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I bleat about footballers cheating but hadn't realised just how much this had coloured my own outlook towards refereeing - I expect them to cheat and, strangely, their cheating even helps my match control.
I discovered this when I was sent into deepest Surrey to referee a 1st round Lower Junior Cup game (just boasting about my plumb appointments!). The match was between two church sides, and when I blew up for the team captains both sides lined up around the middle circle. I asked the home skipper rather bluntly "Who died mate - I must have missed it?" He replied "No one ref., but if you don't object we would like to say a prayer before we start"
I had no objection and joined the line of players whilst the home captain stood in the centre and asked for God's blessing on the game, and in the prayer, reminded everyone that this was a sporting occasion where foul play and profane language were not welcome. Call me a cynic, and you'd be right - I thought the fine words would mean nothing once we kicked off. I was completely wrong!
The standard of play was not up to much and there were the inevitable clumsy tackles - but certainly nothing dirty. The first corner I awarded some 30 seconds into the game became a goal kick when the attacker informed me that the ball had in fact came off of him. This situation occurred with tight throw-in decisions going against my indication, always with my agreement after an admission, and other corner decisions being reversed.
Far from making the refereeing easier I found that I became unsure of myself and had an overwhelming desire to ask the players what they thought before making a decision. My first 15 minutes became the worst period of refereeing I have performed for several years.
As the game progressed I was glad to see that human nature started to take control and players who had received a knock, or thought their opponent was overzealous in his tackling, started to get more stuck in and I found I began to get my control and confidence back.
In the second half one player who was 'non church' shouted an encouragement to a colleague which was splattered with a couple of 'F' words. The player on the ball immediately kicked it out of play and the skipper publicly warned the offender that such language was not acceptable and any repeat would mean that he would have to leave the field.
This was a strangely testing but very rewarding afternoon and an experience that I won't forget quickly.
John Brown
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