Iber Cup 2014

Transcription

Iber Cup 2014

Iber Cup 2014
Tournament Summary
An Overview by
Nick Dunn, Paul Kelly, Ben Bowles,
Joe Kasper, Scott Rudd & Joe Stokes.
Iber Cup 2014
www.kentfa.com/referees
P a g e |2
Iber Cup 2014
Contents
Iber Cup 2014 .......................................................................................................................................................... 4
Tournament Background .................................................................................................................................... 4
Preparation Day at Bedfordshire FA ................................................................................................................... 5
Ben Bowles Tournament Review ............................................................................................................................ 6
Joe Kasper Tournament Review............................................................................................................................ 12
Scott Rudd Tournament Review ........................................................................................................................... 21
Joe Stokes Tournament Review ............................................................................................................................ 30
Paul Kelly Coaching Review................................................................................................................................... 40
Nick Dunn Tournament Summary......................................................................................................................... 47
Closing Summary................................................................................................................................................... 48
Message of Thanks............................................................................................................................................ 48
P a g e |3
Iber Cup 2014
Iber Cup 2014
Tournament Background
The Iber Cup is a “development” tournament which means that priority is given to young, promising officials in
attendance over the more experience ones, simply as they could benefit from their participation. This means that the
average age of all officials is quite low (approximately at 21 years of age). The level of referees is instead quite high.
FIFA Referees shall be in attendance at the competition, as well as a mixture of Level 7 Officials, to Level 2b Officials.
This will allow our Kent Academy Officials to interact with Referees from all over the World, who have a vast amount
of experience to share.
Benefits of the Tournament to Match Officials
There are several benefits to utilising this Competition for a varied method to Refereeing Development. Having
previous and personal experience of refereeing at International Competitions in America, there is an array of
rewards that can be taken away. These benefits would include, but not limited to;
 Development of communication skills; Match Officials will be refereeing International players, with the
majority not being able to speak English. They will have to quickly learn the art of communicating with
these players to help sell their decisions, and speak during the game, due to the language barrier. This
will heighten their ability to use additional skills, when they come back to referee in Kent.
 Improving fitness skills; Match Officials will be required to have an excellent level of fitness before
attending the Tournament, however, we will be looking to develop their fitness levels whilst out there.
 Exposure to fellow Officials across the World, enabling them to share best practice, and develop ideas
they may not receive in this Country; for example, learning from FIFA referees. Also, they will form many
friendships with other County FA Academies in England.
 Initiating a sense of pride for our Match Officials, and Coaches, to represent their County FA at an
International Tournament.
 Develop confidence, self-esteem and positivity for these young Match Officials; they will have to interact,
spend time, and liaise with people they have never seen or met before, which is daunting. By allowing
them the opportunity to do this at a Tournament they have no recognition of, they will be able to bring
these skills back to Kent, and introduce themselves with confidence, enhancing their presence, persona
and personality, both on and off the field of play.
 An appreciation of the different styles in which the game is played, across the World, as well as different
cultural styles.
 Enhance social and personal skills of Match Officials, as well as an insight into what you can achieve as a
Match Official.
To properly evaluate the performance of referees, there will be a group of Referee Assessors working on the games.
The assessing group is led by Donald MacKinnon, from Scotland. Other assessors include RDOs, Football League &
Premier League Referees, as well as Assessors from the Supply League through to the Premier League (and
equivalent in other Countries).
This is the second year that Kent has now been represented at the Iber Cup, Portugal, and this year we were
successful in gaining places for 4 of our young Match Officials place at the Tournament. Last year, as recognition of
the success Kent had at this Tournament, 2 out of the 3 Officials received final tie appointments; 1 of those being on
the culminating Boys U16s final live on Portuguese TV.
Having published the review from the 2013 Tournament, it is evident that this was a fantastic opportunity for the
development of our Match Official; not only was there the opportunity to work closely with Officials from all over the
world, over a short period of time, enhancing the chance for development, but this short and intense exposure to
several games of football allows for a high level of refereeing coaching contact. As such, selecting the Officials for this
Tournament in 2014 could have only been a hard and intense process.
P a g e |4
Iber Cup 2014
Selection Process
The selection process for the Iber Cup was both rigorous and intense, to ensure that the we selected the Match
Officials who would gain the most from the opportunity. For the 2014 Tournament, applications were welcomed
from any Kent affiliated Match Official aged between 18 and 24; Match Officials must have been at least 18 years of
age by the day of departure (Friday 27th of June 2014).
8 applications were then shortlisted, on the merit of their strength, and invited to an interview. Interviews were
conducted on the 04th December 2013, with the Interview Panel consisting of John Moules, Chair of the Kent FA
Referee Committee, Mike Marsh (last year’s Coach at the Iber Cup) and I. The strength of applications and
interviewees was impressive, and excelled last years’. The level of content, and depth, of the presentations showed
the Interview Panel exactly the desire of our young Referees, and it was pleasing to have such a hard decision to
make. That said, the Interview Panel were unanimous in the decision that the following Match Officials should be
selected;
 Ben Bowles (23, Level 7 Referee).
 Joe Kasper (23, Newly promoted Level 4 Referee).
 Scott Rudd (19, Newly promoted Level 4 Referee).
 Joe Stokes (19, Level 6 Referee).
To coincide with the Match Officials, Paul Kelly (Level 2b Referee and Football League Assistant Referee) also
accepted an invitation to join us as Referee Coach. This was a fantastic decision; not only would Paul’s experience be
invaluable to the Referees, but it acted as a reward for his current commitments to coaching within the Referee
Development Group.
Having gained prior experiences of the Tournament myself, the opportunities that I knew were ahead of these four
Match Officials were massive; a fantastic chance, not only to showcase their current skills, but for Paul and I to work
closely with them all to help their personal development.
It must be re-iterated, that this was not a holiday for anyone who attended; the week of the Tournament requires
hard work, with early mornings, long days, and late nights. Officials were asked to complete self-assessments on
their fixtures, asked to keep a log of all their daily events as well as having group debriefs at the end of each day.
Preparation Day at Bedfordshire FA
Preparations for the Iber Cup started on the 23rd of May 2014, when the selected Match Officials made our way up to
Bedfordshire FA. Whilst the Friday evening was the first opportunity for us all to meet and interact as a group, we
enjoyed a team meal before awaiting an interactive development day on the
Saturday. Joined by other County FAs who were attending (Bedfordshire,
Surrey and Lincolnshire to name just a few), as well as other County FAs who
were going to attend other International Tournaments.
This was a fantastic event, not only for our Referees to develop an
understanding for offside judgements, management of set pieces,
communication & body language, simulation and the importance of fitness & recovery, but to get to know Colleagues
from other areas of the Country. There is no doubting that each one of them took something away, in preparation
for the Iber Cup.
P a g e |5
Iber Cup 2014
Ben Bowles
Tournament Review
P a g e |6
Iber Cup 2014
The Application & Preparation
I first heard that the Kent FA would be heading back to the Iber Cup Portugal
around mid-November 2013. I received an email from Nick saying that they
have four spaces for young referees to officiate at the Iber cup 2014, which
was sent to all Referee Academy Officials and young referees around the
county. From reading the review of last year’s trip, and speaking to the guys
that went in 2013, what an opportunity this could be!
Having only taken the Basic Referee Course in January 2013 I knew that It
would be a tough ask for me to even be considered, knowing the quality of the
referees that were in the Academy and the wealth of experience everyone else
had on me. But the reason I wanted to apply was because of the big
improvements I had made in my officiating since being in the Academy; listening to the
advice given to me from the Coaches and also learning from other referees, trying to
emulate some of the skills that I have seen from fixtures we have been given together on.
I gave myself the maximum time to write my 500 word profile, to state my case to be
selected. I didn't want to rush this knowing the quality of the other officials applying and
wanted to give it my best effort and make sure I was 100% happy. So I sent my application
off and dropped it into the Kent FA, hoping that I may get an interview. A couple of days
passed and I had an email from Nick saying that he, John Moules and Mike Marsh would
like me to attend an interview.
I was naturally very excited that I had been selected to attend an interview but also it
seemed very daunting. I gave a lot of thought prior to the interview process again, knowing that I would be the less
experienced there and trying to imagine the questions I would be asked. I prepared by revising the Laws of the
Game, and also researching the Iber Cup itself. When the interview day had arrived I prepared as best as I could, I
produced a booklet for the panel to read, outlining my qualities and the abilities I thought I would need at the Iber
Cup. I didn't use a PowerPoint because I find these boring and a method to hide.
There were questions on Law, which I answered all correctly, and some general
questions regarding my qualities and what I would bring to the group as both an
official and a person. I thought the interview went well; I gave it my best and just
tried to be myself, but with the 3 poker faces on the panel I didn't have a clue.
(That said it was like walking into Sir Alan Sugars Board Room).
A week passed and then I had a phone call from Nick; it reminded me of an
episode of X-Factor when Simon Cowell calls the contestant to give them the
good/bad news. The conversation started from Nick saying 'the standard was very
high from the applicants and we feel you are very experienced'. My thinking by
this time is that I had no chance, but then Nick said “how does ten days in Portugal
sound”? I couldn't believe I had been selected but knew the hard work from the
time I qualified as a referee had paid off. I now knew that further hard work had to
begin, making sure I was improving as much as I could in the lead up to the tournament
and being the best I could be. What an amazing early Christmas present from the RDO
and Kent FA.
In the lead up to the tournament I had a good time to prepare, about 6 months, which at
the time seemed a long way off but soon came round I kept myself fit with regular gym
sessions and refreshing my memory with the Laws of the Game. We also, as a group,
were given a County Cup appointment prior to the Iber Cup. Joe Stokes, (who was the
referee), Scott Rudd and Joe Kasper as Assistants and myself as 4th official. This was
good because it gave us a taste of what it would be like to work with each other before
going out to Portugal. The game was between Dartford and Welling U18's; Dartford
winning in extra time.
About a month before heading out to Portugal Nick had organised for us to
have a day at the Bedfordshire FA. The reason for this was to give us a taste of what we could expect at
P a g e |7
Iber Cup 2014
the tournament and also other county's sharing their experiences from last year.
In the afternoon we had some practical sessions outside with different topics
being run by all of the coaches. This was also quite good because we struck up a
good relationship with the Bedfordshire team and would go on to work with them
quite a lot at the Iber Cup. We also stayed overnight so this gave us a bit of time
to get to know each other as a group and all find out that there would be a fight
for the hair dryer between Joe Stokes and Joe Kasper. Never have I seen two
blokes take so long to get ready!
By the time we had got home from Bedfordshire, the Iber Cup was under a month away and I
was by now counting down the days (literally). About a week before we were to set off Nick
dropped me a message to pop in the Kent FA; sitting waiting there were all of our new kits,
bags and leisure wear. By now I was struggling to contain my excitement…Portugal was upon
us!!!
The Iber Cup
June 26th was finally here!!! We all met the night before at a hotel, near Heathrow, because
we had an early flight; it made sense to stay overnight so that we weren’t fighting to stay
away on the Friday! It was Paul’s birthday too on the Friday, probably his 50th, (only kidding),
so we went out for a couple of drinks and a meal on the Thursday night, which was good fun.
We were all up early Friday morning, ready for our flight to Portugal, looking smart in our
matching Kent FA attire. Thoughts then really did start on the tournament itself, wondering
what the standard of football would be like, how competitive the teams would be and what
appointments we would be given.
Once we arrived at Lisbon Airport we had an hour’s taxi journey to our hotel in Cascais. Once
we arrived, we checked into our rooms and had a good look around the hotel, which was very
nice. Paul & Nick insisted we went for a beach run in the afternoon; obviously Joe, Scott, Joe
and I were delighted! This turned out to be a good idea, as we were running at the hottest
part of the day and starting to get us used to the condition that we would be officiating in.
Once we had completed the run we had a shower, meal and an early night.
In the lead up to the first day of games, we had a couple of good days fitness training followed by a team meeting
with Nick and PK. They were asking us what we would like from the tournament mainly, which was good as it gave us
areas to focus on and look to improve upon.
GAME DAY 1
Sc Linda a Velha (Por) v Footvia Academy (Spa)
01st July
09.45am KO
Result: 0-4
This game was the opening fixture for us, although it was Mary Harmer
(Bedfordshire) who was refereeing, with Joe Stokes on the line, and Scott Rudd
as 4th. I was quite keen to get my Iber Cup underway after having some good
preparation days before hand, so when our game came (2nd of the day), I was
ready to assist Joe Kasper. The match was quite a heated affair, with 2 red cards
– one for violent conduct and the other for 2 yellow cards. I was pleased with my 1st performance as AR; a couple of
offsides but nothing of great note. Joe Kasper had an outstanding game in the
middle, as did the rest of the Kent FA team and the assessors report backed
this up.
Club Inter Football (Por) v CD Santa FE (Spa)
12.15pm KO
Result: 0-4
My second fixture of the day was again as AR, with a chap from Bedfordshire
in the middle, Joe Stokes as the other AR and Joe Kasper the 4th official. This
fixture was a 12.15 ko, so we were seriously starting to feel the heat! This
P a g e |8
Iber Cup 2014
game was less heated and CD Santa won convincingly. The match went to plan, working on some technical
points PK and Nick had given me from the previous game, but again a good performance from us.
It was an early start for all the team so once our games had finished we were keen to get back to the hotel for a
swim/water aerobics, with enough time to reflect on our first day and relax.
GAME DAY 2
Lyon (Fra) v Atletico Madrid (Spa) Girls
08.45 KO
Result: 0-1
This was my first middle of the tournament and after the great performances
from Scott and Joe yesterday I was keen not to let the team down, ensuring I
tried to make a good impression. I had Joe Kasper and Scott as ARs and Joe
Stokes as 4th official. I knew this was going to be a good test for me because they
are two of the biggest teams in Europe. Neither teams spoke a word of English so
my signals and decisions needed to be clear and concise. The game itself was
tightly contested with Madrid winning 1-0. I felt the game went well, working on
some of the areas of my game we spoke about the night before. There were a
couple of cautions but in general I was very happy with how the game went.
Brazil National Team (Bra) v Espanyol (Spa)
10.15am KO
Result: 1-0
This was Joe Stokes’ first middle of the tournament, again with Scott and Joe Kasper as ARs and myself as 4th official
this time. Communicating to the benches was tricky when they don't speak a word of English, so quickly had to learn
that when the manager kept getting close to the touch line, I had use exaggerated arm signals to keep them at bay.
Again we all had two good games and two very good assessments for Joe and I.
So day 2 of officiating was done, and we headed back to the hotel for a shower, food
and a relaxing session by the pool. Each evening we would have a team debrief,
consisting of Nick and PK giving us advice on different situations in our games and other
technical advice to look to implement into our fixtures ahead.
GAME DAY 3
Sockers FC (USA) v Kenkre (India)
08.30 KO
Result: 2-0
Game day 3 would be our toughest day yet as a group, having
only known our appointments very late the previous evening.
For this day, we all had 3 or more fixtures and we also had the
energy sapping heat to contend with. It was another early
start; Joe Stokes and I were ARs for this game (above) and
th
Scott was 4 , with a guy from the Midlands in the middle again. I had a good game, with
just a couple of offsides, but focused on the technical pointers we spoke about the previous
evening in our team meeting.
Baerum SK (Nor) v FH Hafnarfjorour (Ice)
12.15pm KO
Result: 0-0
This was our second game of the day and the heat was seriously starting to take hold! Scott
was in the middle for this one with Joe stokes and myself as ARs. This game was being
assessed by Premier League referee Robert (Bobby) Madley, so we were all keen to leave
an impression on him. To be honest, the game wasn't a classic, very little between the
teams and not a great deal to write home about. The biggest test for myself was staying
focused in the heat, it was sweltering and we had to wear the dreaded black kits. It was
pleasing that we all had a good game and I think we all took a lot from Bobby’s debrief and
advice, especially its relevance going into the new season back in the U.K.
P a g e |9
Iber Cup 2014
Ullern IF B (Nor) v Desp. Domingos Savio (Por)
15:45 KO
Result: 0-2
This was our last game of the day for the Kent FA team. Feeling all quite leggy from our previous games in the day,
due to the heat, we all wanted to put in a good last effort for the day. Joe Stokes was 4th for this one, Scott Rudd and
Joe Kasper as ARs, and myself in the middle. The game was played in a really good spirit, no cautions or red cards and
both teams looking to play football. Again I was looking to work at a couple of areas of my game that we had spoken
about in our team meeting the night before and by now Joe, Scott, Joe and
I had really started to gel as a group of officials.
So game day 3 was over; a very long, but rewarding, day for all of us! We all
had shower and headed into Cascais for a meal and then straight to bed as
we had another early start in the morning.
GAME DAY 4
Belenenses (Por) v Academia Vitalise (Africa)
08:30 KO
Result: 0 - 3
Another early morning for us and as predicted PK with the 6am wakeup call which was a regular theme it seemed!
But to our credit we were already up and ready.... This game would be a new experience for me because up until this
game I had always been officiating with English guys/girls, but refereeing this fixture was from a chap from Poland
(Martin Ostrovski), with Scott and Joe Kasper as ARs, and myself as 4th official.
He spoke perfect English, so that was a relief for us, and it turned out to be the
most enjoyable game of the tournament for me. Academia Vitalise, from Africa,
played some of the best football I had seen and their team spirit was amazing.
They won the game comfortably and it was pleasing that they would later go
onto win their age group in the Competition. Also, the referee from Poland was
outstanding; his positioning, calmness, presence and decision making was first
class. We all, as a group, took a lot away from his performance.
Polisports Pieve Ligure (Ita) v Club Intern. Foot-Ball (Por)
09:50 KO
Result: 0 - 6
Last fixture of game day 4 and I was in the middle again. We also had with us a
guy from Germany, along with Scott, as ARs, and Joe Stokes as 4th official. This
game was a very one sided affair, with Club Inter winning 6-0. Despite the score
line, it was still getting quite heated in the second half with Polisports putting some reckless tackles on their
opponents in frustration. I had to caution four of their players for the challenges, but again, another good day for
everyone, which was really pleasing. This left me in good spirit to looking forward to what
game day 5 would bring.
We had the afternoon free so we all went into Lisbon, by train and underground, and took a
tour of Benfica's football stadium. It was an impressive arena, fresh from holding the
Champion’s League final. We all joked this could be just another Tuesday night fixture for us
in years to come but I think it motivated us too officiate as high as we possibly could.
GAME DAY 5
SG Sacavenense F PT Club (Por) v Sport Marítime (Por)
18:45 KO
Result: 1-1 AET (2 – 4 on penalties)
Finally we had a late kick off, which meant no banging on the door from PK at 6am! Joe
Kasper was in the middle for this game, Joe stokes and I as ARs, and a Polish chap was 4th
official. This game was an U13's final with a big local crowd, being played in good spirit and
we all had good games. It also went to penalties with Sport Maritime winning 4-2 on pens.
P a g e |10
Iber Cup 2014
Message of Thanks
My tournament had reached its conclusion, and we were left with the last few days to enjoy the remainder of the
experience. Our focus was to enjoy and reminisce upon our successes and of course to top up the tan! This
experience has been one of the best, and something I will never forget. By far, it truly exceeded my expectations. It
has put me in situations I have never been in before and I have no doubt that I am returning from Portugal a more
accomplished Match Official. It gave me a taste of the set-up of professional clubs from around the world, allowed
me regular assessments, coaching and feedback and with this combination, allowed me to develop my own skills as a
Referee.
To the Kent FA – thank you for making this happen. It has been a truly amazing and motivating experience, driving
me even more to officiate at the highest level I possibly can.
To Paul – thank-you for supporting us and me at every minute of every match and most of all your wealth of
knowledge, support, advice, coaching and your dreaded fitness session.
To Nick – thank you for this amazing opportunity. I am thankful to the interview panel for selecting me at such an
early stage in my refereeing career and entrusting me to represent to Kent FA at an international tournament. Your
advice, help, support, and your belief in me, I have found invaluable to improving my skills as a match official,.
To Joe, Scott and Joe – thanks for all your support, teamwork and friendship. It has been great to work with three
top officials, and I have really enjoyed all of your company, and cannot wait to see what the future holds.
P a g e |11
Iber Cup 2014
Joe Kasper
Tournament Review
P a g e |12
Iber Cup 2014
The Application
I was encouraged by Nick to apply for the Iber Cup tournament in 2014,
following the email that was sent informing every one of the opportunity. At
first I was unenthusiastic and almost not interested in it, but once Nick had
given me a brief outline of the event I was convinced. With my promotion to
Level 4, from Level 5, on the cards, I felt that to officiate in a tournament
with mainly non-English speaking players participating would aid my
refereeing and give me a head start when starting my first season as Level 4.
One thing that would definitely improve would be my communication, the
non-verbal side anyway. I sent my application in and
was asked to attend an interview at the Kent FA HQ on
my birthday of all days – what a birthday present this
would turn out to be. My interview, I am told, was not the greatest but I tried to add
some unique points into a presentation, like a cropped picture of myself officiating in the
tournament. A little taster for the Interviewers and it got a couple of laughs.
Three days later, Friday, I got the phone call was a big weekend for my refereeing career.
Nick rang me to tell me I would get my first Southern Counties East League middle and
then congratulated me on being chosen, by the Interview Panel, to go to Portugal in July.
When I got off the phone to Nick, I felt that I had been rewarded for my work since I
started officiating and these perks justified getting in to a fantastic occupation.
Preparation Day – Bedfordshire FA
With all but one (Scott) of those that would be heading to the Iber Cup, we made our way
up to Bedfordshire for a pre-tournament briefing. There we met people from
Bedfordshire who would also be joining us in Portugal, but also officials from Devon who
were heading to Hungary.
The day was split up into a number of sessions firstly with a sports nutritionist who told us
about what to eat before, during and after games. Slow burning carbohydrates were
advised before the game, at least an hour before, with things like sweets and Lucozade
drinks during the game and carbohydrates and protein after the game, not forgetting
plenty of water to keep ourselves hydrated in the warm climate.
We were also taken outside to a 4G pitch for a number of drills that tested our assistant
referee skills, showing what our views are like from a number of angles and testing the
wait and see technique. We also had sessions testing our refereeing which included giving decisions from further
away than normal, making quick decisions, dealing with technical areas, dealing with simulation and the reaction
that may provoke players, as well as controlling free-kicks and walls. We
then finished the day off with what was expected from us at the
Tournament, including our conduct on and off the pitch, logs and the
taking of pictures.
The Build Up
We received the first two days of appointments about five days before we
flew out. I had the honour of being given the first middle for the Kent
boys. Although I was feeling relaxed about it now, I would soon feel the
butterflies in the stomach come five minutes before kick-off.
P a g e |13
Iber Cup 2014
I had seen some pictures of last year’s tournament so had a rough idea of what the conditions would be
like weather-wise and with some of the names of teams dropped, Atletico Madrid, Lyon and Villarreal,
that gave me a high expectation of the level of football. The weather factor would play a massive part
and added to the pressure of preserving the great reputation of English and Kent referees. I knew it
would be tough and had to look after myself when out there.
When the day before our flight came, Scott picked up Paul Kelly (PK) and I, and we made our way to a hotel near
Heathrow airport where we relaxed, as a six, before our journey.
The Tournament
Day 1
An early start for us to catch a 7-something-am flight – it’s safe to say none of us are
morning people. The time at the airport which normally drags seemed to fly by however, as
did the two and a half journey to Lisbon. Before we knew it we had landed and jumped into
a taxi with Estadio da Luz (Benfica’s ground) to the left of us and Estadio Jose Alvalade
(Sporting Lisbon’s) to the right of us.
Once we got to our hotel a painful wait in the sun by the pool whilst us four boys’ (Scott, Ben
and Joe) room was ready – life sucks. When we had eventually been handed the keys to our
room and dumped our stuff we hastily changed into our swimming costumes and started to
top up the tan. This was short-lived, as PK had called us to meet on the grass area behind the
pool for some light training, which included the Bedfordshire team. Light jogging, a race and
a catching game, that I was terrible at, was our session for the day. After
some dinner we went into the town of Cascais, via the ‘scenic’ route as
Nick will probably call it, before hitting the hay.
Day 2
After a much needed good night’s sleep we did a bit more of laying by
the pool and even a bit of playing football before PK took us for some
intensive training. Along the sea front we ran 12 x one minute on, one
minute off of fast jogging. In the heat and with the encouragement of
others spurring me on to run faster it exhausted me. We cooled down in
the pool with some water aerobics, led by Ian from Bedfordshire. A
shower and change of clobber later and we
again went into town to explore some more.
Day 3
The third day saw much of the same as day two but with only water aerobics led by PK as
our exercise for the day and some more of the catching game which I had slightly
improved on.
Day 4
We had another fitness session today; ten lots of one minute on, one minute off, but this
time some relay sprint work in addition, led by PK, was our session for the fourth day. In
the evening we went to the Referees’ Office, at the Iber Cup School, to register and for a
pre-tournament briefing, where Premier League referee Robert Madley gave us an
inspirational speech. It was then early to bed for an early start the next day where we
would be in for a busy day.
P a g e |14
Iber Cup 2014
Day 5
Match day. We woke up at 6.30am but there was no time for a decent
breakfast as we jumped into a taxi, caught a train in Carcavelos town
centre, along a few stops and a bus journey and we were at the ground. I
had to wait for my game, so watched the first one which involved Joe on
the line and Scott as fourth official, before I had my much anticipated first
middle. At half time of the first game, I took my team, including Ben, to
warm-up on a pitch next to the one we would be on and gave my match
instructions. Nerves had kicked in in the few minutes before kick-off but
that all went away as soon as I blew the whistle to begin the PortugueseSpanish U14 boys affair between SC Linda-A-Velha and Footvia Academy,
respectively. The football was nothing like England amateur football. Not a
long ball in sight, but the fiery temperature was like English football. By the
end of the match I had had two red cards for the Portuguese team; one for
violent conduct, the other a second yellow in the last minute. As PK said, I
had found out about the two countries’ rivalry. The game ended 4-0 to the
Spaniards.
At half time my team and I were brought water and at that time PK said something that
stuck with me, and motivated me, throughout the tournament: “you can referee”. I was
assessed by Josh Smith, a Level 3 from Bedfordshire, who sung my praises and gave me a
mark of 8.6. Some of the quotes from the assessment were: “Worked hard to ensure you
consistently applied law”, “consistently ensuring your tolerance level remained
constantly accepted by all players”, “reading of the game was excellent leading to a clear
expectation of behaviour from players”, “excellent identification of penal offences that
were reckless and required cautions”, “calm approach to number 5 red for VC (Linda-AVelha) while also ensuring you identified the caution for a foul Y8”, “good positioning
throughout with excellent anticipation of play leading to a consistent and accurate
identification of physical challenges” Some of the quotes he actually said to me were: I
would be “challenging for level 3 promotion next year”, “best movement from a first
year level 4 I have seen” and “we were very impressed”.
Despite the praises I received, it was not a perfect performance, with it being a challenging game I came off the game
slightly disappointed thinking that I could have handled it better. PK also gave me some very good development
points to work on:
 I played about three or four minutes of additional time at the end of
the second half. Although this was the right amount of time, it was
unnecessary with the score being 4-0. This also meant I could have avoided
the second red card.
 When giving a goal kick, especially if I am awarding it from the left
side of the pitch facing the goal, I should not curve my run, as I am wasting
precious energy. Instead turn and run backwards to the spot where I will be
for the taking of a goal kick.
 I should not count the players before the beginning of the two halves
out loud but in my head. Also, not to check with goalkeepers if they are
ready.
 Remember starting position for kick off as law states.
 At the coin toss, catch the coin.
 Pick and choose when to tell the goalkeeper when the whistle will be used for a free kick. Mostly for ones
that are in line with the goal on the edge of the box. It is unnecessary for free kicks further away.
P a g e |15
Iber Cup 2014
Overall, the performance was a good one and one that, I was told, I should be proud of. I however
realised I still had parts of my game to work on and felt rusty – it was my first game since the end of the
season. After that game, the four of us watched a game in which Scott was in the middle and Joe again
on the line. My next match would see me switch roles with my fourth official, Ayrton, and the other
assistants staying where they were. My role in the game mainly consisted of sorting the substitutes,
especially as substitutions could be made at any time during the game, and throwing balls on the pitch
when needed. The game was relatively low key so I had no issues with the benches.
After our games, which finished by 1pm, we made our way back to
the hotel for some lunch and a much needed afternoon kip. Some
more sunbathing and a bit of football before some dinner and
another early night’s sleep.
Day 6
Up at 6.30am today and a very exciting day was ahead of us with
some top names to add to our refereeing CVs. All four Kent boys
were together and the first match would be Ben in the middle, Joe
as fourth and me and Scott as assistants; Joe and Ben switching roles for the second game. Both games would be U15
girls. Ben’s was Atletico Madrid against Olympique Lyonnais and for Joe’s it would be the Brazil national team versus
Espanyol.
Both were very competitive and even affairs, especially compared to the day before which mainly consisted of
thrashings. Atletico Madrid were tactically smart, with acts like standing in front of the ball for Lyon free kicks to slow
the pace of the game down – something Ben had to deal with. Ben was assessed by one of the members of the
referee appointments team, and Joe by Damian from Poland (who worked for the
Polish FA). Some of the points that I was told to develop on by Damian and PK as
an assistant were:



I was not always in line with the second to last defender, which meant my
judgement of offsides could be affected. PK showed me with video
evidence of myself. This was also brought up by Damian.
By PK and Nick: when making signals, my non-flag bearing hand would be
in places where they should not be like across my chest or behind my
back. They should be down by my side. PK advised me to slap my side with
my hand to get into the habit of it.
An incident that happened in another game led to PK telling us to look at
corner kicks from my side as a referee aka other side of the assistant
referee in case players try to carry out a move to trick their opponents.
It was clear I had to work hard to correct my assistant skills and I was determined
to do this throughout the rest of the tournament, especially on keeping with the
second to last defender.
After this, it was again back to the hotel for some more sunbathing, dinner and to
try to get an early night but the next set of fixtures were not released until
midnight. Our first match would kick off at 8.30am. Joy.
Day 7
A long day was ahead of us with our first kick off at 8.30am and we would not be
returning to the hotel for dinner until about 8pm.
P a g e |16
Iber Cup 2014
I would be in for a long wait before my first game,
12.30pm. In that time I would be watching four
matches, including Scott in the middle with Joe and
Ben as assistants. The weather was hot. It felt like the
hottest it had been in the time we had been there and
I was very worried that during my middle
performance I would become dehydrated and ill.
Throughout the time I was at the ground I was never
without a bottle of water. I would be refereeing U15
boys, SU 1 Dezembo from Portugal and Celta Vigo
from Spain, with my two assistants from
Bedfordshire, Alex and Sam, who performed excellently. What a thing to be able to add to my refereeing
CV: refereed Celta Vigo, and I was to be assessed by Championship referee David Coote. When I got
onto the pitch to blow the whistle for the start, the temperature was not as bad as my fears. The match
itself was not as fiery as my previous Portuguese-Spanish encounter
but I still had to work hard to keep things under control. Some of
the development points, tips and good points David gave me were:
 When making decisions near the technical areas, walk
towards them to assert authority, especially when warning
players publically.
 When I am too close to my assistants and play is in between
us, take two steps back or stand still.
 An incident when a goalkeeper went down clutching his
throat, although it was on his own accord and not a scuffle
between two players, David noticed my concentration was
poor when making up my position for what was at the time
a corner kick. He advised I become more aware and alert to
what was happening in the box at this time.
 My movement was very good.
 I handled defensive walls for free kicks well.
As I was on my own with regards to Kent boys – Scott, Joe, Ben and Nick had gone off to another pitch for another
game – PK stuck with me and also gave me some development points:
 Give goal kicks with my left arm so my body is open to my assistant.
 Slow down my card procedure – something that also was noted in my first game.
 My last yellow card was a bit surprising for people, although not to me. I need to sell yellow cards better.
Next was lunch back at the hotel with PK, then to meet the others
in Cascais town centre for my afternoon game of Ullern IF B from
Norway against Desp Donigos Savio from Portugal; Ben in the
middle, Scott on the other line and Joe as fourth official. The game
was pretty uneventful in which I thought Ben had a very good
game. After that we ate out in the town then having an early
night.
Day 8
Today us Kent boys were to work with officials from a
different country. Martin from Poland, who Scott and
I would be on the line to, and Max from Germany
who would be on the other line with Joe in the middle. Both were excellent officials. The two games
would be U14 boys of Club Intern Foot-Ball from Portugal and Academia Vitalise from Guinea-Bissau for
P a g e |17
Iber Cup 2014
the first game. Martin’s game was U16 boys of North Dublin SL from Ireland and Ullern IF from Portugal.
Both games were relatively uneventful, apart from a mistake from myself when Vitalise’s first goal went
in. I raised my flag as I was caught in two minds: a player on the goal line was, I thought, about to touch
the ball but didn’t, but I also felt I should raise my flag to award a goal because of the nature of how it
went it. This confused Martin which was unnecessary for him and when he rightly asked me what had
happened, I quickly told him to ignore my signal.
Some development points from the game included:
 Use the ‘wait and see’ technique. Take my time.
 When signalling for a goal as an assistant, raise the flag, wait for a
few moments until players have realised you are awarding the goal along
the goal line, then make your way up towards the half way line so that
players know the assistant is in a credible position.
After the game we shared a couple of beers with our two new refereeing
friends from Europe learning about football in their country and their
culture. We also took the opportunity of finishing at lunch time to tour
Benfica’s ground, where this year’s Champions League Final had been held. That evening I had learnt that I had a
middle final appointment, with Ben and Joe on my line the next day. A fantastic achievement and a proud moment
when I would eventually come to officiating the match. We would eat out that night in the town before getting some
much needed sleep.
Day 9
My last day of officiating. My only game of the day would not be until the afternoon, so firstly us boys went to watch
Scott as he was an assistant. Lyon ladies beat Brazil ladies and the French girls provided a fantastic atmosphere and
showed brilliant sportsmanship by giving their oppositions a guard of honour along with some singing in their native
language – a pleasing sight. After this we had time to relax and sunbathe in preparation for the evening kick off.
Before my game, I would be a fourth official in a match between the familiar North Dublin, from yesterday, and a
Portuguese team. As the game went on, the atmosphere got fierier with a lot of tension. At one point the Officials
had to deal with a mass confrontation in which the Portuguese and Irish benches came onto the field of play. The
match ended in penalties with the Portuguese team coming out victorious. Some development points included:
 I should have asked for the referee to remove an official from both teams after the mass confrontation due
to them coming onto the field of play.
 When the physio of the Portuguese team was on the pitch, he showed dissent to the referee. As he was
passing myself, I should have warned him as well.
The match had ended with the temperature sky high in terms of the fans. One woman from Portugal
followed us four to the changing room shouting abuse and became very hysteric. Other Portuguese fans
were just as animated although a bit more controlled. Great. What a way to lead onto my match
between two local Portuguese sides. You couldn’t make it up.As I am getting changed and talking to my
team, which included Joe and Ben on my line and Ben from Sweden, I was feeling the pressure. I was
nervous, hopefully not showing it. The atmosphere was so fired up and the fans so loud, we had to
move to a different changing room to carry out my match
instructions. PK gave an inspirational speech at one point saying “this
is what we came here for”. If that did not gee us up, nothing would.
Nick, also in the changing room, gave his typical pre-match team talk
of getting straight to the point and telling us to “do a job”. We joked
about this throughout the holiday, but at this point his support and
words were much appreciated. I had never seen the two of them so
serious. But they and us meant business. As we walked onto the pitch
P a g e |18
Iber Cup 2014
for the U13 match the nervousness and pressure started to drop, but my focus did not. In fact, the
whole way through the 50 minute game I do not think I smiled, I was that focused. I was told by
assessors and other referees to smile but I just couldn’t. Not after the game before. I had to work hard
to get into the right positions, work hard to make the right decisions, work hard to keep on top of the
game and not have my match ending like the previous one.
As it turned out the match did not turn out to be as heated as the
previous one and was a bit of an anti-climax. Whether that was down
to the players, management or my handling of the game I cannot be
certain of, but I’d like to think it was the last one. There were some
hiccups of course, it wasn’t the perfect performance. Joe came out of
his credibility zone to help me out with a handball in a penalty area
because I did not see as I wasn’t wide enough. And Ben made a
mistake with a throw-in, giving it the wrong way but this was quickly
corrected when I widened my eyes as if to say “are you sure about
that?”. Nick confirmed to me after the game I was right to “overrule”
Ben.
What was also difficult, and something of a trend throughout the tournament, especially with the teams from
Portugal, was the time wasting going on. Players would go down at the slightest touch and require treatment. At one
point the goalkeeper of the team that was 1-0 up went down injured for no
apparent reason. These sort of tactics are very hard to manage because they may or
may not be genuine. It’s impossible to tell. However, I was quickly in to the incident
point to try and manage it before the opposing team could get involved and there
was a lot of pointing to my watch to say I am stopping time. As it turned out, my
game also finished on penalties. The team that won I cannot remember. I was too
happy that the game had finished uneventful. Us Kent boys had done a sound job.
We were a proud bunch and rightfully so. Coming off the pitch was actually
emotional. To please our superiors, PK, a Football League Assistant, and Nick, who
he likes to call himself as ‘our boss’, was a feeling that would never wear thin and
was especially fulfilling for this match. Our tournament had ended and we had done
the best county in the country proud. We had earned our prestigious spot as the officials chosen to represent Kent in
Portugal. At an international tournament we were the best team by far. It may sound biased, but we were.
An American assessor came into the changing room after the game to
give us feedback and his words were: “I have nothing for you. I have
no development points.” Wow. A speechless assessor! More of that
this season at level 4 please! That night we went out to celebrate a
stellar campaign in the town. It was a well-earned night of letting our
hair down.
Day 10
The tournament was not over for all of us. Scott still had a fourth
official appointment for a final between Atletico Madrid and Paris
Saint Germain ladies. Another night of celebrating was in order for tonight in the town, this time with everyone
finishing the tournament.
Day 11
Home time. The holiday blues had kicked in. It was just a matter of waiting by the pool and playing a bit
of football before our taxi arrived at 4pm to take us to Lisbon airport. There were reports of long delays
P a g e |19
Iber Cup 2014
due to increased security checks at airports due to trouble in Syria, but this turned out to not be the
case for us, luckily. We split into two at Heathrow, Nick taking Ben and Joe home, and Scott taking PK
and I home. That was it, the end of Iber.
Closing Thoughts
Before the start of the tournament I said to the group what I wanted to achieve out of this tournament. I told PK and
Nick I wanted this to help the season ahead of me as a first year Level 4. That was also their agenda, as it turned out
– to “hit the floor running” as it were. The feedback and coaching given by the newly promoted 2b and Level 3, two
officials that had been through the Level 4 process, was invaluable. Not only that, but the assessors that saw me
added to this. I now feel confident for my first season as a Level 4, coming away from Iber. It’s a big step up from
Level 5 to 4 and I feel I have a potential edge over some of my colleagues, thanks to the past 11 days.
I could approach Nick and PK with anything. Any worry, any concern, any question and they would happily answer it.
To have this much help was priceless. They were a big aid to me and gave me some top tips for Level 4. At this point I
want to thank PK for his invaluable advice and his approachable and always-happy-to-help attitude towards me.
Also, Nick for his help since becoming Referee Development Officer, for his fantastic help he has given me and for his
continued help in Portugal. I’ve never met two people so selfless and happy to see other people progress.
P a g e |20
Iber Cup 2014
Scott Rudd
Tournament Review
P a g e |21
Iber Cup 2014
Application
When Nick sent out the email stating that Kent are planning to
take officials to the Iber Cup for the 02nd year running I was
immediately interested. The previous year, I didn’t really take
that much notice to the application due to the fact I thought that
the Tournament would overlap with my A-Levels. When I
received my exam timetable and realised that the Tournament
started 10 days after my last exam I was gutted that I had not
made much of an effort with the application. With this in mind I
set to work on my application letter to Nick for 2014; needless to
say, it was a vast improvement on last years’.
After news of last year’s trip started spreading around the refereeing grapevine I knew that the competition from
referees all around the County would be hot, as they were all bidding for one of the places that I desperately wanted.
Once the deadline had passed, it was a waiting game for the outcome of application to come through. I was offered
an interview on Wednesday 04th December 2013. I was asked to prepare a presentation
on “What skills do you believe are required to make a successful Match Official at The
Iber Cup, and how will you ensure you implement these skills? I prepared for the
interview with a presentation clearly outlining what I wanted to take back from the trip.
On the day of the interview, I left work early with an hour to travel to the Kent FA,
which normally takes around 30 minutes. However when I pulled onto the slip road at
Dartford to get onto the M25 it was solid traffic. In my 19 years I’ve lived in Dartford,
I’ve never seen that slip road blocked with traffic until that day! It took just under an
hour to get onto the M25 so my interview was just five minutes away. I arrived 20
minutes late for the interview, so I needed to make sure that mine stood out from the rest! I took five minutes to
compose myself and then went into the interview to face the Panel, which consisted of Nick Dunn, John Moules and
Mike Marsh. I felt it went surprisingly well considering my lateness.
Once it had finished, I went home and reflected what could have gone better.
Despite the obvious of turning up on time I felt the rest went well. A couple of
questions could have been answered better, but on the whole I felt that the
interview was a success. A couple of days then passed, and whilst out at a party, I
received a call from Nick. He started with a self-reflection of my interview, similarly
to when an assessor asks the same question you only mention the positives! He
found great amusement by getting your hopes up with positive feedback to then
shoot you down with ‘unfortunately’ or ‘but’. Finally after what seemed like an age
he informed me that I had been selected as one of four referees to represent The
Kent FA at the Iber Cup 2014. I was delighted, and couldn’t wait to crack on with all of the preparations. With the
news coming just before Christmas it ended up being a great Christmas present. Shortly after the news had been
revealed, Nick informed us that Paul Kelly had agreed to come with us as
a Coach. The news came slightly unsettling as I hadn’t really met any of
the people going to Portugal and I was slightly anxious of what was to
come.
A few months passed and then Nick invited us to a Preparation Day in
Bedfordshire, however unfortunately, I was on holiday that week. By
what the lads had said afterwards, it seemed like it was an enjoyable
weekend and one that they benefited from immensely. Even though I
wasn’t there first hand to learn, the guys did a great job of updating me
P a g e |22
Iber Cup 2014
and relaying the information that they had learnt. A week before we were due to fly, we received our
referee kits, plus an array of training wear and a couple of bags to keep whilst we were there. After that,
I came to the realisation that in a week’s time I would be representing Kent at an International
Tournament.
The Iber Cup 2014
Just days before our flight, the French Air Traffic Control went on Strike, which put a
downer on the ‘Iber Cup ‘WhatsApp’ group’. However, this finished on the Thursday so all
flights were back to normal on the Friday of our departure. When the 26th June arrived, I
was designated driver for the North Kent lads, well three of us! I picked up Joe Kasper and
Paul Kelly and we proceeded to London Heathrow. Our flight wasn’t until 07:40 the
following morning, however, we were staying in a hotel the night before to prevent us
from having an early start. Joe Kasper struggled to be ready at 2pm, could you imagine
what he’d be like at 3AM!!! We went on to watch the World Cup in a local pub, called the
Three Blackbirds, and discussed all matters football over a couple of drinks and proceeded
to have an early night ready for our flight early in the morning.
We arrived at Lisbon at around 11am and, after a transfer to
Hotel Pestana Cascais, we arrived in the early afternoon. Our
first impressions were good – we decided to soak up the sun
and lounge by the pool and tried to familiarize our self with
‘home’ for the next ten days.
Time in familiarization was, however, short-lived. Paul had
planned a light training session in an attempt to start the
acclimatization to the Portuguese weather. He had been
forgiving that we had been travelling all morning and we proceeded with a light session. We started with raising
heart rates, before some agility and sprint training on a grass area which we soon claimed as the Kent ‘5 a-side’ pitch.
We ended on a game of ‘clap-catch’, which tested both our reactions and co-ordination. That evening we decided to
explore the town and get our bearings of where we were staying. We all agreed that a walk would be nice and
‘SatNav Dunn’ insisted he remembered where to go from last year. After walking for about an hour down all sorts of
roads we finally found the Marina, which in itself was worth the hour walk. We found a local bar, and as it was Paul’s
40th Birthday, so we tried our best to make it a good night (after all, spending such a milestone away from family
must be hard).
On the 02nd day of our trip we continued catching rays by the pool before meeting shortly after 4pm to do our first
intense training session. Paul had invited our Bedfordshire FA colleagues along again to join in with our latest fitness
session. We preceded to the beachfront, where a cycle track, marked out like a running track, continued all the way
to the Marina. We trained by using interval training and ran ‘1 minute on, 1 minute off’. The minute on was an
intense run down the hill, and up on the way back, and the minute off was
a recovery walk.
That evening we attended ‘Carlsberg’s Where’s the Party Festival’, a one
off festival that Carlsberg host once a year. Despite that fact my taste buds
and Carlsberg don’t agree, I had an enjoyable evening and I think that goes
for the rest of the guys too. After the festival finished at midnight we made
the way back to the hotel ready for the next day. On the way home, Ben
wasn’t satisfied that memories would suffice and wanted a physical mark
of the evening. The obvious choice would be a postcard, or the extreme
action of a tattoo on his chest, but no, Ben had to go one better and
P a g e |23
Iber Cup 2014
decided to make friends with a local. At first they got along, but then violence broke out in the streets
and Ben was left with a nasty cut on his face. Ben soon learnt a life lesson on day two, that cactus’ don’t
make the best of friends.
Day 3 was much the same as day 2, we sun bathed and relaxed by the
pool, however we had a rest on day 3 and just continued our water
aerobics regime to aid our recovery. However the chlorine did no
favours for Ben’s wound on his face, and just irritated it further.
That evening most other referees started to arrive at the Hotel. We
met a couple of Scottish colleagues and again ventured into town to
explore the other half of the area. We continued to enhance our
social skills and interactivity with different referees from around the
country.
Day 4 of the trip was again spent by the pool and acclimatizing to the weather in Portugal. We then completed
another training session. This time genius Paul Kelly set the time for 2pm, the hottest part of the day; thanks Paul!
We again undertook the ‘1 minute on and 1 minute off’ routine on the same route as we completed before.
The evening saw us attend an introductory meeting. This time I took charge of the
map and after dumping half eaten pizzas back in the room we proceeded to the
venue and arrived bang on time. When we arrived we were informed that the
meeting had been delayed for an hour, much to our dismay as our pizzas were now
cold in the hotel room! After receiving brochures outlining the tournament rules and
containing maps of the venues, we decided to head back to the hotel and plan the
following commute for the following morning.
Game Day 1
Our first day refereeing arrived and although the 6am start wasn’t received too well,
the adrenaline was pumping and time went pretty much unnoticed. We had to get a
train and a bus to the game, which wasn’t the best preparation, especially when the
bus driver locked himself out of his bus, but we arrived in good time and got straight
to work.
The first game at 08:30 was U14 Boys Group D, Mercedarios CF (Esp) vs SC Vila Verde (Por). Mary Harmer from
Bedfordshire was the referee with had assistance from Sam Harris (Bedfordshire) and Joe Stokes (Kent), with myself
as 4th official. The first game was strange, the substitution rule at Iber
Cup was roll on roll off whenever you like. In summary, even when the
ball was in play, you were permitted to make a substitution. It was a bit
of a free for all, but we got there in the end. The game ended 8-0 and we
thought that would set the tone for the tournament. Even though the
losing team were 8-0 down they were still playing the ball across the
back and playing football.
We then observed Joe Kasper referee and he had a superb game,
producing the first and only red card of the tournament for Kent. In fact,
he went on to have two red cards in the game. We didn’t get to see too much of Joe’s game, as we had to prepare
for our next game immediately after.
P a g e |24
Iber Cup 2014
I was next up, however this time our 08:30 team was shuffled around which saw me in the middle, still assisted
by Joe and Sam, and Mary acting as fourth official. Mr. Denis Alvarez from Gibraltar was assessing us and
thankfully his English was good, he was also very high up in both the
Gibraltar FA and UEFA so his knowledge of the professional game was
second to none. The 2 teams were Hellerup IK (Denmark) vs SG
Sacavenense (Portugal) again U14 Boys, however this time it was
Group E. The game started at lightning pace and I had a penalty
within the 01st minute. This was in favour of Hellerup, and was poorly
taken, saved by the goalkeeper low to his right. Within ten minutes of
the game it was evident I was dehydrated and had not maintained
fluid levels well enough. My mouth became dry which in turn made
the rest of the half uncomfortable. In addition with the games being
played on 3G Astroturf my feet quickly became very hot, which caused more discomfort. These were all
learning points for the days ahead. In the 16th minute of the game came the first poor challenge I had
witnessed in the tournament. The Portuguese number seven came in with a high challenge on the Hellerup
10’s upper leg. I punished the challenge with caution, which both the assessor and the rest of the team agreed
with.
The rest of the game was well contested and stayed 0-0, until the last minute of the game when a Sacavenense
player was bursting towards the area and was brought down. I was at a close proximity and was sure it was a foul; I
thought it was inside the area but wasn’t 100% sure. I gave Joe Stokes the ‘glare’
and thankfully he signalled for a penalty. The offender was issued with a caution
and the Portuguese side converted the penalty to score with practically the last kick
of the game. As you can imagine the goalkeeper decided to the run the full length
of the pitch to join in with the celebrations with his team-mates, but when he had
finished celebrating, on the way back he decided to pick up the ball and take it back
with him to his goal. This left me no choice but to also run the whole length of the
pitch to issue a caution. The Gibraltar assessor had some minor comments, the
main one being from corner kicks and explaining the new directive from FIFA and
UEFA regarding positioning from corner kicks.
It was then the alternating
team of officials to referee and
we watched and observed
their performance. The Bedfordshire referee also added to the
red card tally for a well-spotted DOGSO. That evening we once
again wandered into town and found one of the local curry
houses. We utilised this moment, to not only eat, but debrief
the day’s events and have our team meeting.
P a g e |25
Iber Cup 2014
Game Day 2
Day 2 saw another early start for us, although not so far to travel; just a short way to a venue called Torre, which was
located about a ten minute walk from our hotel. Our first game was at 08:30am and saw the Kent lads compete, for
the first time, as a team in the tournament. Both of day 2’s games were U15 girls and the first game was between Ol.
Lyon (Fra) vs Atletico Madrid (Esp). Ben took the middle with Joe Kasper and I on the line. Joe Stokes took up the
fourth official role, which gave him some time to prepare for his middle immediately after. The game was relatively
easy. I had one offside and one foul throughout the entire game, so moved my attention to staying fully
concentrated and trying to crab as much as I could. Because of the style of football, whereby the defence were slow
to push up, this gave me plenty of opportunities to crab up the line.
After this game, my legs really started to ache, due to a couple of days
training in heat, dehydration and lack of sleep. My legs felt tired and it
became a struggle to run.
The game went well and Gordon Johnson, the assessor from Liverpool
FA, had no feedback to give me which could only be a positive. No rest
for the wicked, as me and Kasper were back out immediately to run Joe
Stokes line in a match between Brasil National Team (Bra) and RCD
Espanyol (Esp). In this game I had more to do, however that wasn’t the
hard part! The weather had turned and the rain had set in, it was drizzly
most of the game, but this in fact was pleasant compared to 30o heat that we had started to acclimatise to. Brazil had
lost the toss, which meant that they kicked off, and this provided us with one of the most peculiar centres I’ve seen.
The Brazil forward practically played a through ball to the left-winger who was running into space down the wing.
The centre was taken in accordance with law, but its one of those that makes you think!
In this game I also noticed two other differences to the game we are so
used to in the UK. Firstly, in the rest of Europe and South America, there is
a tendency to think whenever the ball hits a hand, or arm, that a free kick
or penalty should be given. Second is that, again, they expect to be
penalised if a boot is raised, where as in the UK if they are both high we
tend to carry on. They expect a foul here; they don’t really care which way,
they just want a foul! In this game the assessor, Damian from Poland,
picked up Joe’s starting position from a centre kick was incorrect. In
hindsight mine was too, and I’m pretty sure there are many more people
who start in the wrong place!
The first two days of fixtures were pre-released, but the remainder of the tournament the appointments were done
on merit. That evening we had to wait until 11pm for the next day’s fixtures to be released.
Game Day 3
Day 3 was by far the most testing, and longest, for me personally
throughout the tournament. Having rectified the issues we had
with the appointments, where ‘Super Joe Kasper’ was meant to
officiate in two games at once, and Bowles and Stokes had five
minutes to travel half way across town, we got read to officiate.
We got to work and travelled to the ground adjacent to Torre,
named ‘Dramatico’.
Stokes and Bowles were assistants to Karl Parker,
another English official. I had the fourth on this
occasion and the teams were Sockers FC (Usa) vs
P a g e |26
Iber Cup 2014
Kenkre FC (Ind), in the U15 competition. Next, Alex, Ian and Aryton assisted myself, where I was referee.
On this game Dave Plowright, who is a Football League assistant, was assessing me. The game went well;
the U15 games were certainly greatly more contested than that of the U13 and the U15 girls, with some
strong challenges flying in. This was shown by the three cautions in the game. Dave only had one key
development point from the game that was to be careful about pushing into the corners too much. He
mentioned that I seemed to rectify it in the 2nd half, but got caught up once or twice in the first half.
Once again, no rest for the wicked as, we then made our way across
town to ‘Fontainhas’. A smart ground with good facilities, it conformed
to the stereotypical European ground with steep stands with no real
back to save you from the drop, accompanied too with an infestation of
cockroaches in the shower.
After drafting in one of the West Riding lads to act as fourth, as Joe was
still in Dramatico refereeing, we got to work. One team was in white,
ruling out the grey kit, so we agreed that our sweat-soaked yellow kits
were a better option than the black kit. As we walked out of the
changing room we noticed just a slight problem, the other team, who had arrived late, were wearing yellow! We
swiftly went back into the changing rooms, with our critter friends, and changed into black; yippee. Needless to say it
was tough, refereeing in that heat alone is harsh and I was almost
wondering if we could go skins, as the black was really starting to take its
toll, besides, my body hadn’t seen the sun for a few days and the tan
was starting to unbalance (as PK would say). We, of course, decided
against it, especially with a Premier League referee, in Bobby Madley,
assessing us.
Again the game was well contested, between Baerum SK B (Nor) and FH
Hafnarfjorour (Ice), which ended in a goalless draw, with just one
caution. Bobby came into the changing room after the game and we had a brief discussion about what had gone on.
Having the two games really did have a detrimental effect on the physical performance for us, and Bobby had
recognised this. Every stride was hurting towards the end but that didn’t stop my sprint in the last minute of the
game from the penalty area right up to the corner flag at the other end, with Bobby describing it perfectly as “one
for the assessors”. He did say that he would have liked to see me move more, which I could only agree with. Other
than that his only other minor point was to slightly raise my profile when giving free kicks. It was then a long wait
until the next game at 15:45, so we decided to head into town for an athletic and nutritious meal; well nearly, it’s a
shame the Portuguese don’t do McDonalds like us Brits do! At approximately 14:30
we made our way back up to the pitch and prepare for the next game, where the
Kent crew were back in action. Bowles took the spotlight, assisted by Kasper and I,
with the fourth man being Stokes; now isn’t that a line-up! After this one, PK and
Nick were assessing, and as the good team we are, we stayed with them until the
very end. We arrived back at the hotel at just gone 8pm; I said it was a long day
right? It feels like writing this day has gone on forever…early (-ish) night for us all to
start again tomorrow, who said this was a holiday?
Game Day 4
Day 4 saw us with another early start, and again we headed to the land of bugs,
well Fontainhas for the purpose of the Tournament. This was our first time in the
Tournament that we worked with different nationality referees. The first game at
08:30, between CF os Belenenses (Por) and Academia Vitalise (Col), was a quarter
final in the U14 age group. We had a Polish referee, who was called Martin
P a g e |27
Iber Cup 2014
Ostrovski.
Martin was a very good referee and his positioning was at a very good standard. The game went well and nothing of
real interest happened, just a very good standard of football still. It was a real pleasure to see such good football
being played at such a young age, compared to the football being played at home. After that was another
consecutive line for me, however this time I was assisting Ben Bowles with a German assistant, who was called Max
Ermisch. Joe Stokes acted as fourth. Again the game went well and there were no real key match incidents. The next
game was refereed by Joe Stokes, assisted by both Max and Joe Kasper.
Once all our games were complete, we relocated to the bar
adjacent to the ground, where we had a drink with our
newly formed Colleagues, getting to know what life was
like as an Official in their respective Countries. That
afternoon we headed into Lisbon and completed a tour of
Benfica’s Stadium; it was interesting to see the preparation
for the new season. The Champions League Final was
played there at the end of the 2013/2014 season and there
were still plenty of reminders about that. The programme
stalls were all still branded with the Champions League, and
the seats that reveal the Club’s sponsors logo had to be replaced with plain seats, so that no branding was shown
during the broadcasting of the final. At the time of our tour, the Club were putting the stadium back together to the
correct Benfica style.
Game Day 5
By day 5, it was clear that it was the business end of the Tournament, as the
games were thinning out and the appointments become more prestigious.
We were once again split up, so I had the earliest start at 11:10 at
Dramatico, in a game between the Brazil National Team and Lyon, in the
Semi Final of playoff A, U15 girls competition. It was a game that was
brilliantly contested, ending 0-0, thus going to penalties. Lyon won on
penalties 5-4 to take the spot in the final.
It was back to the pool to ‘balance the tan’ (PK’s words, not mine) until the
lads were on a game together at 18:45 that evening, where they had an U13 B Final. The game before, which Kasper
was 4th on, kicked off, which all stemmed from a couple of decisions by the referee that could have been prevented.
Joe’s game went well and the lads did Kent proud. It was a superb ending for us and the assessor had nothing to say.
Upon getting back to the hotel, everyone decided to let their hair down in
the evening and go out for a couple of beers, however I decided to call it a
night as the tournament wasn’t over for me, as an appointment at 10am in
the morning awaited.
Game Day 6
So the job to wrap up the tournament was down to me. After giving
PK a heart attack, pretending that we were still in bed, after he woke
up most of floor five, we headed to Dramatico once again, but this
time for the last time in the Tournament. I was fourth official to Mary
Harmer, of Bedfordshire, in the U17 girls A Final. The game was a
well-contested one between Paris Saint-Germain and Atlético Madrid.
According to Mary, a German and Italian team; I think Mary agreed
with us that her geographical skills weren’t the best! The game was fast paced and the rain on the AstroTurf
P a g e |28
Iber Cup 2014
made for testing conditions for the girls.
Unfortunately in the 2nd half one of the girls landed awkwardly on
her back, and required an ambulance to the hospital. After a
timely 12-minute stoppage we were back underway and
completed the game. PSG deservedly won 2-0. Once we finished
we headed back to the hotel to grab some lunch, before lying by
the pool, appreciating the Portuguese clouds…
Message of Thanks
After the last game, we were on a wind-down, with the realization that we would be soon on a plane home. I think
we were all secretly praying for another French airstrike, which never arrived; well I was anyway. This experience
brought many surprises, but exceeded my expectations. It put me in situations I
have never been in before and taught me many valuable lessons, providing
testing conditions that will no doubt aid my refereeing in the UK. On the whole,
the trip was an absolute blast and I wouldn’t have changed anything for the
world, especially a few people that I feel deserve special thanks:
To The Kent FA - for making it, and allowing it, to happen. It has seen four young
referees return much improved, and with a refreshed hunger to reach the very
top.
To Joe Kasper – the lad who always seems to be up for everything, would always
be the one who ‘fancied it’! Even though PK kept mentioning that we’re in
competition now I’ll more than happy concede defeat to such a great guy. Needs
a few lessons in keeping a tidy room, however I think we were all guilty of making
a bit of mess.
To Joe Stokes – the guy who, every day, would have another bad word to say about the maid for moving some stuff
or tidying up! Apart from that this kid is a great guy and always put a smile on our faces.
To Ben Bowles – the quiet one? That’s what we all thought! How
very wrong were we! His one-liners, that he was shooting out all
trip, were timed to perfection. Even if your best one you did on a
‘keeper setup’ and said the other one for your own amusement.
Usain Bowles, I salute you!
To Paul Kelly – thank you for the highly valued feedback, guidance
and valuable life lessons. I’ve come back from Iber a changed man
and this is 1/5 your fault, even though I now like larger, red wine and nuts (pistachios that is). I thank you for your
support both in refereeing and throughout the evenings.
To Nick Dunn – for not only for providing me with this fantastic opportunity but being such a great guy to be around
throughout the rest of the holiday trip. Without your hard work and dedication this trip would not have happened
and I thank you for making this possible. Now watch your back, Kasper and I want your Level 3 status!
To All the Lads – Thanks for a cracking ten days that will live long in my memory. I look forward to all of us
working our way through the system together. I hope that we can stay as close as we were in Iber and
continue this fantastic friendship and develop it into fantastic refereeing, but hey there’s a long way to go
before that…
P a g e |29
Iber Cup 2014
Joe Stokes
Tournament Review
P a g e |30
Iber Cup 2014
Application Process
I first heard about the Iber Cup through my colleagues in the Referee
Academy, hearing about what they had experienced and learnt whilst in
Portugal in 2013, and it sounded fantastic. I had no doubts on whether or
not I would apply, the Iber cup is an unequivocal opportunity for young
referees to develop their skills in a very unique environment. Learning to
communicate with players of a foreign language and publically sell
decisions is something that can be hugely important to a referee. Being
able to communicate something to those in England that cannot hear
what you are saying can immensely improve one’s perception. Also, the
fact every game is assessed was something I was excited about, usually a
referee is assessed and must wait many weeks for
their next assessment to find about if they have
progressed. Conversely at the Iber cup, the referees
and assistants are assessed on every game they do, and are able to try and implement
improvements and develop at a much faster rate. It was an opportunity I certainly did
not want to pass up. However, I was very sceptical on whether or not I would be
selected, I knew there were many other very able candidates applying and felt rather
sceptical.
We first had to write a prose about why we were the looking to go and what we'd get
out of it. Luckily I made it through that stage and next came the interviews. I actually
thought I may have an advantage, simply because a few months earlier I had to attend
interviews for my universities. However, this false hope was soon shattered when I
turned up at the interview a bag of nerves. After delivering my presentation and trying
my best to answer the questions I left the interview disappointed, I felt that my nerves
were clear for all to see and possibly could have answered the questions better. When I received the call from Nick,
my fears seemed justified, his tone was negative and starting every sentence with 'unfortunately' didn't help
matters. Nevertheless thankfully for me, our RDO clearly fancies himself as a comedian.
He was in fact 'unfortunately' inviting me to be one of the four to go to Portugal; I was
truly ecstatic, and somewhat disbelieving. Once I had confirmed Nick wasn't playing some
sort of cruel, twisted joke I allowed myself to believe it. It was the best thing to happen in
my refereeing career to that point, June couldn't come quickly enough!
Preparation Day - Bedfordshire FA
The preparation day in May was our first opportunity to meet as a team of six, including
the two coaches, Nick and Paul. We, also, were able to meet others who were also
attending the trip. We then had a mixture of presentations telling us what to expect from
the tournaments, hearing from those who had gone before. We also heard from a specialist in 'exercising in heat',
who emphasised the importance of hydration, the treatment of blisters and staying out of the sun where possible.
After the talks we were taken outside to undergo relevant practical
sessions, we learnt skills to add to our armoury that would help us deal
with scenarios such as simulation and 'foreign' dissent we perhaps weren't
used to in England. The day for me was a huge success; it was brilliant to
meet with the group, getting to know everyone properly. It also aided in
making me even more excited for the trip, I truly was counting the days.
Build Up to the Trip
The build-up to the trip, as expected, was predominantly pure excitement,
P a g e |31
Iber Cup 2014
I couldn't wait to get out there and test myself. There were of course some nerves; it was an important
task to represent Kent FA well, both on and off the pitch. Also the heat was something I worried about, I
had never experienced refereeing in an extremely hot environment and
wondered if I would cope. Yet, through of all this anxiety though, there was
never ever a feeling of dread; I have always been someone who likes to
challenge myself, learn and improve. I expected it to be tough and I hoped it
would be, I wouldn't learn anything if it was easy. I also hoped the conditions
were tough as it was right at the start of pre-season, so would be a real boost
to the fitness going into the season.
Day 1 - Arriving in Portugal
It was Paul's birthday the evening before we flew, so we had celebrated as a
team in a local pub. Upon arrival in Lisbon, the first thing I noticed when we walked out of the plane was the
humidity. Refereeing in the climate was going to be tough! After arriving at the hotel and settling in, there was a real
buzz between the six of us, the excitement was really kicking in. After chilling out by
the pool, Paul ran the first training session. We were joined by the Bedfordshire
referees and had a good session, running circuits and generally keeping it as high
intensity as we could. For me, it was important to try and acclimatise to the
conditions and keeping a mindful eye on drinking as much water as we could.
Day 2 - Lt. Paul Kelly
When I woke up that morning, I was ready for a chilled out day, and for a while it
was. Lazing by the pool I genuinely felt in paradise, though PK soon desired he would
ruin that for all of us. Sending us upstairs to get into sports gear, we hoped for an
easy, light session; we were wrong. We did high intensity interval training where we
ran hard for one minute, rested for a minute and repeated. It was brutal. The
beautiful scenery as we ran along the seafront was the last thing on my mind as I focussed solely on remaining
conscious! It was a tough session, but a very rewarding one at that. It was an insight into the work one must do to
get to the higher echelons of refereeing. After getting back, the Bedfordshire FA referees decided on a group water
aerobics session. Whilst it was admittedly the perfect exercise to cool down from
an intensive session, we definitely succeeded in looking rather comical. As
everyone lounged on their sun beds we were far too enthusiast, doing star jumps
in the water!
Day 3 - Iber Cup Nearly Upon Us!
In terms of the training session we did have a well-earned day off. The
Tournament was just two sleeps away and I just couldn't wait to get going. We'd
had an amazing evening the night before, attending a festival, however now I was
ready to focus on the refereeing, get my head down, and really perform well.
Day 4 - One Day to Go!
We used the last day to prepare fully for our first day of refereeing. We had the route planned to the stadium and
had talked about areas of our game we are looking to improve or change in a team meeting. We went out for
another PK led high intensity run followed by sprints along the sea front. Another tough, yet necessary, session. That
evening we went to a referee’s meeting and was told what to expect from the tournament, including the ‘do’s’ and
‘don'ts’. We were, by all accounts, ready for the Tournament to get going! Sleep didn't come as easily as hoped that
evening.
Game Day 1
P a g e |32
Iber Cup 2014
Game 1
Mercedarios CF v SC Vila Verde U14
Referee: Mary Harmer
AR1: Joe Stokes
AR2: Sam Harris
4th: Scott Rudd
Before the game there was an air of anxiety between the four of us. We
were the first game of the day on the pitch, the first game of the
tournament for our Counties. We didn't really know what to expect; we
didn't know what the quality was going to be like, and had never
experienced officiating those who did not speak English. A look to the
crowd saw representatives of the Tournament in attendance; we knew
if we had a poor game, it would reflect upon our colleagues within our
teams, so the pressure was on!
The game, reflected by the 8-0 score line, was extremely one-sided. This led to a very
straightforward game from an officiating point of view, with less than ten fouls in the game
and no sign of a yellow card. I spent most of the first half as the 'dead assistant', with all the
play in the Portuguese half, I stood in awe of the Spanish side. The tempo was unbelievable;
they played two-touch football, moving the ball with consummate ease. It was so refreshing
to see a young side playing without youthful impatience. They instead, unwearyingly,
waited, for an opening and exploited with predator-like ruthlessness. The second half, as
expected gave me a lot more to do. The Spanish side continued their dominance, pressing
high into the Portuguese half. The unique view on football one gets from 'running the line'
was a joy to behold. The number nine of the Spanish side displayed an understanding of the
game and a maturity that stretched far beyond his age. His movement from a defensive
point of view was impossible; conversely, his movement from an assistant referee's point of
view, was downright exasperating. He would stand in an offside position, a yard further on
from the second to last defender, and as if by telepathy he would move at just the right
moment, just as the ball was played into an onside position. The defender frankly didn't
know where he was, the desperate plea to me for offside was often all he could muster. The
number nine, by all accounts was out-thinking, out-playing and out-classing the helpless
back four. It seemed a long way from the more mundane football I was used to on a cold Sunday morning back
home.
We left the field of play relieved with our performance. The game, in truth,
could have refereed itself, however it was a game under both ours, and our
Counties’ belts. We used the game to get used to the ferocious heat, and
practiced communication with ‘foreign' speaking players and coaches. My
biggest challenge in the game was trying to tell the manager of the Spanish side
that if he didn't move back from the touchline, we were the ones that were
going to need a physio (after the inevitable collision that was going to ensue).
The perplexed look on his face was a common theme throughout the
tournament, although it must be noted that the apparent best way to learn
English for a player or coach is to give a decision against their team, it is amazing
how the language seems to come so naturally!
P a g e |33
Iber Cup 2014
Game 2
Hellerup IK v SG Sacavenense U14
Referee: Scott Rudd
AR1: Sam Harris
AR2: Joe Stokes
4th: Mary Harmer
If the first game was anything to go by, we would have gone into this
one feeling relaxed and expecting a nice friendly atmosphere. However
we had just witnessed Joe Kasper's game, a very well contested game,
with a fiery atmosphere. Although, I had lamented Joe later in the day
for losing control of an U14s game, we both knew there was little he could have done to prevent the two red cards
he had in the game. The boys were there to win, and whether it to be the heat or the close nature of the game,
tempers boiled over and Joe had taken the necessary action. This was a warning to
us, we went into the game expecting anything, switched on and ready for what was
going to be a tough game.
From the first moment of the game we knew it was going to be more contested
than the first. The team from Denmark started the game with something I, at the
time, found amazing; they had a move from a kick-off! As soon as the kick was
taken, both wingers went flying up the lines, for a ball to be hoisted into the air in
an attempt to immediately get a foothold in the game. In hindsight, a move from
kick-off became common, and further reminded me of the difference in standard I
was used to. Back home, on a Sunday morning, a short corner is about as far as I get
to witnessing a pre-meditated move, a tragic, yet inspiring thought! About five
minutes into the game, we had our first KMI (Key match incident) to deal with, a
foul in the box. Scott was in a fantastic position, quickly and decisively giving the
penalty. A good start. The penalty was missed and for the next forty minutes, the
game was about as end to end as I have ever experienced! This could and at times
did lead to a rise in temperature; the players were getting frustrated, leading to a
few silly challenges. I felt as a team of three, we handled it very well, we decreased
our tolerance at the right times, and led by Scott controlled the game adeptly. It was
in the literal last seconds of the game, one hundred minutes into my tournament I had my biggest incident yet. The
Portuguese team had spread the play out right to the very tricky right winger, he attacked his full back at pace,
entered the box and was tripped by his opponent. Scott looked at me, asking for help. I agitated my flag and
signalled for a penalty. The penalty was thus scored and the Portuguese team won the game. It was a really good
moment for myself and the team, we had displayed good, efficient teamwork and come to a correct, game-defining
decision. We came off the game very happy with our performance, the assessor gave very positive feedback and
again we represented our Counties well.
The last game went very well, with Ben and Joe representing Kent, and we made our way back to the hotel all
relieved and pleased with the day's work. It was a mutual feeling from the group that we were both proud to be part
of, and represent, Kent FA. I was raring to go for game day two!
Game Day 2
Game 1
Atletico Madrid v Lyon U15 girls
Referee: Ben Bowles
AR1: Joe Kasper
AR2: Scott Rudd
4th: Joe Stokes
P a g e |34
Iber Cup 2014
Strangely enough, in my three years of refereeing, I had never had the opportunity to be the 4th official.
I was intrigued to see if the job genuinely was to stand there and will the referee to go down so you had
something to do, alas this wasn't at all the case! There were subs warming up with footballs and in the
wrong place and managers clearly not knowing the concept of a
technical area. Which leads me to the worst part, the procedure of a
substitution. The competition rules stated that play didn't need to
be stopped for a sub to take place, there was no controlling it, it was
a like a free for all. There were some teams who didn't know of the
rule, and wondered why play wasn't being stopped, other teams
were changing five at a time, it was uncontrollable. However, luckily
for the teams, I put on my best Portuguese accent/ broken English
and exaggerated hand signals to excellent use. After many games of
hopeless charades, I like to believe they understood my point.
Despite this, the team had a good game, and another solid
performance from a Kent referee.
Game 2
Brasil National Team v Espanyol U15 girls
Referee: Joe Stokes
AR1: Scott Rudd
AR2: Joe Kasper
4th: Ben Bowles
I have to admit, leading out a line of players from the Brazil National
team and Espanyol was fairly surreal. However, I wasn't thinking
about that, the other three, Joe, Scott and Ben, and I performed
admirably, I felt a lot of pressure going into the game, I didn't want to be the only one with a bad performance!
Unfortunately the game had hit a hitch before we had even kicked off, Brazil’s bus had broken down en route and
upon arriving late, they demanded time for a necessary warm up. They were granted an extra fifteen minutes,
delaying kick off, however that time came and they were nowhere near ready. I, under pressure from one of the
organisers, was told to march over and insist on an immediate kick-off. The manager seemed genuinely shocked, that
me, a lowly referee could try and hurry a super force like Brazil (I would point out that this was before the Germany
game!). We did, soon after get the game kicked off. It became apparent quickly that
Brazil were a very well drilled team, they had many intricate training ground moves from
almost every set piece, I really had to keep on my toes at every set piece, simply
launching the ball into the area and hoping for the best was not at all an option.
The game itself was on the whole straightforward, fifty minutes in the heat certainly felt
much longer! I had one caution in the game and never felt we lost control of the game.
The clear over-reaction after fouls and dealing with dissent in foreign languages was
something very new for me. Dissent was especially difficult, I hardly thought that having
an Espanyol player wagging her finger at me and shouting at me in Spanish was her
trying to congratulate me on my decision; however it was difficult to differentiate
between levels of dissent. When the final whistle went I was again relieved, I hadn't
dropped a clanger, I had on the most part a solid game. The game finished 1-0 to Brazil
with no real KMI of note. The key thing picked up by the assessor in terms of
development was getting too wide. This is something I have tried to do, however clearly,
to progress, I will try to find a more flexible patrol path. Making our way home again the
feeling amongst the group was positive, it was a good day for Kent officials, we just
wanted to keep it up. We were all excited to get home and find out our appointments
for day three.
P a g e |35
Iber Cup 2014
Game Day 3
It seemed to take forever for the appointments to come out the night before. We all waited with excitement to find
out what appointments we had been given. Eventually, when they did, I found I had been given two lines and a 4th.
The other three had been a middle each, Scott getting two! Of course, I was at first rather disappointed. We were
told the appointments were based on merit, so felt I had underperformed in my game, however the assessor had
been very positive about what was in truth a very easy game. This in itself was a lesson, getting lesser or missing out
on appointments is something that every referee is going to have to go through at
some point. Soon I felt upbeat about the day, I still had a vital job on the line to support
both Karl Parker (Sheffield) and Scott.
Game 1
Sockers FC (USA) v Kenkre FC (Ind) U15
Referee: Karl Parker (Shef)
AR1: Joe Stokes
AR2: Ben Bowles
4th: Scott Rudd
It was interesting to referee with someone out of the County. He certainly brought his
own methods to the fold, and all in all controlled the game. It was another relatively
easy game, with the American team dominating. I was very impressed with their
tactical approach, I was on the side of the benches and was able to hear the coaches
conversations. Once again it led me to compare this with the
level of football I am currently at, where the most insightful
comment from the benches seems to start with: "IF IN
DOUBT..." The level of detail the American bench went into
with their young players and then to see it carried out on the pitch was simply special to
watch. In terms of my performance, I felt it was generally at a good level, one thing I was
picked up on by both Paul and Nick was the time I took in giving a foul in my area of
credibility. The incident occurred right in front of me, it was a clear trip and a clear foul, I
was more worried about whether or not it was a caution than anything else. I naturally,
without looking at Karl, confidently signalled for a foul, however to my horror I looked at
him to see him cutting the grass insisting on it not being a foul. Whether he was right or
wrong is beside the point, he was the referee and he has the final say, if I had looked to him
before giving the foul, the mistake would have been avoided. The beauty of the Iber cup is
my safety net line was not far away, so was able to practice this particular skill in the not
too distant future. The assessor was very positive about mine and Ben's performance on
the line, so was pleased to keep on improving as an Assistant.
Game 2
Baerum SK B (Nor) v FH Hajnarfjorour (Ice) U15
Referee: Scott Rudd
AR1: Ben Bowles
AR2: Joe Stokes
4th: (Joe Kasper)
The biggest thing of note about this game was the assessor,
Bobby Madley, a Premier League referee was assessing the
team. This naturally increased the pressure, I really felt for
Scott as it was his second game of the day. Ben and I knew
we may have to really be on our toes and really support
Scott as he may have been understandably leggy, the
conditions were tough; possibly the hottest it had been all
P a g e |36
Iber Cup 2014
week. The game itself was poor, a drab 0-0 draw. I would be clutching at straws to find an incident in the
game of note. For the first time in the Tournament I gave a foul throw, usually at this level, I would look
to be lenient, but the player stepped about a foot onto the pitch, twice! To Scott's
credit you wouldn't have known he had a game before from my point of view. He
really put it in, saving a big end-to-end sprint in the last minute of the game.
Bobby Madley didn't have anything major for us, it was another successful day. If
one needed an advert for the Iber Cup, I would think that alone was enough, we
were assessed by a man who had gone through the same process and gotten to
exactly where we all dream of being. It was inspiring to listen to the advice he
gave us, and certainly value what he told all three of us.
It was another good day’s work for the Kent FA crew; we had continued our high
standard set on the first day. I was really happy for Ben, Scott and Joe, again they
had been under a lot of pressure, yet thrived under it. It was an incredibly long
day, getting up at 06:30, our first game at 08:30, and not arriving back at the hotel until 8pm that night. This alone
enough to challenge anyone who thinks it was a holiday of some sort, it was tough! Upon arriving back, I found I had
been appointed to both a 4th and an U16 middle, for the following day.
Game Day 4
North Dublin FC (Ire) v Ullern (Nor) U16
Referee: Joe Stokes
AR1: Joe Kasper
AR2: M Ermisch (Ger)
4th: M Ostrovski (Pol)
I was hugely excited for the
game to get going, it was the oldest age group I had been involved in so far
at the Tournament and I expected a tough game. I was also given the
opportunity to work with a 'foreign' assistant and fourth. This was made
easy by the fact they spoke perfect English and were clearly both very
proficient referees. From the moment it kicked off I knew I was in for
something different from the other games. It was fast, much faster than
anything I had been used to. It did take me time to adapt, clearly the Irish
team weren't expecting such a rapid start, as in the second minute of the game, I
awarded what was a stonewall penalty for the Norwegian side. The penalty was missed
and the temperature naturally increased. The Irish response led to what was my most
disappointing part of the game. About two minutes after giving the penalty for the
Norwegian side, one of the Irish strikers turned in the box, a Norwegian player stuck out a
leg however quickly pulled it back. The Irish player fell down appealing for the penalty, it
was dive, however I decided to shake my head and allow play to continue. In hindsight I
should have stopped play and cautioned for simulation, it blotted what would have been
a good display. My best moment in the game came from an advantage that led to a goal,
it was a dream scenario, a player brought down however someone else carrying on, I
played advantage and watched him drive the ball into the top corner. Thankfully, I
resisted the urge to join in the celebration of the goal. The game stuck to the fast tempo,
and I had to work very hard to keep on top, and felt I did. There were two cautions and
never felt out of control. Unfortunately the scheduled assessor didn't turn up; however
Paul and Nick were able to offer advice. My positioning had improved and was no longer
getting too wide, it was just a shame about the caution I should have given for simulation.
The lesson was just to do it, don't hesitate; the problem was I waited too long and it was
too late by the time I realised!
P a g e |37
Iber Cup 2014
The day was a rewarding one, I had been entrusted with a good appointment and had a decent game. It was
another opportunity to learn heaps from those around me, and get used to the faster pace games I will
encounter at high levels.
Game Day 5
When the appointments first came out, and we found we had been appointed
as a team of three to an U13s game, we were slightly underwhelmed. It was
later that we eventually realised that it was in fact a playoff final! Joe Kasper
had been appointed in the middle, with me and Ben on the line. It was a
fantastic opportunity for us to finish the job, if we had a poor game, all of our
work would have been for nothing. A good game was our only option.
Play-Off Final
SG Sacavenense F v Club Sport Maritimo U13
Referee: Joe Kasper
AR1: Joe Stokes
AR2: Ben Bowles
4th: German guy
Before the game, naturally we were going to be nervous. However, Joe had a 4th directly before his final, so we went
along to watch. It was chaos, a mass confrontation broke out and the crowd were going absolutely crazy, creating a
very hostile atmosphere. This was of course directed at the team of officials. If we were nervous before, it had been
cranked up a notch, this was a huge game for us, and it admittedly hadn't sunk in until
moments before kick-off. The game itself was luckily for us straightforward from a
refereeing point of view. There were no cautions, and rarely a challenge with any
malice. However we still maintained our vigilance, concentrated for the full fifty
minutes and unbelievably - I rather enjoyed it. The game itself was well contested,
one team went 1-0 up in the second half and then exhibited the most incredible
amount of time wasting I've ever personally witnessed. After what seemed like a
justified last minute equaliser, the game went to penalties. The game ended and a
weight seemed to lift from our shoulders, we had done it, we had handled the
pressure all week and done an admirable job in representing our County.
Day 6 was finals day, unfortunately I missed out on a last day final, however my
congratulations go to Scott who picked up an U17s 4th man appointment.
Summary
The end of the Tournament was in many ways a relief, I was proud of all four of us. No one had a poor game, we had
in my opinion done the Kent FA proud, and we had all put our all into the Tournament, safely saying we had
improved as Match Officials. The amount I have learnt over the ten days was incredible and I now cannot wait to
implement and develop these new skills. Everything we had set out to achieve had been attained, my closing
thoughts was of a new found desire to get as far in refereeing as I could get. My confidence had been lifted and now
am raring to go for the new season. I couldn't recommend this trip enough to any referee looking to improve and
learn, it is an opportunity unlike any other you will find.
Message of Thanks
Kent FA: I would like to thank everyone within the Kent FA for making this trip possible, I can safely say it has
improved both me and my colleagues as Match Officials on and off the pitch. The trip has reinvigorated my desire to
reach the higher echelons of the game.
P a g e |38
Iber Cup 2014
Joe, Ben and Scott: It really was a pleasure; I like to think we lived
this Tournament through each other's eyes, wanting so much for all
each of us to do well for ourselves and Kent FA. Thank you for
keeping me sane through the ten days and thank you for all being
such an amazing team, it was one of the best trips away I've had in
my life and you guys were the main reason for it. I've taken a lot
from the ten days, my officiating has improved and my tan came
along just fine, however what I really can say is that I have made
three new real friends. I hope we stay in touch and you all make it to where you want to be in this sport we live and
die over.
Paul: The advice you offered over the ten days (not just in refereeing), it really was invaluable. Any improvements I
make over this coming season I can safely put down to some of the suggestions you have made on my game. Whilst
your drive to train yourself and us hard was irritating, I thank you for it, it is an inspiration and an insight into what it
takes to reach the level you are currently at. I thank you for the application you put in over week and your
contagious enthusiasm. I hope we did you proud over the trip and wish all the best for the coming season/s.
Nick: It is difficult to put into words how much you have done for both myself and the County, and this trip adds to
that. I thank you for being the driving force behind this trip and making us all believe in ourselves as referees. Your
hard-working attitude and view on officiating is an inspiration, I thank you for the insightful coaching tips you have
given me over the tournament and will endeavour to implement them into my game. I wish you all the best in both
your refereeing and your perpetual desire to keep improving all the referees in Kent.
P a g e |39
Iber Cup 2014
Paul Kelly
Coaching Review
P a g e |40
Iber Cup 2014
Pre-Tournament Preparation
So there I was sitting on the M25 stuck in traffic when I get this call from our Referee Development
Officer (RDO), Nick Dunn, or Dunnie as we know him. I get asked one question; “What you doing 27th
June to 08th July?” I replied attending the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) annual
conference 27th and 28th June. Nick then said to me he was looking for a high quality coach to take to
the Iber Cup, but as there weren’t any free, he thought he would ask me!
This is kind of sense of humour that I have come accustomed to from our RDO, I accepted this offer on the basis of
getting permission from my boss (the wife) and more importantly the Football League, as it is an expectation that
you attend the annual Conference, in preparation of the upcoming season. I got permission from both; the Football
League was the easy bit! Trying to convince Mrs K was the hard bit, however it didn’t take her too long before she
said it would be nice to get rid of me for a few days (unsure what she
meant by this).
So, we were summoned to an International Tournament Preparation Day
at the Bedfordshire FA in May. This was a good opportunity in meeting
the other referees that I would be working with, and trying to develop
the next generation from Kent. We went to Dunstable the night before
due to the early start we had the next day. I decided it would be nice if we got to know each other a bit more before
the trip, so Nandos was planned. We had a good evening talking football, before heading back to the hotel.
The Preparation Day consisted of practical sessions and a talk from a sport scientist, on the problems with working in
the heat and getting our bodies recovered in a short space of time between games. I was asked to run a session on
Assistant Refereeing, or lining as I like to call it. One of the first things I did was to explain the importance of correct
positioning, as the correct position should give you the correct decisions; that’s the theory anyway! I gave the groups
a position one meter from the goal line and I lined up four footballs along the line with each ball being in a different
position along the line. From the one meter position I asked each person to give each ball a decision of either in or
out of play from what they can see. Well from the one meter position each ball was given out of play, now we move
each of the group to the correct position and they found out that one of the balls that they gave as out of play was in
fact still in play. I did this to show how important the correct position was to get to the correct decision.
This was followed with practical offside decision making, within a game of three on
three, where the brief to the players was to run offside or stay on side, making it as
difficult as possible for the acting Assistant Referee. Stood behind the Assistant
Referee was former Select Group Assistant Referee Roy Burton, who was in
attendance with Birmingham FA, along with former Select Group Referee Andy Hall.
Roy’s job was to decide if the Assistant Referee had made the correct decision and to
offer any operational advice on their technique.
This practical development session seemed to go down really well with all the
attendees’ form the other County FA’s, with some really good feedback on the correct
positioning, which we talk a lot about when we are refereeing but it’s just as
important to get the correct position as an Assistant Referee! With the day drawing to a close our attention was
drawn to the Tournament and the logistics of getting everyone to Heathrow for our early morning flight to Lisbon,
Portugal. We decided that it would be best to go and stay over the night before our flight, as it was important that
not only did we make the flight time but we were there and ready as a team.
The Tournament
June 26th arrived and I started getting loads of messages from the “lads” on my phone; Ben Bowles is the first
to text his excitement, followed by Stokesy, Kasper and Ruddy. However our RDO tops the lot of them by
P a g e |41
Iber Cup 2014
texting us all about how excited he was about going on a plane the following day, asking if it was ok to see if he
could see the cockpit and Captain before we took off! (I jest of course!)
We arrived at our hotel in Heathrow just in time to get dinner and to watch the
Germany V USA game followed by the late game. Iit was interesting to hear the views
of other referees on game incidents and how each of us would deal with them. Due to
the early flight we managed to get some sleep, but as Kasper was hyper with
excitement of the trip, he kept us up talking for a few more hours on the shape of
refereeing in England.
So it’s 05.30 and we are on the way to park the cars at the Long Stay, ready for our
checking in time no later than 06.00. After a brief argument with the checking staff
regarding weights of bags, I am now forty pounds lighter and I am not talking about my case! The lads get tested on
the flight with a Law Test; let’s leave that one there to save embarrassment! We landed and jump in to our awaiting
transfer, the journey takes us past both the Lisbon clubs, the first to appear was Sporting Lisbon sponsored by the
brewer Super Bock; green and white stadium looked modern and dominated the sky line. Then less than a minute
later Benfica appears, or to give its’ full title ‘Sporting Club of Benfica’, a stadium that was completely pulled down
and rebuilt for the Euros in 2004, staging last season’s Champions League final, and interestingly sponsored by the
rival brewer Sagres. Now rivalry between the two clubs even extends to what beer you drink!
We arrive at our base for the tournament, which was Hotel Pestana
Cascais, a nice modern hotel with an indoor and outdoor pool, fitness
room and an area of grass that was set aside for training. After settling in
to our rooms we headed down to the pool to relax and get to know the
hotel. We were greeted at the pool by the team of Officials from
Bedfordshire who we had meet at the Preparation Day. After chatting
with the Bedfordshire party I decided it was time for a light training
session. It consisted of a warm up, followed by some shuttles and a sprint
session, for a bit of fun we finished with a game of ‘clap-catch’. This is
quite simple; the thrower stands in the middle and throws the ball at
you. All you have to do is clap your hands and catch the ball! Well as I said it was simple, right? No we lost to
Bedfordshire 3-2; unfortunately Kasper, Bowles, Ruddy, Stokes and our RDO couldn’t work out that they had to clap
first, before catching the ball!
The next few days consisted of getting use to the heat and some high intensity training. We did a mixture of one
minute hard running (around 17/18km per hour) followed by a recovery walk for a minute, completing twelve sets of
each. This was followed by an afternoon session of water aerobics, and stretching, in the pool to aid recovery, for
around thirty minutes.
Monday came and the Hotel was busy and bustling with teams of Match Officials from England, Scotland,
Sweden and Germany, along with competing teams Atletico Madrid, Celta Vigo, and Villarreal. I could see it in
our lads eyes, as soon as they see these big teams of European football I think it
dawned on them of the quality of football that they would be involved in. With
the excitement of the Tournament beginning it was time to attend the
Referee’s meeting at the local school. When we walked in to the auditorium it
dawned on me how big this was going to be, with 173 referees in attendance
from all over the world. With the French just having seen their team progress in
the World Cup, they were in high spirits and just before the meeting was
opened officially they gave us a rendition of their national anthem, with the La
Marseillaise echoing around the auditorium, followed by round of applause
P a g e |42
Iber Cup 2014
from the other Officials. The meeting covered the usual stuff; be at your game on time, make sure your
professional at all times etc., or “you’re out”. This only re-emphasised the information that Dunnie and I have
been drilling in to our lads since the selection process was completed. We left the meeting and walked back
with a group of Referees from Liverpool, the discussions quickly turned on the differences of refereeing up
north (their words, not mine). The word that stuck with me within our conversation was the word they used
for an Assistant Referee; whilst we call them ‘Linos’, up north they are a ‘Liner’. Many Conference teams from
up north would complain to me that we play different ‘rules’ down south…I think I now know why!
The Iber Cup
The first day has arrived, day one of the Iber Cup. It was an early start for me, with
05.30 alarms to make sure the rest of the guys were up and ready, ensuring we were on
the 07.04 train to Estoril. I was sharing a room with Dunnie, and the boys had visited
our room the previous night, taking the mickey out of how tidy I was and how
everything was folded up or hung up. Well I knocked on Room 515 at 06.00, no answer
so I knock again and again and eventually the door was opened. I was greeted by an
older lady; my heart then sunk thinking the boys had gone out after the 10pm curfew…
As I started to open my mouth in shock, I could see her husband approaching from the
bedroom. Yep you got it, the lads were in Room 517, ouch! After a quick apology from
me I am now knocking at 517! (This incident still make me chuckle now and nobody
knows about this incident until they read this of course).
I was greeted by the lads in their full kit and tracksuit tops, they were just like my boy waiting to open his Christmas
presents. The next thing that hit me was the room that the four young men were sharing; it smelt, and how they
found anything was beyond me. I now know why I was the butt of the jokes the night before. We quickly grabbed
breakfast and made our way to the train station, where we caught the train. Unfortunately Ruddy obviously missed
double Maths when he went to school as he miscounted the stops and we got off a
station too early! To be fair to him it was the seventh stop and only a few of the
stations had a name plate up. Only once we had hopped off the train had we
realised we were at the wrong stop, so we had to wait for another eleven minutes
for the next train to take us to the seventh stop! That’s after six and before eight
Mr Rudd!
Now there was me thinking all the excitement was over on the travel front! Wrong,
we rocked up at the bus stop only to be told that, the bus we were getting on, the
driver had to take a break. De-camped from the bus then, the driver walks off for a
cigarette and shuts the doors of the bus, with the engine still running. After ten
minutes and time looking like we would end up arriving late, (and with last night’s words still ringing in my ears “if
your late, you’re out”) I was starting to get concerned. Cue returning driver. This driver was a special and unique
driver, as he must be the only driver in the world that could lock himself out of his own bus. Cue laughter amongst
the Bedfordshire and Kent contingent, I am now thinking we are defiantly going to be late and we would be “you’re
out”. So there is the driver banging his own doors in with no joy; they are
firmly shut and not opening. However, divine intervention came to the
rescue, or more like a broom stick handle from the local snack bar. After
prodding around for a good five minutes, the driver manages to prise
open the driver’s window, and use the broom stick to release the doors!
Bingo we are on our way to ‘Tires’.
Now, I take back any ill feelings with the bus driver as he stopped
right outside the ground to drop us off, bang on 08.00 for the
08.30 kick off. With a quick warm up, and a few words of wisdom
P a g e |43
Iber Cup 2014
from me, we were ready to go. Mary Harmer from the Beds FA team opened the day’s games up as the
referee, and was assisted by Stokes, with Ruddy as fourth, from Kent. Well these top teams of under 13’s from
Portugal know how to play footie. Not one long ball from the centre half to centre forward until the 18th
minute of the 50 minute game. They were knocking the ball around and every player wanted it, all looking
comfortable on the ball, with tight control. It was clear they knew how to get a foul from the referee too,
which it seemed like every contact they hit the ground (and I am not talking diving either).
It was finally time for one of our lads to get Kent’s performances up and
running; Kasper’s game was here and he was kicking off the tournament
for the Kent refs. The first middle was Portugal v Spain. Now I knew about
their rivalry before, but did Kasper? I am not sure, but by the end of the
game, which was only 50 minutes, we had a load of yellow cards and two
reds. If Kasper didn’t know about how fierce their rivalry was, then he did
know by the time he came off. The game was very well refereed and
Kasper had to work hard to keep control of a set of players that wanted
to kick each other at every opportunity. There are times when us referees
can cause some of the issues, perhaps by missing a bad challenge etc., but
Kasper did everything well, managing the tempo of the game and issuing the correct sanctions in relation to the type
of offence committed. It was just unfortunate that the players didn’t respond to the correct sanctions. Kasper can
sure referee, and I am quite excited in watching his progression in years to come (what I really mean is I am looking
over my shoulder, worried he may replace me in a few years’ time!).
Next up were some Assistant Refereeing appointments along with some fourth officiating. We decided we were just
going to get the bus all the way back to the hotel after the events of the train journey that morning. We managed to
get back to the hotel via a fast food establishment, (its ok, we were told
by the sports scientist that there is a thing called a golden hour where,
within reason, you can eat what you like to restore depleted energy
levels, but I am still not convinced that a Big Mac and fries was the best
for recovery meal, although the protein in the milkshakes seemed to be
ok).Once back at the hotel, the lads looked shattered, so after a quick
shower and a little bit of free time we meet up for dinner and an early
night all round.
Day two; we are at Torre FC with another 08.30 kick off for us, but the
saving grace is that it’s just a short ten minute walk away. With the lads
all doing well in their respective games that day, it was back to the hotel for a warm down in the pool and debrief of
the day. That evening we got the following day’s fixtures late, around half midnight, and we are left with a few
logistical problems with guys having two games at the same time, and even having to get to another ground that is
thirty minutes away but only having 15 minutes between game. Dunnie and I left the guys to get their kit packed,
while we went to see the Referee’s Committee. After finding the Appointments
Officer, we pointed out our logistical issues and we were swapped around. This
was fine, but it did mean that our team were split, with Kasper being on his own
to referee a game, while Bowles, Stokesy and Ruddy were moved to a game
across town. With this, we decided that it would be best if I stay with Kasper, as
he has directional difficulties and couldn’t be trusted to find his way across town
on his own. Another good game for Kasper and he was assessed by one of my
colleagues from the Professional Game, in the form of David Cootes, a National
List referee. The feedback given to Kasper was nothing short of exceptional from
David.
P a g e |44
Iber Cup 2014
Following the conclusion of Kasper’s fixture, we nipped back to the hotel to grab some lunch and then it was
off to meet the rest of the guys in town, as they had a break between their morning and afternoon games.
After a quick catch up on the games in the morning, Ruddy had to go on to referee back-to-back games (in the
heat, with the latter being assessed by Select Group Referee, Bobby Maddley. It would appear that Ruddy had
also nailed his games. Tires was the venue for our afternoon games where the whole team were out; Bowles
and Stokes refereed and were assisted by Kasper and Rudd. Yet again, the
future looks bright for Kent refereeing with both showing some
exceptional potential for the future.
I then was assessing one of the Nottinghamshire referees; he did well and
controlled the game, but I did have some areas to work on for him. Having
now seen a few different Officials from different Counties and Countries, I
was really impressed with the performances of our lads.
The next day saw us back in Tires, with the guys supporting a Polish
referee, Dominick, who was impressive, and a German Assistant Referee, Max, you ran a good line, albeit in a typical
continental style. Big Ben Bowles refereed a game and I ended up missing the Key Match Incident of the game. I had
returned to the changing rooms to get some water ready for half time interval and I missed an award of a penalty!
After the game, we were done for the day, so we headed to the bar and shared a quick beer with our new friends
from the continent, with talk all related to football. It was then we decided we would head in to Lisbon for the
afternoon.
Arriving in Lisbon for around 16.00 we headed straight for the Stadium of
Light, the home of Sporting Club of Benfica, however not before Bowlesy
and I had to negotiate a two-for-one offer with the toilet attendant at
the train station. With only 50 cents between us in change, a few things
were lost in translation, with us begging the toilet attendant to let us in
for 50 cents. After ten minutes of rowing, we discovered that you had to
buy a ticket from a nearby machine and present this to the attendant to
be let in. All we wanted is a break of nature, yet we had to pay for the
privilege! Eventually now back with the lads, it’s time for Ruddy to count
the stops again; one stop then a change of line with another ten stops. This time Ruddy managed it by holding his
hands out and putting one of his fingers down until he had none left – a quick around of applause from the lads
seemed in order. Well done Scott!
The Stadium of Light was re-built in 2004 to host the European finals, and is a 65,000 capacity, that also hosted
this year’s Champions League final between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, refereed by the Dutch Referee
Bjorn Kuipers. (In my opinion, he is at the top of his game and very unlucky to miss out on the World Cup final
to the Italian, Nicola Rizzoli). What struck me the most was the Football Club, or was it? The whole complex
was a sports club; when formed it was just cycling and football with
others being added along the way. It now boasts an aquatics centre,
basketball and others sports. This makes me wonder if we have it right
over here, having separate sport clubs on different locations rather
making use of a combined effort of locations and resources. On our
tour of the stadium, we find that each stand is sponsored by a different
company; Coke-Cola, Sagres beer and MEM (the local media provider)
were three of the stands, each carrying the logo of each company on
the seating, however most of the white seats were missing as they
were removed for the Champions League Final back in May, due to
advertising rights with UEFA. UEFA had these removed to protect their
P a g e |45
Iber Cup 2014
own commercial partners. We moved around the middle tier of the stadium where I found the gym, which was
part of the sports club of Benfica, and was all part of the membership service. Now with all the tread mills
facing the field of play, how can that not motivate you to run a little bit harder or longer? The Rehab centre
was next to the gym, where all of the injured players can be treated, along
with members of the public, again, all part of the membership service!
Down in the tunnel, via the away dressing room, we enter the pitch. Just
looking around gives you a sense of the size of the place and I would love
to see the place full and buzzing on derby day against Sporting Lisbon. The
pitch didn’t look in great shape, and what with the first pre-season
scheduled for the 25th July, it would appear the ground staff have their
work cut out.
After the short tour, it was back on the train, before we then decided to stop at
Cascais for a bit of dinner in a local bar, called the John Bull. It’s like home from
home, and I highly recommend the mixed grill. With dinner ordered it was all
eyes on the telly for the Brazil game, with Portugal being eliminated it would
appear that they are all behind the second
nation. The game its self wasn’t that great but the buzz around town was amazing
after Brazil moved to the next round, beating Columbia with a spectacular free kick
from a €50M defender. Everyone seemed to hit the streets in their cars, with
Brazilian flags and horns sounding to celebrate victory.
The big day had arrived. It was now time for the ‘plum appointments’ and Kent
were privileged that all the lads received a final tie appointment. Kasper, Big Ben
Bowles and Stokesy were out on a U13 B Final, at Torre, on the second to last day.
The boys bossed the game from start to finish, unlike the final before them, where
one of the Officials was hounded from the pitch by the partisan home crowd.
Control of the game appeared difficult, especially when there ended up being a
mass confrontation, between players and both technical area personnel! With the lads finishing the tournament on a
high they were allowed out to let their hair down for the night, however, not for Ruddy as he had an A Final the
following morning in the U17 Girls final, between Atletico Madrid and PSG, as fourth official at Dramatico. A hard
fought game, with PSG just edging it in the end.
With this being the last day of our trip, we decided to have a team meal out in Cascais and hit the town, meeting up
with all the other Officials from the UK, which ended up in the Irish bar ‘O’Neill’s’, which made a cracking
atmosphere, particularly bringing the house down with ‘Wonder-Wall’ at the end of the night!
P a g e |46
Iber Cup 2014
Nick Dunn
Tournament Summary
P a g e |47
Iber Cup 2014
Closing Summary
Without doubt, this has been one of the best experiences that being Referee Development Officer has given me. This
was initially six individuals going away to Portugal, who have now returned as a great bond of friends, and developed
significantly in just ten days. The work that you all put into this was amazing, and I could not have asked for anything
more from you, whether that was during social excursions, on-field performances, at fitness sessions, or during our
group feedback meetings. Kent are incredible proud at the way you all conducted your business, but more
importantly, you should all be proud of your achievements, and I hope that this opportunity can be used to propel
yourselves into a great start to the 2014/2015 season.
Message of Thanks
Kent FA
Again, without the support of Paul Dolan, John Moules and the Kent FA Board, this trip would
not have run. The trip has provided yet another key and important method to positively
develop some of Kent’s up and coming referees, so the support is greatly appreciated.
Paul Kelly
I was delighted when you came back to me back at the start of the year and accepted the
invitation to Portugal; I can’t thank you enough for your time, dedication and commitment to
making sure that this trip went smoothly and successfully; with very little guidance or
direction. There is absolutely no doubting that your experience has allowed the guys to
develop a significant amount in such a short period of time. I couldn’t have asked for a better
personality to be involved in promoting a great team ethos, and involving yourself heavily in
the antics of what took place in Portugal. Your desire to wanting to see every single one of
them improve made the week faultless, and the Development Group have an exception
coach in their possession. Needless to say that now, the countdown of “eight, seven, six,
five...” is fully engrained into my memory forever!
Ben Bowles
Probably one of the easiest messages to write. I am sure the others would join me in saying
that you have certainly been the comedian within the group, entertaining us all with your
“witty banter” but the off-the-cuff comments, phrases and words, all distributed with great
timing and delivery. It’s safe to say that you’ve played a key role in the setting the
camaraderie level for the group, keeping us amused throughout; “straighter than a
roundabout”, “It’s got a lot to answer for” when staring aimlessly into the air cooler, your
fight with the cactus, reaction to Stokes and the food bill on Day 2, as well as many other
priceless moments that I don’t quite have the space to talk about now! You certainly haven’t
“had a Weston” this trip! When thinking about your refereeing, what a journey the past 18
months have been! To have completed the Basic Referee Course back in March 2013, I take
great pride in seeing how far you’ve developed as a Match Official in this time. I’ve never met
anyone who is so keen to learn at every opportunity, showing the skills, determination,
enthusiasm, commitment, understanding and desire in wanting to constantly improve
themselves. You’ve come a long way in a short period, so credit to you, and I’m really looking
forward to working with you over the coming months and years.
Joe Kasper
Despite the boy-band haircut, you have certainly been an invaluable member of the
group this year. Not only were some of your choice phrases entertaining, but spending
£240 near Heathrow on the very first night, your antics on the sun-lounger on Day 9 as
well as your ability to disappear during some of the evenings gave us just a few things
for us to remember you by; “unlucky”! Most importantly, from a refereeing
perspective, in our opening group meeting, you said yourself that you’ve an important
season coming up, as you move into your first season on the Supply League. I already
mentioned to you about my original concerns in you moving on, however, after the
P a g e |48
Iber Cup 2014
level and quality of your performances as Referee, you’ve demonstrated so many
qualities to move on and progress in the game. You’ve certainly taken the advice on
board that’s been given to you in the past 10 days, and over the last twelve months,
and for that you deserve tremendous credit. It’s all coming together for you now, and
I’m looking forward to seeing you perform on the Supply League, and hopefully
working with you on the Contrib. Thank you for being a fantastic member of the group,
and I wish you all the very best of luck moving into August.
Scott Rudd
Over the ten days, your company has been nothing short of legendary. Not only your
professionalism on the field, but your attitude, team spirit, humour and willingness to
develop off of it too. I’ve really enjoyed sharing this experience with you, and despite your
breakfast making abilities being at expertise level, your football playing ability leaves a little
to be desired! On a refereeing front, I’m not quite sure you’re wholly aware of the level of
ability you really possess, but needless to say that every time you stepped over the white
line, both as an Assistant and Referee, I’ve been impressed with how you deliver. Calm,
composed, never flustered and always in control. If you can deliver the same level of
performances on the Supply League, in your first season as a Level 4, I am confident you can
have a really positive and successful first season. You deserve much credit for the
development of your skill set, some may argue they are above the level you’re going into,
and I hope that this experience has helped contribute in some way. You’ve been a great
member of this group, and I wish you every success moving forward.
Joe Stokes
Again, professionalism is a massive strength, knowing when to tune in and out, giving us all
some great moments to remember you by. None more so than literally biting to every one of
Kasper’s ‘niggly’ comments; although I think this just demonstrated the lover’s tiff between
you both! For a Level 6 Referee, you’ve demonstrated over the Tournament that you have
the ability to move on, showing excellent levels of potential. You’ve made great strides since
being part of the Referee Academy, and all I can ask is that you continue to develop at the
rate you have been, and you will no doubt have many successful seasons coming up. Think
you made the better choice in giving up trying to attempt to be a centre half! You’ve got bags
of humour, and I’ve been very fortunate to have you representing not only the Kent FA at the
Tournament, but our Referee Academy as well. Credit to you for the performances you’ve
given us all, and here’s to many more. Best of luck with the forthcoming season!
P a g e |49
Iber Cup 2014
P a g e |50
Iber Cup 2014
Kent FA
Invicta House
Cobdown Park
Ditton
Near Aylesford
Kent
ME20 6DQ
P a g e |51
Iber Cup 2014
P a g e |52

Iber Cup 2014

Transcription

Similar documents

GameOfficials.net – After Games Game Reporting Procedures

2016 BASEBALL TOURNAMENT REGISTRATION FORM

2007 HOOK LINE SINKER TOURNAMENT

to open Registration form and Print

Billfish Bulletin - San Juan International Billfish Tournament

hedrick`s exotic petting zoo is coming to orscheln!

electric announces gi joe goggle collaboration

XIII CHESS FESTIVAL BALTIJA CUP 2016

Euchre Tournament Fundraiser For American Cancer Society`s

Joe Bronstein