Page:Association Football and How to Play It (1908) by John Cameron.djvu/53

Rh ruling. The greatest referee may make mistakes. Still, he must maintain the dignity of his decisions when once given. In many ways a referee is born and not made, and all the best referees are those who have played the game when they were young, and have followed it up continually since leaving off, actually taking part in the kicking of the ball. Their hearts are in the game, and this makes all the difference, to a great degree, whether they are successful or not. In senior circles referees are supposed to be unbiased, which I am glad to say in the general run of cases they are. The crowd of the home side are naturally in favour of their friends, and the referee has often to put up with any amount of comment and ridicule. It is then that he should show his character and worth by distributing the law of the game as it ought to be done in all honesty and fairness.

Probably it may be considered vanity on my part to give the would-be referee a few ideas from a player's point of view. A referee should, if possible, know each man by name and the position he occupies in the field, so that if a reprimand is necessary he can say, "Jones or MacPherson, stop that!" A little phrase like that goes a very long way, and I may attribute the secret of some of our referees' success to knowing the names of the players they are refereeing, and so being able to call them personally to order when necessary.

The relation of the referee to the linesmen is a very great question, and whether he should be persuaded by the two men on the line has often been discussed both on and off the field. To sum it up