On the other day Howard Webb and Darren Cann joined our international referee community to discuss the role of referees and ARs and the importance of their relationship.
Howard Webb is probably one of the most famous referees of the last twenty years. He officiated in the English Premier League from 2003 to 2014 and was FIFA-listed from 2005 to 2014. He’s mostly known for being the referee in charge of the World Cup Final of 2010 (Spain v Netherlands) as well as the Champions League final of 2010 (Inter Milan v Bayern Munich). He also refereed the FA Cup Final in 2009 and attended a second World Cup in 2014. He’s now in charge of referees for PRO in the United States.
Darren Cann is an English Premier League Assistant Referee who was Webb’s AR for many years, and on both major finals (World Cup and Champions League). He’s been active on the English Premier League for 15 years, having started in 2005 and being still active today. He’s been AR on more than 125 international games. He’s also widely regarded as one of the World’s leading experts on Offside and The Laws of the Game.
Inspiration from the call came from reading the book by Howard Webb “The Man in the Middle”, and in particular Chapter 10 “If Anyone Can, Darren Cann”. If you haven’t read the book, we suggest you to do it.
We are very grateful that Howard and Darren took the time to join us and we certainly look forward to working with them again in the near future.
This Zoom development session was organized in partnership with the Norfolk County Referee Association of England and US Officials of the United States. Special thanks to to Jack Smith of Norfolk RA and Kevin Suares and Kara Honthumb of the US Officials Referee Academy, who were our partners in making this session possible.
The session is part of a larger endeavour to keep referees active and informed through these difficoult times. More talks will be organized and uploaded on our website in the future. Make sure you follow us on Facebook and Instagram to be kept up-to-date.
