An insight from the referee’s perspective

In addition to the senior squad England Korfball also has three officials in Maia, Portugal with the International Korfball Federation, two referees – Steve Jones and Paul Jeanes and one jury member – Steve Wright.

Here’s an update from the first 48 hours from IKF and England Korfball League referee Steve Jones.

“After a slight delay leaving Gatwick we landed in Portugal 30 minutes late. Whilst waiting for our luggage with Paul Jeanes (ref) and Steve Wright (jury) we asked each other the same question we always as on IKF trips ‘will there be somebody to meet us and take us to where we need to go?’

This time the answer was Yes! We were taken straight to the sports complex where dinner was being served.

After a fish supper we were taken to our hotel to check – in, then after that we went out to see what Maia was about, after 300 meters we came across the Scotland squad in a restaurant (all eating the right stuff I think) we ended up back at the sports facility having a drink whilst watching the local team train.

Day 2

Having been told our fitness assessment before we left would be at 930am whilst at breakfast it had been changed to 5pm as some of the other refs wouldn’t be arriving until midday.

Paul decided to be leader and lead Steve and myself into Porto on the free map we were given at the airport.

Normally when we ref on IKF tournaments we only get to see the airport, hotel and sports hall, so we decided to make the most of our unexpected free day. We got the tram (metro) in to Porto €3.50 return done a fair bit of walking Porto is quite hilly and ended up at Crystal Palace which like its namesake in London is at the top of a hill but giving us a nice view overlooking the river Douro.

After the referee’s fitness assessment we have a meeting with the jury to go over the specific rules for the tournament i.e number of substitutions, time outs, length of game, golden goal and presentation etiquette etc.

We returned to the hotel where we received our refereeing kit for the tournament. For some reason I’ve been given size XXL! Maybe they’re trying to tell me something?! Off to receive our appointments for the opening day of the tournament. The hard work starts tomorrow!