Neil Hair (you can see why). First season in the EFL, only his fifth or sixth L1 game, hope he's not a gullible novice.
Wish they would fast track ex players who maybe had to quit playing through injury & wanted to stay in the game. Might be they just can't endure tackles etc, but otherwise are fully fit. Much better than the current policy. Refs who never kicked a ball in anger, cannot judge a game of football!
Yes, there's no doubt that in cricket, the best umpires are those who've played the game at professional level, Gould, Kettleborough, Illingworth etc and in the past, Bird and Shephard.
I’m sure every football ref has kicked a ball in anger. Just because they haven’t played in the football league, does not mean they don’t understand the rules and play. They are trained and go through many levels before appearing on a football league pitch. They work the line, etc first. On the other hand, If footballers wanted to I’m sure they would. My theory is that they don’t.
Doesn’t matter what ref we have 9 times out of 10 they are shocking and biased in favour of our opponents
To reach that ratio the next three we get need to bend over backwards for us! I think the thing for me is we don't seek to influence the ref in the way most other teams do and its made even harder with our captain being an unvocal goalie.
As an ex ref I can confirm that the majority have not played adult football. I have seen the fast tracking of people who really do not know what goes on in a match. Of course they know the rules, they have to pass exams.
Do many ex pro players become refs? The fast track opportunity has been around since the late 1990sas I recall and yet there’s been little take up as far as I’m aware.
