Checking ball pressure – Rodric Leerling

I found the rookie ref at the clubhouse, fully prepared and dressed up. He had arrived 75mins before the game. Good to fully focus on the game, he explained.

Refusing to leave – Rodric Leerling

The away coach seemed decent and polite at the pre-match introduction. We had a short conversation about their previous match and I noticed in my records they needed the points today in order to avoid relegation from the high U19 group.

Ref, You Are Bleeding! – Rodric Leerling

On the death of a fellow referee – Rodric Leerling

Football refereeing brings together people of different backgrounds and personalities. We all share a similar passion which creates a bond. One of our friends has gone last week. A farewell. 

The ref promo/relegation results are in. How about next season ref?

Yesterday, all Dutch football referees received the long expected promotion/relegation update. Simply stated, the ‘greens’ are up and the ‘reds’ are down a division.

Mentoring a rookie ref again after a year – Rodric Leerling

To my surprise I was assigned to a rookie referee I accompanied at one of her first matches for the Dutch FA, late 2016. She proved to have made big progress.

Meet the ‘sorry-ref’ – Rodric Leerling

He did a pretty good job as 17-year old rookie ref. I shot some videos to see how he handled fouls and restarts and while doing that, I noticed something weird. He apologized for almost every decision he made.