Day 3 of Liam Corrigan's blog from Portugal

                                              Me centre hogging the limelight. Typical ref!

Day 3 of Liam Corrigan's blog from Portugal

After another humid night, I woke as the second day of the tournament began. The morning was again spent by the pool relaxing with some food before I set off to the Jamor complex which is a few miles down the coast from the hotel. I set off at 12:45pm for a 3:45pm kick off, Hamburg Vs FC Belenese. Germany Vs Portugal, a good game was surely on the cards.
I spent an hour at the Cafe in the Jamor complex chatting to some Swedish referees who provided me with a useful insight into how football is played in Sweden , quite similar to back home actually, a culture who likes a tackle and also an Abba tune.
Hamburg had arrived slightly late for a 3:45ko, there bus was late. I then had another problem as they had the same colour socks as FC Belenese, blue. This problem was sorted, eventually, as my German is not the best. What a game it was. 1-0 to FC Belenese, a turn up for the books, a wonderful solo goal, the celebrations from the players and fans showed how much it meant, the scorer was in tears. Vuvuzelas were being hooted throughout, with the Germans not liking the carnival atmosphere.

Communicating with the players is one of the hardest things to do, combined with the heat of around 30 degrees. Most of my communication with the players is done through hand signals, body language and whistle tone to get the message across to the players of what I expect from them. I had 3 cautions during this game, one for a tug of the shirt, the second for a player that had made 3 poor tackles and the other, kicking the ball away.
What amazes me the most is the passion from the spectators, it means something to them, drums, vuvuzelas, club chants and flags all done in a positive manner. Completely different compared to back home. Job done for the 2nd day. I sloped off back to the dressing room, sorted myself out and had a refreshing Ice Tea in the cafe chatting to some players from the PSG team. (One of whom claims to be friends of David Ngog, remember him?
So as I now chill out in the hotel room, I wait to see what fixtures I will be appointed to tomorrow...