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As covered already in this blog I started refereeing this season for a number of reasons, which range from staying active in the game, having ambitions of seeing how far I can take it, improve my fitness, understand the game from a referee's persepective and to have something to do on Saturday's when my better half is at work but another key reason is for the extra income, especially in this, my wedding year.

So I was delighted to have been put down for 3 games this weekend and hope that I could manage to juggle them so that I could actually take all 3 on comfortably. They were all close by with 2 being for Ashfield Athletic and the third being for QE Rangers, who play in Ashfield. I had worried about them all being 11 a-side games as you'd hope that if you were taking multiple games in the day that you'd start with the easy 7 a-side games but these were to be U12, U14 and U15, so a fair bit of running for me to do!

As it turned out, 2 of the fixtures clashed and couldn't be altered, and the QE game got postponed so I ended up with just the one, which was a big shame. That being said, the U14 game between Ashfield Athletic and Newark Town Cavaliers was a great game that ended 5-1 to Ashfield and probably could've been a lot more. It was an easy game to officiate with no big decisions to make and no-one needed talking to for any discipline issues. I still received a little dig from a spectator for having 'bottled' a decision late on to award Ashfield a penalty when a cross from the left win clipped an arm on the way over but the arm wasn't raised and there was no time for the player to get out of the way so it certainly wasn't a penalty but the spectator only said it in jest anyway!

Season starts - 3 games!

My first weekend as a qualified referee saw me travel to Lowdham for 2 games, one at U14 followed by one at U16. Wanting to make a good impression and start as I mean to go on - as well as give myself plenty of time to find the ground, I set off a good hour before the first kick off time, arriving well before both teams! The ground had one full size pitch, which in the morning was split into 2 junior pitches. I got there just as 1 junior game had started and another were awaiting a referee (so it would appear!).

I was sat on the touchline watching the first junior game when I was approached by the manager of one of the other junior teams who asked if I would ref their game as their official hadn't appeared. It was an easy enough game - Southwell United against Chesterfield at U8, which ended 7-1 to the hosts. That was a nice £15 unexpectedly earned in little over 20 minutes of meandering round a little pitch in the sun.

Straight after this the U14 match kicked off, with Lowdham Colts suffering a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Ashfield Athletic. There were some cracking goals in this game too. A good match to start in full size football with too as I had had doubts about my fitness to get around a pitch for the length of the game but this wasn't an issue as you actually don't do as much running as you would think, despite being almost constantly on the move.

The final game raised a few laughs as those that had spent the day at the ground were noticing I was about to do my third game on the bounce and with the sun beating down, they all wished me luck. Woodhouse Colts Yellows were the visitors and recognising the manager from an FA Coaching course I had taken at MTFC a few years ago, chatted breifly before the game.

His opinion of me had appeared to drop once the game kicked off though as I soon found out he was one of those managers who verbally contested every decision no matter how clear! I don't mind these managers though, in fact I was one myself, so makes a change me being on the receiving end of it. Lowdham Colts Reds U16 won this game 2-1, with the winner coming quite late on, and another belter it was too.

The second half was by far the longest 30 minutes of my life though as severe cramp had set in and I ended the game as one of those refs you see that rarely leave the centre circle! Luckily my eyesight is still with me (just!) so it wasn't noticed that I was lagging well behind play!

After the game, both managers congratulated me for a good game, including Ray (WCFC) who apologised for the fact he turns into an animal once the whistle has started play! A good start to what will hopefully be a very good season.