Tag Archives: excelsior’31

Braamhaar talks about importance of refereeing

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International referee Eric Braamhaar will visit Excelsior’31, the club I’ve always played soccer for, next Saturday. He’ll talk about the importance of the referee and how clubs can get more people interested in refereeing.

The Netherlands had a referee system with club referees, because they can’t get enough FA refs. In our country around 33.000 matches are played, confirmed Dutch FA KNVB. Their stats: 6.000 of the matches are officiated by FA refs, 17.000 by club refs and the other ones by coaches and parents of the kids.

Braamhaar just confirmed an interview. Looking forward to that. Have some questions about international refereeing or about officiating in general for Eric Braamhaar? Let me know.

Meeting info: Invitation of the referee meeting with Eric Braamhaar (Dutch)

Reaction of the fans in offside situation

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Offside, one of the most difficult things to see for an assistant referee. It’s the same for the supporters around the pitch.

Just back from my hodiday, I watched a game of the club I always played soccer myself. I got the screenshot below from a regional tv station. The blue arrow shows my position. I thought: this could have been a wrong call from the AR, so I checked the video.

Screenshot from the match Excelsior'31 versus Spakenburg in the Topklasse, the third level in the Netherlands.

It’s still difficult to see if the assistant is right (what do you think?). That shows very clearly how important the position in (non-)offside situations is. In my experiences most supporters start shouting dirty words to the AR in case of these close calls. Compliments to them: they just applauded for the striker who made a nice strike.