Wednesday 19 September 2012

Can't Replace This

Can't beat this Sept weather, that's for sure. And can't beat playoff soccer.
Tracker's working too.

Game Summary:
Felt good, legs much better than the other night. Good to know I can keep up with this league at least.

Stat Line:
half / km / avg speed / top speed
1st / 2.77 / 3.5 / 18.5
2nd / 2.96 / 3.8 / 21.3

Total distance thru 90 min: 5.73 km

Made a conscious decision to keep intensity up through the 2nd so good to see km's higher than first.

Visual:
Scatter graph of km's by half. Early season when I started tracking is to the left, most recent games to the right. Good trend recently of halves inching closer to 3 km per half. 
 Bookings
1

Assistants
The Hynes brothers.

Kit
Adjudicator.

So, I've been thinking about the NFL replacement refs. Can you imagine the pressure these replacements are feeling? For the most part they are lower college level and now they are reffing in the show. Preseason was one thing but now, after two weeks, we're starting to hear things from players and coaches. The league has stats showing the number of calls is roughly the same as the first two weeks as last year. Coaches and players (and commentators) bemoan the calls not made.

I know these replacements are doing the best they can and if they are given enough time they too could probably become good officials at the NFL level. But what a crash course.

Couple of thoughts...
* this really highlights for me why you need to put in the work to be a top official. You need to be fit, know the rules, and put in the time analyzing reflecting on performance and always continuous improvement.
* respect is something earned and clearly these replacements haven't earned it yet. You want to be a top official and you must give respect to earn respect.
* if FIFA locks out its refs and needs an aging District to cover a World Cup tournament, I'd be in. If only for the free kits.

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@_neil_farber

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