Berks & Bucks FA have announced their inaugural hosting of a Walking Football Referee Course in February 2025. The FA has relaunched the course this season along with the new and revised FA Walking Football laws. Attending this course will …
Referees, given the season of goodwill, this seems like the ideal time to look again at collating respective old and spare kits and refereeing tools, which we can donate to our friends and colleagues in Nairobi, courtesy of Stephen Smith …
As a Match Official in charge of grassroots games, you’ll know how hate at matches can ruin the experience for others. Too often: We’re asking you and everyone in grassroots football – including players, spectators and coaches – to report …
Although changes to the kick-off in this season’s rewrite of the Laws are well known now, this is not the case with changes to the taking of a penalty kick. Not changed is that with the exception of the nominated …
Running the line at a game recently, I succumbed to a distraction that assistant referees are advised to avoid – chatting with spectators. Of course at bigger grounds this isn’t a problem, the spectators being further away In this case …
It used to be enough to get the whole team turned out in the same coloured shirts but now the International FA Board seem have an obsession with what players wear. There are so many regulations to be aware of. …
Robert Huth, Leicester City’s 6’4” former German international, has complained that he is being victimised by referees, because of his reputation. We have heard similar claims before of course, from people like Joey Barton for instance. The first thing I …
One thing referees have always been told is that they should not play advantage when a player has committed an offence that would result in a red card. This might be a straight red card offence or a second …
Ronald Koeman last season called for a ‘grappling ban’. This was after his then club, Southampton, were involved in a holding incident. He said,’ If you pull someone back by his shirt in the penalty area and stop them getting …
Some football supporters have queried with me, why this season sometimes injured players are made to go off after treatment and sometimes they are not? The answer of course lies with this season’s rewrite of the Laws of the Game. …
