Who’d be a referee ? Once again last week we saw at the highest level a referee under attack by players as Aleksandar Mitrovic appeared to push referee Chris Kavanagh in the Man Utd Fulham game.
Referees are always in the spot light, even with VAR (Video Assistant Refereeing) and so many people now expect perfect decision making. Problem is one persons perfect is not the same as another’s.
So where does that leave amateur sport referees? Particularly when you think about the game trying to avoid significant incidents which determines whether new referees stay involved.
At least 1 DADS V DADS game this week I am sure will have reported zero free kicks, so it got us thinking about aggression in sport, what creates it and the referees role?
When DADS V DADS started, a concern had been the potential need for referees, even now a few new folks ask, where is the referee?.
I am sure most of us have had a try at refereeing at some point right ? and realised the nightmare job it is, and we’ve probably all too been part of a team of older players competing against early 20 somethings, and how that can bring out the worst in people, even using aggression as a way to counter fitter, better, faster players. Something the referee has to then hanlde.
Dads v Dads objective has always been to create an enjoyable atmosphere in which to play sport, one of encouragement and involvement , no moaning and groaning, no aggressive challenges, lot’s of apologies even but with a bit of good competition added in for good measure. If it ticks those boxes people stay involved longer term. And it creates a sustainable way for us all to stay involved in sport we enjoy.
So does the absence of a referee actually help? put a man in a cage in between 2 opposing forces and it creates a fulcrum for animosity and aggression. At DADS v DADS those who lead it definitely think there is something to that, after a year now of Dads v Dads games we’ve seen how players referee themselves and it helps keeps games at the right level.
Of course that is not directly applicable for the Premiere League but there is something in relevant in that individuals should be referee themselves and how they conduct themselves at whatever level of football they play.
At DADS v DADS, it’s us, the players that make it work so well and we have to say THANK YOU for that! None of us want to be the di** he** who gets asked to not come back. You come with a great collective attitude! People don’t leave one of our games thinking that they didn’t enjoy it because of too much aggression or lack of tolerance. And long may that continue so we can KEEP PLAYING and KEEP OTHERS PLAYING TOO👍⚽
