The ref season almost done and now we wait – Rodric Leerling

Waiting for the final assessment report this week. The one which will determine my stay or leaving the current (small) referee league. Either way, it’s out of my hands now.

Ref, You Are Bleeding! – Rodric Leerling

Meeting Murphy and his law on grass – Rodric Leerling

Last Saturday looked like a perfect day for a good match of football. It turned out to be totally otherwise. Everything that could go wrong, also went wrong.

Check your whistle ref! – Rodric Leerling

It apparently is known as the ‘referee’s ear’. I never heard of it before (…) but ever since I have this ringing noise in my head, I started to connect the dots.

And in goes Cortisone nr3 ….. – Rodric Leerling

The hopes were high after two months of no excessive fluid build up in my right knee. The first injection in September only lasted one month. The second injection went in October 4.

Am I ready to ref again? – Rodric Leerling

It’s December and I’m getting those familiar calls again: invitations to ref indoor Christmas and New Year tournaments. Whether I can help out again?

Meet the ‘no-yellow-referee’ – Rodric Leerling

The rookie ref confided to me during half time he’d rather not issue yellow cards. At least, he hadn’t done so in his last 20 or so (lower youth) games and he seemed convinced it didn’t fit his refereeing style.

Playing with your watch – Rodric Leerling

Another rookie ref to mentor last weekend. A 17-year old officiating his 2nd game for the Dutch FA. He kindly called me to say he was 10mins late and where we could meet.

He did the usual checks: pitch, players and AR’s. We met the latter in his dressing room and got thumbs up from both assistants for his clear instructions.

When docters tick off most of the obvious medical boxes – Rodric Leerling

This week, another much anticipated hospital appointment took place. It was to become a new discomforting medical talk.

It all started with good news. The rheumatologist told me no real abnormalities were found in either bloodtest or new x-ray photos. More importantly, no crystals whatsoever were found in the excessive knee fluids het extracted last time. Meaning, it is almost certainly not gout or ‘pseudo-gout’ (chondrocalcinosis). The bad news was slowly building up in my mind. And made written notes this time to remember the test results in more detail.

The specialist suggested one more fluid extraction from my swollen knee and wile the needle was still in, inject it with double the volume of corticosteroid in order to try once again kill the stubborn inflammation. I agreed as this seemed the last effort to cure the 15 weeks knee misery. In two weeks time, a 3rd extraction (if anything left) will take place for a final check on pseudo-gout. And another blood test.

I had to ask the question: so doc, what’s next if all this doesn’t work out? Well, if it’s definitely no gout (and that’s already for 99% certain), we are entering the early indication of the rheuma realm. A new therapy will need to be started and another medication to stop the inflammation. Probably back to a prednisolon course.

The injection was less comfortable than the previous extraction. The medication was added and I was instructed to keep calm for 2 days and then slowly try to exercise. In the meantime, I keep my fingers crossed.

“Video Proof” – Rodric Leerling

Every weekend, photographers around football pitches are busy taking pictures. Either of their kids or to record certain game moments. And sometimes refs like me check a club website afterwards and get the chance to download a high-res pics for their own collection.

This past weekend, though, I noticed a guy with a video camera walking around the pitch. At first I didn’t take much notice of it, until the last bit of the 1st half when things became sightly hectic in front of the home goal. Our video man was positioned just behind the goal. An attack by the guests ended with a player falling to the ground just before the goal, without hitting it. Was he pushed? Did he just give up and drop? I just couldn’t tell and shouted to ‘play on’ and as result got the away team and their supporters all calling for a penalty kick.

Shortly after, I blew the whistle for half time and in the corner of my eye I noticed the video man sharing his recordings with the away Assistant Referee. My AR nodded and walked me off the pitch trying to start a polite conversation. “Looking at the video, it really was a penalty kick ref” he tried. I immediately stopped his effort to convince me of my wrong observation. “No video, I’m not interested and I sure didn’t hire a VAR”. He understood and left me withdraw to my dressing room.

In the 2nd half, a much clearer foul by the home team resulted in a pk for the away team, but that didn’t help them ultimately win the game. After the final whistle was blown, the away AR handed his flag back to me, shook hands and just smiled. Guess he learned a lesson and I hope he will refrain from using his secret weapon against referees in future.