A Championship experience with the match officials
Below is an article written by fellow society member and level 3 referee Dean Treleaven which is about the day he spent with some of his colleagues on a Championship crunch match played at the end of April in Cardiff:
The weekend is approaching, but unlike most weekends I am not making the usual preparations as a Referee (or Assistant Referee) for the match I have been appointed to – a slight eye infection has put paid to that and the eye surgeon has just ruled me out of action for another seven days. So what now for Saturday? Shopping….no chance! Simply being a Football Match Official is our God-given right to get out of that one for starters. The obvious option is a good training session, but a better option surely is to do that on Friday and Sunday and spend Saturday watching another match, so I check upon my colleagues’ appointments for the weekend and one of them stands out for me: Cardiff City v Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship and my colleague and good friend Andy Laver is one of the Assistant Referees. So destination for this Saturday is now one of the few Football League grounds which I have not been to – Cardiff City Stadium, South Wales.
A Championship experience with the match officials
Saturday 24th April 2010: 9:00am
Having eaten breakfast I await Andy’s arrival and right on cue he arrives at my Whiteley home to pick me up as his guest for the Championship fixture. Although today will be my first visit to Cardiff City’s new stadium it has only been a couple of months since Andy’s last appointment at this ground, when he was Assistant Referee for Cardiff’s home fixture versus Leicester City. That particular evening fixture holds decent memories for my colleague, as it was an action-packed encounter in front of over 20,000 supporters which resulted in a 2-1 win for the home side and Andy had been called upon to make several crucial decisions on the night, all of which had been proved completely correct by the match DVD. As complete neutrals more of the same today would suit us both fine I’m sure!
Today’s match has all of the ingredients to potentially be a thriller – Cardiff have already confirmed their place in the Championship play-offs before their penultimate match of the season today, whilst Sheffield Wednesday enter the match in grave danger of relegation to League One. It’s probably the biggest fixture today in the Football League, so we head to South Wales both looking forward to what lies ahead.
We arrive at the Cardiff City stadium around 12:15pm and the stadium is an impressive sight.
Already supporters are congregating in the official car park, many near the main entrance as fans wait to get autographs from the soon-to-be-arriving players.
Andy is directed to his reserved car park space near the main entrance and we soon make our way past the gathering fans and into the stadium’s main entrance. The Chief Commissionaire on the door has my guest ticket and asks that we follow him, as he leads us through to the Match Officials Dressing Room where Andy drops his kitbag off. The dressing room alone in this brand new stadium is highly impressive and in itself almost enough to make you want to take up refereeing! With a Plasma screen on the wall displaying Sky Sports News, carpeted floor, comfortable looking chairs and glass table, a fridge and large selection of drinks and snacks and two separate shower and toilet facilities, it’s definitely the most luxurious match official’s dressing room I have ever seen. We are soon directed to the player’s tunnel exit which leads to the field of play where some of the other match officials who have already arrived are gathered.
Already present are Assistant Referee Mark Russell, Fourth Official Ron Ganfield plus Match Assessor Phil Prosser and one other guest who is also a Match Official. We exchange the usual pleasantries and I am introduced to Mark who I have not met prior to today’s match. I have met Ron a couple of times before and Phil first welcomes Andy and then greets me with a grin and jokes “Hello Stranger!” I imagine he was quite surprised to see me there on a Saturday afternoon instead of out on a game. To the left of us in the stand behind the goal are gathered a large group of safety stewards, easily identifiable by their yellow fluorescent jackets – no doubt the day’s stadium and crowd safety briefing is taking place. Surely another crowd of 20,000 (+) is expected for today.
Within a couple of minutes the referee, Paul Taylor arrives and joins his team for the afternoon. After the handshakes with his colleagues, all of whom he has obviously worked with before on previous Football League matches he advises his team that they will be wearing black today and leads us all to one of the hospitality lounges for tea, coffee and water and around 30 minutes of relaxed general football chat.
At around 1:20pm the Sheffield Wednesday Team Coach arrives (which we can see from the hospitality lounge) and shortly afterwards Paul assembles his team to go back out onto the Field of Play where he will give his pre-match instructions. Myself and the other guest (Brian) wish all of the officials well as they leave and Phil Prosser advises us that he will be back in a while but in the meantime to expect some further guests to be arriving. Football League Referee Steve Bratt is on his way to the match along with PGMO Referee Coach Clive Wilkes and also Select Group Assistant Manager Paul Rejer.
Certainly both Andy and Mark must be having good seasons to receive this appointment in the first instance so one can only think that Paul Rejer will be taking a look at them as potential candidates for the Select Group of Assistant Referees for the future.
Soon enough Clive Wilkes and Paul Rejer arrive along with Steve Bratt, so coupled with Match Assessor Phil Prosser and Referee Paul Taylor (who I learn is today doing his penultimate match before retirement) there is an immense amount of top experience present today in terms of refereeing.
Whilst we wait for Phil to return we are able to watch the remainder of today’s early Premier League kick-off on the Lounge Plasma TV, which sees Manchester United beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-1. Inevitably we are observing the Match Officials as well as the teams and Andre Marriner has impressed again as he has done (in my view) all season.
Shortly after 2:40pm and we move from the Hospitality Lounge into the Main Stand. I am sat with Steve Bratt towards the front of the stand whilst Phil Prosser, Clive Wilkes and Paul Rejer are sat a couple of rows behind us us in the Directors Seating Area. The ground is filling up rapidly and as Paul, Mark and Andy complete their pre-match warm-up just after 2:45pm there is already in excess of 20,000 people in the stadium, including a sell-out in the away fans section from Sheffield Wednesday.
The crowd noise-levels pretty soon increase, as Paul Taylor, Mark and Andy lead the two sides onto the Field of Play to an incredible atmosphere. The pre-match Respect Handshakes take place plus the other usual pre-match routines and checks and the match is now underway – Cardiff City fans are wanting a home win to keep their momentum going into the play-offs whilst Sheffield Wednesday are desperately needing a win to help save them from relegation, although I think they would still see a draw as a positive result and useful point away from home today. From my neutral point of view I am simply hoping for an entertaining match with solid performances from the Match Officials. Hope to see some goals too.
The match opens at a relatively steady and patient pace but the football is still fairly fluid with neither side to their credit conceding possession cheaply. Paul Taylor has yet to award a free-kick for any penal offence by the time Andy Laver correctly calls an offside for the first time in the match in the 9th minute.
Andy flags another offside offence on 15 minutes and one minute later we have the first goal of the match. Cardiff are stunned as Jermaine Johnson steers the ball home from Tom Soares’ pass away to our left following a neat move by the away side. Alan Irving and the Wednesday bench and fans in the corner of the ground celebrate wildly as they sense three massively precious points could be theirs today.
But barely two minutes later and Paul Taylor is called into action as Sheffield Wednesday concede a free-kick somewhat unnecessarily some 25 yards from their goal. Paul correctly awards the free-kick and then after ensuring that Wednesday’s defensive wall are the full 9.15 metres from the ball he whistles for the kick to be taken and Cardiff’s Peter Whittingham makes it 1-1 with a superbly flighted strike over the wall and into the top corner of the net.
The First Half remains 1-1 with few further chances for either side when Fourth Official Ron Ganfield indicates that there will be a minimum of one minute of stoppage time at the end of the half. Before the extra minute has elapsed a Sheffield Wednesday player clumsily fouls a Cardiff City opponent midway in the Wednesday half. The challenge is borderline between careless and reckless and Paul Taylor calls the offending player towards him whilst Steve Bratt and I quickly debate on whether a yellow card is going to be shown. As it’s the first offence of any real significance and the match has been played in very good spirit it probably helps Paul rule on the side of careless, and no caution is necessary on this occasion although the player concerned does rightfully receive a public warning.
Half Time: Cardiff City 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1
Following a quick Half Time refreshment in the lounge (and a check on all the other half-time scores) and it’s soon back to our seats for the second half.
On 47 minutes Cardiff’s Joe Ledley intentionally handles the ball in mid-air to flick the ball past a Sheffield Wednesday defender who is about to head clear from a promising-looking Cardiff attack. As the handball is completely deliberate and intended to both deceive the referee and continue the attack Paul is left with no choice this time but to issue the first caution of the match to the Cardiff City player.
Barely three minutes later and Paul is then presented with one of those welcome referee moments to display consistency and even-handedness when a Sheffield Wednesday player commits an identical handball offence. Like any good referee Paul Taylor quickly refers to the previous handball offence by pointing to the area where the first offence was committed before showing the Wednesday player the yellow card. The players and fans are left in no doubt and Paul’s little consistency reference to the two offences certainly helps sell the game’s second caution.
Unsurprisingly the Second Half has already been more challenging for the Match Officials and on 53 minutes Andy Laver indicates for a free-kick to Sheffield Wednesday following a foul barely a few yards infield from him. The away side however fail to take advantage of the free-kick and from a long ball over the Wednesday defence Cardiff City storm into a 2-1 lead as Jay Bothroyd coolly brings the ball down and slots past Lee Grant in the Wednesday goal.
Darren Purse of Sheffield Wednesday is then cautioned on 57 minutes for a reckless challenge and the match is now being played at a real high tempo.
On 70 minutes Paul Taylor issues the fourth (and what turns out to be final) caution of the match to Sheffield Wednesday’s Darren Potter for a bodycheck which prevents a promising Cardiff City attack. On this occasion however the free-kick is cleared and Wednesday survive.
Sheffield Wednesday are thrown a massive survival lifeline on 78 minutes after Etienne Esajas’ diagonal ball sets up Wednesday’s Marcus Tudgay inside the Cardiff City penalty area and the striker makes it 2-2 with a superb strike from an incredibly acute angle.
Unfortunately for the Owls however, their supporters have barely finished celebrating their team’s vital goal for the second time in the match when Cardiff strike back again. Aaron Wildig of City finds striker Jay Bothroyd who brilliantly beats four players before firing home from 20 yards on 81 minutes. Jubilation for Cardiff and an absolute sickener for Sheffield Wednesday.
On 90 minutes Ron Ganfield signals that a minimum of 4 minutes of stoppage time will be played but the excitement and drama is not over – 2 minutes into stoppage time and Wednesday’s Etienne Esajas unleashes an absolutely unstoppable rocket of a shot at the Cardiff goal from 30 yards out. For the first time all afternoon the stadium falls momentarily silent for barely a second and Cardiff keeper David Marshall is rooted to the spot and can only watch as the shot smashes the inside of the upright and flies directly across the goal and eventually out for a throw-in near the corner flag.
Alan Irving and the Wednesday players and fans can only hold their heads in their hands in sheer disbelief as they know they have just come within barely an inch of securing a priceless away point in their desperate battle for survival. Equally a massive sigh of relief is felt from the 20,000 Cardiff fans inside the stadium and they now cannot wait for the final whistle.
There are no further chances in the remaining couple of minutes and when Paul Taylor sounds the final whistle the Cardiff fans celebrate but still with a sense of relief as they know how close Sheffield Wednesday came to making it 3-3. Dave Jones and Alan Irving and the Coaching Teams in the two technical areas all shake hands, as do the players and the Match Officials.
Full Time: Cardiff City 3 Sheffield Wednesday 2
From a watching neutral’s point of view it has been a superbly entertaining match and despite the five goals which we have been treated to the biggest talking point for the fans going home is probably Esajas’s rocket shot in the final moments of the match which rattled the Cardiff City post – a classic football moment of “if” and what might have been.
From the Match Official’s point of view the afternoon has been a very satisfactory day at the office. There hasn’t been a hint of controversy and Paul Taylor and his team have looked in complete control throughout. They leave the Field of Play along with both sets of players to applause from both sets of supporters. Whilst the applause from the fans is no doubt directed mainly at their respective teams, our Match Official colleagues can certainly be appreciated and congratulated for a highly efficient and unfussy team performance which has definitely contributed to this entertaining match.
After bidding farewell to Steve Bratt who rejoins Clive Wilkes and Paul Rejer for their drive home I then return to the guest lounge to wait for Andy. After Phil Prosser appears briefly to say his goodbyes having completed the assessment debrief in the Match Officials dressing room, Andy appears shortly after 5:30pm as he, Paul, Mark and Ron are all ready to leave.
Autograph hunters are still gathered outside the Main Entrance and as we leave the stadium a couple of supporters from both sides request the autographs of all four match officials – proof that their job has indeed been appreciated today!
All in all the day has been a thoroughly enjoyable one and although hopefully I will be back on the field of play myself next week I will still hope to be leaving that ground with the similar feeling of satisfaction which my colleagues must be feeling today.
Whilst there is always room for development and improvement in all of our games it is always more enjoyable going home from our matches with more of a satisfied feeling of “I’m glad I did that” as opposed to a feeling of “I wish I had done that”.
In observing good practice from my senior National List colleagues today, I’m confident it will help me experience a lot more of the former rather than the latter in the future.
P.S. – Happy retirement Paul Taylor!
Thanks to Dean Treleaven for submitting this superb article and to Neale Barry who gave permission for us to use it on our website.