RateTheRef

Absolutely exceptional tonight. Clearly the best referee in SG2. Such a shame for the game of football that his career outside of the game prevents him from going to the very top.

Outstanding, and I don’t say that very often

Absolutely agree that Dean Whitestone is a very good referee, however the decision by the refereeing team not to award West Brom a penalty in last night's game could end up costing them a play off place, which could have massive financial consequences. I know that one decision over the course of a season is not the only reason behind them possibly failing to get a play off place, but those types of decisions are critical at this time of the season. Similarly the decision by Tim Robinson, not to send off Burnley's Cork on Tuesday night could have the same consequences for Blackburn; I thought he had a disappointing game on Tuesday (missed red card (2 yellows)/missed penalty/missed caution for deliberate handball; not commensurate with assured performances throughout the season.

Could someone please elaborate on his career outside of refereeing. Have seen it mentioned a few times but I’m not sure what he does

I believe that he is a Police officer with the Met ---or at least ---he was!

He's been a Met Police officer for over 19 years and has worked in the following areas:

Response team police officer
Robbery cars
Youth violence team
Youth engagement team
Neighbourhood policing team
Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection.
Officer Safety Instructor.

I remember him being in the child violence team before AFCB's premier league days but whether that is still the case I have no idea. That is a very specialised role as is the DPG. DPG is also very hard to get into so if that is his current role he's certainly not going to give that up for a few years as a professional referee & it's not a role that can be done part time so he could juggle both.

Sorry to appear a bit confused with this but I thought referees at this level were full time which I assume means just that - so how is it possible for Mr Whitestone to be employed by The Met ? at the same time -I have obviously missed something - must be age!!!

IIRC only a select few on SG2 are full time referees if I’m wrong then none of the SG2 referees are full time

Edited to fix the quote thingamajigga, bmb

Quote from: cwh on Fri 28 Apr 2023 04:15

Sorry to appear a bit confused with this but I thought referees at this level were full time which I assume means just that - so how is it possible for Mr Whitestone to be employed by The Met ? at the same time -I have obviously missed something - must be age!!!

IIRC only a select few on SG2 are full time referees if I’m wrong then none of the SG2 referees are full time

You are wrong. I know it's hard to believe in some cases, but they mostly earn a living from being a SG2 referee.

Edited to fix the quote thingamajigga, bmb

Quote from: dave26 on Fri 28 Apr 2023 06:45

Quote from: cwh on Fri 28 Apr 2023 04:15

Sorry to appear a bit confused with this but I thought referees at this level were full time which I assume means just that - so how is it possible for Mr Whitestone to be employed by The Met ? at the same time -I have obviously missed something - must be age!!!

IIRC only a select few on SG2 are full time referees if I’m wrong then none of the SG2 referees are full time

You are wrong. I know it's hard to believe in some cases, but they mostly earn a living from being a SG2 referee.

Edited to fix the quote thingamajigga, bmb

On reflection you may have decided to employ another verb than 'earn'  m'learned friend for some of the SG2 cohort who I think are no better and in some cases worse than the practitioners in Leagues 1 and 2.  There are some good referees in SG2, Whitestone among them, but there are others whose preferment is more baffling.

Quote from: bmb on Fri 28 Apr 2023 00:00

He's been a Met Police officer for over 19 years and has worked in the following areas:

Response team police officer
Robbery cars
Youth violence team
Youth engagement team
Neighbourhood policing team
Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection.
Officer Safety Instructor.

I remember him being in the child violence team before AFCB's premier league days but whether that is still the case I have no idea. That is a very specialised role as is the DPG. DPG is also very hard to get into so if that is his current role he's certainly not going to give that up for a few years as a professional referee & it's not a role that can be done part time so he could juggle both.

Sorry to appear a bit confused with this but I thought referees at this level were full time which I assume means just that - so how is it possible for Mr Whitestone to be employed by The Met ? at the same time -I have obviously missed something - must be age!!!

Not everyone was in a position to go full time, so they had a choice of force demoting potentially some of the best referees or letting them carry on part time.  I suspect the criteria for being promoted now to SG2 is to go full time, but don't see why someone who wasn't able to should lose their position, it will just sort itself out over time.