Earlier this season I was approached by the BBC take part in a television
programme. It was part of a series, based on challenges for people who admitted
to certain flaws in their character. In my case for instance, the person concerned
was said to be easily riled, especially by women and became quickly aggressive.
The producer of the programme had decided to get this man to referee an indoor
5-a-side football match between two teams of women who would be instructed
to provoke him. My job in all this was to spend two hours with the would-be
referee prior to the match. Mainly I had to instruct him in the type of
psychological training that we use for referees which enables them to keep calm
when faced with aggressive players.
Everything was arranged, the BBC were
going to pick me up in a car from Waterloo and take me to Shepherds Bush on
Saturday morning. Early Friday I got a phone call to say that the episode had
been abandoned and therefore I wouldn't be needed.
This was the second time I had been offered a television spot only for it to
break down, but I did appear very briefly on another television programme that
was recorded recently at Reading University. This was 'Readers and Writers'
for BBC 4. Before the main feature of the programme, where members of the
audience quiz two authors on their latest books, we had to stand around and be
photographed talking.
We should have been discussing books I suppose but I
was standing with a Royals supporter and not unnaturally our conversation
turned to football. When I mentioned my previous aborted television
appearance, he expressed disbelief that referees ever used psychology when
dealing with players, let alone receive any training.
At Premiership level of course it is much more intense. The elite referees have
a Sports Psychiatrist to help them cope with the very high pressure situations
that they often have to contend with. This is not unusual in sport today.
The Evening Post reported recently that Reading FC Manager Alan Pardew uses the
services of a Sports Psychiatrist. At local level, things are much simpler and we
have to cope without professional help. Nevertheless there are many instances
where we use psychology.
Perhaps the most obvious is what is called the 'psychology of the open hand'.
An open hand is believed to be non-threatening and can be used in a number of
ways. One example is when the referee wants to speak to a player. As a boy I
was always told it's rude to point, and to point at a player or crook the finger to
beckon him towards you could be seen as a aggressive act. Watch referees and
you will see them use a flat hand to do this.
If a referee decides to talk to the
player, he doesn't want the others crowding around. He then uses open palms or
the back of his hands to usher them calmly away. Say a referee has awarded a
contentious penalty, players may well approach him in a combatant mood. The
referee will hold both hands out in front of him with his palms facing the
players. It means 'stay, don't come any further, if you do it could lead you into
trouble'.
I saw an excellent example of another open hand technique a couple of
Saturdays ago in a Manchester United match. They were awarded a throw-in but
David Beckham obviously felt they should have had more and was telling the
assistant referee in no uncertain terms. With his free hand the Assistant used the
open hand, with his palm facing the ground, to get him to calm down.
Whether it would have worked with a bunch of set up, provocative women
footballers, we will never know.
Dick Sawdon Smith