I played 5-a-side earlier today. On another pitch a player got booked, he was a big lad, he then proceeded to chase the ref out of the court and the poor ref had to jump the fence. Worse still he lost his cards as he climbed over and the person he had earlier booked red carded him. I know it is a bad incident, these are just friendly leagues. Still, I hurt from laughing more than me legs hurt from the running. On another note, unfortunately no Mexican so far has a clue as to the origins of my Watford shirt. Ok so the topic is any reffing incident, be it comical or scandelous, from the wonderful world of amateur football.... I know being a ref is tough, I am not here to mock them too much. They put up with a lot of stick but still they deserve it
I am more than happy to give stick to any official who makes a stupid error. The lino at Boro, Stuart Atwell, Rob Styles and David Webb (Leicester ref) to name a few. All of their errors were school boy in nature, and after 7/8 years of training to get to their level they should not be making them.
Wonder if I've heard you. To be honest all I usually hear is this unintelligible Scottish person in the upper middle part of the Rookery.....spouts who knows what, no one understands him
lol Dan joins me lower down the Rookery on the left for the second half....trust me, you'd know if you'd heard him!
Yeah, you certainly would know it was me if you heard me. I am the one who practically skips out of the tunnel and has a big flag with me and my shirt signed. I will have to be extra loud just for you.
Now I was going to say that BB but as he is on holiday sunning himself I felt it unfair as he is not here to defend himself. Worse still he is not here to appreciate the insult. Talking of funny ref stories. A long time ago (deep in my youth) I used to play for Greenwich Borough. (Yes the same team as Ian Wright but not at the same time). We turned up for the game and all was going well until the Ref pulled a hamstring. There was no reserve Ref so one of our side who was not playing took over as ref. (We used to have a member from each side to run the lines in those days) Anyway later in the game there was a dubious foul in our penalty area and the ref trying to show he was neutral gave a penalty. The player in our side who was alledged to have committed the foul was also the refs best friend. He went up to ref and remonstrated whilst poking him with his finger. The ref then had no choice but to send him off after he pushed him. The player who was sent off got his own back however by refusing to give his mate a lift home. We all found it most amusing and also refused him a lift as we had lost 1-0 (yes from the penalty). He had to get the bus home which meant him changing twice, he never volunteered again.
I did my ref course a few years ago at a 5 a side centre and when I passed they got me doing a few of their games. Now I was a 15 year old 5'3 guy and didn't have a clue what was going on. I remember booking someone (2 minute sin bin) for literally beating the **** out of another guy and throwing him into the wall. Oh and at the end of the game declaring it to be a 13-13 draw when one team were celebrating their win, that went down well. Not much has happened since then although I have hit the post and also brought someone down through on goal, didn't send myself off though. My mate got a dog turd put in his kitbag by a player, but the FA farked up the investigation, no one got done for it and he quit the league as a result. Sure I'll think of some other good ones later on.
Herts Sunday League used to have a ref called 'Norm' who was as old if not older than Yoda!!! He never managed to run outside of the centre circle and his decision making was always based on which team shouted the loudest . But bless him he was always there when needed and we always bought him a pint after the game. Good memories.
A friend of mine, vice president of his county referees' association, was on his way to work, driving eastwards with the sun in his eyes. Attempting to turn right his route was blocked by another car trying to come out of the junction. Neither would give way and each driver, unable to make out the other because of the low sun, began cursing the other, then gesturing, then waving fists. Finally both doors opened and the two drivers got out to confront one another. My friend was rather surprised to hear the other's surprisingly polite greeting. It was the president of the refs' association!
When I still used to ref, I was in charge of a First Division match in the ladies league over here and when the ball went out of play, one of the captains if she was near me would talk to me - what she said could just be classed as communication between a captain and the ref, but the way she said it gave a different impression. After the end of the game, the look on her face when I was met by (my now ex) wife and my sons who were 4 and 2 at the time!
The funniest amateur referee incident I have ever been witness to was seeing one of the referees of my five-a-side tournament at Watford Junction, on the commute to work. Not only this, but he was READING. What made this so funny was there is no way he could hold down a real job, let alone read, as he was the most inempt "referee" to ever be involved in the "beautiful game". It was also just weird seeing him in public. Like when you were at school and you saw a teacher in town. Weird.
