10 best read stories of 2017

The 10 best read stories on Dutch Referee Blog for 2017. Enjoy them and please let me know on jan@dutchreferee.com what you want to learn next year and I’ll try to write some interesting stories about that topic. In the next few days I’ll come up with a series on goal-setting and giving your referee career a boost. Stay tuned for that!

1. The Laws of the Game

Good to see you’ll love to read the Laws of the Game as referees. One of the most popular posts every are the LOTG pages and in particular the changes for 2017-2018. Did you know I publish a weekly quiz? Check out the questions and improve your knowledge.

2. The FIFA fitness test

The audio files of the FIFA fitness test are very useful for us referees to practice at home. Want to try them yourself? Download the fitness test files. Or have a look at the specific tests for assistant referees.

3. World Cup 2018 referees

Who are the match officials going to the 2018 World Cup? FIFA has not given a definitive answer, but a Southern American blog has revealed 36 names. Curious who they are? Check out the WC 2018 names.

4. Case study: ball direction is irrelevant for offside

The relevancy of ball direction at offside situations. I never thought it was a big issue, but I was wrong. After lots of comments on social channels I made this case study. The fact you often visit it, proves it’s an important issue. Check out the case study.

5. Great refereeing documentary

Do have some time off during your Christmas break from work? The Referees – Onside with Carragher and Neville is worth watching. Have you seen it already on tv? The documentary gives a wonderful insight into refereeing at Premier League level. (Re-)watch the documentary now.

6. Case study: Bacca touching the ball twice

What if a player touches the ball twice at a penalty kick? Interesting case study about that.

7. The foul nobody saw except the referee

Esfandiar Baharmast saw an offence that nobody noticed. How did he deal with all the negative in the media? Check out the story.

8. Yellow by VAR for simulation

Some players are not that smart. Papadopoulos from Schalke’04 in Germany tried to fool the referee. See how he failed and receives a yellow.

9. Doubt about the VAR

When you think the VAR helps you, but you can’t see on the image where the ball is. The VAR decided a very important game in the Dutch Eredivisie. Read how the referee experienced the uncertainty.

10. Effective goal-setting for referees

It’s a very popular topic as well and will be now again at the start of 2017: effective goal-setting. I wrote a nice storie that take you through the steps of it. Learn the effective principles of goal-setting.

To finish this story: share your goals for 2018. I’d love to know what you’ll work on and how my blog can help you with that. If you want to share it privately e-mail me on jan@dutchreferee.com