English referee in France

[Patrick]

Advice please our son is joining us in France after Christmas to stay for 12 months. He is a qualified referee in the uk, age 18. Can he use these skills in France if so could any one point us in the right direction to get football matches

Many thanks

[HoneySuckleDreams]

you could try this link for starters

http://www.fff.fr/arbitrage/actualite/index.shtml

or Google La Commission Fédérale de l'Arbitrage du foot

[Patrick]

going to have a look now. thank you very much

[NormanH]

He is worth the level of French that he speaks.

Imagine a French Ref who can't understand the players in a minor league match in the UK..

[YCCMB]

No more difficult to imagine than a French (or, more worryingly, English) ref who can't understand the players in a premiership match in the UK. Let's face it, half the England players couldn't understand their previous manager, either....[:D]

[NormanH]

If anyone from the football world opens their mouth on TV I am not sure that they are speaking English.

They boy done good innit..[:D]

[YCCMB]

True. At least Mr Cantona gave us deep, philosophical insights. [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMTZH0TNVnU&feature=related[/url]

Mr Wenger seems to have the language cracked. [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuDTNJdLBxQ&feature=related[/url]

Seems English (even as spoken by British-born participants in the sport) is quite the language of football.

In fact, there have been complaints in the past: [url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2161752/Fabio-Capellos-jibe-Wayne-Rooneys-English--Charles-Sale.html[/url][:D][:D]

(Sorry, OP. I hope your boy finds some chances to use his refereeing skills in France. I should think his language skills will play a small part, but the rules are the same worldwide, so..)

[NormanH]

I am sure he could do the actual refereeing but the problem may come in calming down  the players and other communication matters.

That said I am sure someone interested in this will be very welcome.

[HoneySuckleDreams]

I have a serious question (apart from the obvious about how good his french is):

What level has he passed? as he is only 18 then I doubt he has got past Level 5 yet.

I think he may come up against the same problem as the rest of us working in France, that he hasn't got "French" qualifications, i.e. he hasn't been to French refereering school.

Maybe he could think of enrolling on a french course, he might be able to start at a higher level with the qualifications he currently has

[crabtree]

I sent you a PM yesterday with lots of information, did you get it?

[Patrick]

Hi yes i did and tried to reply but the e-mail came back to me. Christopher been refereeing in the uk for nearly 4 years. He as ref 7 side 9 aside and is now refereeing in a saturday league doing under 15s and 45 mins each way. The £20 a week helps to keep him out of my pocket a little.He is 18 at Christmas.We live in Payzac in the department of the Dordogne

Once again thanks for all the information

Kind regards

Alan

[crabtree]

[quote user="Patrick"]Hi yes i did and tried to reply but the e-mail came back to me. Christopher been refereeing in the uk for nearly 4 years. He as ref 7 side 9 aside and is now refereeing in a saturday league doing under 15s and 45 mins each way. The £20 a week helps to keep him out of my pocket a little.He is 18 at Christmas.We live in Payzac in the department of the Dordogne

Once again thanks for all the information

Kind regards

Alan[/quote]

I have sent you a PM with my Email address.

[Quillan]

Shame it's not rugby union then you only need to speak three words (crouch, touch and set) and they are the same all over the world and spoken in English even at local level.

[HoneySuckleDreams]

[quote user="Quillan"] (crouch, touch and set) and they are the same all over the world and spoken in English even at local level.[/quote]

It's "Crouch, touch, engage", and the local match we watched at the weekend was all in French.

 

Edit: in fact I think it's Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage. The french referee was saying (i think, as it was a way-off) , Flexion, Touchez, Pause, Entrez

[Quillan]

[quote user="HoneySuckleDreams"]

[quote user="Quillan"] (crouch, touch and set) and they are the same all over the world and spoken in English even at local level.[/quote]

It's "Crouch, touch, engage", and the local match we watched at the weekend was all in French.

Edit: in fact I think it's Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage. The french referee was saying (i think, as it was a way-off) , Flexion, Touchez, Pause, Entrez

[/quote]

Then the ref was wrong. The International Rugby Board trialed the crouch, touch and set system in 2011/12 in both North and South hemispheres and decided to implement it for the 2012/13 season. As of August 2012 "Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage" ceased to exist. There is another change they are trialing this year with regards to scrums which is the addition of the command "Stop" which the ref shouts once the ball has left the scrum. In France this is being trialed from Federal 2 upwards. Technically these words are to be spoken in English and not the native language of the team or country. The matches I have watched live so far are my local club which is in Federal 2 and USAP which is in the "Top 14" and all referees commands have been given in English.

I quote from this seasons IRB Law book "This amendment relates to the engagement sequence and will see the referee call “crouch” then “touch”. The front rows crouch then touch and using outside arm each prop touches the point of the opposing prop’s outside shoulder. The props then withdraw their arms. The referee will then call “set” when the front rows are ready. The front rows may then set the scrum.".

Just as a point of interest the reason the commands are to be given in English is because that's the language used in International rugby. In theory any player from any team and league within a country can be chosen as an International and it gets very confusing if you don't use the same language for the commands. As it is a Yellow Card offence for a player to talk back to the ref those are about all the words you need to know.

[HoneySuckleDreams]

Yes, probably from a certain level upwards it will be necessary. This was Junior (under 19) so I don't think the referee was wrong, he probably had discretion to speak french.

Back on point: From the original posters point of view, if the young lad is going to be refeering lower leagues, then his level of french will have to be good enough to converse with the teams.

[Quillan]

[quote user="HoneySuckleDreams"]

Yes, probably from a certain level upwards it will be necessary. This was Junior (under 19) so I don't think the referee was wrong, he probably had discretion to speak french.

[/quote]

I'm sorry to go on but yes he was wrong. The French I can live with but the command(s) was totally wrong and against this seasons laws. It is even more important because you are talking under 19's and in amongst them and for all we know there could be a future French International and if not that the possibility of one moving to a team in a higher league. The only excuse I can think of is a moments loss of memory on the refs part but that does not make the call right.

As you rightly imply the laws of rugby and the rules of football are somewhat different especially in the context of players talking to refs so yes a certain amount of French language is a requirement.