Turning off ref-brain

I know I am not the only referee out there who is guilty of this: heavily judging the referees on the pitch when I am in the subs box/playing. Every call they make is wrong, everything is against your team, and obviously if you were refereeing this then you wouldn't have missed that horrific back tackle on your poor chaser over there!

Let me let you in on a secret: you probably would have. And if you didn't, then you'd probably call a good hoop as beat before release or something.

Amy Maidment

No referee is perfect in the moment. As a referee, I know this - as a player I forget this. There are not enough eyes to keep on twelve/fourteen people at once, and certainly not in exactly the perfect angles to see everything as you do from the comfort of your subs box. They say that hindsight is 20/20, well, so is 'you're not actually refereeing this match so your brain isn't thinking 100000 things at once'-sight.

It can be hard to get the balance right when you're playing between what you know as a referee, and respecting the authority of the actual referees on pitch. There's a lot of talk in the UK about head referees being some of the worst people to actually ref when they're playing, and I really don't think that should have to be the case - we should know better. We know it sucks when someone argues with your call, or shouts out random fouls that they think have been committed (I'm very guilty of this, my mouth is just a loose cannon calling beats and back to hoops whether I'm a referee, player, or spectator). Talking back to referees is something which has improved, though I think that's mainly because we're putting up with less and giving more cards for backchat. It can be infuriating if you're watching someone get a card - or not get a card - for a foul which doesn't warrant one, but quidditch is only a game. Life will go on.

Little tips and tricks for getting out of referee brain:
- If you like having gloves when you're reffing, have a different pair to your playing gloves. The motion of changing them might help your mindset.
- Direct all of your commentary towards someone else on pitch/in the subs box. As a referee, you're probably used to just shouting things, not holding a conversation, so the difference in tone and style of language could keep you from yelling 'BEAT!' really loudly at someone who was maybe grazed with a bludger at the other end of the pitch.
- Turn around and face the other way. If you really disagree with something, turn away. Change your focus, take a couple of deep breaths, and then come back to it.
- Have someone prod you with a broom every time you're being a dick, you'll soon learn.

So I'm personally trying to work on containing my judgey, grumpy self when I'm playing out of respect for the referees on pitch. They're trying their hardest, after all, and wouldn't you like the same respect paid to you?