William Labrit is only 15 years old and already has almost four years of experience as a referee. “I struggled at first with many things”, he admits in an interview with Dutch Referee Blog. “However, after working several lower level games and receiving lots of advice from superiors, I began to work with the older age groups and realized that I liked it a lot.”  An interview with this young referee from Florida, United States. He has been refereeing since October of 2013. “I began with officiating toddlers and have since advanced to the premier youth level.” In this interivew he takes you on his journey as referee and shares some…

How’s Refereeing in Ukraine? In this blog post you’ll read the interesting story of how Andrii Sliphuka (19) tries to improve as a referee and reach his goals. But first, check out the video I found online that led to me asking Andrii some questions. “I am Andrii and I am a referee from Kiev, Ukraine. First my game was in September 2012, so it’s fifth year for me as an official.” How he got started? “It’s an interesting story. From 2003 till 2012 I played football in regional team. Every half of the year we had a football match between parents and their sons. And of course, we needed a…

Lee Markwick followed the referee course when his son signed up for it. “As his dedicated taxi, I started to develop an interest in officiating”, he says in an interview with Dutch Referee Blog. Le Markwick (54) is a level 4 referee and he started officiating in 2011. Please tell a bit more about how you got involved in refereeing? Lee Markwick: “Two reasons At the age of 14 my son Dean stopped playing football and decided to take his referees’ course. As his dedicated taxi, I started to develop an interest in officiating. It was his learning and development that gave me the inspiration to also take up refereeing Having played…

Burak Özer’s short-term goal is to leave the pitch happy at my next match. A great tip from this 20-year-old referee from Turkey. “And I renew my goal after every match.” Read more from the challenges and goals of this young Turkish footbal referee. Hi Burak, please introduce yourself.   “My name is Burak Özer and I’m 20 years old. I’m from Turkey. I’ve been interested in refereeing for more than 3 years, but I only started to officiate matches this year.” How did you get involved in refereeing?  Burak Özer: “I always interested in football as almost every man in Turkey. I played at amateur levels or for school teams. And…

This week’s referee of the week is Harvey Newstead. He’s 15 years old and on the local Centre Of Refereeing Excellence. “The key at this stage of my career is to get as much experience as possible on youth games”, he says in an interview with Dutch Referee Blog. Hi, please introduce yourself.  My name is Harvey Newstead, I am 15 years of age and an English referee. I have been refereeing since September 2014 as a young leader and then once I was 14 I became qualifievold in October 2015 and have been refereeing ever since. Update July 2017:  I have been involved in football for just over 3 seasons after finishing…

Knut Kircher officiated more than 18 years in the German top leagues and was also a FIFA international referee. Due to age restrictions he has to quit in 2016. In this interview with Dutch Referee Blog he looks back on his career with some “special moments”. You had a wonderful career as Bundesliga and Fifa referee. Last season was your last because of the age limit of 47 in Germany. How do you look back on your career? What are your pinnacles? Knut Kircher: I look back with a wonderful and pleased smile in my face, more than 18 years in professional football, a dream. I had a lot of…

Seth Kehr is only 14 years old, but has almost three years of experience as a referee. He doesn’t only put refereeing in practice on the pitch, but also tries to improve at home. “When I’m at home I will talk to other referees about their experiences and share my own”, he says in an interview with Dutch Referee Blog. “I’ll look in the mirror and practice my facial expressions and body language, and I can’t say that my family hasn’t caught me taking my phone out of my pockets, and practice different techniques of showing a card. Hi Seth Kehr, please introduce yourself. Hello Jan! First of all, thank…