Utrecht Dutch Laws of the Game Champions 2013

Referees from Utrecht are the Dutch Laws of the Game Champions 2013. The team won for the 4th time in a row the national championship for football rules specialists.

Utrecht referees win the utch Laws of the Game Champions 2013

Utrecht referees win the utch Laws of the Game Champions 2013

Marco Ritmeester from Utrecht was the individual champion with 124 points out of a possible 140.

The referees from Utrecht only won by 7 points from De Langstraat after a full day (10am untill 5pm) of questions about the football rules. Referees get questions they never thought about before or situations which are not likely to happen, but things you should be prepared for as a referee.

For example the first question for the referees: How many cards can a referee give to active players during a competition match on highest amateur level before he needs to abandon the match?

  • A. Max. 39
  • B. Max. 40
  • C. Max. 46
  • D. Max. 47

Post your answer below. The correct answer is published in this new blog post.

I also took some pictures during the Dutch Laws of the Game Champions 2013.
Check out a photo album of the tournament on Facebook

Later this week more about how to organise such a championship for your country and how the referees are being tested.

Listen on stands to ref’s explanations during match

Referee’s got a lot to endure during a soccer match. Fans, coaches and players are the biggest critics, even if they’re most of the time not good informed of what actually happened.

Dick Jol's twitter photo

That’s why the referee organisation of West-Friesland initiated a exhibition match on the 8th of November where former professional referee Dick Jol explains all his crucial decisions publicly via the stadium sound system. “It also forces a referee to declare his decisions in clear and concise terms and, if necessary, give some extra explanation”, says initiator Rodric Leerling in a statement.

The referee came up with the idea due to his life in the New York area, where he saw the so-called referee-signal-system in American football. “Players, coaches and supporters will all benefit from this way of refereeing. We organise it in the first place to create a better understanding by them for the role and position of the referee in amateur football.”

In professional football there is lots of discussion in the media about difficult or sometimes wrong decisions by a referee. Video use is not allowed for the refereeing trio, but center can easily communicate with his officials. The amateur referees in The Netherlands are most of the time on their own, because there are not enough volunteers to also get neutral AR’s for most of the matches.

Leerling hopes everyone gets a better idea of how referees on the pitch deal with all sorts of trouble with players and coaches. It’s also a way to promote the ‘job’ of the referee and make it more attractive to young people.

When: Tuesday 8 November 2011 at 19:30.
Where: SPORTPARK ‘T KRIJT, Wilhelminastraat, Zwaag.
Match: sv Westfriezen 1 – vv Schagen 1
Referee: Dick Jol

The idea is unique in European soccer, says the organisation committee.