PATRON:- Pam Wells 01483 833394 PRESIDENT:- Peter Guest :- 01483 771649 [email protected] CHAIRMAN: Roy Butler 07747 800687

VICE-CHAIRMAN:- Colin Barnett 01252 328953

SECRETARY, TREASURER 01483 423808 & MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY:- Bryan Jackson 1 Woodstock Grove, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 2AX TRAINING OFFICER:- Vince Penfold

SUPPLIES OFFICERS: - Tony Price 01483 836388 / 07766 973304

R.A.. DELEGATE:- Brian Reader 01483 480651

HONORARY AUDITOR:- Ken Chivers

COMMITTEE:- Ricky Green - Youth Development 07793 205023 Officer Derek Stovold Christopher Cook Meril Readett Corin Readett—Minutes Secretary WARBLER Editor—Mac McBirnie, 16 Robins Dale 01483 835717 / 07770 643229 Knaphill Woking Surrey GU21 2LQ [email protected]

INSIDE THIS MONTH’S WARBLER Page 1: Agenda Page 2 : From the Chair Page 3 : Youth Academy Meeting Page 4 : Mac’s Musings Page 5/6 : September Minutes /Accounts Page 7/8 : Murphy’s Meanderings Page 9 : Peter Adams—in memory Page 10/11/12 : How fit are our referees? Page 13 : Experience counts Page 14/16 : Jeff Pettitt column Page 17 : Membership Page 19 : Guest Speakers Page 20 : This Month’s Speakers Page 21 : Public liability insurance Page 23/24 : What would you do ?/Answers Page 25 : Plum Tree Page 27 : Referee gives the finger The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society

Meadow Sports Football Club Loop Road Playing Fields, Loop Road, Kingfield, Woking, Surrey, GU22 9BQ 7.30pm for a prompt 8pm start

AGENDA

 CHAIRMAN’S OPENING COMMENTS

 OUR GUEST SPEAKER

Martin Bodenham & Gary Willard

 BREAK

 DISCUSSION CORNER

 SOCIETY BUSINESS

NEXT MEETING MONDAY 7th December 2009 Guest Speaker Steve Tomlinson

THE MAGAZINE DEADLINE The deadline for the November Warbler will be Friday 20th November 2009 1 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society

Ladies and Gentlemen,

What is going on in the Premiership after last weekend‘s farcical situation at The Stadium of Light? We have four match officials who cannot make up their mind or decide what the correct decision is when a beachball (thrown on the pitch by a Liverpool lad) gets in the way of a shot by Darren Bent, which ends up with the correct ball ending up in the net and the beachball ending up in the other direc- tion. I really felt for Reina in the Liverpool goal who never really had a chance ei- ther way of stopping the goal. I am so surprised that not many players reacted to the fact that the beachball was an outside agent and that the correct decision should have been a DROPPED BALL (Mr Referee) and not a goal. Please note. Even Rafa Benitez was amazingly calm considering the outcome.

Once again, it is regrettable that I have some very sad news to inform you all. Whilst it will not mean much for members this side of the water, but for mem- bers and colleagues who travelled on a regular basis to and from Belgium, we have been advised of the death of Mia Van Peborgh (the good lady wife of Walter - Presi- dent of Soleo Referees Society). Mia was always a welcoming person whenever we visited Belgium and was on the dance floor whilst our dear friend Walter was busy socialising at the bar. We first met Mia and Walter in May 1983 when Manchester United played Brighton at the Old and after Alan Watson had ar- ranged the first trip with twelve of us in a mini-bus bound for Lier on the old Town- send Thoresen boats from Dover to Zeebrugge. Mia was an excellent helper when- ever we visited, and it is very sad that we will no longer see her on our future trips to Belgium. We have sent a condolence card to Walter from all of us at Woking and we also have extended our sympathies to Mia‘s daughter Agnes, her husband Willy and and Agnes‘s daughter Kelly. May Mia rest in peace.

On a more cheerful note, I thought the talk by Gavin Ward on Serious Foul Play was excellent in early October, and I hope that everybody who attended en- joyed the evening as much as I did. Thank you once again Gavin for an excellent presentation.

On November 2nd, our Guest Speakers will be Martin Bodenham and Gary Willard who are coming up from East Sussex (a double act) whose topic for the evening will be Assessing and Coaching at Football League, Panel and Con- tributory League level. For those who remember last season when these two gen- tlemen visited Woking, they both gave us a great evening with their respective pres- entations. Martin himself has made history, being the only ex- Refe- ree to become a First Class and being the first person to officiate at the top domestic levels of both football and cricket. I am convinced that we will all be enthralled by their visit to Woking.

Just going back to Peter Adams‘ funeral last month, it is the first time that I have seen so many old faces throughout the County attending for a long time. It was like a who‘s who and proves how much the Man was respected. The Cremato- rium was absolutely packed to the hilt, and there were a lot of attendees standing to get everybody in.

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Dave and I attended on behalf of the Society as well as Mick Lawrence who attended on behalf of Westfield F.C.

Well done Alan Watson on attaining your 30 year award and richly deserved it is. Alan, over the years has served the Society well, as well as running the Chairman‘s Cup and trips to Belgium.

In this issue, will be an advert from our Editor, Mac, with regard to the Annual Christmas Dinner which this year is on Saturday, 9th January 2010 at The Worplesdon Place Hotel (opposite Worplesdon Phoenix F.C. ground). This Dinner (now in its fourth year), has become more and more popular yearly, and Mac and his good lady wife, Sue, do a sterling job in or- ganising this event. Please kindly contact them to secure your places accord- ingly. We even have our own function room for the evening which keeps it more exclusive for Woking Referees Society.

On December 7th, we will be having our Christmas Meeting and as well as our Guest Speaker, Steve Tomlinson, our Patron will be arranging, as per normal, for nibbles and sandwiches, etc, to be available on the evening as well as our array of Christmas Raffle Prizes. If you wish to donate anything towards the raffle at all, please contact either Bryan or myself.

We hope that the season is going well for you, and as far as I am concerned, it is nice to be back again on the field of play at last.

I do hope to see you all at our next Society Meeting on 2nd Novem- ber and in the meantime keep up the good whistling !!!

With my best wishes to you all.

Roy

Woking Referees Society

Academy

A meeting of the Woking Referee‘s Society Academy will take place on Monday 2nd November 2009 commencing at 7.15 at

Meadow Sports Football Club Loop Road Playing Fields, Loop Road, Kingfield, Woking, Surrey, GU22 9BQ Ricky Green – Youth Development Officer 39 Mowbray Avenue, Byfleet, Surrey, KT14 7PF Mob – 07793 205023

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Well, here we are 6 games into the season and already I‘ve shown more red cards than I did for the whole of last season. These have included 2 for offensive lan- guage (at me) and one for a head butt (not at me—but a young lad who now needs a new tooth) . I‘ve also had to issue 4 yellows for descent including to a so called ―coach‖ .( No I didn‘t show him a card– just reported him). Add to this a word to the managers about the conduct of the spectators in 2 games (sarcastic rather than of- fensive language) And this is the U17s and 18s. So much for the Respect cam- paign. I‘m not sure how the other refs are getting on in a certain Surrey League but at this rate they are going to either run out of players through suspension or run out of referees who are no longer prepared to put up with rude, mouthy, totally disre- spectful, yobs, whose parents stand on the sideline saying ―hush dear‖ when they spout forth a string of obscenities. - One does have certain amount of sympathy for Mr Bussaca (see page 27) Right—that‘s got that off my chest.

The news this month has all been around Fergie‘s ridiculous comments regarding the fitness of , his half hearted apology and then storming out of a press conference when a reporter had the gall to question his disgraceful treatment of one of our best referees. ―I don‘t take criticism personally‖ he stated later. Is that why he refuses to speak to the BBC? Strange bloke. The other news of course was the debate over the ―outside interference ― AKA a red beach ball in the Liverpool v Sunderland match. Both Jeff Winter and Dermot Galla- gher admitted that the goal should have been disallowed and a drop ball awarded. What I found rather illuminating though was the comments by both managers as quoted in the Times— It's a very technical question, but it could be because it could have been a goal any- way," Benitez said. "In this case, I think it should be a goal."

"I thought it was a deflection off a player," Bruce said. "I have to say that if anybody knew that rule - that it is supposed to be a drop-ball - then you are a saddo."

Now, as very well paid and very experienced exponents of the art of managing top football teams, wouldn‘t you think that they would be absolutely 100% familiar with every nuance of the Laws of the Game of which they profess to be experts?- Per- haps not?

As Roy mentions from his chair, we are once again holding a New Year Dinner this year (or should that be next year?). I will be publishing the menu in next month‘s Warbler for you to make your choices .

Woking Referees’ Society Annual Dinner 2009/10

Saturday 9th January 2010

Worplsedon Place

3 Course Menu £14.95

4 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society Woking Referee’s Society Meeting Minutes –

Monday 5th October 2009 Chairman’s Opening remarks:

Meeting opened at 8.05pm. Chairman welcomed guest speaker Gavin Ward and Surrey FAs Vic Rolland. A minutes silence was then held for the recently departed Surrey FA president Peter Adams. Vic Rolland then made a Long Year Service presentation award to member Alan Watson CBE for 30 years service to refereeing. Guest Speaker – Gavin Ward ~ National List Referee

Steve welcomed members, then went on to explain, the topic of the evening: Serious Foul Play and identifying general misconduct. We then watched various clips of different challenges from Gavin‘s career as well as several other clips from the Premiership, Football League and European Football. As different clips were viewed, members discussed different aspects how avoid- ing serious foul play could be achieved such as being proactive in dealing with rash challenges, sensing the tempo of the game and players attitudes, and deal- ing with earlier challenges. One of the key phrases that was being repeated was ‗protecting the players and image of the game.‘ It was agreed that in order to do this 2 footed tackles where a player leaves the ground must be dealt ac- cordingly with a card. Chairman gave vote of thanks. Apologies for absence

Bryan Jackson, Colin Barnett, Corin and Merill Readett, Ken Chivers, Vince Penfold, Glen La Roche, Lawrence and Martin Read, Emily McBirnie, Tara Woodyer, Dave Cooper, Gary Matthews, Gareth Heighes.

New Members

There were no new members in attendance. Minutes of the last meeting –

Proposed: Rick Green Seconded: Tony Price Matters arising –

None Arrising. Chairman’s Report –

A letter had been received from Ray Olivier thanking us for the M&S vouchers and for the enjoyable evening. An email had been received from the Belgians confirming that they will be coming over on the weekend of May 23rd 2010, al- though number is uncertain at this time. They have said they want to visit Wem- bley when they come over. 5 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society

Secretary’s Report –

Secretary not in attendance. Treasurer/Membership Report –

Members currently up to 91. Treasury report as per Warbler. Supplies Officer Report –

Any items required please see, Tony. New ties have not been ordered yet but are hoping to be in for next meeting. Training Officer Report –

Training Officer not in attendance. R.A Delegates Report –

Nothing to add to report in Warbler. Discussion Corner -

Phil Gasson told us how he thinks he might be the first ever referee to caution a player in the Guildford and Woking Alliance League for simulation. Any other business –

Date for 4th Annual X‘mas dinner is Saturday 9th January. Date of next meeting – 12 May 2008, Meeting Closed at 22.45

Society Accounts—October 2009 General £1,126.95 Supplies £256.03 Belgium £0.00 Youth Fund £113.50 Total £1,496.48

Message form Jim de Rennes—Hon Sec Kingston RS Hi Mac, Please let Woking members know that they are welcome to join us at 8.00pm on Monday 16 November at Imber Court (Met Po- lice FC), East Molesey when is our guest. Jim de Ren- nes (Hon Sec Kingston RS)

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Courtesy of The Guildford Referee

Gentlemen

Kingston, Wimbledon and Sutton Referee Societies have again organised a combined societies meeting at Sutton Utd. on Thursday 18th March 2010 and I am pleased to tell you that has agreed to be our Guest Speaker.

All SC Referee Societies are invited to attend and you will receive a formal invitation early in the new year.

There will be a buffet available from 7.15 pm. and an informartive and convivial evening is anticipated.

With best wishes for a good season

Ron Hobbs

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Referees’ fitness regime puts me in a heap and critic Ferguson under pressure - Tom Dart

If Sir were to criticise my stamina, he‘d have a point. I‘m not fit to referee. Not by a long way: about eight laps of an athletics track, in fact. With officials‘ fitness on the agenda after the Manchester United manager‘s criti- cism of Alan Wiley, I went to Brighton to try out the two-part Fifa test that refe- rees and assistant referees in the Premier League and Football League must pass each pre-season to qualify for a year of heckling and hassle from players, fans and pundits. Ferguson apologised to Wiley over the weekend for ―any personal embarrass- ment‖ caused and is expected to express his regret again this week, but reiter- ated that he is worried about fitness levels, which did not lessen the fury among the refereeing community, which wants to see him punished. The FA wrote to Ferguson last week to ask him to explain his comments and was still awaiting his official reply last night before deciding whether to hand him a disrepute charge. He has until Friday to respond. On the evidence of statistics, the in-depth scientific approach to fitness of the referees‘ governing body and my own exhausting experience, the Scot should have bitten his tongue in the first place.

The speed trial went well, as I completed all six 40-metre sprints well within the time required of an international-standard official. It was the stamina part of the test, less than five minutes after the sprints, that was the problem, because I col- lapsed in a wheezy heap by the side of the Withdean Stadium pitch after less than two laps. Referees must do ten laps. I blame jet lag and dehydration, although it is just possible that a lifestyle of too much alcohol and junk food and not enough exercise may also have been a fac- tor. My weekly five-a-side jaunt? Not nearly enough. If I was a professional official, I would be entitled to two more attempts within three months before being ditched by Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the body that runs professional refereeing. But leading referees and assistants almost always pass first time. The man dashing my dreams of standing proudly on a Premier League pitch, whistle in hand, was Simon Breivik, head of sports science at PGMOL. Breivik and a colleague are responsible for the fitness of about 320 officials. I wore an RS400 monitor supplied by Polar, a heart-rate technology specialist— a chest-strap and watch gadget as used by officials for every match and training session — so Breivik was able to download the data into his laptop afterwards in the thankfully adjacent pub and prove that I was even mildly weary after the warm-up, if he had not already guessed. ―Although you passed the sprints, you were not recovering well between each of the six sprints. You averaged 84 per cent of your maximum heart rate for the sprints and spent most of that time in your high-intensity heart-rate zone,‖ he said. The monitor and ProZone statistics provide Breivik with a formidable array of in- formation. Referees and assistants send in their heart-rate data once a week, which is analysed to make sure they are not slacking off in training and to fine- tune their exercises. 11 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society

ProZone statistics from most Premier League matches also show how far from the ball the referee is at all times and how distant he is from fouls; how long the referee spends in each area of the pitch; how many sprints he makes, where on the pitch he makes them and how fast each one is. In fact, some 35 statistics break down a referee‘s performance every five minutes. PGMOL makes all Premier League and Football League referees and assistants take the Fifa test in preseason. During the campaign, referees meet in Warwick for physical and technical training once a fortnight. Top-flight referees follow specially tailored training routines, while officials from the lower leagues download generic plans available for anyone to use at ref- world.com. Leading referees undertake a more complex version of the ―bleep test‖ a couple of times during the season to check their fitness. ―It‘s about getting into the right viewing positions to make the right decisions,‖ Breivik said. ―We want them to find games easy and training sessions hard. ―Referees will find most games quite easy physically but every so often they are going to face a high-intensity game and they need the tools to keep up. Players can get a breather, but referees don‘t.‖ Statistics obtained by The Times last week show that in the match that prompted Ferguson‘s diatribe, United‘s draw with Sunderland, only seven players ran far- ther than Wiley. ―Referees only do as much physical work as is required of them in a given game, which is based on the players‘ workrate, of course,‖ Breivik said. He showed me statistics from a recent Premier League game in which the referee did 1,158.4 metres of high-intensity running while the outfield players averaged only 897.9 metres. Breivik also has a raft of numbers to show that referees are closing the gap in fit- ness — but with an average age of 41 in the top division, it is unsurprising they face a battle to keep up. ―A lot of them are as fit as players,‖ Breivik said. ―The lower their heart rate is, the fresher they are to make decisions. Younger referees will run more, but is that due to fitness or lack of experience? did- n‘t cover any more distance than he had to.‖ As for Ferguson — just how far and fast can he backtrack?

TIMES—Courtesy of Official Sports

News of the world 12 Courtesy The Guildford Referee The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society The weather so far this year has been amazing ( on Sundays anyway) but no doubt that will change soon so I thought this article from the Chiltern Referee would be quite timely—Mac

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I spotted this in the Eccles Informer—I believe Jeff may be talking at one of our meetings next year THE JEFF PETTITT COLUMN

USING ADVANTAGE TO YOUR ADVANTAGE As the season gets back into full swing The Renegade finds himself on the road going round Societies talking about his favourite subject - refereeing. Over the past couple of years I've been boring referees senseless with the Turkeys & Polecats lecture tour. This season I've decided to be a little more traditional and talk about the dark art of the Advantage Clause and then blow the cobwebs off a book written in 1903 that reveals the secrets of how to get on the Premiership. If you'd like me to visit your Society please send Fiona an e-mail [email protected] and she'll start to get it arranged. Now there are some T&C's but nothing too draco- nian. Let me give you the abridged version of the Advantage lecture - DON'T PLAY ADVANTAGE! We tend to listen to the Andy Gray viewpoint of "he kept the game flowing" thinking that will give us brownie points with the assessors and clubs. Already this season I've seen advantage played or not played in all areas of the field incorrectly. We'll talk about what you have to take into consideration when thinking about playing it by discussing the relative benefits to your match control. I look at ad- vantage from our viewpoint and then add in the viewpoint of the players that I've been coaching recently.

ADVANTAGE IN THE DEFENSIVE THIRD Whilst every rule is there to be broken - because if it couldn't be broken we wouldn't need a rule - the best bet when thinking about playing advantage in the defensive third of the field is don't. The only time you break this rule is when you're being assessed. And then you only do it when your assistant gives you an offside and the ball subsequently goes back to the goalkeeper who can and does pick it up safely. At the parks level don't even rely on the centre half - who has the ball under his control and who seemingly has options all over the park – to not make a pig's ear of his pass. By blowing the whistle and giving him a FK you allow him to cut his own throat. Remembering that giving him an IDFK you're stopping the "offside player" from closing him down and causing you problems when you shout "play-on." Already this season I've seen three of my Academy officials get drenched officiating on a Ryman's Youth League match at Tonbridge Angels and QPR versus Crystal Palace has been postponed due to a water- logged pitch. It's the rainy season. Now the innovators at Umbro have come up with a shower proof jacket that has been designed to be used actually on the field of play when the weather is inclement as well as a reserve official top when it isn't. Take a look at it by going over to referee equipment.co.uk and check out the complete range of PGMO Training Wear and accessories. You must be joking

90 yr old man goes to the chemist and asks for 6 viagra tablets. "Can you break them into quarters for me" he asks. The chemist tells him that he won't get an erec- tion with a quarter tablet. The old man says, " I don't want an erection, I am just sick of pissing on me slippers"!

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More from Jeff The Renegade says Learn from Webby When you care about your performance – and to make the top you must have pride in what you do – you do not need to be told that you‘ve made a gaffe. I suspect that our No1. referee is upset that he did not give Totten- ham Hotspur a penalty during Sunday‘s match versus Chelsea. Let‘s be honest – I think we can all bet he‘s pretty upset. Our job is NOT to castigate him, we‘ll leave that to the media and so called expert pundits – who couldn‘t referee Chelsea ver- sus Tottenham successfully if their lives depended on it, could they? Our job – if we want to improve in our officiating – is to ask what he did right and what he could have done better. I hear you ask: ―what did he do right in that situation?‖ He did what every quality referee does in every situation. He gave what he saw. He didn‘t guess, he didn‘t bow to pressure, he didn‘t (as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank suggested in the after match analysis) use common sense. He quite simply put himself in what he thought was going to be the best position and gave what he saw. As he was looking through Carvalho‘s body at impact time he couldn‘t accurately judge whether the ball or the man was taken. So he played on. It was wrong but it was also right. In other sports it‘s called the rub of the green. When you take the exam and be- come a referee you know that there will be decisions that you get right and there will be decisions that you get wrong. Webby got it wrong. Talking of wrong – what could Howard have done better? The obvious answer is get closer to the play and also get himself a better viewing angle. Getting closer to the play is a big ask as this was a fast moving passage of play. Getting a better angle would mean coming off the diagonal and heading straight for the near post to ensure that he can get a more side-on view. Changing direction when you‘re busting a gut to get into close proximity is tough – but one we must all bear in mind. You need coolness of mind to know that the first thing you have to get is a great viewing angle, when you‘re running at full tilt. Some sort of side-on view will give us all a better chance of getting it right and therefore is essential for all of us. Be prepared to change your angle of attack on a moment to moment basis. Ask a simple question: can I see the ball? Ask where can I see it better? Head for that spot. One slightly amusing aside came from Andy Gray when earlier in the match he said that if Carvalho ever puts his hands up saying: ―it wasn‘t me‖ you should err on the side of ―it was!‖ Based on this match Howard would have been right on two occasions. One good aside was the comments of Glenn Hoddle. For my money he correctly called the situation – HW didn‘t see it so he couldn‘t give it, plus when asked about the 5th and 6th official he said the man in the stand would then have missed it. As a Tottenham supporter I would have liked a penalty I would also have liked to see Jermaine Defoe beat the goalkeeper much earlier in the match when he was one-on-one. But that‘s the nature of sport. It‘s called the rub of the green. Talking of rubbing the green didn‘t the Spurs have it versus Liverpool earlier in the sea- son?

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16 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society Jones Chris Arbuckle Nick Ashworth Nigel Jones David Baker Edward Kelly Mark Barnett Colin Knock Geoff Bateman Anthony Langran Daniel Bentley Peter Langran David Blair Paul Langran Kathryn Briggs Alan LaRoche Glenn Brooks Micky Lawrence Mick Brooks Sean Levett Richard Brown Hamish Lomax Roy Burchett Stuart Loveridge Tony Busby Chris Luck Robbie Butler Roy Maher Steve Cable Lee Matthews Gary Chivers Ken McBirnie Anthony Cochrane Craig McBirnie Emily Collins Neil McLaren Bruce Collis Bill Melin Paul Cooper Dave Minto Alex Creswick Jon Mitchinson Robert Creswick Terry O Connor Andy Davies Derek Penfold Vince Dexter Andy Price Tony Dodd Daniel Read Greg Duff Simon Read Lawrence Ekins Graham Read Martin Ekins Simon Reader Brian Eve Spencer Readett Corin Exworth Sam Readett Merill Fouracre Max Rudrum Steve Gasson Phil Simkin Robert Goggin Alastair Smith Eamonn Gorringe Paul Stovold Derek Green Rick Thurgood Adam Gregory Cedge Tomlinson Ashley Griffiths Craig Tomlinson Steve Guest Peter Van Dorp James Hadley Chris Watson Alan Hailstone Richard Webb Brian Hanney Alex Webb Michael Hanney Peter Wells Pam Hanney Sam Woodruff Andy Heighes Gareth Woodyer Tara Howard Paul Wright Clem Hughes Robert Wright Mark Jackson Bryan Godolphin Ed Honoured Guest Roy Lomax 17 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society You must be joking

Salvation

A man is stranded on a desert island for ten years. One day a beautiful girl swims to shore in a wetsuit.

Man: "Boy am I happy to see you." Girl: "Hi! It seems like you've been here a long time. How long has it been since you've had a cigarette?" Man: "It's been ten years!"

With this information the girl unzips a slot on the arm of her wet suit and gives the man a cigarette.

Man: "Thank you so much!" Girl: "So tell me how long has it been since you had a drink?" Man: "It's been ten years!"

The girl unzips another pocket on her wet suit and comes out with a flask of whiskey and gives the man a drink.

Man: "Thank you so much. You are like a miracle!" Girl (starting to unzip the front of her wet suit): "So tell me then, how long has it been since you played around?" Man: "Don't tell me you've got a set of golf clubs in there too?"

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2009 / 2010 Season

November 2nd : Martin Bodenham and Gary Willard

December 7th : Steve Tomlinson, Woking Society Member

January 4th : Peter Kirkup and Mike Mullarkey

February 1st : John Morton, Head of Premier League Match Delegates

March 1st : Ian Blanchard, Senior National Game Referee Manager

April 5th : Martin Yerby, FA Cup Final Assistant Referee 2008

May 3rd : TBA

Shredder

A young engineer was leaving the office at 3.45 p.m. when he found the Acting Cheif Exec standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand.

"Listen," said the Acting CE, "this is a very sensitive and important document, and my secretary is not here. Can you make this thing work?"

"Certainly," said the young engineer. He turned the machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button.

"Excellent, excellent!" said the Acting CEO as his paper disappeared inside the machine, "I just need one copy." 19 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society

By way of some background information, both Martin and I are of course ex-Premier League and FIFA Referees. Martin is now an FA Level 3 Contributory League Referee Coach (with responsibility for 13 Referees) and a 1st Class Cricket Umpire (the first per- son in this country to officiate at the top domestic levels of both football & cricket). I still work for Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (although please note that I have nothing to do with income tax or VAT!), as well as being a Regional Referee Coach for the Profes- sional Game Match officials Limited (looking after seven Football League & seven Panel Referees), a Supply League (Level 4) Assessor, and the FA's Referee Liaison Officer with responsibility for looking after the Match Officials & UEFA Referee Observer for Chelsea FC's home Champions League matches. I hope that this is enough information.

Our topic for the evening will be Assessing and Coaching at Football League, Panel & Contributory League level. Both Martin & I now look forward to seeing you on the 2nd!

A couple of tips for the new referee in 1953

Courtesy of The Guildford Referee 20 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society

Thought it might be useful for UK refs to pass on the below which we Middx refs received recently from the Chief Executive of Middx FA.

Colleague

Re : Public Liability Insurance

As you are probably aware, the Middlesex County FA has purchased Public Liability insur- ance for all of our referees where Middlesex is their ‗parent‘ Association. This protects you should a player attempt to take action against you should they sustain an injury or other loss due to your alleged negligence.

There have been a couple of claims against our referees in recent seasons alleging negli- gence and threatening court action! However, the insurance means that you should not be exposed to any financial loss or damages as the insurers take charge and provide you with legal protection – probably the most you would ever have to do in the highly unlikely event that such a situation arises, is for you to provide a statement describing the incident.

However, I need to write to you to advise that this cover only applies to football that has been sanctioned and where the team(s)/competition are affiliated.

You need to be aware that there is an area that you may be involved in where your insur- ance would be invalidated (and this also extends to include your Personal Accident insur- ance if you have opted to pay for this in addition to the PL cover that we provide at no cost to you).

Currently, Powerleague who have a number of centres in the local area, have NOT affiliated with either or the MCFA and, therefore, any referee officiating for them is in breach of FA Regulation 9 (Regulations for the registration and control of Refe- rees). Therefore referees officiating in such unaffiliated football need to be aware that their INSURANCE WILL BE INVALIDATED in respect of any incident emanating from a Power- league activity.

I would emphasis that, currently, of the commercial small sided football providers, it is only Powerleague (and also Leisure Leagues but they only operate in the North of ) who have decided to not re-affiliate with The FA. Whilst we hope that the position will be re- versed in the near future, we have a duty of care to tell you of the insurance situation as the position stands at present. Should the situation change, we will advise you accordingly.

This is a situation that I have discussed with Arthur Smith, the Secretary of the Referees Association and he says "If any member of The Referees' Association referees any unaffili- ated competition the RA Insurance policy is invalidated. Furthermore they will receive no support whatsoever from the RA, CFA or FA. The clear message is check with your CFA or The FA to find out if the competition is registered and to ask the competition secretary for the affiliation number. If they cannot supply then the likelihood is it is not registered."

This information is provided so that you can make an informed decision on whether to offici- ate in unaffiliated football.

Yours sincerely

Peter Clayton Chief Executive

21 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society

LEC Brickwork Ltd VAT Reg.No.826 754 405

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22 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society

Courtesy of Chiltern Referee

23 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society

24 Courtesy of Chiltern Referee The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society

From whistles to watches, flags to record cards, shirts to socks , Tony’s got the lot in his big black bag Help support the society and make sure you give Tony a call for all your refereeing needs 01483 836388 / 07766973304

Surrey County Cups Saturday Lower Junior Cup 1st Round Referee - Paul Blair Saturday Junior Cup 1st Round Referee - Paul Blair Sunday Lower Junior Cup 1st Round Referee - Paul Blair Sunday Intermediate Cup 1st Round Referee - Paul Blair 4/10/09 Women‘s County Cup 1st Round Referee—Emily McBirnie

Chelsea Academy Chelsea U16 V Fulham U16 Assistant Ref Paul Blair

London F.A. Senior Cup Rd1 Cockfosters v Hanwell Town. Assistant—Paul Gorringe

25 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society

Advice on the prevention of Stalking and Harassmentment

Hamish Brown MBE

Retired Scotland Yard Detective Inspector

UK’s leading authority on stalking and harassment. Hamish has been personally requested by high profile individuals and organisations to:

Advice and Lecture on this specialist subject

Website: www.hamishbrownmbe.com Email: [email protected] 26 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society

Swiss referee gives Young Boys the finger during cup match

Referee Massimo Busacca, the man tasked with overseeing Man United’s school- ing at the hands of Barcelona in last year’s Champions League final, was em- broiled in sweary scandal this weekend after pointing with the wrong finger dur- ing a Swiss Cup game between third division minnows FC Baden and Swiss Super League runners-up, Young Boys (who infamously play at the lap dance-hosting Wankdorf.)

I wonder what would happen if a premiership referee gave one of our more gobby managers the finger? No doubt he would be sacked!

Busacca was handed a 3 match ban

Home team Baden took a shock lead after nine minutes, which set off a mini pitch invasion and prompted Busacca, whose history of refereeing incidents on Wikipedia reads like an instruction manual on ‘how to lose friends and enrage people’, to order a loudspeaker announcement for fans to stop scaling the fences.

Inexplicably, the travelling Young Boys support took offence to someone trying to look out for their safety and struck up an ‘abusive chant’ - leading the ref to flash a middle-finger salute. Busacca later apologised in a statement posted on the Swiss FA website:

“I let myself get provoked by the verbal insults of the fans and was dragged down to making an unsporting gesture.

“It should not have happened. My reaction should have been without error.

Perhaps he should’ve done the fan-aggravating Emmanuel Adebayor Patented Celebration Slide instead.

THE SPOILER This article was published on Thursday 24 September, 2009. - Courtesy of Official Sports

You must be joking

Two colleagues were discussing their respective weekends one Monday morning. "I played golf," said the first. "I hit two of my best balls," he said. "Tell me about it," said his co-worker. "I stepped on a rake."

27 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees‘ Society

Kevin Keegan—courtesy of the wit and wisdom of football

28 WARBLER REFERENCE GUIDE 2009/10

THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION Wembley Stadium PO Box 1966 www.TheFA.com SW1P 9EQ FAMAO National Managers Janie Frampton Education 07984 003476 “name”@theFA.com Ray Olivier Workforce Roger Vaughan Recruitment and Retention Surrey County Football Association Connaught House 36 Bridge Street Leatherhead, www.surreyfa.com Surrey, KT22 8BZ 01372 373543 Referee Competition Manager Mark Wood [email protected] Appointments Secretary Rod Wood 0208 979 2477 & 07860 400995 [email protected] Referee Development Officer Tim Lawrence 01372 373543 Promotion Assessor Co-ordinator Martin Allen 07769 793493 [email protected] Referees Association of England 1, Westhill Rd, Counden, Coventry CV6 2AD www.footballreferee.org 024 7660 1701

Surrey County Referees Association [email protected] Honorary Secretary Brian Fish 01483 420007 [email protected]

Guildford & Woking Alliance League Terry Hawkett 01932 887058 07778 628547 Referees’ Secretary [email protected] Surrey County Intermediate League Adrian Freeman 01483 894351 / 07814 516911 (Western) Referees’ Secretary [email protected] Suburban League Tony King 01189 740465 Assistant Referees’ Secretary [email protected] Combined Counties League Philip Nash 07951 415046 Assistant Referees’ Secretary [email protected] Southern Youth League Peter Harris 01252315856 / 07967 988840 Assistant Referees’ Secretary Peter.harris1767ntlworld.com Camberley & District Sunday League Philip Nash 07951 415046 Referees’ Secretary [email protected] Surrey & Hants Border Sunday League Bob Dick 01428 682542 Referees’ Secretary [email protected] Farnham & District Sunday League Colin Barnett 01252 328953 Referees’ Secretary [email protected] Surrey Elite Intermediate Football League Derek Stovold 07787 590132 Referees’ Secretary [email protected] Surrey Youth League www.wsyl.org.uk Referees’ Secretary Alan Wiggins 01932 789376 [email protected]

Surrey Primary League Phillip Lee 07837 101012 Referees Secretary [email protected] Middlesex County FA 39/41 Roxborough Rd Harrow, Www.middlesexFA.com Middlesex, HA1 1NS 0208 424 8524

Hampshire County FA Winklebury Football Complex, Winklebury Way Www.hampshireFA.com Basingstoke, RG23 8BF 01256 853000

Berks and Bucks County FA 15a London Street, Farringdon Www.berksandbucksFA.com Oxfordshire, SN7 8AG 01367 242099

London FA 11, Hurlingham Business Park, Sulivan Rd Fulham Www.londonFA.com London SW6 3DU 0870 774 3010 Kingsize Menswear Specialist

For a full range of casual to formal clothing.

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