SummerRefs: James Campbell from England

Fifth referee in SummerRefs comes from Milton Keynes in England. In this section refs from all over the world and all with different experiences will tell about their refereeing career and how they prepare for next season during this summer break.

If you’re interested to take part, there are still a few weeks of summer for SummerRefs left. Let me know!

Name: James campbell
Age: 30
Hometown: Milton Keynes (England)
Started refereeing: 1995 (eek)
Grade: 5

Who do you think you are (as referee)?
“I think i’m like Phil Dowd – not afraid to give a bit back and get respect from players but go with a smile on my face too. ”

What are your goals in refereeing?
“I have just got onto the Womens Premier League in England which is a great achievement. I would like to go onto Level 4 but also to develop as a coach as I currently run the academy in my county.”

Which decision would you like to recall?
“Two years ago I saw a violent conduct and stupidly didnt do anything at all about it and lost control. But also, On reflection I think I’m too harsh with dissent and need to bottle a bit more without affecting my control.”

What do you do in preparation for next season?
“I attend the Norway Cup which is great preseason training! this year putting in alot of effort to bring my weight down to be healthier and fitter after a poor couple of seasons of injury/work.”

The previous posts of SummerRefs
1. Pedro Nunes Mendes from Portugal
2. Mike Cowie from New Zealand
3. Carlos Salcedo from Colombia
4. Niclas Erdmann from Germany

Are you interested in answering the 5W’s, please let me know via @DutchReferee on Twitter or e-mail to dutchreferee at gmail.com.

SummerRefs: Carlos Salcedo from Colombia

Third referee in SummerRefs lives Colombia, the country where the World Cup under 20 will start in a week. In this section refs from all over the world and all with different experiences will tell about their refereeing career and how they prepare for next season during this summer break.

Each Saturday a new profile will be posted online, and the second person who answers the five questions (5W’s) is Carlos Salcedo from Colombia.

Name: Carlos Salcedo
Age: 20
Hometown: Bogotá
Started refereeing: at age of 16

Carlos Salcedo

Who do you think you are (as referee)?
“Carlos Salcedo is a referee who always is learning of the others. That’s why he likes to see other referees act. He is a relaxed referee, but rigorous, as all the South American referees have to be if they want to be good at it.”

Why did you start refereeing?
“I started refereeing in school. We had a lots of ‘fights’ in sport class when we played. A teacher of mine knew that I liked football very much, and also that I knew much about referees and the laws of the game. He asked me if I could referee the matches and I liked it.”

What are your goals in refereeing?
“Unfortunately, I had an injury on my knee, it doesn’t allow me to be 100% physically well, so I couldn’t start a professional career at the football association. My goal was: to be in charge of the final in a tournament between two schools in Bogotá, my home town. Because I’m injured I find it difficult to set new goals. I now only officiate once per week in a Bogota league, not any more in tournaments or friendly matches.”

Which decision would you like to recall?
“I would say no one, because of my mistakes I learned more and it helped to get to a better level. I’d like to recall my injury, but it was not caused by refereeing.”

What do you do in preparation for next season?
“As always, I see lots of games with different referees. I try to be physically at top level, always following the training of the Colombian Football Federation.”

The previous posts of SummerRefs
1. Pedro Nunes Mendes from Portugal
2. Mike Cowie from New Zealand

Are you interested in answering the 5W’s, please let me know via @DutchReferee on Twitter or e-mail to dutchreferee at gmail.com.

SummerRefs: Mike Cowie from New Zealand

Today, the second edition of SummerRefs has something special: the referee comes from southern hemispere, so this actually is a WinterRefs. In this section refs from all over the world and all with different experiences will tell about their refereeing career and how they prepare for next season during this summer break.

Each Saturday a new profile will be posted online, and the second person who answers the five questions (5W’s) is Mike Cowie from New Zealand.

Name: Mike Cowie
Age: 20
Hometown: Christchurch, New Zealand
Started refereeing: in 2007
Grade: Level 4 (Level 1 being the lowest)

Mike Cowie

Who do you think you are (as referee)?
“I would hate to have to say “I am a referee similar to x,” but there are certainly a few referees that I consider as good models to try to emulate certain aspects of their game. But some referees who I do take a lot from:

Peter O’Leary – One of New Zealand’s representatives at the last world cup. He’s tall, like me, and he is an outstanding communicator, and a brave decision-maker. He doesn’t so much demand respect as earn it.

Howard Webb – Well, world cup final referee, he’s got to be on the list! Again, like Peter, an excellent communicator, a brilliant referee for those cruch games, and I like that he doesn’t give soft cards for technical offenses until the player gives him no other option- he’s good at man-managing those situations.

Collina – A true student of the game, it seems he often knew more about the teams he was refereeing that what the teams themselves knew about their opponent. His performance on the 2002 final has to be one of the best ever, and the smiles on his face during that match were never forced- he was quite simply in the zone, in his element, the absolute peak of the absolute best.”

Why did you start refereeing?
“A classmate had taken the course, officiated one game as an AR, and then quit. He suggested I take the course a few weeks later, so I did, and I started refereeing the year after that.”

What are your goals in refereeing?
“I’m not really a goal-setting type. I’m 20 years old, the sky’s the limit. I am aware that even if I do achieve a high enough level of performance to become an elite referee, the amount of dedication and sacrifice that needs to be made- to my family and to my career- might simply be too high. But I’m too young to be building a ceiling on my future yet.”

“In the short term, the aims are always the same- appointments to the biggest matches at the level I am officiating at, or appointments to games at the next level, which would be ASB Premiership (the national league) as an AR, or to the top Federation league in my region as a referee.”

Which decision would you like to recall?
“There are lots that I’d love to have a second look, but on saturday apparently I missed a player who stuck his hand into the air to handle a ball above his head! It led to a yellow card for dissent when I later gave a penalty for an obvious handling offense.”

What do you do in preparation for next season?
“We’re in the middle of our winter season at the moment (national leagues run in summer and local/regional leagues run in winter.) We train right through the summer at least a couple of times a week, plus we have national leagues running- I was an AR on the National Men’s Youth and National Women’s Youth Leagues.”

“But just as the pre-season matches were beginning for the winter leagues, Christchurch was struck by a devastating earthquake which killed 181 people and caused massive damage. Amazingly the top league in the region started on time a month later, but during that time the last thing on anyone’s mind had been football. Certainly my fitness after a month of comfort-eating and not training was not quite where it had been, and further disruptions to my University timetable since have had me often unable to attend training sessions. All in all I will be very happy to see the end of 2011.”

Read the previous parts of this section:
1. Pedro Nuno Mendes from Portugal

Are you interested in answering the 5W’s, please let me know via @DutchReferee on Twitter or e-mail to dutchreferee at gmail.com.

SummerRefs: Pedro Nuno Mendes from Portugal

Today, the Dutch Referee Blog started a new section called SummerRefs. Referees from all over the world and all with different experiences will tell about their refereeing career and how they prepare for next season during this summer break.

Each Saturday a new profile will be placed on line, and the first who answers the five questions (5W’s) is from Portugese referee Pedro Nuno Mendes.

Name: Pedro Nuno Mendes
Age: 28
Hometown: Lisbon, Portugal
Started refereeing: 2004
Grade: Referee on Lisbon Championships, Assistant Referee on the Nationals

Pedro Nuno Mendes in action

Who do you think you are (as referee)?
“I see me as conciliating guy, who likes to grab the hand by talking with the players, showing I’m the boss, but at the same level as them.”

Why did you start refereeing?
“I started because I was invited by a friend, and I was very curious to know ‘the other side’, the side everybody dislike.”

What are your goals in refereeing?
“As far as I can, achieve the 1st league as a referee.”

Which decision would you like to recall?
“There is a decision that’s on my mind for about 3 years, a clearly penalty kick that i didn’t call.”

What do you do in preparation for next season?
“First I’m taking long runs conciliating with gymnasium. Further ahead I hope to prepare in terms of velocity. I want to prepare myself everyday, but sometimes it’s very hard.”

“I send all dutchreferee’s fans best regards and wish you the best of seasons.”

Next week there’ll be a special edition, because the referee will be from southern hemisphere, so he’s enjoying his winter break.

Are you interested in answering the 5W’s, please let me know via @DutchReferee on Twitter or e-mail to dutchreferee at gmail.com.

Duffy and Perez on the line at U20 female WC

The South African World Cup has ended more than a week ago, but there’s another World Cup going on in Germany. The female U20 talents are playing to become the world’s best. Forty officials are taking care of the matches.

Tonight Korea DPR plays against Sweden in Augsburg with three North American officials: Carol Anne Chenard (Canada) and Veronica Perez and Marlene Duffy (both assistants from the USA). “This match could be a very exciting match! We are happy to have another opportunity to work with Carol Anne and to receive another assignment in the tournament”, writes Duffy on their blog.

Duffy, Radzik (4th official from Poland), Chenard and Perez. Photo from personal blog of American assistants.

The match tonight will be the second appointment for the trio. They officiated also in the match between Germany and Colombia which ended in 3-1. “It was an exciting match, full of decisions down to the final minutes of the match. 15,000 fans attended the match, and the atmosphere was loud and absolutely great”, they wrote.

Veronica Perez
Role: Assistant Referee
Country: USA
Date of Birth: 31.10.1979
Height: 168 cm
Occupation: ?
Mother tongue: English
Other languages: Spanish
International since: 2008
Marlene Duffy
Role: Assistant Referee
Country: USA
Date of Birth: 04.08.1979
Height: 160 cm
Occupation: Geologist
Mother tongue: English
Other languages: Spanish
International since: 2008

Source: Fifa.com

Summer Refs: David Humphreys at Foyle Cup

The Dutch Referee blog introduces a new summer section with interviews with referees like you. People who officiate in the off-season summer tournaments. Let’s meet David Humphreys.

David Humphreys. Photo from his Twitter page @davehumph

Name: David Humphreys
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Hometown: Liverpool
Started refereeing: June 2008
Grade: 7

The Foyle Cup is International Youth Soccer Tournament in Derry City (Northern Ireland) with referees from Donegal (Ireland), England, Scotland, Norway and Holland. Read more about them at the Official Foyle Cup website.

Why did you start refereeing?
David: “I lost interest playing and one of my good friends had been a referee. I’d always pictured myself as a ref during my young times so I thought ‘Why not?'”

What was the reason you went to the first Foyle Cup in 2009?
“I’m part of a forum for referees online and one of the guys posted a link to the tournament website, I clicked and registered my interest. It was an excellent chance to work with a number of different officials of all different types.”

What do you expect from the tournament?
“I expect to develop as a referee and as a person. I want to learn and develop my knowledge as a referee and my football knowledge.”

What’s your most memorable refereeing moment and why?
“The opportunity to referee at the home of Derry City, with a reasonable size crowd and an entertaining game. It was also nice to have the complete respect of both teams.”

What’s your goal in your refereeing career?
“I want to referee in the English Premier League. That is the ultimate goal and Howard Webb’s success is a dream I’d love to emulate.”

Some of my readers are not refs, but football players (or not even that). Why should they give refereeing a try? What did you learn from refereeing/being a match official?
“Refereeing is an amazing way to be involved in football. It enhances your knowledge of what is a very complex game. Refereeing helps you develop as and athlete and more importantly as a person.”

Please send suggestions of summer tournaments or referees who officiate during the summer to dutchreferee at gmail.com or comment below.