Whistle Blowers: Who’d Be A Ref?

Football referees have never been subject to more criticism than they are today. One wrong move and you find yourself ripped apart by armchair viewers and studio pundits. So who on Earth would want to be one? FHM tracked down a Premier League veteran, a Brazilian who has called his country’s hottest derbies and a young up-and-comer to find out why dealing with law and order on the pitch is the greatest job a footie fan could ever do.

The veteran: Dermot Gallagher, 55, started refereeing in 1978

Over the course of a 29-year career, Dermot officiated at every level of the game, from the Sunday leagues to ferocious Liverpool derbies in the Premier League. If you’ve had a favourite player in the last three decades, chances are he’s blown his whistle at them.

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Four days before my 21st birthday, I was taken seriously ill. I lost two-and-a-half stone in less than a fortnight and was off work for 13 months. Afterwards I was so weak, a linesman suggested I try refereeing to get my strength back. I was on my own, tiny and really shy, so having to referee Sunday mornings with these really tough guys, I was intimidated. But right from the start I told myself: “You can rise to this challenge.” I’ve walked on to 1,205 professional pitches with a ball under my arm and it felt unbelievable every time. I’ve been reffing under-18 boys recently, and when I go out I still feel like I’m walking out at Anfield.

All referees have their tricks. If I’m officiating a match and the horror tackles and red cards start flying, my immediate reaction is to slow the game down by awarding free kicks. You’re pressing pause so everyone can calm down.

It’s more intimidating in the local parks. Never in a million years could I imagine a professional footballer assaulting me. But referees are attacked in parks every week. Last year a guy drove his car at a ref because he’d sent him off.

People always say “things were better in the old days”. Nonsense. Now is the best time there has ever been to be involved in football. The best players, the best grounds, it all seems brilliant to me!

My toughest match? Dagenham against Scarborough, who were managed by Neil Warnock. One team was fighting relegation; the other was fighting for promotion. It was so aggressive – I was shattered. I also refereed in Egypt – a match between Syria and the Ivory Coast in front of 40,000 people. It was the most brutal match I’ve ever seen. Three players got sent off in 24 minutes and one guy’s tackle split a player’s thigh wide open. I red carded him and he just shrugged his shoulders.

When I started, I was paid 80 pence a game. Now referees can get £80K a year. Refereeing made me the man I am: happy and healthy. I’ve been on the field with Brazilian Ronaldo and shaken hands with Nelson Mandela. When my contract was up, there was this hole in my life. But now I work for Sky. Last Sunday I got to watch eight games live. People ask me, “How can you do that?” I just say “Because I bloody love it!”

The Brazilian derby specialist: Leonardo Gaciba, 41, started refereeing in 1993

After reffing his way to the pinnacle of Brazil’s Série A and the Copa Libertadores, Leonardo now plies his trade as a pundit for TV Globo. Spicy derbies are his middle name (not really – it’ll be something Portuguese).

I actually started out as a handball referee when I was 16. I loved sport so much, it seemed the best way of staying in it. Later I started doing football in the local league in Pelotas, where I was born. It turned out I was pretty good at it. Being a football referee means giving up a lot of things in life – getting together with your family, parties and all sorts of social events. We love football so much, it feels like something’s missing when we’re not taking part. So it’s worth it.

I’ve done all the big derbies in Brazil. Flamengo versus Fluminense, Vasco da Gama against Flamengo, Corinthians playing Palmeiras in São Paulo, Corinthians and Santos… and the big one in my home town of Porto Alegre, Grêmio and Internacional. I did that last one 15 times. My best memory? The 2006 Brazilian Cup final between Flamengo and Vasco da Gama, in front of 90,000 screaming fans. The Maracanã stadium is a temple. It was divided down the middle that day – half red and black and the other half black and white. The singing was just constant for the whole 90 minutes. They call that derby the “clássico dos milhões” (“classic of the millions”) because of its size. Being in the middle of a show like that was like a prize that a referee gets only a few times in his career.

The Brazilian player is literally an artist. The biggest difficulty is the fact that when the players are touched, they prefer to fall over as opposed to getting on with the game. This has made Brazil the country with the highest average number of fouls of all the world’s major national championships. With international games, the only problem we Brazilian refs have is the technical part of the game – giving corners, throw-ins, etc. Discipline-wise, everything’s much easier than in Brazil!

I got used to the big games. When I stepped into a packed stadium, I felt totally at home. Pressure? I loved the sensation of refereeing in front of a full house. Being an international referee is incomparable. Standing up for the national anthems with the Argentina and Uruguay teams in 2005, for the South American Under-17 Championship, the penny dropped that I’d made it to a higher level than I ever imagined.

The new kid: Tom Bowkett, 22, qualified as an FA referee in 2008

A newcomer to the reffing fraternity, Tom officiates on county football in and around Birmingham. He tells FHM what pulling on the black shirt means to him.

I always wanted to be involved in football. I played at school, but never even at a decent enough standard to be in a school team, to be honest. So I contacted my local refereeing association and got on a course.

Being a referee you learn things that you can apply in everyday life. I work in events, which can be stressful, but the fact is, I know I can man-manage 22 players on a pitch.

I refereed an under-18s, which was particularly tough. It was very feisty and there were no assistant referees. I wouldn’t call it abuse but there was a high level of language from both teams. Bear in mind I was only just older than the players.

Once you qualify as a referee you can’t ever watch a football match in the same way again. Even if it’s a team you support, you’ll watch it as a ref. Analysing.

Refereeing a match with 20 people watching can be harder than a crowd of thousands, mainly because you can hear clearly what everyone is saying. In a massive stadium you can’t hear anything.

Always expect the unexpected. When referees are trained we get asked the most ridiculous questions about things that will never happen on a football pitch. For example, what to do if the ball is heading into the goal when a defender takes his boot off and chucks it, diverting the ball so it goes behind the goal line. That would be handball, by the way. The boot would count as an extension of the player’s arm, so it’s a red card and a penalty.

If I do get abuse, I don’t dwell on it. That’s because, to the crowd and those 22 players on the pitch, I am not “Tom”. I am the referee. You put on that black kit and away you go.

I love being a referee. If you have a passion for football, it’s a dream job.

Refereeing riddles

How well do you know the rules of the game? Test yourself against the professionals:

1. The referee stops play for a player from each team to receive treatment after a clash of heads in the away team’s half of the pitch. To restart the game, he requests that the opposing players don’t contest the dropped ball and that the away player returns it to the home team. He overhits it and it flies into the home team’s goal. What happens next?

2. The home team are on the attack. While the ball is on the wing, the away team’s centre-back and goalkeeper change shirts, with the centre-back going in goal and the goalkeeper coming out – and subsequently heading the ball out for a corner when it comes into the penalty area. What action do you take?

3. A tiger, commandeered by the home club for a half-time show, wanders from its open cage and saunters on to the pitch. The away team’s fearless hard-man midfielder wrestles the beast with a headlock and snaps its neck, ending the danger. How does the referee react?

Answers: 1. The referee gives a goal kick. If the player had inadvertently kicked the ball into his own net from a dropped ball, the referee would have given a corner. 2. The change is allowed, but as it happened without the ref’s permission, both players receive a yellow card. Play restarts with the corner. 3. The midfielder must be sent off for violent conduct if the referee considers he has used excessive force against any player, match official or spectator.

Weirdest moments in reffing history

Ghost goal: In 2008, fresh-faced, 25-year-old referee Stuart Attwell had recently been promoted to the Premier League and was officiating a game between Watford and Reading. A Reading player sent in a corner that bounced off someone else and rolled out of play. For reasons best known to himself, Attwell decided to award it as a goal, to the incredulity of all 22 players and the 18,000 inside Vicarage Road. The “scorer” even admitted it was “the worst decision I’ve ever witnessed in football”.

The spirit of fair play: Going for a drink after a hard day’s work is all well and good. Going on a vodka bender before a hard day’s work? Not so much. Forty-three-year-old Sergei Shmolik had been on the FIFA list for 15 years when he staggered on to the field to referee a match in his native Belarus in 2008, refusing to move outside the centre circle during the game. Eventually he was escorted off the pitch by security, waving to the crowd like a game-show winner as he went. Hospital blood tests later showed he’d consumed a “significant” quantity of alcohol.

Rucking refs: Pre-season friendlies: good-natured and devoid of drama. Except, that is, in August 2012, when Turkish fourth-tier clubs Altinorduspor and Pazarspor met for a warm-up. Ten minutes into the second half, Pazarspor were preparing to take a free kick when, out of the blue, an assistant ref ran on to deliver a flying kick at an Altinorduspor defender. A brawl kicked off and a number of players went after the ref, forcing him to hide behind a dugout.

From the May 2013 issue of FHM India.