Written by Tom Danaher, 15, from Barton, who is one of Bedfordshire FA Referees on the School of Excellence in reference to the Half Term Training Day held on Thursday 29th October which Steve Bennett, Premiership Referee, attended.
The day began with Chris dividing the group into 4. We went onto the field to do some drills, led by Steve. They were both focused on assisting the referee and what you can do to give yourself the optimum chance of getting the decisions correct. The drills were helped by a young team from Dunstable Colts who acted as players to make the drills much easier. After passing through cones which tested our ‘crabbing’ and running ability with the flag, we had to keep in line with the second rearmost defender. The manager of the team played a pass and we had to judge whether the attacker was offside when the ball was played. This was difficult because the players ‘crossed’ and it took a lot of concentration! All was captured on camera by Graham, who passed the footage onto Chris. Once everyone in the group did the drill twice, we went into the changing rooms to play back our decisions. It was interesting to watch because it showed each of us how good (or bad!) our assisting looks. On the whole, the majority of the decisions were correct. In an overwhelming number of cases where the decision was INCORRECT, there was a clear reason why. This was usually because the assistant was simply too far away from the second rearmost defender to have an informed view of the attacker’s position. Steve also recorded examples of good and bad practice during the session. These were shown after lunch and emphasized how important it is to TAKE YOUR TIME to stop things looking scruffy on the line. He couldn’t stress enough that presentation was vital when assisting and that you will lose crucial marks if the flag is in the wrong hand, etc.
After our well-deserved lunch break, we went inside where we watched 20 incidents of foul play. We had to each write down how play would restart, and whether the offender should be cautioned or sent off for his infringement. Some challenges provoked great differences in opinion. These were marked later and Jeff got the most right. Afterwards, we did a similar quiz, which was based on offside decisions. We had one view of the run of the attacker and had to judge whether he was onside or offside as the ball was played. Scores on this quiz were seemingly much higher all round! Lee won this quiz and got just one offside decision wrong out of twenty! In this exercise, we learnt how important it is to be 100% focused on the field of play to get the decision right. The quiz to do with fouls and misconduct was slightly more thought-provoking because we each had different interpretations of the law. Steve listed the thought-process which must sub-consciously take place when a challenge is made: Can the opponent win the ball fairly? Is he focused on the path of the ball? Where is the ball going to go if the challenge is timed correctly? Does the challenge endanger the opponent’s safety? Where are the player’s studs in relation to his opponent? Is there intent in the challenge? What is the temperature of the game? And the list goes on...
Steve later answered questions about players in the Premier League who are particularly difficult to man-manage, and who he most enjoys having on his lines. Overall, Steve Bennett led a thought-provoking session which helped everyone how to prepare yourself to make decisions (both when in the middle and on the line) and to always expect the unexpected. It was a very enjoyable day, and Steve deserves great credit for inspiring us to follow in his footsteps.