Putting a smile on kids’ faces

Saturday morning, and the frost was thick on the grass of the playing field where Thirsk Falcons play. No one would “take a dive” this morning unless they wanted to turn into an ice lolly. I had come to talk to Georgina Pugh, who has just qualified as a Football Association accredited referee. A referee is the difference between a knockabout and a football match. But even before kick-off the ref has tasks to perform, and this morning her first job was to decide whether the scheduled game, between Thirsk Falcons under 9s and Yarm Town Juniors would take place at all. The ground was hard, too hard for the studs of the players’ boots to grip well, and going down in the goal mouth could result in a broken arm. After testing the ground and looking for breaks in the cloud cover so that the warming sun could break through, George, as she is confusingly known, decided that the game could go on, but would be delayed for the soil to warm up a little. A football referee derives his or her authority from the Laws of the Game. That authority begins the moment she steps onto the pitch. She is there to enforce the Rules, to keep a record of the match, to act as timekeeper, and to book or send off an offending player. Her decision is final, even when dozens or hundreds of the other “referees” at the match disagree! Her equipment is two whistles, a notebook, two pencils, a stopwatch, a watch, a yellow and a red card and a coin. Why two whistles and pencils? In case one doesn’t work.One of the great anxieties of football, and therefore life, seems to be the offside rule. At bottom this is about how many of the other side are between you and the goal when, in the jargon of the Laws, you “interfere” with the play of the game, interference normally being by kicking the ball towards the goalmouth. In the briefest of moments everyone sees what happened and who was where, but the ref alone has to decide. The biggest part of refereeing, George explained, is to be in the right position to be able to see if the rule is broken or not. The outcome of games hangs on such decisions, and the reputation of referees. Refereeing keeps you fit. At level 7, with teams with short legs playing on a small pitch it is not so demanding, but move up the hierarchy to county games and if you’re not fit you won’t last the match. It was a combination of wanting to be fit and coming to football with her kids that drew George into refereeing. The Falcons were short of referees, “and  I thought: I could do that and I think I could do it rather well” she told me. Feedback from games where she has officiated bears this view out.We moved to a more sensitive issue, women in football, in the week in which two sports commentators lost their jobs because of sexist and unpleasant behaviour. “Women should be judged on ability not on their gender,” said George, “and men the same. I think that ability should speak for itself. I’m all for women being in football, as you can tell with me being a referee!” George reminded me that women’s football is the fastest growing sport in the UK . It used to be seen as a boys’ game, and girls were told to try netball and hockey, but times change. I asked George what she got from being a referee. “The satisfaction: if you see the kids’ faces when we’ve finished the game, win or lose, they are so happy. Without the likes of referees that wouldn’t happen. There is the pleasure of the game. I enjoy the decision making as well, that in itself is a sort of a buzz, but ultimately it’s the smile on the kids’ faces, when one of them scores a goal, the sheer enjoyment. It’s so fulfilling to be involved in that. ”By 11.15 am the frost had disappeared off the grass and the ground was a little softer. It was still the sort of weather that left me wishing I had put my long-johns on again. George gathered the team captains, produced her coin, and Yarm won the toss. They soon scored too, but Thirsk replied at once with an equaliser, only to go behind again before half-term. I confess that I left then, needing a cup of coffee, not so much to drink as to cuddle up to. The final score remained Yarm 2: Thirsk 1.


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