A reflection on the European Championships and "real" series premiere for me

Are you watching the European Championships? Of course you do! Of course I watch, but not every single match and not every 90+ minutes. But I'm watching. Got a question from a friend the other day if I actually watch the match, the football - or if I just watch the referee. I replied “God how boring to just look at the referees. Of course I watch the football, the match. On the other hand, I may note how a referee acts, where he or she is and what decisions they make”. I usually include it in match review that I have with my assistant referees. That the audience is not here to watch us, they are here to watch the match and if there are situations where we are in the center, we are in center for a short while then we go away and into the shadows again.

If you want to be a referee, you should not become a referee because you like to be in center. That is wrong way of thinking, I think. I always nag about preventing cards and situations, to get a match towards where I want it. Tough fight, nice duels, no ugly tricks and as little cards as possible - then I have done a good preventive job.

Back to the European Championships then! Apart from VAR, which I do not intend to discuss today, I think the referees in the European Championships allow more and are clear in their decisions. Better than usual. They do not want to take a freekick for small things and there will be tough fights. There I notice a difference from before. The only thing I have reacted to is filming. I think they, at some point, need to set a standard and what actually applies to all of us who referees at a lower level and to players - at all levels. How many young players are watching the European Championships and seeing someone filming in the penalty area? And it's all of a sudden okay! The referee just shows that there will be no penalty. I think they have to be clear and pick up the card when it's a clear filming. Besides, they have VAR, why not use it in such situations?

I am aware that they can give individual players a penalty afterwards, but a missed card in a match can in itself be a decisive match situation. If the player receives a yellow card later in the match, the player may continue to play, as the referee did not picked up the card during an obvious filming.

Who did I think would win the European Championships then? Not the referees, because they're not the ones I'm looking at. I believed in Belgium because they have looked hungry. Well, that did not happen! Which team do I believe in now… hard to say. Always fun with underdogs and would be fun if Denmark managed even further!

This weekend I had a "real" series premiere. I have refereed a couple of F19 Higest league and P17 Highest league and so on, which have been competitive matches. For me, on the other hand, who is an old player in division 4, it is these series that count as a premiere for me. Therefore, this weekend's match in division 5 felt a little more like a real premiere. They step into round 12 (or something like that) because in Småland division 4 and down are being played as single series, due to Covid. While all "Swedish" series, division 3 men and division 1 women and up, are played as usual with double series.

My match got where I wanted, I think. It was a tough fight, but nice duels. Very good talk with players and leaders before and after the match. I always get hooked on something after the match and get a little self-critical, but we did well in this match! I am satisfied. I also had a referee's observer who looked at me, we'll see what that report says afterwards.

Now we go towards summer break and summer training on our own again. Before that, however, I have a P16 National Team on the line, then a couple of training matches in the schedule. Have a nice one.