How To Cope With A Difficult Player On The Pitch As A Football Referee

How do you cope with a difficult player?

It's about my management, isn't it? Football refereeing is no different to a manager off the field - not just football managers, but managers in general. If you've got people working for you, you've got to know how to react. You can go up to a guy, you know he's curt, and you can say, "I'm surprised at you. You don't normally do this, what's happening today?" and they'll probably say, "I've had a bad day." But another difficult player, you have to really sometimes just go up to him and say, "Pin your ears back and listen." Refereeing is all about working out the characters, the personalities of the people. Once you've refereed the teams, you'll remember the personalities and deal with them -- you'll have empathy with them, really, so you know you'll get some response and hopefully maintain your respect from them as well.