EPL referee Anthony Tayor gives advice

EPL referee Anthony Tayor gives advice to fellow referees. He talks with The National Young Referee Development Team and I distilled some great advice for you from this video interview.

Enjoy off-season and be ready when need

Callum Jones talkes with referee Anthony Taylor before season restarts again after the corona lockdown. And amateur referees might have more time off now, as there are normally no games in June and July. “Make the most of your time at home. Don’t be centered on football all the time”, he says. “Try to get your balance away from football.”

Here are 5 tips to do during the summer break. Dutch pro referee coach also tells there that you have to do non-specific refereeing exercises. Do something else. Because that gets the stress of a season out. Only then you can get ready for the new season. For EPL referees the situation was different, so Anthony Taylor kept active. And as soon they’ve been told there will be a restart, referees need to be ready. “Then you need to ramp things up as a normal pre-season routine”

Anthony Taylor will restart the EPL season with a top clash: Manchester City vs Arsenal.

Don’t expect easy games without fans

We all might see less fans during our games after the summer, as some governments might ask people to stay at home. But that doesn’t mean the intensity of your games change. His last game was a second leg in the Champions League for the last 16. “The quarter finals were at stake. Intensity was no different than when there were 50.000 people in the stadiums. The match intensity didn’t really change.

And this applies for amateur football too. Some teams might not receive their promotion this season, as football has been suspended at many levels. So they want to win from the start, no matter if there are fans of not. Anthony Taylor’s advice is: “You can think about it, but don’t need to overcomplicate situations. As intensity and difficulty will be there.”

Start young and build character and experience

Anthony Taylor started very young at the age of 16. “It’s builds your experience and character quite steeply.” He talks about refereeing adult games for hundreds of fans already. “That helps you further down the line. Plus players already get to know you early on. Players keep it rather simpler than we do. And think: He’s been refereeing us for years and he’s alright. We’re not going to cause him kind of problems.”

Build good relations with people

“You’ll not keep everybody happy”, says referee Anthony Taylor. “But make sure you build good relations with people.” Both with refs, leagues and competitions. “By building relations, we can really start things that happen of the field, but also off the field.”

Honesty and humility are key – wish the best for everyone

When a member of a referee association goes up the ranks, your fellow RA members will feel a real sense of pride, says Anthon Taylor. “Of course we are competing each other all the time. To move to the next level or refereeing a cup final or officiate a match we’re aiming for”, he says. “But we should have a general ethos that we want each other to do well.”

For Anthony Taylor honesty and humility have to be the fundamental qualities for you to succeed. “Not just as referee, but in any walk of life.”

Change your mindset

We have this huge obsession in refereeing: “I need somebody to tell me if I’m right or if I’m wrong. And we keep going round asking people to get to the answer we want to hear.” He doesn’t like that attitude. “That’s actually holding us back a little bit in terms of learning and developing. It’s only one person’s opinion and we know how subjective decisions are.”

Because of that, his advice is to change your mindset. “Forget everything else. What do I need to do personally to change and do something better next time. Aks your self: what can I do differently there.” This also part of your goal-setting proces as referee. Focus on what YOU have an influence on. And make sure you focus on the right thing to improve. According to referee Anthony Taylor we are mark-orientated and focus on being right or wrong. “But refereeing is about a lot more than that.”

Video with referee Anthony Taylor

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You can watch the video interview with referee Anthony Taylor below. I’d love to hear from you below in the comments: which thing will you focus on if you want to improve as a referee? Check out the goal-setting tips or ways to get the bigger picture of your career.