You Are The Ref

[Dave]

Remember the "You Are The Ref" illustrated quiz from when you were a kid, posing all kinds of bizarre and unlikely footballing situations and challenging you to come up with the answer?

(In my day it was in Shoot!, with Clive Thomas... but apparently it had been going for about 20 years before that. )

Anyway, it's currently online on the Guardian's website. The questions are just as tough as they used to be, and they've even got the same illustrator as they had back in the 1950s when it started - Paul Trevillion, who's now in his eighties. But thankfully they don't have Clive "Blow for full time while the ball's in the air en route to the back of the net" Thomas any more - it's Keith Hackett.

You're allowed to post your own thoughts on the solutions too - the answers don't appear until about two days after the picture strip each time. (There are two a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.) Some of the comments can be very entertaining!

Well worth a visit if you liked the original, or if you fancy yourself as knowing the Laws of the Game inside out.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/youaretheref

[kendalcottages]

I don't remember the original but this does sound fun. Unfortunately the link didn't work for me.

[kendalcottages]

Aha... looks like it moved to http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/seri ... re-the-ref

[Dave]

Thanks for the update, Paul.

[kendalcottages]

I looked at the current 3 and got two of them right. I couldn't really see anything wrong with throwing the ball off from the embankment but hey... what do I know?

[Dave]

Interesting point, though. If the ball has to be thrown in from the point where it left the field of play, then what if the ball's been booted over the stand and left the FOP several dozen feet above ground level? And are you expected to crouch right down to the ground if it's rolled out of play?

(I know the answer is that the player's expected to have both feet on the ground and to deliver it from behind and above his head using both hands. But it's still a bit finicky. What do Barnet players do when they're at home on that ridiculous sloping pitch of theirs? Do the refs insist that they come right to the touchline for every throw?)