The Ref

This year we enjoy the privilege of having a trainee ref and sometimes even linesmen to commandeer the game.

The refs are adolescent players enjoying their first bouts of officialdom, and some take the mantle of authority more naturally than others.

Today's was a case in point - and although he got a few of us offside with his insistence that long sleeves had to be removed - he ran a tight game and should be congratulated.

The boys have amazed us with their development over the last year - so far all the games have been action packed and dramatic, thrilling to watch, and goalscoring spread out more evenly than in past years.

In case you're wondering, the weather was much pleasanter than anticipated, but long sleeves would still not have been out of place!

As team photographer, I anticipate a few Saturday soccer blips... and hopefully even some interesting ones!