RateTheRef

So today's ramblings.

Berke Balázs - great game from this young man. Man management decent, foul detection decent, consistent, fitness excellent, great rapport with the players. He is by far the best all round ref of the 3 young FIFA referees (Farkas & Karakó being the other 2 younger ones). Absolutely nothing to comment on!

Farkas has a reasonable game, mostly. Pen shout by Lilák that he correctly waved away. 4 bookings, 3 of them for my team that were all absolutely spot on. Most of his decision making was decent & an acceptable level of consistency. Fitness is superb, great positioning but he made a dreadful key match error that was game changing. Branko slid in to try and kick the ball out towards the touchline, mistimed the whole thing and it shimmied off of his shin towards the goalie instead. It was in no way a deliberate back pass, the player didn't kick it, it bounced off of him as he slid by and I think Mr Farkas is going to be very disappointed with himself when he sees it back, the goalie picked it up because he knew it wasn't a deliberate back pass and Farkas blew up and gave an indirect free kick on the goal area line. Extremely poor decision. A goal was subsequently scored and it went from 1-0 to Lilák to 1-1. Just dreadful & directly altered the course of the game. Thankfully lilák got a winner and what a peach of a goal it was as well! 7.9 for him due to the game changing error. He also booked our coach, mid way through the second half.  I can't comment on if it was right ot not because Nebojša is my friend, someone I care a lot about & it's not a decision I can look at without a huge amount of bias! I don't think therefore it is right for me to comment on it. Nebojša was quite animated at times though and spoke to the 4th official several times so maybe he said something out of order. I'm speaking to him now & he's not commented on it even though I have moaned about it 3 times so far!! Whatever he said or did in training though this week worked, our team were dreadful last week and that is being kind - completely different team turned up today & they were absolutely superb! DVTK is a great place to go, the stadium is gorgeous and the fans there are brilliant. Very noisy, very passionate but also very friendly. It was a brilliant game to watch. Just tainted a bit by that one dreadful decision.

I will add as a general thing - We need to get Berke promoted to category 2 from next Jan, imo he is the one who should be taking over the elite spot when Kassai retires. Such a natural referee. Very fair and honest ref on the pitch, his knowledge & application of the LOTG is just superb.  He does still make some silly mistakes but he is still developing. Time is running out, next year is Kassais official last year although I suspect he will get a +1 year if not 2 x +1 years. Farkas is the only one in a position currently to take over but he is far too inconsistent still & there is no Category 1 spot open in any event.  I'd bin Vad, we need to free up a Category 1 spot & Bognár is head & shoulders ahead of him. He had a superb game in Denmark on Thursday with the important Russian observer, Krill someone. I'm pretty certain a high mark & great report will have gone back to UEFA ivory towers. I'd also bin Karakó, there are too many question marks over his integrity after the incident with Király last season, like Andó-Szabó before him he is not going anywhere in UEFA terms. He is far too error prone & inconsistent as well. There is/was potential there but he's simply not developing & trust in him is understandably gone due to that dreadful uproar with Király. I'd promote Berke to category 2, and have him working with Viktor to learn from him, appoint Viktor as his mentor. Stick him on Viktor's team as an AAR but also have Viktor as his AAR to help guide him. His EL debut, he was amazing, was so proud of him.  Flawless performance. I'd then give Bogár Gergő & Pillók Ádám their white badges in category 3 to replace Vad & Karakó. Neither are probably ready yet to be fair, Bogár is ahead in developmental terms, he is a superb young referee.  They would benefit so much from the additional UEFA training as well, both are quick learners & I can see them developing quickly with that added guidance.  I'd actually appoint Solymosi Péter as an added coach to them domestically, he's near the end of his career so prolong it & have him as AAR to them in games, let him work with them off the pitch as well. The wise old head from a steady if not spectacular ref. I know he is a qualified observer because he has done a game in the NB3 although the rules have changed and you can't observe now while still active. Good opportunity to develop him as a coach for when he does hang up his whistle, he'd be a huge asset to the MLSz.

So if someone from the MLSz JB is reading here - how about it? Let's get developing the youth now, we have some good potential there & half a dozen superb young AR's who already have their FIFA badges. We have enough to get 3 brilliant match official teams going, 1 elite team & 2 category 1 teams. I'm quite excited about what the future could hold for our refs with these youngsters coming through but we need to start developing them at the next level now. Bognár & Vad both retire the year after Viktor, or the same time as him if he has a +1 year.

Edy what is our allocation in terms of Cat 2 & 3? I know we have 6 in total, 1 elite, 2 Cat 1 but not sure on the Cat 2 & 3 make up for the other 3?