How things change
I was thinking today how things have changed since I have been a Referee. These days its accepted that Referee’s will go out for a pre-match warm up and in some case’s even a warm down. If I go back about 7 years ago there was only one Referee who I knew that did this. When he asked if we wanted to join him we used to tell him to sod off and have another cup off tea. The thinking was he was going out to creep to the players and secretary and players. Now there is only 1 official that ive been with a Contrib level that doesn’t go out for a warm up and is picked up each time by an assessor as it is a directive from the FA. This doesnt help him at all but he thinks he is right.
The warm up varies a bit from Referee to Referee. A lot of officials will just do shuttles, some will add sprints, while some will do basic stretching. One Referee takes cones out on the pitch and does a more varied routine. I quite like this to be honest as it makes you think as while the shuttles warm your muscles mentally you know what’s coming so don’t get a great deal from it.
Its now part of my pre-match routine to do a warm up and I find it frustrates the hell out of me if I don’t get chance or this is rushed. Some officials on the supply will come out, and some wont. Those that wont I tend to find are the ones that cause me to be delayed in getting out for the warm up and make it rushed. Maybe they think the same as I did 7 years ago.
