Careers: Football Referee

Being a professional referee is one of the hardest jobs in football. Standing in the middle of the pitch keeping control of multi-millionaire sportsmen and getting the important decisions right is increasingly important. Referees get abuse from fans, players and managers makes it a unenviable task. Television cameras now allow pundits and newspaper pundits to dissect and criticise every decision a referee makes. Referees have a very important role to play and it takes a very special type of person to do it. They have to make important decisions instantly even if it means upsetting thousands of fans. Vic Callow talks candidly about becoming a referee, his experience of refereeing the stars and shares his thoughts on how football can be improved.