#refereeing

I don’t know what to make of all this handball stuff in the news. I can see why Germany might be a bit miffed but as it states above… VAR checked it. I think it hit her shoulder and then bounced onto her arm. However watching it from different angles, it is very difficult to tell. It would have been an own goal off Millie Bright had Leah not blocked it.

Like even with unlimited resources a ref would still be making mistakes, no one can see everything. People would still be mad but it is what it is. Then we have the woso refs who also makes mistakes but at least some of them could be blamed on the lack of resources, so you can’t really blame the individual ref when it is part of a bigger issue

VAR would fix some of the problems, even goal line technology would have fixed a lot, both because it sees goals like barca did today but also because the ref can put their main focus on other things, like looking for fouls and offsides

VAR wouldn’t however, see things like the very wierd yellow cards in the first chelsea-wob game, VAR isn’t even allowed to overrule yellow cards. That leaves the only sollution to give the refs better resources and conditions to develop, but how long would it take to reach a fairly high standard? It is like making a league fully professional and then think every team will be world class the season after that

Then we still have very bad refs in men’s football, with good resources and VAR, but it is really only then you can start putting the blame on the individual ref (although with respect and Hannah montanas ”everybody makes mistakes everybody has those days” in your mind)

110% agreed with all of this^^^

What have I learnt?

jumping is surprisingly easy

27/5 is unsurprisingly the hardest thing you'll ever have to do

your confidence and belief in yourself will rise exponentially

you never stop making friends

your league is your family

there will always be someone better then you but that's okay, you just gotta ask them and they'll help you improve

track repair is the worst job

unless you can't read numbers and then it's nso-ing/ refereeing

being 17 is the worst age because it's too late to join a junior team but too early to start playing with the adults

you're improving constantly

This is excellent news - hopefully it will help to increase the standards of refereeing in the FAWSL.

"The Barclays FA Women’s Super League (WSL) will adopt the same system as the Premier League to assess referees in an effort to improve standards of officiating in the women’s game.