Referees in the media (week 49 – 52)

Referees in the media will be published at the beginning of the week on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading.

Due to holidays and incident in Dutch football, I made a list with quotes from the last month. The Dutch Referee blog wishes you a very sportive 2013.

“Oh yes, of course I miss it. It’s like a player, when he finishes playing. I miss it a lot, but on the other hand, it’s good because you are still involved, still hungry and can explain better to the referees what they need to do.”

Massimo Busacca, former Swiss top referee and current Fifa referee boss, misses refereeing. Read full interview with Busacca on Fifa.com.

“Age caught up with me, I think. But you don’t get tackled as a referee.”

Mick Massingham after he received the Richard Taylor Memorial Trophy. The award is presented to those who have made an outstanding contribution to refereeing. He had to stop playing football due to an injury, but could continue running with the whistle.

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“My technical skills with the ball are unfortunately very limited. When I realized that, I said to myself: “Come, you will become a referee.” For me it was a great way to get to know football from a different angle.”

Referee Marcel Neuer, brother of Bayern Munich’ss goalie Manuel, talks about his career as referee. Full interview with Marcel Neuer in German on website of DFB, the German FA.

“It only took the Saints fans 20 minutes to welcome him back with derisory chants which perversely he will have loved hearing – normal service was resumed.”

Graham Poll about the first match of referee Mark Clattenburg after the Chelsea allegations of racism. Read the full review by Poll of the Premier League Referees.

“We had a great three weeks in Japan and although very tough, it is a further step in the selection of referees for the Women’s World Cup to be held in Canada 2015.”

Referee Sian Massey blogs about the World Cup earlier this year and her experiences with top level refereeing.

“Passion, commitment and going into games without prejudice against teams with players who got a migration background.”

That’s what Hans-Dieter Wichert wants to advice young referees to take with them on their path of their refereeing career. On the 21st of December the referee from Germany was 40 years on refereeing duty.

Referees in the media (week 44)

Referees in the media will be published at the beginning of the week on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading.

“It is quite beyond me why 90 minutes of conversations aren’t always recorded. Referees’ conversations should be available to fans who pay their wages, if anything, to be aware of what the referees themselves have to put up with. If the language is so bad, someone has to do something about improving it without sanitising the game. A point has been reached and in this generation you have got to do something about it.”

That’s what David Davies, the former executive director of the Football Association, says to The Guardian. He reacts on the research that is done by the FA about ‘inappropriate (racist) language’ from referee Mark Clattenburg towards Chelsea players.

“As the far-side assistant I was to replace Kevin in the middle with Specialist Assistant Andy McWilliam remaining on the dug-out side which left only my line to fill. How difficult could that be in a crowd of almost 3,500?”

Douglas Ross replaced the injured center referee, but what to do with the position of assistant referee. Great blog story by the Category 3 Specialist Assistant Development Referee (what a title they get in Scotland!) about finally finding a 61-year-old steward, who’s a referee, running the line.

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“The football association has to do something now, otherwise there will be more problems in the future. There are more young refs considering to stop.”

Swiss former top referee Urs Meier warns the national FA of his country in an interview on this website.