Ref's Journey

This page is dedicated to the journey of a young referee as he attempts to make it to the FIFA referee's panel

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Some bits and bobs that I've found on the internet with me in

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Whyteleafe V Holmesdale

So, as I mentioned in my first post, this game was different to all other games i had officiated in. This was the first time that I was officiating in a game that people actually had to pay to see. The reason for this is that the league states that teams must charge for entry because the league stands on the 5th step of the National League system. This means that its a step below the Ryman League and 8 levels away from the Barclays Premier League in the English Football League System. This was my first game in this league and I was anxious. The game wasn't near where I live, so I arranged to get picked up by one of the other officials and we traveled to the game together, both suited and booted. We did all the pre match formalities like the pitch inspection (this was crucial due to the bad weather recently in the area.) We were then briefed by the referee and found out that we were all being assessed. Now, for your first game on a new league. the last thing you want is to be assessed. We went back to the changing rooms got ready and then found out we'd be using buzzer flags like they do in the Prem. Now, ive used buzzer flags before so it wasn't a big deal.

We worked well as a team through the whole game in my eyes. As expected we all got some attention from the crowd but it wasn't nothing major. The home team won 3-0 after being 0-0 at half time. The assessor came in to the dressing room at full time and gave us all minor feedback. One point he picked out for me was my flagging technique. I mad the school boy error of flagging for offside's with my left hand as opposed to my right. I noticed that I did it a few times in the match and tried to swap quickly thinking that the mistake wouldn't be noticed, but it was. Other than that, I was in the clear. Iv'e just got to wait for the official report to be sent to me, but I think that other than that mistake, I had a good game. Looking forward to my next game in that league.

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First Post

O.K. So its 00:54 on Monday 30th December 2013 and i'm making my first post on my tumblr journey.

Let me first introduce myself, my name is Jordan Whitworth. I'm 17 years of age and I was born on Friday 8th March 1996. I have loads of hobbies and things that I do to keep me occupied. I coach youth football, i'm a volunteer youth worker, I even work for St John Ambulance providing first aid to the public, but most importantly, I'm a qualified football referee. Let me take you back to the beginning of my journey and give you a brief run up until where I am today.

Now, to qualify as a referee, you need to be 14. The issue was, when I was ready to do my course, I was only 13. LUCKILY, I found a course that started two days before my 14th Birthday and ended five days after. This was perfect. I signed up to it straight away and got given a place on the course. Now this course was an "intense" course which meant that instead of learning a bit each day for a few weeks, it was learn a lot in long days over three days. It didn't bother me. I passed my test on Saturday 13th March 2010 and was officially given my London Football Association referee badge and added to next season's LFA handbook. The very next day, I went and referee'd a youth match, knowing that I was doing it in line with the FIFA Laws of the Game.

In March 2012, I turned 16 and therefore was able to start officiating adult matches. I immediately joined and adult league that I have been around since I was young, because of my dad, and for the rest of the 2011/12 season assisted other referee's by 'running the line'. At the beginning of the 2012/13 season, I was given my first official 'middle' of adult football. Now this was scary. I'd only ever refereed youth games and to be told that I have to be in charge of 22 fully grown men was quite scary actually, but, I handled the game well and it went of with no issues. I went through the rest of the 2012/13 season having completed eight middles and 11 lines.*

There are two games that I haven't accounted for in these figures. Both came in the same week. One of the games, I was there as a spectator and at half time, the referee said that he couldn't carry on anymore due to injury. Luckily, this was a mid-week game and was being covered with assistants as well, so normal protocol took place and the senior assistant took charge of the second half. This then left a hole to fill on the line. This is where I stepped in. Luckily I had boots on me, so I put them on and ran the line for the whole of the second half. Because it wasn't actually my game and I wasn't there as a referee, i'm not adding that game to my figures.

One game that I will add to my figures, will stick in my heart and mind for a VERY LONG TIME. Now, people who know me, know that I'm a Charlton Athletic fan, so when I get told that two teams from my league are having a friendly at The Valley (home ground of Charlton) and they're treating it like a PROPER game and they need a fourth official, a HUGE grin slowly forms on my face. So. Match Day. I arrive at The Valley and get escorted to the changing rooms. I walk pass the Charlton home team dressing room and the away dressing room and shown to the officials dressing room. All four of us (the ref, two assistants and me(fourth official) get changed and briefed by the referee. One of the assistants stated that he had a slight car accident on the way to the match and his back was hurting, but he would be alright. O.K. let me get on with it. Home team, away team and us go out to the pitch. Pictures are taken and the captains do the toss of the coin. Game starts. I had about 10 minutes on my watch when I looked over and noticed that the official who had a bad back was doubling over in pain and the referee was signalling for me to come over and take the flag for the rest of the match. Now, not many people can say this and I never thought I would say it but, I got to run the line at The Valley, the home of my team Charlton Athletic. In my eyes, there's only one thing better than that, and that's refereeing at The Valley. I haven't done that. YET. 80 minutes and a round of penalty kicks later, my dream day had been completed.

As i'm writing this, I'm about half way through my 2013/14 season. This season has seen my join two more leagues and start to officiate in midweek fixtures. So far this season, I've refereed seven games and ran the line on 12 games.* This is near enough what I completed the whole of last season.

My 12th line of the season came on Saturday 28th December 2013, just two days ago. This game was different to all other games that I have officiated in. Please see next post for details of this match

I hope you like this tumblr and can join me in my journey to get to the top. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me.

*this doesn't include youth matches