Quotes & Sayings About Referee

Referees don't come down here with a particular flavoured shirt on. — Steve Coppell

They were representative of the poorer type of clerk - the type which Woodbines its fingers to a brilliant orange; the type that screams insults at a football referee on Saturday afternoon. And yet to the close observer something more might be read on their faces: a greedy, hungry look, a shifty untrustworthy look - the look of those who are jealous of everyone better placed than themselves, but who are incapable of trying to better their own position except by the relative method of dragging back their more fortunate acquaintances; the look of little men dissatisfied not so much with their own littleness as with the bigness of other people. — Sapper

McCarthy shakes his head in agreement with the referee. — Martin Tyler

I ruined my hands in the ring. The referee kept stepping on them. — Bob Hope

It's a game of integrity. There's no referees out there. We all respect each other. — Jordan Spieth

I always liken it to being a referee - if you notice the referee, that's not a good thing. — Chris Harrison

First female referee can't play probably, either, right? But you're thinking the game like you know it? Okay, see ya. — Duncan Keith

The referee was only five or seven yards away from that incident. — Peter Drury

I was waiting for my teammates to embrace me and no one came, ... I told them, 'Come hug me or the referee isn't going to allow it.' — Diego Maradona

The purpose of the referee is to present obstacles for players to overcome as they go about seeking their goals, not to constantly make trouble for them. This is a subtle distinction, and one that many beginners have trouble with. — Marc W. Miller

The referee will now keep track of the time on the field and the shootouts have finally been banned. — Cobi Jones

The referee told me this league has never had a brawl of that magnitude," said Mr. Penderwick after a long, painful silence. "Of course, at the time I was pretending to be a casual passerby and not a father at all. — Jeanne Birdsall

When I was a kid, I got sent off for head-butting a referee: I ran 50m to argue a decision, I was shown a red card, and I head-butted him. I'm really not proud of that. — Luis Suarez

I think making the referee aware of a situation, there is nothing wrong with that. — Abby Wambach

Government has three primary functions. It should provide for military defense of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens from crimes against themselves or their property. When government
in pursuit of good intentions tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost come in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player. — Milton Friedman

I do everything The Miz needs me to do. I make sure everything goes smoothly. If I can get involved in the match when the referee is not looking. You know, we have to keep the title! — Alex Riley

Family gatherings were ... um, let's see, what's the word I'm looking for? ... Hell. They were hell. Being the middle child, I served and referee and confidante, hostess and martyr. Did I feel we should get together once in a while? Sure. Did I want my family all together? Theoretically, yes. In reality, dear God, no. — Kristan Higgins

Hockey lends itself to special events, including the Olympic competition: a glorious tournament of the best players in the world, putting on their national jerseys and playing on big rinks with no-goon Olympic rules and referee enforcement. — George Vecsey

In short, we all want to be liked. The refs, like all humans, are all social creatures and assimilate the emotions of the crowd. Every once in a while, a referee will subconsciously make a call that will make the crowd happier. — Harlan Coben

We need to let the referee's sole thing be to protect the quarterback and get those late hits out of there. They even have a stat on television that says 'knockdowns.' Knockdowns means that you knock him down after he throws the ball. The assumption is, if it's legal, we'll make excuses for them. — John Madden

Trouble is, we call politics a game, but it isn't one. There is no referee, and the teams make up the rules as they go along. You can't cry foul or offside in politics. Almost anything goes. — Michael Ignatieff

Unless the Labour leadership candidates decide to settle the issue through televised mud-wrestling (Adam Boulton, I think, for referee, and he may even take part) they will find it hard to gain massive attention for their utterances. Nor would the wannabes be wise to sign up to Lord Adonis's optimistic gloom about the coalition not lasting. Watching David Laws this week going about deficit reduction with an avidity bordering on the erotic, I realised that there are very good reasons why the centre should hold. — David Aaronovitch

I remember an incident overseas about five years ago where a player punched a referee and knocked him cold. I don't think anything like that will ever happen in the NBA. Emotions run rampant. The games are so intense, and the stakes are so high. (But) At the end of the day, players and coaches really respect officials and really appreciate that they try to do a good job. — Jalen Rose

Coaches will do what they can but it doesn't necessarily bother me. You are an international referee for a reason. If things like that are going to ruffle your feathers, don't bother doing the job. — Alan Lewis

Life was a damned muddle ... a football game with every one off-side and the referee gotten rid of - every one claiming the referee would have been on his side ... — F Scott Fitzgerald

You can't applaud a referee. — Alex Ferguson

One of the things that I noticed in war was how difficult it was for our soldiers, at first, to realize that there are no rules to war. Our men were raised in sports, where a referee runs a football game, or an umpire a baseball game, and so forth. — Dwight D. Eisenhower

Anyhow, isn't it a bit wrong to think happiness is all smooth and serene. Isn't it mostly a great energetic struggle - you against the universe - a great whopping opponent, with the referee in its pocket? — Margaret Mahy

You know, I'm a father. I'm a brother. I'm a son. And I'm a grandfather. So many times I have to be the intermediary, the person to referee and help solve disputes and to protect and to guide. — Ruben Santiago-Hudson

There shouldn't be a death in the ring. There should never have been deaths in the ring, because people - deaths in the ring occur because they don't keep up with the records well enough. They are putting mismatches together. The people who are licensed to stop a fight, the referee and the corner, don't do it for fear that the audience is going to object to them stopping a fight. — Ferdie Pacheco

He will be England captain one day. Jack Wilshere is a real leader. I saw how he spoke with the referee and the other players [against Denmark]. It is difficult to find someone so young with such a big personality. I remember two defenders, Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi, and one attacker, Raul, but for personality and confidence on the pitch he is the best young midfielder I have seen for his age. — Fabio Capello

Referees are only human, I think. — Phil Kearns

Having one child makes you a parent; having two you are a referee — David Frost

I don't have any ideas; my coaches have them. I just pass the ideas on and referee the arguments. — Bear Bryant

But then southern hemisphere teams are more skilful than their northern hemisphere counterparts, which means games can be easier to referee. — Alan Lewis

Referee Norlinger is outstanding in the sense that he stands out. — George Hamilton

New Rule: Designers of women's Halloween costumes must admit that they're not even trying. They just choose a random profession, like nurse or referee, and put the word "sexy" in front of it, thereby perpetuating the idea of Halloween as a day when normally shy women release their inner sluts and parade around like vixens, and I just completely forgot what I was complaining about. — Bill Maher

In the game of football, you least complain, shout, talk or blame your opponents or the referee continuously throughout the game just because of your opponents opposition, strength or antics to ensure that you lose focus and lose the game; winning the game is your true aim. Such is life! You must do all you ought to do to score your goals notwithstanding the oppositions and how life will play the game of life with you! Be a goal getter! — Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

I'm not going to blame a referee for something I feel like I should be able to control. I should get up quicker. If you want to win fights, you just have to do it, regardless of what's going on. — Sara McMann

I play the game as honestly as I can. If the referee gives a penalty there is nothing you can do. — Wayne Rooney

Claire's lips twisted as she remembered the match against Arsenal last season. It had been a very important London derby and Gabriel's team had lost thanks to the referee's questionable decision to disallow Gabriel's goal. To say Gabriel was angry and upset would be to say nothing. Claire tried to comfort him, but Gabriel yelled at her to leave him alone and that he didn't want company, so Claire decided to take a walk and give him a few minutes to calm down. When she returned ten minutes later, she found Gabriel huddled into Jared's side, his expression calm and relaxed as Jared stroked his back and whispered something into his ear. Claire stood still, feeling like an outsider watching something she could never be part of.
That was why she'd been pleased about Jared quitting his job and returning to the States. She had thought she would finally have her boyfriend all to herself.
Claire chuckled. How naive she had been. — Alessandra Hazard

The pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit. It is an indictment of our game. You see referees abroad who are as fit as butcher's dogs. We have some who are fit. He wasn't fit. — Alex Ferguson

Their Presidents shall not be their common referee so much as their poets shall. — Walt Whitman

Men over 60 often think that if they wear athletic shoes - soft-soled referee shoes or hiking shoes or actual running shoes - then they will look more youthful. The contrary is true. — Russell Smith

Coaches do so much research about a referee because they believe refereeing is such a crucial part of the game that the result may hinge on what we say or do. They probably know more about me than I know myself! — Alan Lewis

Why aren't the Nets playing in Newark? — Shaquille O'Neal

One rule that will work if it is used everywhere, is that when you have a free-kick, the referee puts the mark on the floor to make sure the defenders keep their distance. — Cristiano Ronaldo

Do not be sidetracked. A good referee will have many ways to distract an expedition, many things to draw attention, but ignore them if at all possible. — Gary Gygax

Being a mom is more than being cook, chauffeur, maid, counselor, doctor, referee, disciplinarian, etc. (just to name a few). It's about molding character, building confidence, nurturing, training, and guiding. — Ginger Plowman

The club supporters' old practice of shooting arrows into the air from their wands every time their Chasers scored was banned by the Department of Magical Games and Sports in 1894, when one of these weapons pierced the referee Nugent Potts through the nose. — J.K. Rowling

Sportsmanship" had been stretched too far. Like "relativity," it had migrated far afield from its original meaning. It used to refer to the kind of behavior that Lance Armstrong showed Jan Ullrich. But over time the term was stretched to include unimpressive, nonchivalrous behavior, like losing without whining too much or making it through an entire game without assaulting a referee. — Chip Heath

The referee is going to be the most important person in the ring tonight besides the fighters. — George Foreman

break his leg if he was not very careful. "Watch out for the girl with freckles," he said, referring to the ball, "and for the one with hepatitis, and the one covered in blood," alluding to the yellow and red cards of the referee. — Anonymous

We talked to the referees before the game; there's always new situations to adjust, for the refs and for us as well. Even on the ice, it's good for players to talk and interact with the referee. — Peter Bondra

This bill would renounce the safe, proper, and acceptable role for Government as a referee of disputes between the governed. It would interpose the Government as a biased protagonist, armed with the awesome authority of the Federal Government, in addition to rulemaking and umpire powers. The broad grants of power to the Attorney General to initiate and intervene in civil actions would go far toward transforming him into George Orwell's 'Big Brother' of '1984,' in the year 1964. — Strom Thurmond

You are pushed to behave differently here, you don't really have a choice. If you cheat you have no chance of being admired. Even your own supporters will dislike you. So what do you do? Well, the way is not to be stupid, but not to cheat either. If there is a foul, you have to fall. I call it 'helping the referee to make a decision'. That's not cheating. — Jose Mourinho

I would not employ an author to referee a Ping-Pong match. By their very nature they are biased and bloody-minded. Better put a fox in a henhouse than to ask an author to judge his peers. (in a letter to the Governor General about the GA's Literary Awards & his issue
among others
with the judging system, 1981) — Jack McClelland

Tell them it was a foul. — Shaquille O'Neal

You don't notice the referee during the game unless he makes a bad call. — Drew Curtis

In short, they're a bit like a referee at a sporting event: Do a good job and nobody notices; make a mistake and the finger pointing begins. — Andrew Longman

There was something unfair about a system in which a little kid was brought into a courtroom and surrounded by lawyers arguing and sniping at each other under the scornful eye of a judge, the referee, and somehow in the midst of this barrage of laws and code sections and motions and legal talk the kid was supposed to know what was happening to him. It was hopelessly unfair. — John Grisham

I love how the soccer guys just fall when they get kicked and go baby crying.They try to explain to the referee like he's their mother: "Wah! Did you see what he did?" Then they get back to playing soccer again. — Pablo Francisco

A difficult decision for the referee's assistant. I wouldn't beat him up over it. — Kenny Cunningham

The referee jumped in too late in my opinion. He's the champion and he's got to be given every chance, but a lot of people was wincing and cringing seeing the finish cos his head is bouncing all over the place. — Carl Froch

If you're good enough, the referee doesn't matter. — Jock Stein

I do swear a lot, but the advantage is that having played abroad, I can choose a different language from the referee's. — Jurgen Klinsmann

Never take your eyes off the ball - even when it's in the referee's pocket. — Christy Ring

The efficiency of a President at the beginning of his term depends on their capacity to get everything under control. That was my case. But once the institutions have been put in place, and the responsibilities delegated, the leader becomes a reference, a referee, a symbol and unifying figure for the nation. The issue is how and when to recognize the moment when staying in power becomes counterproductive. — Paul Kagame

Soccer is a game for 22 people that run around, play the ball, and one referee who makes a slew of mistakes, and in the end Germany always wins. — Gary Lineker

The worst that could happen is you two get into a fist fight, in which I will referee but secretly be in your corner.
Oh really?
Really. I'll even rub Vaseline on your face when he isn't looking.
What would I do without you?
You'll never know. — Em Wolf

I don't know that the referee can be watching holding on the offensive line and get back to the quarterback. I think watching the quarterback is a full-time job. — John Madden

The whole world knows that American TV companies have monopolized Olympic broadcasts and in order to please the fans in their country they do everything they can to keep American viewers interested in what is going on at the hockey rink in Sochi. According to their logic, Americans should always win, no matter what. It was absolutely obvious that [Fyodor] Tyutin's goal yesterday should have been allowed. This was clear to the whole world except the American referee, American TV and those officials with American passports who rule international hockey, grossly neglecting all Olympic principles. — Ivan Ilyin

Some people say hockey is like religion, but that's wrong. Hockey is like faith. Religion is something between you and other people; it's full of interpretations and theories and opinions. But faith...that's just between you and God. It's what you feel in your chest when the referee glides out to the center circle between two players, when you hear the sticks strike each other and see the black disk fall between them. Then it's just between you and hockey. Because cherry trees always smell of cherry trees, whereas money smells of nothing — Fredrik Backman

It's the referee's job. It's not for me to have to say I should ease up. — Chris Eubank Jr.

If UEFA will not embrace video technology, then we need two more officials behind the goals to help the referee. — Andy Townsend

If she were in a race for her life, that roar was the starter pistol. If God were the referee, He had just shouted Go. — Jim Butcher

The referee said it was not acceptable, but the Press considered they could not refuse to publish a book by a professor of the university. — John Edensor Littlewood

Don't you think it's strange how many referees work at Footlocker? — Jim Gaffigan

Single moms: You are a doctor, a teacher, a nurse, a maid, a cook, a referee, a heroine, a provider, a defender, a protector, a true Superwoman. Wear your cape proudly. — Mandy Hale

The institution of monarchy developed during the Middle Ages against the backdrop of the previously endemic struggles between feudal power agencies. The monarchy presented itself as a referee, aa power capable of putting an end to war, violence, and pillage and saying no to these struggles and private feuds. It made itself acceptable by allocating itself a juridical and negative function, albeit one whose limits it naturally began at once to overstep. — Michel Foucault

I think you and the referee were in a minority of one, Billy. — Jimmy Armfield

I was surprised we were playing in Manchester and have a referee from Greater Manchester. — Brendan Rodgers

I am so sorry to hear of Asher's passing. I will miss his scientific insight and advice, but even more his humor and stubborn integrity. I remember when one of his colleagues complained about Asher's always rejecting his manuscript when they were sent to him to referee. Asher said in effect, 'You should thank me. I am only trying to protect your reputation.' He often pretended to consult me, a fellow atheist, on matters of religious protocol.

{Charles H. Bennett's letter written to the family of Israeli physicist, Asher Peres} — Charles H. Bennett

You have to become involved to make an impact. No one is impressed with the won/loss record of the referee. — John Noble Holcomb

I allow people to create, but I'm also marshalling everybody, which is difficult for my creativity, as I'm like a referee. Everybody else is kicking a ball. It is very messy. From the mess, though, you refine what is there. — Simon McBurney

Anyone who clings to the historically untrue - and thoroughly immoral - doctrine that 'violence never settles anything' I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and of the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms. — Robert A. Heinlein

I love what I'm doing. It's my life. When it's time to go, I'll probably be fighting to get out of the casket. I'll be yelling at the priest instead of a referee. — Lou Duva

She call me the referee cause I be so official. My shirt aint got no stripes but I can make that pussy whistle. — Drake

Chavez will hit the canvas. He will be sitting in his corner, or with the doctor or referee stopping the fight. There's no other outcome. — Sergio Martinez

Life is a game with many rules but no referee. One learns how to play it more by watching it than by consulting any book, including the holy book. Small wonder, then, that so many play dirty, that so few win, that so many lose. — Joseph Brodsky

There's nothing better than a good, blind referee. — Bobby Heenan

We don't know the final outcome, or even know how long the battle will last, but we do know the referee. — K. Howard Joslin

If the referee happens to be in the way you just yell, 'move or I'll break your ankles!' which I used to do with referees. Some refs will stop and watch the fight it drives you crazy. — Harold Lederman

The Football Association have always acted more as a referee than a governor. And the FA, aware the Premier League provide players for the England team, have always had too gentle a hand on the tiller. The result is that the Premier League are the tigers in the English football jungle everybody's scared of. — Gordon Taylor

That's referee Mike Reed's 50th booking of the season, which works out at an average of six a game. — Alan Parry

You will never see players from City surround the referee. — Manuel Pellegrini

In the high school classroom you are a drill sergent, a rabbi, a shoulder to cry on, a disciplinarian, a singer, a low-level scholar, a clerk, a referee, a clown, a counselor, a dress-code enforcer, a conductor, an apologist, a philosopher, a collaborator, a tap dancer, a politician, a therapist, a fool, a traffic cop, a priest, a mother-father-brother-sister-uncle-aunt, a bookeeper, a critic, a psychologist, the last straw. — Frank McCourt

I wanted to have a career in sports when I was young, but I had to give up the idea. I'm only six feet tall, so I couldn't play basketball. I'm only 190 pounds, so I couldn't play football, and I have 20/20 vision, so I couldn't be a referee. — Jay Leno

In my old neighborhood, a boy stopped playing when he began to lose his pulse. And then he became the referee. — Bill Cosby

My wife runs the house much better than I could so I think she could be a linesman or a referee or even a football manager and that's the truth. — Ian Holloway