The Referee

Friday afternoon I was padding a bit of time and checked my personal email.  I found I had received my first appointment of the new season!

I have been appointed Referee for the FA Cup Extra Qualifier Goodrich vs Meir KA on the 16th August.  This was a massive surprise and one I’m really chuffed with.   Last season I received a re appointment to the middle of an Extra Qualifier but to be appointed by default is superb.

it does feel a bit odd to receive this already considering the Contrib fixtures aren’t out until this week.  Also it will be at most my 2nd game of the season as I’m away on the opening weekend (I worked the start of the season out wrong!!!)

I just need to keep checking the FA Website and my inbox all week for the Contrib & Supply league appointments ;).

I always remember reading when i first started out that  Referee could cover up to 6 miles during a game.  Ive always wondered how accurate this is.  It cant be the easiest thing to measure as you dont run in straight lines, the same distance or laps of a pitch.

However the PGMOL with the power of prozone have done just this.   Last season the Select Group officials covered 11561 Metres in a game (that’s over 7miles).  This is compared to a premiership footaballer who cove rd 11593 Metres in a game.

Now over 90 minutes that’s not a massive distance as people will run a half marathon quicker than that.  However lets put it in context, this isn’t straight running.  There is sprinting, twisting, turning.  The high intensity that comes from an end to end game where the ball wont go out of play.

The interesting stat is that last season the number of sprints made by the Referee during the game doubled on average compared to previous seasons.  Im not sure what defines as a sprint, but it gives you an idea to the demands that are placed on the their fitness.  It also helps you understand why the 12 minute run fitness test has been scraped in place of the new Fifa test.

Ive today had my first Pre Season game, where I was in the middle for Gresley vs Mickelover Sports. The game itself didn’t cause me to many problems both teams behaved well and on the whole used common sense. There was a couple of situations that needed managing but on the whole not a great deal to do.

I was happy with how the game went and fitness held up well.  Last 20 minutes my hamstrings were a bit sore but I didn’t feel tired and my recovery back to a good level of fitness is going well.

As an aside people may wonder why the assistants check the nets again at half time.  Today during half time the net had come away from the cross bar.  We had nearly a 10 minute delay to the 2nd half while the groundsman and ladders were found so it could be repaired.   Mind it didn’t really matter as Mickelover won the game 2-0 with both goals coming in the first half.

Currently I don’t have any further pre season games lined up, having lost my next game.  I was due to Referee Gresley vs Stapenhill in 2 weeks time.  However Stapenhill have had a fire at their ground which has destroyed the club house and they have had to fold.  So the game is off.  However I’m not to worried and no doubt ill pick something up.

Yesterday I took my fitness test in Ilkeston and passed completing approx 2730 metres in the 12 minutes.  I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t hit the 2800 as I had hoped but my plan of how I was going to run it never quite panned out as I ended up at the front of the pack after the first 200 metres not midway as I hoped.   However at t the end of the day you can run 2500 or 3500 metres but a pass is a pass and you don’t get any better games.

4 Weeks now until the season opens and im looking forward to it.   Time now to kick on and get the fitness up to match standard.  Ive two pre season games lined up the first one this Saturday but more on that later.