Sunday 31 March 2013

Footie

So, I'm watching Australian Rules Football (Hawthorn vs Geelong). Back in the day I had an Australian exchange teacher who taught AFL for PE. Ever since, I've harboured a secret passion for the footie game.
Watching it on tv I love to watch the referees. Unfailingly polite to the players, run everywhere and the goal line judge has the coolest signal in refere lexicon...

Lot's of whistles though. Every time a player catches a ball kicked by a mate... whistle. Which got me thinking, the nice thing about soccer reffing is the whistle restraint. Restart the game at the 1st or 2nd half, after a goal, after a substitution, foul, really, that's most of them.

(not sure lexicon was used properly, but since nobody reads this I will leave it in).

Anyway, I hope the KSRA referee symposium gets a good turnout.

Only like 13 days to season start, then I can start tracking my games and posting for the enjoyment of... nobody.  Sigh.

Go Geelong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football 



Saturday 16 March 2013

Code Red

So, I'm on a six hour flight and wondering how to pass the time. Fortunately, I brought the Laws!
It's been a while since I've read the Laws from end to end (since the end of last season at least).
Every time I read it something new stands out.

I know that I'm preaching to the choir because my two readers regularly read the Laws. (if they're willing to read this blog they'll read anything) hashtag smileyface

Wait, you don't write 'hashtag', you use # instead? Social media is confusing.

But I digress.

I'm not sure why I read the Laws so often. Probably because I am waiting for the obscure situation to arise on the pitch and I can confidently quote which Law and subsection is in play.

Or if I'm ever on trial.


Now if I can only find that mess hall.

Top 10 Tom Cruise chase scenes...

Odin Poll Results


Monday 11 March 2013

Something found

Well, it has been a while since I've posted. Much to the chagrin of my two followers.
Could actually be only one given the attention span of the internet generation.

But what caused me to start writing?

A coin.

So, I put on a jacket I haven't worn for a while. Turns out there's a coin in there. A referee Adidas coin that went missing near the end of last season. Apparently it was in this coat pocket the entire time.
Made my day. It's super nice when you find something that you thought you'd lost, it's like you just got it brand new.

Which got me thinking about our two recent entry level referee clinics.
We held two clinics and welcome 43 new referees into the world. Many of these people are players already and I've seen them (or reffed them) on the pitch. Now, they are brand new referees!

Very encouraging to see the number of youth involved. That is the future of officials.

Plus, I have a whole new bunch to educate about Adjudicator, El Presidente and Peacemaker.


As always, follow me on "Twitter"  @_neil_farber