"Referee channel" Youtube page and similar

Lack of respect holding is how UEFA define it too .

 

These are on the facebooks:

• PRO does breakdowns of VAR decisions weekly for MLS
• The "Refs Need Love Too" guy is active but I find myself disagreeing with his stuff about 35% of the time. Might be a me problem I don't know.
• Referee Academy guy breaks down stuff
• Eric Edge discusses his calls and rationale and there is usually a good discussion if there is a call he asks followers about or is unsure on or could go a different way.

I find all of these helpful as the discussions are usually around borderline decisions or unique situations that may have an answer buried deep in The Laws or guidance. At least then you have been exposed to a situation without being fully and publicly exposed when it pops up in a match.

As an example, Refs Need Love had a very good video I saw this morning on goalkeeper handling and the misconception that every instance of a goalkeeper handball offence results in a card. He showed players just apoplectic that the ref did not give a card for GK handling, but pointed out that a card is warranted in SPA and DOGSO scenarios, which is so often the case with GK's but not in every case.

 

That goalkeeper one was hilarious because all the keeper did was prevent the ball from going out for a goal kick.
I agree with your view of Refs Need Love Too. I probably agree with him slightly more than you, but I do find a number of his positions naïve.

 

He's way more polished than in the past and doing content that the states should be doing, so I will give him credit for that...he is still extremely defensive when people bring up his mistakes regarding his verbiage.

My biggest issue with him is that with his large following he has been able to get people like Kari Seitz twice in the past 12 months and Greg Barkey in interviews. I'm not expecting an aggressive interview like 60 Minutes with Leslie Stahl, but there was nothing substantive that came out in any of the segments other than him behaving like a fanboy with a wide goofy smile and moving his head like a bobble-head doll for the entire hour. He blew a chance for us to learn anything with his "clout".

As an aside, can anyone explain to me how a guy from Georgia is somehow involved with Cal South? They have many capable people. This has to be a great story behind-the-scenes

Did you mean Cal South instead?

They always have great presenters, whether they be current PRO referees or retired folks.

My first negative opinion of any of their webinars was having Abbey Okulaja last month (I was at the game where the poor guy got clocked in the head by a clearance at full blast and the game had to be stopped for 5 minutes- never should have re-entered as we was clearly "out").

He was difficult to understand, didn't understand they were trying to help him cue the necessary screens and did not come across friendly at all.

They actually take a poll at the end asking for feedback on the sessions...I doubt any other state does that. My hat goes off to them since these webinars take time and effort to product and they do a great job.

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Webinars are really hard to organize and present. I did a monthly webinar series for our high school chapter and we learned a LOT of lessons... and I gained a great deal of respect for the other organizations who put on referee education webinars.