Behind the scenes at a PGMOL referee training camp
Who really knew referees have an encyclopedic knowledge of players? They do their own homework and analysts feed them information about trends and styles.
Just delivering some required reading to your inbox today!
‘We’re always easy to have a go at’: behind the scenes at a PGMOL referee training camp
Here are some quotes that stood out to me…
“A referee makes on average about 300 decisions a game, an assistant about 200. Across an English Football League season referees make more than 530,000 decisions.”
“The officials can also lean on the sports psychologist Liam Slack. ‘If you think you’ve got a decision wrong early doors, it is a case of how do you park that decision and think about the next one because that next one could come in five minutes or five seconds – that is one thing we work on with Liam a lot,” says Sam Lewis, an assistant referee who officiated in the Premier League for the first time this month. “It is a skill when you’re in a stadium full of people who might not be very happy about what you’ve just done.’”
“Four PGMOL analysts arm referees with data packs for every match. The referees usually discover on a Monday which weekend games they will officiate and set up a WhatsApp group with the appointed assistants and fourth official. They then begin to digest and discuss information such as previous lineups, form, formation, free-kick takers, which foot the takers predominantly use and whether goalkicks tend to be played long or short. The performance analysis manager, Josh Andall, details how a team’s formation can flip mid-game and affect a referee’s positioning.”
“‘You have to be careful not to overload yourself because you don’t want to preempt something before you go into a game,” Lewis says, “because inevitably the whistle goes and the game is completely different.’”
“Who really knew referees have an encyclopedic knowledge of players? They do their own homework and analysts feed them information about trends and styles – how Burnley press differently to Birmingham and how Michael Beale’s early-season exit from QPR led to a shift in possession statistics – and officials are alert to sackings and transfers. The PGMOL is trying to make a thankless task as easy as possible. ‘It’s all about giving us the tools we need to perform,’ says Lewis.”
Know a soccer ref? Feel free to share this with them 💙