Butterflies before a match
When I first started to ref, I’d be lucky if 10 people stood on the sideline to watch the game and most of them would be the substitutes.
Obviously the higher up the football ladder you go the more interest is shown and the more spectators there are.
I was asked if I get nervous before games and I must admit the butterflies do tingle just before I go out onto the pitch.
But I’ve had a long apprenticeship and have been gradually introduced to large crowds and now I almost take it for granted that any game I ref will be watched by a large, noisy crowd.
The Premiership is without doubt the most watched league in the world, both in the stadia and via television. It is estimated that over half of the world’s population watch the Premier League on TV, with 200 countries taking live feeds at any one time.
Did you know that in Beijing, China, a large screen is set up in the centre of the city every weekend and live Premier league matches are shown to the public and attract huge crowds!
I regularly get feedback on games that I ref, from friends who tune into my matches in Cape Town and New York, some having tea and others an early breakfast!
But it just shows how small the world has got and people thousands of miles away will know if I have made the right decision or the wrong one before I do.
This is the goldfish bowl that I perform in and have to accept that everybody will have an opinion and sometimes I cannot defend the indefensible and have to hold my hand up when I make a mistake.
Do you remember when football on the television would mean one camera from a fixed position with 10 minutes transmission on a Sunday afternoon?
Whatever happened to Hugh Johns?
Anyway talking of Sunday afternoons, make sure you have an early lunch this Sunday and settle down to watch the FA Cup match on the Beeb at 2pm.
You might see someone who used to ref in front of 10 people walking out at Old Trafford in the gaze of a worldwide audience.
Oh dear!
