Lets see that again
Monday night was a unique experience for me and one I hope in time to experience again. As mentioned previously I was Assistant Referee for the Setanta Shield fixture between Kettering & Boston that was shown live on Setanta.As you can appreciate I was nervous about this, however to be honest I get nervous before all games so this wasn’t anything new to me. I was surprised though as I thought I would be worse. The worst bit was stood in the tunnel for nearly 2 minutes before the game, however this was made worse as there was a camera in front of us and I had no idea if it was on or not. It captured us walking out of the tunnel, however it was a a bit uncomfortable with it in from of us.I was called in to action after only 30 seconds when Kettering launched their first attacked. The ball was played through and I thought the attacker was on side. Ill be honest and did think I wonder if it was or not as it was close and ill watch that later. As it happened it looks like it was onside, however the angle they had wasn’t great. One thing though that did get me though and im not sure if twas the angle of the camera, is that I looked about 3 yards in front of the attack. I thought I was inline, but when you look at the replay it seems im not. As the half went on play was down my end quite a bit and I didn’t really have another offside until the around the 20th minute, again replay seemed to show me ahead (maybe I’m just quick 
). However I’m glad to say that one was correct. What was pleasing was one of the guys I work with thought I was wrong then watched it back twice and then decided I was correct! I think he gained an appreciation for how difficult it can be. A few minutes later I had another offside which I would like to have seen again. The ball dropped back in near the 6 yard box and the attacker hooked it over the bar. I felt the defender at the back post kept him onside, but given I could have seen it again i waited for it on the video when I watched it last night. Unfortunately though they didn’t show an angle even slightly useful. During the 2nd half play moved down the other end as Kettering continued to attack. I was disappointed though with myself in one incident. A Kettering defender was pushed right in front of me, however I didn’t see the push. Normally I wouldn’t have worried about it, forget it and move on. However if im honest I thought about it for a minute or so and thought I bet that looked awful and I looked a right Muppet, though i bet they’ve just had a pop on the commentary. However when i watched that bit back, I was off camera mainly and there was no comment or replay so it really wasn’t a big deal.There was two other incidents that normally I wouldn’t have been bothered about and to be honest wasnt at the time, however given the chance I could watch them back I thought I would. These both involved balls going out for throwin’s however Setanta didn’t replay or show close up’s of these.We counted 6 stationary camera’s around the ground as we walked the pitch. There was also a mobile camera around the technical area’s during the game. I read in the Non League Paper a few weeks ago, although dont know if it applys for this game. That when Setanta cover a Blue SQ Premier (Conference) game they have more camera’s than a Championship fixture!As it happen the game was won by Kettering 2-0. The Referee during the 2nd half played a brilliant advantage for a shirt pull and came back and cautioned the player. What was interesting I heard a comment from behind me saying that if he hasn’t given the free kick how can he caution him!Its interesting watching back as I was dugout side during a fair amount of play I could see myself shuffling down the line and switching flags. It really was interesting to see how you move up and down the line and the hand work with the flag. It would have been interesting to have got hold of the video from the camera on the penalty area opposite me to watch back. Overall it was a brilliant experince and one that I will allways remember. It certainly sits there with the Telford & Bromsgrove games from last season.
