Howard Webb (0:00)

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Rowe Price Invest with confidence Learn more@t row price.com Curiosity as a small business owner, you don't have the luxury of clocking out early. Your business is on your mind 24 7. So when you're hiring, you need a partner that grinds just as hard as you do. That hiring partner is LinkedIn jobs when you clock out, LinkedIn clocks in. LinkedIn makes it easy to post your job for free. Share it with your network and get qualified candidates that can manage all all in one place. Here's how it works. Post your job LinkedIn's new feature can help you write job descriptions and then quickly get your job in front of the right people with deep candidate insights. Either post your job for free or pay to promote promoted jobs. Get three times more qualified applicants get qualified candidates at the end of the day, the most important thing to your small business is the quality of candidates. And with LinkedIn you can feel confident that you're getting the best. Based on LinkedIn data, 72% of SMBs using LinkedIn say that LinkedIn helps them find high quality candidates. You can let your network know you're hiring. You can even add a hiring frame to your profile picture and get two times more qualified candidates. Find out why more than 2.5 million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring today. Find your next great hire on LinkedIn. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.combaseballshow that's LinkedIn.combaseballshow to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. The Athletic FC it's not right that we should be thick skinned, but that's part of our culture. Unfortunately, until you've sat in that chair for the first time. You don't fully understand that adrenaline rush. There's times I've made decisions and I've had to question whether I'm in the right state of mind to go and referee the following Saturday. The voices of English referees. You don't often hear from them, do you? But on this special behind the scenes episode of the Athletic FC podcast, we'll find out exactly what life is like in one of the most scrutinized professions there is. We don't want to celebratise referees, but we want to humanize them. We're with officials at a game and grueling pre season in Spain who's willing to push themselves to put themselves in a bad place in a dark place. We pull apart the new season law changes. I just want to make sure that the the the right way around and assess the mental challenge being in the middle. Yes, the noise might exist out there, but here there's a lack of judgment. There's a secure, safe environment. I'm Adam Leventhal from the Athletic. We're going inside the world of Premier League referees. So what's the first thing that jumps into your mind when you think of refereeing in the Premier League? Yeah, me too. It's those three letters, isn't it? Var's made their job easier and they've somehow got worse. There's just too many opinions on the game, you know what I mean? From all them different people in is it Stockley Park? I think I watch a game sometimes I don't even celebrate a goal. But then the times when you think they should have used it, they don't. And the times when you think just let it be a goal and it's down to like a millimeter, you think, is it worth it? Referees are all right. I think we got to look at the VAR and reconsider that. To be completely honest with you, the 20, 25, 26 season is the sevent using video assistant referees in the Premier League. And if you've been watching games blissfully unaware of what that is, here's a VAR very abridged recap. It's currently only used for goals, penalties, red cards and mistaken identity. And the on field ref's decision or referee's call stands. Unless the VAR, who analyzes live footage and replays outlines a clear and obvious error and calls the ref to a pitch side screen to make a final call on a subjective decision, a review is being recommended and we know what that normally leads to. And I think they're just checking at the moment for a handball. I know as well that one of the ways that our entire refereeing performance across all of what we do is is judged is by the way that we use var. That's Howard Webb, the chief refereeing officer for pgmo professional game match officials who oversee training, development and ment for all Premier League and Football League officials. Webb remembers vividly life without VAR well onto has been caught and very heavily indeed and that's got everybody on the Spanish bench up to their feet. Overseeing the 2010 World Cup Final, he didn't get a clear sight on Dutchman Nigel De Jong's chest high kick on Xavi Alonso and gave a yellow rather than a red. He discussed it last year on Sky's overlap podcast with Ian Wright and Curry. That's why you want var, right? Because. Because I'd be able to see that deal in the moment. But VAR is now part of football's furniture, so things like that aren't missed. But is it working? This is Webb's view of last season. I think it was a season of progress. We saw that in some of the numbers and numbers are important, but equally the way that people perceive and feel about the way that we officiate is probably even more important really. Okay, let's deal with the numbers. In 380 Premier League games there were 107 VAR interventions, which is actually the fewest been used since the Tech was introduced. There was a 42% reduction in mistakes as well. Our errors came down significantly. I think we had 31 in 2324 season. It went down to 18 last year where we we didn't use VAR in the way we should either because we didn't step in when there was a clear error or we stepped in when there wasn't one in the opinion of the independent panel. So good progress. Each of those errors can be hugely impactful, of course, so we're always focused on bringing it down as much as we possibly can. It's almost like a bellwether for how successful we're delivering our officiated. Webb mentioned an independent panel there since the 202223 season. The key Match Incidents panel sit every week. They include a representative from PGMO, the Premier League and three former players or coaches. Overall, they concluded that 97.5% of decisions taking consideration of 18 VAR mishaps were accurate last season. They're educated about the laws of the game and the way that they should be applied. They do that that job of evaluating our work really with A view to being independent from us. What if I was to tell you that 97.5% of decisions last season were deemed to be accurate? We're accurate. And how many times did they have to come out and apologize? Well, you would think they would get more right because of all the vial that they've got and stuff like that. Nothing's going to be 100% perfect. But I'm fed up of talking about Var. I'd rather have a discussion about a referee and they be on their merits, if I'm completely honest. Yeah, 97.5. That is a very strong number. It does surprise me a little bit. It's undoubtedly, undoubtedly more scrutinized than ever. And unfortunately as well, I have to say, more questioning around the motivations around decisions, less acceptance of the decision. Just being a human decision made in the moment by somebody who's wanted to do a really good job, works hard day to day throughout their entire professional life to be the best possible version of themselves on the field, contributing to the game, delivering good performances. But if, you know, if they get a decision wrong, which is undoubtedly a decision that's taken with, with, you know, good intentions of trying to get the right call, but maybe missing the mark in the moment, people will form an opinion that there's something else behind that decision and there isn't. Var calls are also taking less time. The average delay per match was down from 1 minute and 4 seconds in the 23:24 season to 39 seconds last season. The other aspect is around efficiency and we saw efficiency improve because we know that delays are frustrating for fans. So we knew we had to improve in that area and we did. Undoubtedly, Var's Premier League nadir came in September 2023. So 2D line on the Check complete. Check complete. It's fine. Perfect. That's the infamous Var mix up which saw Liverpool's Luis Diaz denied a goal in a defeat at Tottenham. What on field decision was offside. Are you happy with this image? Yes. Onside. The image we gave you is on side. He's played it. He's gone offside. PGMO admitted significant human error at the time and the Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, who could have exploded, was actually constructive when speaking to the BBC. They didn't do it on purpose, I know that. But the mistakes still happen. I think if you want to talk about it, do it properly. I rather feel for the guy here we are because I think that was not a great day and I feel as well for the ref because he had not a Great day. Actually the opposite. And there was a full review and a revised communication protocol brought in soon afterwards. The gradual improvements and adaptations behind the scenes are continuing. A lot of hard work went into that as well. A lot of really focused training, a lot of talent identification around the people who we feel are good at doing var, the utilisation of a smaller workforce, the identification of officials who were able to be then trained up to also complement that existing group of officials. Focus on process, focus on communication. Underpinning the hard work Webb is talking about is the VAR enhanced training program, which started in 2024, creating a different career path for officials outside of the top tier to step up to be Premier League VAR specialists like Matt Donahue, who did it 21 times last season. You know, there's some really good Premier League referees that are not regularly used as VARs, and I think that's sort of being quite open and honest about that. But maybe one or two other people outside that select group, one refereeing group, have got a skill set for being a var, you know, with that kind of analytical mind within the moment and the ability to work through maybe quite a complex problem or a complex situation quite quickly. But until you've sat in that chair for the first time and experienced what it's like to have an intervention which has had an impact on a Premier League game of football, you don't fully understand that sort of adrenaline rush. The new initiative led to 53 Premier League VAR appointments last season, and the new wave were working with new toys. At the plush redesigned VAR hub in Stockley Park, West London. It looks like a gamer's paradise with ergonomic chairs, headsets, high spec screens and low level purple lighting. There's also a gym, restaurant, recovery area and vitally a place to hone your skills. I think England have probably proven when they've taken practice seriously and practiced purposefully, how much they've improved that penalties under that Southgate area. From a football analogy, and I think we've probably replicated that kind of high class, purposeful practice to recreate simulations and environments. You enjoy it, don't you? Absolutely. It's hard to explain, I guess, to somebody that wouldn't want to put themselves under that pressure, wouldn't maybe even want to go and do the under nines on the park of the morning because of other parents and open themselves up to that scrutiny. But I guess anyone that sits in this environment or has got this far gained something from putting themselves out of their comfort zone a little bit. And I think probably every week we put ourselves a little bit out of our comfort zone. The more you do it, the more comfortable it probably becomes. But I think there's always those situations and elements that put you outside that. Overseeing the process. PGMO have appointed former Dutch referee Kevin Blom to the role of VAR performance coach to help improve the pathway and support established Premier League refs like Peter Banks, who is also on the UEFA VAR list. Again, when I started refereeing, you were never thinking about watching a match and then having a massive impact by intervening or not intervening. Being confident in your ability, knowing where that line lies, you're probably going to get there. Most occasions you have to accept. Unfortunately, there's going to be occasions where you might just fall below. You might intervene when you actually shouldn't intervene, but trusting yourself, using your assistant VAR to have a proper conversation and know your role. But there's still some times where you'll. You'll come out of VAR and you. You're pretty confident, but you're never quite sure how the outside world think that that's football. I suppose you've got to understand that there's some subjective calls, the ones that are unforgivable to not get right at the factual ones and that don't happen very often, fortunately. But you've got to understand those subjective ones may still split opinion. There are no immediate plans to see the scope of VAR widen to include the likes of corners or second yellow cards for. But the International Football association board or IFAB, who decide on changes to the laws of the game next meet in the autumn to discuss proposed tinkers. Trials of alternatives continue as well. How would you fancy getting rid of VAR altogether? Well, at September's U20s World cup in Chile, there's no VAR. Instead managers have a limited number of reviews available to them to use during the game. Lets focus now on some guaranteed and eye catching law changes for the new season. Like the new eight second rule for goalkeepers to combat time wasting which was trialled at the club World cup. To be precise, two goalkeepers were punished for this offense. It was very successful. That's FIFA's chairman of referees, legendary Italian official Pierluigi Collina. The tempo of the match was improved. Goalkeepers understood that the new rule would have been enforced by referees and means that they really respected the rule. And by doing that we achieved the purpose that we wanted. It involves the refs counting down the last five seconds of eight with one hand raised in the air to make everyone know the keeper is on the clock. Have you been practicing it in the mirror. I just want to make sure that the. The two is the right way round and not the, you know, the wrong way around. But it will always be the wrong way around. To somebody it will. To somebody it will. To be fair, but I think not to. I just don't want it to be to the player that's ref Peter Banks again, I think it's a positive change. It's something I've certainly thought was needed over the last few years because it's very, very difficult penalising a goalkeeper. From what I've seen in the trials. Yeah, not many goalkeepers are holding onto the ball for longer than eight seconds, so it's a good deterrent. Obviously, we'll apply the law where we need to. It's not just a case of keeper gets the ball in his hands, you quickly counterweight and then you reward in a corner. I think, you know, you've got to be pragmatic in how you're going to deliver that. Another Premier League referee, Andy Madley, highlighted a few other quirks to the new rule with the new hand signals. Interestingly, there's even discussions about how we're going to do that to make sure that, you know, that that's clear in the stadiums. You go to a stadium where there's 50, 60,000 people and the, you know, the top row of the stands, they can't see fingers. So we're even looking at the technical aspects of. Is it worth giving a little wave of the hand each time we count down the seconds? The Premier League now also has the option of implementing what are called only the captain guidelines to improve on field behaviour similar to rugby union and narrow down communication to just the ref and captains. Here's Peter Banks again. I'm hoping it's not going to change too much because I'd like to think we've got a pretty good relationship with most captains anyway out there, but we're not going to cut off all dialogue with other players as well. When there's a big decision and we need to move players away and give a reasonable explanation, it'll be captain only. But throughout the game, we still want to use our management skills and speak to players and that's important. But players are going to hopefully quickly realise where the line is after a successful rollout at the club World cup ref cams, which are ear mounted and give a ref's eye view and now permitted for use in the Premier League. Jared Gillett trialled it when Crystal palace hammered Manchester United 40 in May. They featured during the pre season summer series in the US as well. The aim to improve players behaviour towards officials and offer a greater insight into what refs can and cannot see later a game day through the eyes of a referee. I always say to my team before the game look, let's go unnoticed, let's not be the talking point. Next though to Spain to see the officials punished for a change in pre season mass. We call it hell. If we can keep working and keep pushing and get as close to players as possible, we'll meet the demands of the games and we discussed mental health after a high profile Premier league referee departure last season. Obviously a really difficult situation last year with one of our officials, somebody we care about as a human being. As a small business owner, you don't have the luxury of clocking out early. Your business is on your mind 24 7. So when you're hiring, you need a partner that grinds just as hard as you do. That hiring partner is LinkedIn Jobs. When you clock out, LinkedIn clocks in. LinkedIn makes it easy to post your job for free, share it with your network and get qualified candidates that can manage all in one place. Here's how it works. Post your job LinkedIn's new feature can help you write job descriptions and then quickly get your job in front of the right people with deep candidate insights. Either post your job for free or pay to promote promoted jobs. Get three times more qualified applicants get qualified candidates at the end of the day, the most important thing to your small business is the quality of candidates. And with LinkedIn you can feel confident that you're getting the best. Based on LinkedIn data, 72% of SMBs using LinkedIn say that LinkedIn helps them find high quality candidates. You can let your network know you're hiring. You can even add a hashtag hiring frame to your profile Picture and get two times more qualified candidates. Find out why more than 2.5 million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring today. Find your next great hire on LinkedIn. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.combaseballshow that's LinkedIn.combaseballshow to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. A hotel might have a bar, a resort, a spa. But if you want it all, dining pools, gaming clubs shows it takes more than the boardwalk. It takes a village. It takes a borgata where the best meals meet, the hottest tables, where one pool leads to the next. Room service, bottle service, every service. It takes nothing short of a village to make your stay. So we built one. Visit theborgata.com to learn more must be 21 or over gambling problem. Call 1-800- gambler at T. Rowe Price. Our experience helps us see investment potential differently. Instead of fast answers, we understand the true road to confident investing is curiosity. It's what drives us to ask smart questions about our ever changing world, like how can clean water transform farmland? Can healthcare innovations create a healthier world? How will AI be a part of a new tomorrow? Our curiosity runs deep and with it comes the power to help you invest more confidently. Better questions, better outcomes. T. Rowe Price Invest with confidence. Learn more@t rowprice.com Curiosity this is inside the world of Premier League Referees, A special episode of the Athletic FC podcast with me, Adam Leventhal. So this is the five star La Finca resort on the Costa Blanca in Spain, an hour away from Alicante, and it's been used by football teams over the years. But this is the second year that it's hosted the pgmo, which stands for Professional Game Match Officials Select Group Pre Season Camp, which basically brings together the best officials in England in one place. And I've been invited into the camp to see how they prepare for the new campaign and it's all focused on high performance. I'm Howard Webb, I'm the chief refereeing officer for the professional game match officials. So fundamentally we're here to ensure that the officials are put through some pretty stringent paces. From a physical point of view, one of our key performance characteristics is around physical ability. It's around having the ability to comfortably meet the evolving physical demands of the game. We know it gets faster all the time and more demanding all the time. And the key purpose of this camp is to ensure the officials are working towards increasing their physical capability so that when we get to that first whistle, they'll hit the ground absolutely running. My name is Francis Bunce. I'm senior sports scientist with the pgmo. For people who aren't au fait with the drills and the strength and conditioning that is needed for the specific roles, first of a referee and then of an assistant. A lot of that work is set up to be all about being robust, to be able to run. And when you look at the work we do, a lot of it's calf based soleil space and just being generally strong in terms of of their ability to withstand load. If you think about a referee on a game, they can't be subbed off after 60 minutes. They're set to do two, three games in a week with the travel. That's what they do. And assistant refereeing is a really interesting sort of role because there aren't many other roles in sport where your position is completely dictated by someone else and you have to be in line with them at all times to be able to make your decisions. And you think about, you know, a centre midfielder in a game, they might lose their player for a second and then they might regain them when they're marking them. Assistant referees can't do that. So their game is all about, as an assistant referee, accelerations, decelerations and their speed at which they're able to keep up with play. So this is the evening session on day one, and it has indeed stepped up a gear. These are the max velocity tests and you can hear the referees as they go past. Listen. And as you can imagine, it gets very competitive. Although they are just ultimately competing against themselves, there is some friendly rivalry and the scores are pinned up on the boards. And then over the course of the season as well, they're able to compare and contrast how they're performing with their peers. We're all aware that the Premier League is the fastest league in terms of the way that it's played, the speed of the players, so we just have to make sure the match officials can. Can cope with those demands. We're not a long way away at all, but I'm never going to profess to say that we're exactly the same as Anthony Elanga, who's the fastest player in the world at the minute, from what everyone's saying and putting out on social media. But our aim, as I said, is to be as close as that as we can, because these guys have to match those speeds and be able to do it sometimes, when you least expect it, when there's a fast counter attack. And that's what we love about football, is that especially the Premier League, the speed of it. And as the officials go past, there is an ice spray as well, just to cool them down, because it has really upped the temperature here this evening in Spain. My name's Akilhausen and I'm a Select Group 1 Assistant Referee, so I operate on the Premier League. I think in the Premier League, I think the top speed was maybe 37, 37 kph. We were sort of working at 32, 33 at our top speed. So we're there or thereabouts. We just know that if we can keep working and keep pushing and get as close to place as possible will meet their demands of the games. Especially for me as an assistant referee, we do a lot more acceleration work and speed work. So Quick shot sprints. The referees do a lot more longer distance sprint work and obviously our sports science team are getting us to a position where we can meet those demands and sort of be in the best position for the best decisions in the games. And then as they walk back the length of the pitch, there is real time data that is handed over to, to them and then they know whether they are actually achieving their top speed. It's something that we've really progressed in the last few years in terms of the way that we monitor the officials and the data that we collect and the richness of that data. That's sports scientist Francis Bunce. Again, we use a GPS system called player data which enables us to monitor the referees remotely. And as soon as they've finished a session, be it in Carlisle or if they're away in Kazakhstan for a game, they can, we can sync it and we can see it and we can automatically give them feedback on that. Peter Banks Premier LEAGUE REFEREE I'm one of the ones who really scrutinizes my data and if there's a session where you have to hit, say we'll have a hi session. High intensity, 300 meters of high speed running is the, the minimum. If you don't hit it rest of the day, I'm probably not good to speak to, to be fair and things, you know, max speed, you want it to be a certain speed and some people work differently but, you know, I just want to be the best I can possibly be. And there's a top 10 sort of leaderboard put up so you want to see your name in that top 10. Well, the officials who share a pitch on a regular basis with Premier League players, very much living a Premier League existence here in Spain on this pre season camp. It's beautiful surroundings. They've got exclusive use of the resort and that includes Paul. There is a spa, there's a gym, there's paddle courts, tennis courts, everything surrounding them to help them unwind whilst at the same time training hard for the forthcoming season. We are working in a competitive environment. That's Howard Webb. They want to shine, you know, they want to come here in good condition. They want to show that they've worked hard already up to this point in their preparations. They know they have to come back in shape because there's a hard week here from a physical point of view and of course, you know, we encourage them, we to them and they want to impress us. There is a cohort of 10 newcomers to this group that have been promoted up after performing well at the lower tiers and this is almost the carrot for them to see where they can be in the future, expose them almost like an academy player to a first team group. They all want this season coming up to be their best yet collectively, that's what we want as well and we think we're making good progress but there's always more you can do and yeah, it is a bit like football club for sure. You want to be in the starting 11. This is one that the officials haven't necessarily been looking forward to is the MASS test where they have to run as far as they can in six minutes. What does mass stand for? Maximal Aerobic Speed Lead. I'm Matt Wilmot, lead physical performance coach. It's a really easy way for us at least to get a marker of their VO2 Max, so how aerobically capable they are, which as referees that's an important marker for us to get. So they know the need for it, they understand it and I think deep down they do like that, that feeling of achievement, that feeling of they've just put themselves in a decent bit for six minutes. Some of the faces that are coming past that are not agreeing with your summation. Yeah, he was at the back. In terms of how testing it actually is, some people go, oh, it's just a six minute. It's just a six minute run. That's not that hard. Yeah, if the people that do say that, I'd like to let them give it a go. I think it is a really difficult test. One obviously we are looking at that physical side but a lot of the coaches like it and a lot of other staff like it because it is showing that mental side as well. Who is willing to put themselves in a bad place, in a dark place and who's really willing to push themselves to a point that they are kind of fully exhausted and they're fully maxed out. So there's so many different positives to the test, especially from our side watching on the sideline, but maybe not the ones running it, but it's a good test to do. Now, away from the physical training there's also been a chance for the officials to catch up with their own coach, which they have that they lean on for advice and guidance. During the season. They review their performances together and then they set targets for the forthcoming campaign. And there's also someone dedicated to the officials Mental health Ryan Pelling Performance Psychologist how many of the referees now feel comfortable leaning on you? Most, I think, yeah, well, that's a good thing that we're Moving in a direction. We've just been speaking over lunch there with some of the coaches that we're moving in a direction that performance psychology, sports psychology, isn't this service that you go and seek if you're struggling or if you've got an issue. It is there for some instances where people come to that, but actually it's about performance enhancement and performance maintenance as well. We're just normalizing that. Everyone gets a one to one chat and a big part of that as well is making it visible. So rather than us being boxed off in a room that no one else can see and it's this secret support service, we're doing that in and around the public, public areas that whilst there's a sensitivity to what we'll discuss and if something of a more intimate nature comes up, we can obviously go off and have a wander, have a walk and find that quieter time. It doesn't have to just happen behind a closed door. We obviously had obviously a really difficult situation last year with one of our officials who was obviously part of the refereeing family and somebody we care about as a human being as well. Last season, David Coutts. Coot had his contract terminated by PGMO after two videos emerged showing him being critical of Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and appearing to snort a white powder in a hotel room. They say that he was in serious breach of his contract, that his position was now untenable. In the aftermath, Coot came out as gay, saying he'd hid his sexuality during his career for fear of abuse from fans. I wanted to stand out from the crowd. I didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to myself. Howard, how has that experience helped to inform what you now need to do to further support referees, do you think? We know that the job that they do is done under a brighter spotlight than ever, with more scrutiny than ever. There's undoubtedly a lower level of forgiveness as well. If somebody doesn't agree with a decision, then they're not slow or shy to comment upon that and they've got a vehicle now to do so that didn't previously exist. And the way that some people do that is pretty inappropriate because of the extra scrutiny, because of that lack of forgiveness, which is clearly evident to me compared to what the world was like when I was refereeing. We do have to ensure that our officials are supported. We have some good investment in terms of being able to bring expertise into our organisation through sports psychology, through mental health and well being. Some of the questions we're asking is about their personal life. Their home life, to make sure that that's not just something that we expect them to cope with. You know, this stiff upper lip, resilience. We need to offer them that level of support and make sure that they feel confident to speak out as well. And reaching out for help is not a sign of weakness. It's not going to affect your appointments and we really have a focus on that. Andy Madley, Premier League and FIFA referee, in terms of. For you, getting away from it all a little bit, where does it fit in? Because you need a breather, don't you? You do need a breather and we do get a breather. Certainly after the season, we're encouraged to take two or three weeks off, let the body recover and equally important, let the mind recover. We work in such an unforgiving environment at times. We do need some time away. My wife and kids would certainly say that I need some time away at times. But, yeah, coming away and being able to focus purely for five days on refereeing and technical matters and physical preparation just ekes that extra 5 or 10% out of everybody. Yeah. And it's interesting you mentioned your family, because it sort of reminds me of when, you know, managers sometimes will say, you know, I take it home with me. Is that the same for you, for referees, or are you able to switch off? No, I mean, it's 100% the same for referees. I think back in the day, people used to say, the referee will make a decision, they go home, there's no consequences, they don't care about it. And genuinely, they couldn't be further from the truth. There's times I've made decisions on the Saturday and I've had to question whether I'm in the right shape, right state of mind to go and referee the following Saturday, seven days later, we're professional enough to make that decision that if we don't feel right and we may be in a space, that we need to spend a little bit more time working with our coaches or working with the sports psychologists we're professionally enough to. To do that. I'm amongst a whole load of referees now, where they've got their notebooks, they've got a cup of coffee, they're ready to concentrate on what they're going to be told in this classroom. The classroom sessions are behind closed doors, but I was let in and able to get a taste of what referees will be briefed on over the course of this week, including the referee meetings, where they go into clubs and discuss the forthcoming season with players and managers to Try as best as they can to ensure that they can be on the same page over the course of the campaign, however challenging that may be. They also discussed in the classroom the new law changes and that feeds into what's expected of them on and off the field. Vicki Smith, senior sports scientist at pgmo. So the guys are just coming out of a gym session and they're going to be greeted with one of these smoothies. Looks pretty good to me. Let's have a try. Oh, yeah, that is very good. Nutrition's key to performance, to adaptation. We're in a really intense training camp at the moment. They've got three sessions a day, two pitch, one gym. Some of them are going to be burning upwards of two and a half to 3,000 calories a day and have to fuel their bodies and give it the nutrients that it's going to need to increase muscle mass and replenish all the glycogen we've used during training and recover well during the night. And all that is underpinned by what you're putting in your body. Some good quality sources. What is good for a referee to be eating from a protein perspective? We're probably looking to try and get one and a half to two grams per kilogram of your body weight over the course of the day. From a carbohydrate point of view, it could be anything. It's individualised from 5 to 8 grams per kilogram of your body weight across the day. Basically, they're being treated in the same way as players. Yes, and quite rightly so. If there's a lot of research that will show the fitter and better condition we are, the more cognitive improvements we see, they're going to be able to make decisions freer, with more energy available for the brain rather than having to recover. Now, I promised you more on VAR well after it was trialled in cup competitions last season. Announcements to the crowd are now set to extend to the Premier League. After review, Dominic Solanke was in an offside position in the middle and the officials have been practicing doing just that here on the training ground in Spain. Going to a screen, reviewing a decision and then getting on the mic, albeit there aren't any crowds here. Are you looking forward to your sort of pop star role where you'll be talking to the stadium and telling them about your decision? I had live experience in an FA cup game last year, so we were trialing it from, I think, fifth round, so Brighton, Nottingham Forest. I gave a penalty. From my. From my position, it looked a clear Penalty and really good work from Andy Madley as VAR to show actually it wasn't a foul. So then you're preparing yourself, you go to the screen, you're taking a little bit longer at the screen because you're thinking about what you say. But I think once you know, you've then got to do it. You want to come across clear, give the relevant information and once you're in the moment, it's fine. I think it's something we've probably been a little bit apprehensive about because this wasn't in the. In the script when we talk referee to announce to thousands of people and millions at home. But it's something again, we're working on. We've been put into some situations where we'll practice stadium announcements here and again, this will continue throughout the summer to make sure that we're ready. And it's going to be the odd slip of the tongue, you know that's going to happen, but we'll be as ready as we possibly can be to nail that at the start of the season. Well, you seem very comfortable in front of the mic, so thank you. It'll all be well. It'll all be well. It will also be the Premier League's first full season of semi automated offside technology after its introduction in April. I think the fundamentals of decision making are still there. I'm Wade Smith, I'm a Premier League assistant referee and have been for the previous five years. So what we have to do as assistant referees on the pitch is not change what we do, because you've always got to imagine that's not there, because I tell you what, there's nothing better than when you've made a really tight decision and the VAR using the semi automated technology confirms that that decision is right. It'd be a disaster if we were driving away from a game knowing that we'd cost a team what would have been a genuine goal, because we've either put our flag up or not put our flag up when we should have. When you suspect that someone is offside but you're in that position where you don't raise your flag, how do you deal with that? Yeah, I think a lot of what we do is very process driven. Are they clearly offside, where I can raise it straight away, where I'd put my mortgage on them being offside and I'm willing to commit in that moment, or do I need to delay the flag in case I'm wrong, because it's a tight margin and therefore we can make sure we've got the right outcome at the end because that is the key thing. Well, I've really got a greater appreciation of the job that assistants have to do and the specialist training that they require. Watching them here in Spain, they're carrying a flag in one hand, crabbing along the touchline, then bursting into speed in one direction, then the other, and at the same time seeing when the ball is released and if the players are in line or not. Do you think people appreciate how unnatural some of the things that you do are Initially when you start doing those movements, it takes its toll on the legs, but I think it's about training your body to do those movements and for them to come naturally so that you can then focus on decision making, which is we're there to do so. Our skill set is more about making offside decisions, which involves looking at an attack or judging an attacker against the defender against or using then the ball, which we potentially can't see, which we're listing out for. So that skill set is much different than a referee trying to get into the best position to see a foul who's looking at just two players. Next we'll see how all of this fits together as I shadow a referee and his team for a matchday. Football's not about us as match officials. Football's all about the players. We'll deal with the good, good, the bad, but also the ugly. I remember I ref the non league game and then a fan was waiting for me in the car park. At T. Rowe Price, our experience helps us see investment potential differently. Instead of fast answers, we understand the true road to confident investing is curiosity. It's what drives us to act. Ask smart questions about our ever changing world like how can clean water transform farmland? Can healthcare innovations create a healthier world? How will AI be a part of a new tomorrow? Our curiosity runs deep and with it comes the power to help you invest more confidently. Better questions, better outcomes T. Rowe Price Invest with confidence Learn more@t roweprice.com Curiosity a hotel might have a bar, a resort, a spa. But if you want it all, dining pools, gaming clubs shows it takes more than the boardwalk. It takes a village. It takes a borgata where the best meals meet. The hottest tables, where one pool leads to the next. Room service, bottle service, every service. It takes nothing short of a village to make your stay. So we built one. Visit theborgata.com to learn more. Must be 21 or over. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-gaming- GAMBLER Over 95% of men don't meet their recommended intake of dietary fiber. So, guys, how do we choose the right fiber? Look for whole food ingredients. Our fiber and spice supplement has four essential whole psyllium, flaxseed, whole apple and monk fruit, plus 12 whole spices. Stir it in, drink it down and keep moving. Go to balanceofnature.com and get 40% off your first fiber and spice supplement as a new preferred customer by using discount code. Cut. This is Adam Leventhal with a special episode of the Athletic FC podcast, taking you inside the world of referees. So it is Saturday 26th April. It is the penultimate day of the championship football season and I'm here to meet a referee and his team because I'm going to be spending the day with them, shadowing them, not on the pitch, obviously. That would be a bit too much. James, good morning, how are you? Good, thank you. Nice to meet you. Good to meet you as well. That's James Linnington. A Football league ref since 2008. James travels to games around the UK from his home on the Isle of Wight. Sometimes I was on the 3am Ferry and I had to be up at work for 9 o'. Clock. That's no way. Great for recovery. Before going full time, he was also a plumber. It was tough, especially you're trying to deal with a customer and you had an evening game on a Tuesday. Could be up north or in the Midlands and you try to get their water back on. You're like, oh, I've got to be gone at 11 o'. Clock. I'm only here for a few hours today because I've got to go up north and rather a game. Life's different now, though. You're almost. Not quite, but you're almost preparing like a player, aren't you? Of course. So Monday I was fourth official at Portsmouth. Tuesday I'd done a strength session on the island myself and then we had training camp on the Wednesday and Thursday up at Loughborough, where we meet as a whole group back over to London for this game last night where I arrived at the hotel. But in the day of Friday, always, usually match day minus one, I do a pitch speed session. So it's set out by our sports scientists. We've got an app that we have to follow. So we go onto the app, it tells us the exact session they want us to do. Do you do sort of team specific preparation in a way that a team would look at their opponents? We've got match analysts, the same as what teams do. They prepare a folder for us, a few days before so we can look through it. It have corner routines for each team, it have free kick routines. My position on the pitch can actually interfere with their play. There's trends in how they're playing. So if I'm in that line of path when they're putting a pass in and I'm stood in that way, they can't make that pass. Players will be thinking, on the morning of a game, I want to be noticed. You don't want to be noticed at all, do you? I don't. Football's not about us as match officials. Football's all about the players. I always say to my team before the game, look, let's go unnoticed, let's not be the tour talking point. But if we're going to be the talking point, it's for the right reason, because we've had to go out and we've actually had to put our head above the parapet and make the correct decision for the game, but might be unpopular at the time. When people see it, they're going, you know what? They were right. And just before I let you get your. Your beans on toast, because they are vital. When you wake up on the morning of a game, what's your feeling? I suppose that's quite a tough question because I've just done it. I've done it for so many years. But I think it's the case of just going through my routine. Obviously, I love football, I love being a part of the game and I suppose there are always some slight nerves there. I think everyone should have that little bit of nerve. But once I get into the grounds, the atmosphere is there, you're doing your normal routine, it just. Everything falls into place. Excellent. Well, I'll let you enjoy your breakfast. So it's a 12:30 kickoff, QPR again, Burnley. It's half past nine now and we're just about to get in our transport to head to the game. When you're approaching a game, do you start to think about the personalities that you're going to encounter that day? The players that maybe you've had, I don't know, incidents with in the past, or in particular the managers that you're going to be facing that day? Well, obviously a massive skill set for a match official, especially a referee is your man. Management skills, because you've got to try and manage that game of football, you're managing that event. So certain players that could cause you a bit of an issue, if you can manage them in a certain way to make that game better, you just use all that different skills. You've got to be able to control that player. Same as managers. Look, it's an emotional sport. There's lots riding on certain games. Some managers, some teams are under pressure. I understand managers can also lose their jobs through to. Not just. It wouldn't be just from my performance, it probably would be on performances previous to that. That's why they've got to that stage. So emotion's massive, but dealing with that emotion, we can't take the emotion out of football. But then the emotion can go a little bit too far, can't it? So then that's for us to step in, use our management skills. And if that's gone too far, then we've got to take, take the correct action. So they get grief from players, managers and fans. Does it ever get to the point where you go, this is too much, I don't know why I'm putting myself through this. You don't really hear the personal part of it. It's just a bit of white noise in my opinion. I suppose over the years, if anything it's probably lower down the pyramid. When you've come up through, that's where there's not many fans. You probably hear it more personal then. It's not right that we should be thick skin but that's part of our culture unfortunately. It can be quite British, brutal. Particularly as an assistant. I've been called everything. That's one of James's assistants for the day, James Wilson, he's known as jt. I mean I'm not gonna repeat any of them. I've been called absolutely everything. It's just something I used to. So I just brush it off. It's quite something to just sort of go, oh yeah, I've just been called in this and that and whatever and just sort of go, oh well, hey, hey. They never say it to your face. So it's just sort of like that tribalism football thing where they'll just spur out absolutely anything that comes to you. If they're frustrated, you say that they wouldn't say it to your face. Has it ever got for anyone where you've left a ground and you thought someone is saying it to my face and I'm feeling a little bit threatened here. Only lower down the pyramid. That's fourth official for the day, John Busby. I remember I reft sort of a non league game and then a fan was waiting for me in the car park, went to get my car, confronted me, started getting all aggressive and people had to step in and pull him away. That walk off feel of someone saying to your face doesn't really happen at our level because there's systems in place that safeguard you from your sort of ingress egress into stadiums. The issue is definitely sort of down the pyramid where there's less measures in place that can support a referee entering, leaving a premise. Andrew Dannison's the other assistant like JT who works in comms. He's got a full time job on top of all of this. Five days a week I work in a secondary school and obviously commitments around refereeing for training to be in the right fitness level, etc. And then midweek games, I travel straight from work to games. The majority of us have at least a part time job and then football commitments are juggled around that really. So here we are. Thank you. Here we go. This is us heading through to find where the referees officials room is. Morning. Hi there. Here we go. Referee on the door and in we go in it. Yeah, this is. This is pokey, isn't it? For all four of you all. So we've got two showers, but usually we only use one because otherwise it floods all around here. So we tend to use this one here. In the dressing room, James reveals what's in his bag, including a variety of shirts. Got every single color that we can use. Obviously today we're going to be in orange. Orange. My preferred color is black. I think that's traditional. Why are you in orange today? So we're in orange because Burnley are in black. And then you've got white and blue for qpr, one of the keepers in yellow. So ideally they want five different colors on the pitch. So we're going in orange today and what else? So I've got my shorts, my boots, my socks, I've got all my equipment, my yellow and red cards, my coins, my pencils, my whistle. I've got a spare whistle. Your mics and your towels laid out for you. I've got me GPS unit that we wear on the back. So the sports scientists. Exactly. See how far we've run, our workload, our speed. Are there sort of superstitions? There's certain people that won't put their match shot on until the second they walk out the door. That's John Busby again. I've heard of people that just when things are going well, they don't change any routine. So it might even be as simple as the night before when they go to the hotel, they'd be wearing the same clothing, the same underwear. They meet at the same time. It's the same as players. Yeah. I was full fun again recently, where the ref is refereeing well at the minute and they even went down to the point. But on the day where things perceived to have a really great game, one of the assistants gave him the coin to flick before the game. So now at the moment, the assistance providing the coin on every match. You mentioned something interesting there. That referee's in good form at the moment. Does that happen? Are you in good form at the moment, jt? Well, I'd like to think so, yeah. I think. How do you judge it? Is it a personal feel or is it like a statistical feel? Yeah, it's a bit of both. I mean, I'm a massive cricket fan. When you do, when you're buying, well, the ball's huge. It's a beach ball. It's similar to offsides. If you're in a good reign of form, you can see it and it's bang. Even the tightest of ones, you're going to. You're going to absolutely nail it. It sort of snowballs. If you're doing well, it's doing well, it's doing well. And then if you do have a hiccup, you have more resilience to overcome that hiccup. So we're on the pitch now at Loftus Road. So, James, tell me what's happening. Sorry? Tell me what's happening. Yeah, you've just put your earpiece in. Put me earpiece in. So I'm just going to confirm with Gus who's the Hawkeye operative in the van for the gts. Can you hear us, mate? Okay, great. Guys, can you hear? Yes, we're just confirming that the operative can hear us all and we can hear him. So if there's any issues in the game regarding the system that he can communicate through us to say the system's down. No VAR in the championship, just the goal decision system, which tells the ref when the ball's over the line. I'll be testing still. I've got no alert, no alert on the watch. And now as we come in, it should be now going off now. And there it is. And there it is. So the ball's basically being moved from level with the goal line over the goal line just to ensure that the goal line technology, or the goal decision system, as I should be calling it, is working correctly. We've got our security briefing now with the head of security and the commander. You've got a chance at the end of the game, people coming on the pitch. So it's A massive safety concern regarding players. Regarding our assistants as well. You just need to be that box clever really about where we end the game so we can get off safely. Next comes a meeting with the managers, Scott Parker of newly promoted Burnley and QPR's Marty de Fuentes who's since moved on to Leicester. Then it's time to warm up. They are just acclimatizing themselves to the conditions as well. It's a very bright sunny day today. James Wilson who is the assistant referee is just checking his line of sight. And also how the sun is affecting proceedings here at Loftus Road. So that's how the referees are preparing. But what about the fans feelings on the officials? What do you want from the referee? Nothing else than to be fair. Fair but also keep the game flowing. I'd like consistency and just keep it tight and let the game be played equal decisions because sometimes referees seem to be a bit biased. I'll go and pass it on to the ref and see if he can. He can oblige today. I'm a referee that has always let the game flow. I allow a lot of football contact hoys have them so I can totally understand that. Fans, anyone watching football managers players get frustrated regarding the consistency part. But it all depends how you read the situation because some people will look at it different and obviously you're supporting with one team. Usually they're supporting a team and they see a lot go against their own team. They don't realize what they get as a team. As kickoff nears, one last boost as James Linnington and his team prepare. So now you're chewing gum now. So I've got a couple of caffeine gum just to help with that bit of energy. You'll probably find out a lot of the players have caffeine before a game as well. Caffeine tablets or gum. Also I've got my energy gels there. Take one couple of minutes before I go out and then 1/2 time as well. Just for go out for the second half. Just give me that extra bit of boost what I need. So you've done your warm up? Yeah, done that. You're ready for the. Ready for the game. How you feeling? Fluids on because it's pretty warm, innit? So yeah, fine. Just looking forward to just cracking on and getting into the game. Enjoy the game. Hope it goes well. Fed through and that is a delightful finish. And Burnley have taken the lead and Fleming makes it too. He stands it up to Fleming who makes it three. So that's. That was the halftime whistle and Burnley dominant against qPR with a 30 lead at half time and thankfully for James and his team, pretty uneventful. For the officials. Time to rehydrate and briefly relax. They don't watch highlights. I don't think we should ever see an event at half time because then people say, look, you realize you've made a mistake and you've gone out the second half and even it up, up. That that would never happen. But then people from the outside will look and think that's probably happened. So we've got a policy in place where we're not allowed to have our mobile phones on anyway. We all go on flight mode and we don't turn it on until we leave the ground for that whole reason. It's so simple for Burnley. They are tearing Queen's Park Rangers apart. So that was the full time whistle and it was a very, very comfortable win for Burnley, five nil in the end. And for James and his team, thankfully it wasn't them that are making the headlines. How did you think it went? You know, we're as a team, I'm really pleased we've come off the pitch, we've worked hard, we've delivered a game safely, no one's talking about us. Did either of the managers come in and knock on the door? So on the pitch, obviously, Marty, the QPR managers come and shake me and say thank you. Thank you. Looked really disappointed, to be honest. Scott, come on. And actually said thanks, referee. Really well, I was pleased, worked hard when I needed to work hard because obviously there were some breakaways. A little bit disappointed in the first half and a couple of times in the second half because I got caught up in play a little bit myself. Was that down to my positioning was a bit central, bit flat footed or was that because I wasn't expecting the ball to come that way, you know, more poor play, I don't know. But when we, when I go through with Keith from a coach, I'll look at that and we can come out the reasons why. Well, my role is really just to compliment where compliments due and to look and identify where there's areas that could be better. Keith Hill is in the dressing room too. Former ref and as James mentioned, his coach from a developmental point of view. Clearly we'll look at the game today in terms of some of the decisions, judgments. We've confirmed some of those already in terms of the process and how we arrived at those. It's not about overanalyzing or going into too much detail at this stage. It's really just getting the guys feelings. You've heard Lindy's feelings there around how the game's gone. And again, you've done really a real positive job as a team. Some really good aspects of teamwork today. So that's really what this is about. And maybe just sewing a couple of seeds for things that we might look at over the next couple of days. Totally good. Now I'll give you my feedback. With everything wrapped up at Loftus Road, it's time to head home. You've been fiddling around with your phone. What have you been doing? I've just downloaded my GPS data from the game, so we've got to get that on within 24 hours for our sports scientists. So it obviously logs onto the system and they can see exactly what we've done in the game. But my distance was just short of 10,000 meters. What's been really eye opening for me in this is the amount of not only preparation but also analysis that happens. It's changed so much, you know, from when I first started refereeing in the EFL, probably you say 2008, we used to get DVDs then, of course, and I used to stick the DVD on and if there's any key match incidents, you'd probably look at those and nothing else. And I didn't look through the whole game and analyze it. Probably because you're working, you haven't got the time to. But I look back then and I thought I should have. Because you learn so much from watching your games back. Because sometimes you don't think. You think, I didn't realise I was approaching it like that or I could do that better. We strive for excellence, don't we? You know, and if you take pride in your job and your work, you want to be excellent in everything you do. And no one called you a world beginning with W during the game, which I was very impressed with. No. So to be fair, we don't really hear it unless the whole ground sing it together. A whistle or flag and a thick skin comes as standard for officials for a job that will always be in the spotlight. This special episode of the Athletic FC podcast was written and presented by myself, Adam Leventhal. Executive producer was Abby Patterson. You can read more more about officials right now on the Athletic. Listen, we live in a quickly changing world. And when it comes to investing, every day brings new questions. But asking the right questions, that's what leads to confident investing. That's why at T Rowe Price, they're relentlessly curious and aren't afraid to dive deep, asking questions like how can healthcare innovations create a healthier world? How can emerging technologies change lives? Or how will AI be a part of a new tomorrow? They don't settle for fast answers they respond with more questions to get the answers they need to make the right decisions. Now that's what it means to be confidently curious. To see where that curiosity leads and get key insights, check out their podcast Confident Conversations on Retirement and the angle from T. Rowe Price on your favorite podcast platform. Great listens for my no free Lunch fans and see how better questions can lead to better outcomes. @t rowprice.com Curiosity as a logistics leader, you need more than a provider. You need a partner. Uber Freight's AI led enterprise suite of solutions is backed by over two decades of experience and logistics data. 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