They come out of the football stadium’s tunnel first, but all eyes are on the well-paid athletes behind them. No one pays the Referee or the Referee’s Assistants any attention – until they make a mistake. Then all hell breaks loose.
They can’t explain – or defend themselves against the crowd’s abuse. And these days their decisions can be reversed by the dreaded VAR. Who would want the high-pressure job of running the line in professional football?
Gavin Muge for one, and in My Life on the Line, he threads a personal football memoir together with his own attempts to scale the peak of the professional game which led to encounters with a cast of stars from Gary Lineker to Paul Gascoigne, Arsene Wenger and Roy Keane. He officiated at the infamous Riot of Upton Park in August 2009, and has witnessed many examples of the darker side of the game.
After nine seasons on the National List of Assistant Referees, Gavin has pretty much seen it all and has his own unique take on the modern game. My Life on the Line is a must for would-be officials, but will have a wider appeal to the hundreds of thousands of fans who loyally follow their clubs up and down the country every weekend.
Gavin has shared the excitement and the pain of the average football supporter and now has the experience to try to make sense of it all. See if you agree with him!
Innehållsförteckning
Introduction
PART 1 A FOOTBALL SELF-PORTRAIT
Chapter 1: Hatters’ Tea Party
Me, Eric Morecambe and a Lifelong Commitment to Luton Town FC
Chapter 2: Playing Peak
Me, Gary Lineker and the Player of the Year Award
Chapter 3: Pitch Battles
Me, Millwall and the Way it was Then
Chapter 4: Maturity
Me, Gazza and Marriage
PART 2 SIDELINE OR FRONT LINE?
Chapter 5: Earning My Stripes
Rungs on the Ladder
Chapter 6: Match Day
’Arsene Wenger’s having a party/Bring your vodka and your Charlie’
Chapter 7: ’Look at the Bizzies’
The Riot of Upton Park, Part 1
Chapter 8: ’If we leave, we won’t be coming back’
The Riot of Upton Park, Part 2
PART 3 WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE?
Chapter 9: No Time to be Star Struck
Me, Roy Keane, Paulo Di Canio & a Bollocking from Mark Noble
Chapter 10: The Long and Winding Road
Nearly There
Chapter 11: The Best Party
Reflections on a Career
PART 4 THE UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO LIFE AS A FOOTBALL
OFFICIAL
Chapter 12: 1863 and All That
The Laws of the Game and how we got them
Chapter 13: So You Want to be a Referee’s Assistant
A Few Insights
Chapter 14: We Need to Talk About VAR
Cure-All or Confusion?
PART 5 THE WIDER VIEW
Chapter 15: Match Officials in World Cup History
The Hand of God, etc
Chapter 16: Where are We Now and Where Are we Going?
A Brighter Future with some changes to the Game
Chapter 17: Match Fixing & the Power of Money
Stuff Happens
PART 6 EXTRA TIME
Chapter 18: Gavin’s Football Quiz
Answers at the Back
Chapter 19: Fun Stuff
Jokes, Quotes and Anecdotes
Chapter 20: Poetry in Motion
That Goal
APPENDIX
Being a Match Official – The Details
Links to You Tube Clips
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Author profiles
Om författaren
Simon Rae tried supporting Canterbury City but switched to Liverpool FC for the 1965 FA Cup final against Leeds United. He stood in the Kop on a few occasions in the 1970s and presumably saw all the stars but cannot remember any of the football (possibly because he couldn’t see any of it). He missed the one FA Cup final he was offered a ticket for (missing the train from Canterbury) and only watched the World Cup final in 1966 because rain stopped play at the county cricket match he was attending. Decades later, he brought up his son, Michael, to be a Liverpool supporter but – as he is constantly reminded – has yet to take him to Anfield. Simon’s first love is cricket, and his definitive biography of W. G. Grace (1998) was praised by John Major. In addition to a second cricket book (It’s Not Cricket), he has published six novels and several slim volumes of poetry. He presented Poetry Please! on BBC Radio 4 for five years and wrote satirical verse for The Guardian for ten years.Fler e-böcker från samma författare (r) / Redaktör
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