mighty Portsmouth. At the time Portsmouth were a poor side in the old division 1 but I was well and truly hooked, giving up countless hours to radio and TV coverage, computer games, magazines, anything that I could get my hands on really. I grew in love with the game and to this very day that love holds still strong.
Seeing if I can become a referee is a chance for me to try and be counted and give something of myself to help the enjoyment of others. All I think of is the beauty of the game and the need for the man in the middle to keep it beautiful. It’s a responsibility I do not take lightly and one that I’m not even sure if I can do. Still, I look forward to the challenge of it and seeing what can happen. Hopefully over the next few weeks I can update you all on my experiences and maybe see you the other side of it all if it all works out well – who knows? My first lesson is next week so will update my blog from week to week with what happens and how I feel. Hopefully it will be an eye opener for us all.
Colin
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