Communication links are so important
What did we do without mobile phones? I know it’s hard to believe but I can remember life without them, when we actually talked face to face with one another and didn’t hold at least three conversations at once!
Methods of communication have come on leaps and bounds over the past few years, with text messaging, video conferencing, the internet to name but a few.
Mind you if you’re the parent of a teenager it probably takes you a few minutes or so to decipher any text messages received, especially if they’re anything like my daughter sends!
So what’s all this got to do with refereeing? Well this season is the third year that we have used our radio communication kit on games in the Premier League and how reliant we have become on them.
When they were first introduced, I like many was a little sceptical about their need and the use that I would make of it. How wrong I was.
Used correctly, myassistants and I can inform each other of foul play, two players not quite seeing eye to eye with each other, the direction of throw-ins, and many more little observations that help me in my control of a game.
Last Saturday, I was refereeing at Middlesbrough on a very important relegation tussle. I needed all my communication kit as my aid and almost as a ‘comfort blanket’, but when I arrived at the ground, I found to my dismay that two of my head pieces were not working and we had to take to the field with both assistants not in radio communications with me. Why do we get to rely on technology so much so soon?
During the game I found myself giving and asking for information only for my Assistants to stare back into open space, thankfully nothing contentious occurred and we managed the occasion with good old fashioned eye to eye communication and body language.
However it did bring it home to me, that technology, if used correctly can make life so much easier and reduce the amount of human errors that we are all prone to make.
My next game is at Old Trafford when Man United entertain Portsmouth (Wednesday). I hope I’m wired for sound there.Anyway back to mobile phones and their obvious advantages. My landlord Mark has just acquired the mobile number of a very nice young lady and we all wait with eager anticipation to see if he is trendy enough to decipher her text messages.
I doubt it!
