To what extent do refereeing and your other occupation/occupations complement each other? Tom Henning Øvrebø's other occupation is psychologist, he always seems quite relaxed and I would guess that it's easy for him to establish good communication with most players. Howard Webb works as a policeman, which probably influences his style of refereeing. Or perhaps in certain situations there was the opposite scenario - your refereeing skills came in handy and helped you to make a better decision, aided you in your judgment etc.?
When I'm not in school I work in high-speed photography and timing & scoring for athletic events. You have to be extremely precise and exact. It often takes 4-5 hours to align our cameras and adjust them to conditions. The tolerance for snapping photos at 3-4000 fps is about 1mm. It causes you to focus on little details and to be very meticulous about how you go about things, and I think that helps in a job like refereeing where the smallest details can make huge differences. "In war important events result from trivial causes." -Julius Caesar
Having been a Field Engineer giving 10 yds was a piece of cake. Also knowing exactly how far away my car was and how long it would take me to get there and lock the doors came in handy. Play on........
Food and beverage owner. On feet all day and have to be careful before tournies to get legs rested. Better last few years now that money is solid and I can take off a day or so before heavy days. "I have to go home and prepare for a tournment." Cooks put together something to take home and I put on a DVD and kick it in the la-z-boy.
Software engineer consultant. Managing the expectations of the client or the players, spectators, coaches is no different to me. Clear and precise communication, a little humor every now and then, and being sure to stay on top of the trade works both on the field and in the conference room. Being a consultant instead of a full-timer allows me to be flexible with my schedule as well.
Computer systems analyst, currently supporting time and attendance systems. I thought I could work something in about time-keeping but maybe not. I sit at a desk all day which screws up my hips and hamstrings, nice to get out and run around a bit. I use vacation time to do high school, my boss is pretty tolerant of my part-day absences. And speaking of....time to go
i work in the immigration law field. i spent years taking a set of facts and matching them up to the legal requirements. also spent years as a supervisor and large office director. people skills always translate.
My real job is a systems programmer, but my other obsession is Bridge. I'm a duplicate Bridge director which has basically the same requirements as a referee. I resolve issues, call fouls (players have to call the director, because you can't watch a whole room full of people ), interpret and apply the rules, and keep score (a little more complicated and incorporates my math/analytical skills).
Sales Manager No surprise, I talk alot during the match. Also, find myself negotiating with players. It's kept the yellow card in the pocket quite a few times.
Part-time elementary school teacher. No matter what the level of the game, there are 22 children to manage on the field. Oh, and my primary job is as a soccer coach and trainer. At least no one's every accused me of not understanding the game.
Well by day I'm an penetration tester (aka ethical hacker, i.e. I get paid to hack into my company's computer systems) and I'm not sure that there's much that an 8 hour a day desk job like that lends to the field. Working in the corporate environment overall has equipped me well to deal with the political dealings of the referee program organization though.
Software engineer, currently running a team of web application developers to build a suite of IT applications. former life, wrote software to try and catch people like intechpc, security software!
I'm a Policeman and tend to hate trading one badge for the other on match days! Being a fullback growing up, and in my veteran's league, I'm lenient!
Engineering Professor and consultant. The logic of the LOTG appeals to me but refereeing is a joy and a stress relief mechanism. I really appreciate being able to be out on the field at the start of the day when the grass is still wet. By the end of a Saturday when I've run a couple of matches (U14 or U16 usually, but had a good time last week with a couple of U10 matches) and 2-3 ARs, I am marginally dehydrated - no matter how much I try to keep my fluids up - and pleasantly exhausted. Then, I get to do it again on Sunday which is usually some higher level (U16 - U19) stuff. For whatever reason, this season (started in August) has been especially gratifying [it's probably the shoes, as I've noted on another thread ].
Sales Professional/Customer Service Manager................. Lots of experience dealing with folks who need information about the situation about which we're faced..................... I have to say that my other occupations have given me a great deal of experience in learning how to communicate with players, coaches and spectators the reasons for my on-field decisions...or withholding them when necessary!!!!!!!!!!! I choose to try to talk with the coaches/bench personnel/spectators more than is probably recommended by USSF/NFHS.........BUT........most of the time it works out well for me. When it doesn't I just bite my tongue and deal with the consequences of my actions..... Best of luck to all my compadres in dealing with this issue.............it never works out the same way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First career as a software engineer and engineering manager. The management part is probably applicable but writing operating system code probably didn't contribute to my referee toolkit. Current career as a corporate pilot definitely doesn't contribute anything useful other than making me glad to be out running around after too many hours in the seat.
Thanks for your input! Fascinating to see that people with a wide array of occupations post here. Refereeing should always be a fun job that helps one get in shape and develop good interpersonal skills.
well i worked on the NJ board walk (good people experience), ive worked as a lifeguard (follow rules experience) and i want to get a job at a financial firm after college (managerial experience) so its working out pretty well for me
I bet you can handle pressure a bit easier than the rest of us land drivers. Lets see, U17 punk yelling at you vs landing in a snow storm.
Wow, I'm surprised to see that I'm the first attorney to post in this thread (or maybe the first to own up to it here). I actually know a lot of refs that are attorneys in their "real" jobs because the interpretation of laws and rules tends to come naturally. Taking it even further, I'm actually a First Amendment attorney, so you can guess my stance on dissent!
You're not the ONLY attorney/ref on these boards. For me, stress relief is the biggets plus. Nothing like chugging my tired 43 year old body around a field chasing teenagers, and desperately trying to keep up. In all seriousness, I find the logical and deductive reasoning skills required in the legal profession to be invaluable on the pitch.