Who would be a Referee?

The correct answer is no one! Why would anyone subject themselves to all the stress and discomfort of knowing that no matter what decision you have given there’ll be someone who disagrees and who will ensure that you know that too?

“It’s a thankless job” I have heard on numerous occasions. No one pretends that they get everything correct anymore than a player or manager pretends they are infallible. But the singular nature of the man in the middle makes the role dangerously lonely. It is not like you would let your daughter ever marry one! From Under 9 to 30 something games, the Referee is everyone’s fall guy, and I will admit that throughout my career I was as bad if not worse than most players or managers. My record of Red and Yellow cards is a testimony to that so many for chatting to referees, I don’t suppose Ill ever learn! As the career reached the sunlit uplands, I found myself called on to officiate on a number if occasions. I have been threatened whilst refereeing a kids 5-a-side competition by a parent who ought to have known better. Indeed, he visibly shrunk when I did stand up to talk directly to him, but that’s gobby short-arse Dads for you!

So, I have got that T-shirt and know from both sides of that story.

On the face of it Walking Football should be easier to officiate, but the reality is somewhat different. I believe that rather like the old arguments about Rugby Union and League we really should treat Walking Football as a totally different game. We all have a copy of the Official WFA Rules, immediately there are several quite significant differences. I would suggest that we devote more time to seek out the differences and understand exactly why these are in place.

The game is played generally by Over 50s, so the Rules have been formulated with safety as the paramount factor. We have quickly absorbed the outlawing of tackling from behind. That is probably the single biggest safety factor. We do need to step up adopting all the rules if we are to play friendlies and tournaments in the future. I passionately believe that we have improved our technical play to a much higher level over recent months. We have the players with knowhow and ability to succeed in these matches. We do need organise our game to enable us to truly compete and will address that as we make further progress.

So, to the introduction of Steve Pitt and the impact that he made last night. Firstly, Steve approached us to observe our games and it was at our suggestion that he officiated last night. He is a fully qualified WFA Referee and is likely to oversee some of our tournament games in the future. I wanted to see how we coped with someone likely to abide to the new rules. There were some controversial moments but these he dealt with firmly. He missed little, perhaps one 5 touch error and a little off the ball running. Nothing significant was over-looked or fundamentally wrong.

Its important that players accept the Referee’s decision, and last night we did that without exception. Steve commented afterwards that the players discipline was first class. He went on to say that he thoroughly enjoyed the session and complimented the Club on our set-up and attitude. There will be times in the future when our patience as players and officials will be stretched by decisions that we do not get. We will be better prepared for that following his efforts on our behalf.