@WokingRA Woking Referees Society wokingrefereessociety Chairman President Andy Bennett 07538 714747 Vince Penfold Vice Chairman Life Vice Presidents Colin Barnett Ken Chivers ; Neil Collins ; David Cooper; Peter Guest ; Chris Jones, Treasurer and Membership Secretary Secretary Anthony (Mac) McBirnie Bryan Jackson 01483 423808 01483 835717 / 07770 643229 1 Woodstock Grove, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 2AX [email protected] Training Officer Editor : The Warbler Pat Bakhuizen 07834 963821 Mac McBirnie, [email protected] 07770 643229 Welfare Officer Supplies Officer Gareth Heighes Gareth Heighes [email protected] 07707118446 [email protected] 07707118446 R.A Delegates Committee Brian Reader 01483 480651 Chris Busby ; Jonty Bolland ;Callum Peter Tony Loveridge Martin Read ; Paul Saunders ; Will Siegmund Friends of Woking Referees Society Roy Lomax ; Andy Dexter; Tom Jackson ; Mick Lawrence ; Lee Peter ; Jim de Rennes : Eamonn Smith ; Tim Robinson Affiliate Member Ian Ransom ; Morgan Hamilton INSIDE THIS MONTH’S WARBLER Page 3: Agenda Page 4/5: Chairman’s Chatter / Know Your Observer Page 6.: Membership & Accounts / Just a Sec / Dates for your Diary Page 7: Mac’s Musings Page 8 : Last Mont’s Meeting Page 9 : This Month’s Speaker - Steve Worsley Page 10 : Centenary Club Page 11 : Plum Tree Page 12 : Offsides - AR or VAR ? Dick Sawden Smith Page 13: Letters to the Editor Page 14/15 : Tolerance - A Major Requisite in Refereeing : Brian Richards Page 16 : Adie Awaits with Anticipation. : Adie Freeman Page 17: Tory Leader Misses Vital Vote : Daily Record Page 18 /19 : Referees and Abuse : BBC Sport Page 20 : The Game of 3 Halves Page 22 : Pitch Inspections : Simon Parbury Page 24 : Willy’s New Year Resolutions : Red Card Willie Page 28/29 : Murphy’s Meanderings The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees’ Society Our first meeting of the year will once again be conducted via Zoom commencing at 8pm Our Guest Speaker this month sees the welcome return of Steve Worsley Whose subject is “ You are the VAR” Zoom joining Link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85144754234 Meeting ID: 851 4475 4234 The February meeting will be on Monday 1st February 2021 The deadline for the February Warbler is Friday 22nd January The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Society or its’ Committee 3 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees’ Society Hello Everyone Welcome to 2021 and equally as importantly, another issue of your Warbler. Firstly, I hope you all managed to make the best of Christ- mas and New Year despite the circumstances and that you at least got to see your families and loved ones, either in person or via the wonders of Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Facetime. Thank you to all of you who were able to attend our virtual Christmas Do – massive thanks must go to Vince, Pat and Jacko for providing over two hours of quality (I’ve looked up the definition of quality so trust me!!) entertainment on the night, all done under the watchful eye of our usual Compere Martin Read (he was on loan to the audience for the night) who hope- fully approved of the format – I’m sure he’s already itching to be back in the Hot Seat next December though?!! I’m sure Mac will have made more studious notes than I throughout the evening to ensure you’re given a full run-down of the night elsewhere in this issue. This month’s Guest Speaker is our old (in every sense of the word) friend Steve Worsley who will be utilising all our technological expertise to bring us another of his now-famous interactive sessions. Please do make the effort to join and start off 2021 in a positive fashion as Steve’s evenings are ALWAYS guaranteed to be thought-provoking and fun. Steve, you’re very welcome as always and we’re looking forward to hosting you. With us living currently within Tier 4, this has meant more football cancellations and crowds reduced to going back to the comfort of their living rooms to get their football fix. All I can say is please stay positive, football WILL return at semi- professional and grassroots level as soon as is possible – in the meantime, if you’re wanting to chat about anything, football related or not, please do get in touch with me or one of your football colleagues/friends – it’s genuinely OK to not feel OK sometimes and if this is the case, please don’t feel your burdening anyone as you won’t be – you’re only ever one phone call, email or text away from a friendly face or voice. So, let’s start 2021 in a positive fashion – let’s all log in on the 4th January to welcome Steve Worsley and enjoy his presentation, let’s get behind the Centen- ary Club that Jacko has put a lot of work into (I’ll be writing to you all separately about this very soon too), let’s come to the meetings with lots of questions on recent match scenarios or things you’ve seen as we all love to discuss these and let’s in general commit to making 2021 a positive one – it’s YOUR society!! Finally, may I wish all of you, your families, and your loved ones a very healthy and safe 2021. Here’s to happier times for us all. Best wishes to you all. Andy 4 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees’ Society Know Your Observer Over the past few seasons as I’ve been fortunate enough to move through the ranks, I’ve got used to Observers being very much part of the match day “experience”. As a Level 4 & Level 3 referee, the Observer would be ap- pointed anything between a month or a few days before your game. My inbox would let me know that I had a new email informing me of the name and contact details of the appointed Observer and it was always regarded as good practice to get in touch with them ahead of the game to say hello and let them know what time you intended to arrive, invite them to join you for a cuppa and a biscuit etc. If you were extra fortunate, you may get an Observer appointed who a) you knew and got on well with and/or b) was regarded as a “referees’ man” and a “good guy”. There’s always the flip side to that as well remember!! Since getting into the professional game two seasons ago, Observers are ap- pointed to EVERY game, so you then get to learn how to play the system a little bit. There are some real characters on the circuit and ALL of them have either refereed or run the line at the highest level too. Since Covid struck back in March, Observers on the National League and EFL have been asked not to meet the match officials’ pre-match; They arrive at the ground 60mins before kick-off, watch the game and simply go home and await the match footage to be released The only contact we now have pre-match is the Observer sending out a Zoom invite for 24hrs after the game for the debrief to take place virtually – some offi- cials prefer this as we can get away from the ground within 30mins of the final whistle being blown and some officials dislike it as they’d rather know the Ob- server’s thoughts ASAP and not have to give up another 30-45mins the next night to go through things. Which leads me on to a debrief I was part of this season. The Observer in question is HIGHLY respected and officiated at the HIGHEST level possible. One of my colleagues on the game was asked to give his thoughts on a particular decision that he made (along with the referee) during the game. The observer wasn’t convinced as to his explanation and asked a few more probing questions. I could see my colleague was getting more and more worked up with these questions and that the referee hadn’t particularly jumped to his defence either!! Eventually my colleague cracked and despite his experi- ence and number of years in the game he went back at the Observer in a way that the rest of us on the debrief call just sat there in disbelief. Suffice to say that the Observer didn’t take too kindly to it but kept his polite, calm exterior whilst remaining professional at the same time. It was the first time I’d been a part of any debrief (pre- or post-COVID-19) that had been anything other than mildly tense, but it taught me that sometimes you just have to know your audience and also how to read people. It’s another learning experience on my football journey and one that showed me that you don’t just learn when performing on the green bit, but also away from the game and in the comfort of your own home. Andy 5 The Warbler The Magazine of the Woking Referees’ Society 2020/21 Membership 2020 Current Status General £2379.57 70 Full Members Supplies £200.37 10 Friends Belgium £0.00 3Affiliate Members Training Fund £181.97 76 Referees trained in 2019/2020 Centenary Fund (formerly £6520.03 Youth Fund) Total £3,413.94 ♦ Big thanks to Bryan “ Jacko” Jackson for not only buying the prizes for the Society’s Christmas Meeting but also, in his Santa Claus guise, delivering them to the worthy winners of the Christmas Quiz and Treasure Hunt. Unfor- tunately Rudolph and his fellow reindeer were otherwise occupied, so he had to rely on his trusty Toyota ( Hybrid of course) ably assisted no doubt by Jacko Junior.