Goals to Go

Goals to Go is a charity football tournament organized by the students of the GIN (Global Issues Network) organization and is held at ISK. The tournament raises money for a local school, Lady Lusha and this year, a total of around ksh.135,000 was raised. There were 2 referees at the tournament, I was one of them. Each referee had to officiate 12 consecutive games each 15 minutes long. I refereed for 12 games, then I had to replace a player in one of the teams, due to an injury. I played in the final 3 games of the tournament. The tournament went from 9:00am - 17:00pm, so I was either a referee or a player for 8 hours.
This was the first time I had ever been a referee for any kind of football match. It was a good experience because I now have an idea of the pressure referees are under during a football match. Even though this was a student charity football tournament, it gave me some perspective on the difficulty of being a referee because of the fast reactions and correct decisions. To be a good referee you need to have good judgement, fairness, an authoritative presence, and a decent level of fitness to keep up with the game. It is tough to be a referee, and I began to develop those skills. I especially felt more powerful because of the authority the whistle gave me. It was quite fun being a referee in a low pressure situation like a charity tournament, but I would not like to referee a competitive match because of the added pressure of making an incorrect or unfair decision. But making decisions is an important life skill and whilst refereeing, decisions have to be made quickly and correctly, or else it would effect the outcome of the game. The most important thing I will take away from this experience is the perspective I gained on the pressure on the referee during a football match and how difficult a job it is. As a football player it allows me to understand the situation that the referee is in better.