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Hey Torquay fans,

I'm a Sheff Wed fan living in Exeter, and have just started refereeing in the local area - both in Exeter and around Torquay and south Devon. I've started a blog about what it's like to be the man in black, and what grassroots football is really like. It would be a massive help to me (I'm hoping to enter journalism after university) if you guys could take a look, post a comment or follow or whatever, and tell me what you think!

Thanks a lot

Will

http://notfittoreferee.blogspot.com

Consider revising the appropriate usage of the third person singular pronoun 'one'.
Learn the difference in application between 'of' and 'off'.
Revisit the rules regarding adverb placement; "Even forget managing" is best (and more correctly, although it's still not a particularly good sentence) worded with the adverb second, thus 'Forget even managing'.
A conjunction should never follow immediately after a full stop.
Numbers greater than twenty are more usually written in numerical form.
Structure sentences so as to avoid split infinitives. "Presentations on what to book people for and what to send people off for." This phrase should more accurately and correctly read: 'Presentations detailing those offences for which a player may be cautioned and those for which a player may be dismissed from the field of play without previous caution.'
Consider the length of your sentences and the effect this has on the way in which your piece reads. Shorter sentences are all well and good in amusing pieces; Jeremy Clarkson and Giles Coren both use them to devastatingly funny effect in The Sunday Times. Longer sentences are better for explaining situations, but are considerably harder to follow. If you find your piece contains a high percentage of shorter sentences and doesn't flow particularly well, try rewording and merging two sentences into one.
Lastly, consider going through your piece and picking out every sentence, occasionally every word, to make sure it is as good as it possibly can be. You'll find that, if you write a piece off the top of your head, it will be 90% perfect first time. However, go back through and change some words for better ones, throw in an extra adjective or two and your work will really stand out. A creative writing course will have you expanding sentences for fun. So, 'The cat sat on the mat' will soon become, 'The dark, silken-haired feline perched majestically upon the softly textured entrance marker.' Simples.

Aside from that, yeah, pretty good. Maybe, as an exercise, rewrite the piece, such that it conveys an equal or greater amount of information, as well as incorporating at least half the above recommendations. You can PM it to me if you'd rather not post it 'live'.

Matt.

Ive been a local referee for 3 years now and those in the youth/semi pro level seem much better than current fac up/league 2 referees

Today's referee for the crawley game: Mr Deadman (who is an apparent championship referee), was simply dreadful.

enough said.

Same as yellow4life. Been a ref for 3 years and its fairly easy. Don't know how these pros struggle!

the refs we get are utter sh*te end off

PlainmoorRoar wrote:the refs we get are utter sh*te end off

When you are old enough to take your GCSEs, teacher (or Sir, as I believe you Borstal boys are bound to call them) will offer you the advice that you absolutely must read the question before giving your answer, I offer you the same advice now. Read the OP and re think your answer.

Matt.

ferrarilover wrote: When you are old enough to take your GCSEs, teacher (or Sir, as I believe you Borstal boys are bound to call them) will offer you the advice that you absolutely must read the question before giving your answer, I offer you the same advice now. Read the OP and re think your answer.

Matt.

With any luck the teachers will also demonstrate the differences between 'of' and 'off'

happytorq wrote: With any luck the teachers will also demonstrate the differences between 'of' and 'off'

Lets not forget capitalisation at the start of a sentence and a full stop to show the end of one.

And lets not forget the use of the comma too, like this wonderful use I once saw on a forum of someone trying to write the words to "Baby Got Back"

"i liek bigg buts,an,i canot lye"

After the ribbing he got for that, he never posted again. I think a grammar Nazi hunted him down and murdered him.

cambgull wrote: Lets not forget capitalisation at the start of a sentence and a full stop to show the end of one.

And lets not forget the use of the comma too, like this wonderful use I once saw on a forum of someone trying to write the words to "Baby Got Back"

"i liek bigg buts,an,i canot lye"

After the ribbing he got for that, he never posted again. I think a grammar Nazi hunted him down and murdered him.

Personally, I don't like the use of the term "Grammar Nazi". Firstly, a sense of perspective would suggest "Nazi" is never a word to be thrown around lightly. Plus I'm more inclusive than that; I'll pull people up on spelling as well as grammar.

Although I'll admit that "Spelling-and-grammar-not-quite-fascist-but-still-likely-to-point-out-your-mistake" doesn't really roll of the tongue quite as well.