I am miles too old but did this for years previously. It always intrigued me how desperate some players and teams were to have a neutral referee, yet they felt it was ok to sometimes abuse and threaten the refs. In the end despite being implored passionately and offered double the match fee I would end up thinking feck 'em. I used to average over 8 in the teams marks too!
I could tell many stories of my park refereeing "experiences" and I continued refereeing on Sunday mornings after having been promoted to senior and semi pro football. Just one story for now.
In my thirties, I had a border collie who joined me on Sunday at the local park. He would carry my lino flags in his mouth to the centre circle for the toss. At the end of the toss, I would show him the red card and he would leave the field of play and stay off the field until the end of the game; no restraints, such as a lead was used. At the final whistle he would run back on and jump into my arms. He could dribble a ball, knock the ball back to me with his nose and our record "head to head" keepy uppy was eight!. Whenever I turned up on a Sunday, I would hear "It's the referee with the dog" rather than "It's the good (or bad) referee today".
I could tell many stories of my park refereeing "experiences" and I continued refereeing on Sunday mornings after having been promoted to senior and semi pro football. Just one story for now.
In my thirties, I had a border collie who joined me on Sunday at the local park. He would carry my lino flags in his mouth to the centre circle for the toss. At the end of the toss, I would show him the red card and he would leave the field of play and stay off the field until the end of the game; no restraints, such as a lead was used. At the final whistle he would run back on and jump into my arms. He could dribble a ball, knock the ball back to me with his nose and our record "head to head" keepy uppy was eight!. Whenever I turned up on a Sunday, I would hear "It's the referee with the dog" rather than "It's the good (or bad) referee today".
tell Holden about him, we need a skilful midfielder who's a bit of a dog
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It always intrigued me how desperate some players and teams were to have a neutral referee, yet they felt it was ok to sometimes abuse and threaten the refs.
In the end despite being implored passionately and offered double the match fee I would end up thinking feck 'em.
I used to average over 8 in the teams marks too!
In my thirties, I had a border collie who joined me on Sunday at the local park. He would carry my lino flags in his mouth to the centre circle for the toss. At the end of the toss, I would show him the red card and he would leave the field of play and stay off the field until the end of the game; no restraints, such as a lead was used. At the final whistle he would run back on and jump into my arms. He could dribble a ball, knock the ball back to me with his nose and our record "head to head" keepy uppy was eight!. Whenever I turned up on a Sunday, I would hear "It's the referee with the dog" rather than "It's the good (or bad) referee today".