Jong ADO – Aruba as assistant referee

Some appointments are too good to ignore. A friend got unfortunately injured and asked if I could replace him in a friendly game Jong ADO – Aruba. The first team is the u23 team from the professional club ADO Den Haag in the city I live in. Aruba came with the national team, and this time mostly players who played in The Netherlands. The coach wanted to see them in action in preparation for a World Cup qualifier against Barbados in June this year.

Last Monday a person from the local referee department called me if I was available for a match on Wednesday. Two teams ended with the same number of points in the league and there was a ‘decision game’ to determine the champion. Was this too good to ignore as well? In my opinion, I should ignore it. I made the promise to assist in the first game and I should not let others down and let them find another AR one day in advance. Turned out to be a good choice. It was quite a nice game, it’s also a good experience to officiate in a stadium. Drinks and some food after the game were well arranged. They took good care of the referees – thanks for that.

How do you get welcomed at football clubs? Do they offer you some drinks? Please share your experiences!

And if you want to see some nice pics of the game. There are a few of me below and the whole photo album is in the FB Group of Remco the photographer. Well worth a look.

Jong ADO - Aruba as assistant referee

Jong ADO - Aruba warming-up

Jong ADO - Aruba handshake

In the referees dressing room: ADO Den Haag

In the referees dressing room: now in the referees changing room of the ADO Den Haag. It’s the club in the city I live in.

maltese_referee_team_azzopardi_checks_ADO_pitch

Referee Azzopardi and her Maltese team check the pitch at ADO Den Haag.

Two weeks ago I published the interview with Maltese referee Esther Azzopardi. Shortly thereafter she got an appointment for the match between ADO Den Haag ladies versus Rossiyanka from Russia in Uefa Women’s Champions League.

We met in person at the stadium, which was really nice. I also got the chance to see the referees dressing room and the inspection of the pitch by the referee team. Thanks to the press officer I got some high quality photo’s of the referees dressing room.

ADO Den Haag referees dressing room: the shower.

ADO Den Haag referees dressing room: changing area.

ADO Den Haag referees dressing room: changing area.

Throwing snow balls to the referee

Volunteers did their very best to clean the pitch after the snowy weather last weekend. Fourth official Dennis Higler is also doing a few warm-up sprints …

… and this is what happened:

Update: Snow attack from the fans in Belgium.

Who missed my tweet about the snow dilemma for a referee. Watch the interview with Dermot Gallacher on Sky Sports.