Well it's finally happened, after ten years of work to get him here by Ted Kearney, Mark Clattenburg has landed and was in the QSAC Javelin meeting room earlier this evening in Brisbane, mixing it up with the local Football Brisbane senior referees during their regular July Coaching night.
 |
| Ted Kearney and Mark Clattenburg |
Mark's schedule whilst here is action packed - His presenting a day long seminar Thursday at the Sleeman Sports Centre to a capacity crowd of referees (with participants from New Zealand and across Australia flying in)
 |
| Paul Smith and some of the NZ crew |
Friday has Mark attending the U/15 Queensland Schools State Titles at Tivoli, no doubt creating some excitement for the Future Elite referees in the making. He has an official dinner engagement then a Charity Golf Day on Saturday, resting up for Sunday's big game at Lions Stadium 4pm.
Tonight Mark took part in drawing out the Assistant Referees and 4th Official for the match from within the Select Group of referees in Brisbane, an excellent experience for those selected to work with someone at the top of their game in the EPL
Whilst tonight's meet and greet was very informal and Mark wasn't expected to be presenting, he was still keen to get involved in the discussions about "The A in Assistant Referee", facilitated by Ashley and helping groups to determine what "Great" assistant referees roles look like.
 |
| Cameron and Mark brainstorming |
His insights (and a few EPL stories) provided both fresh perspectives to many in the room and contained very down to earth advice, even indicating at one point that "Keeping it Simple" is his takeaway from the evenings discussions and debate. Really great to see that even though his one of the biggest names in the Football family, his really approachable and willing to be involved at grass roots level on a Wednesday night in suburban Brisbane with some of the local "weekend warriors".
Welcome to Brisbane Mark, enjoy your stay and have a great game on Sunday - I think the biggest group there will be cheering for the #thirdteam
And big shoutout to Ted and his friendship with Mark in getting him in the room - it's my biggest takeaway tonight (aside from this blog post / lots of pictures).
 |
| Ted and Mark |
It's the enduring nature of the positive relationships and strong friendships we all can make as referees during our journey around the field that has allowed Mark's visit to occur (and of course the ICC tournament helped).
Many of the strongest memories in my life are around the highs and lows of refereeing, almost always shared by supportive #thirdteam members, coaches, mentors and friends, who without being a refereeing colleague our paths would never have crossed.
Robert Frost (who must have blown a whistle once) said it best
"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
I believe many peoples interactions with Mark during the next few days will make a significant positive difference in their careers and ideas around officiating, in not in their life generally, whether your next on the FIFA list, fighting for attention as a Possible or Probable or just enjoying the Sunday City League tussle weekly. And that is the REAL value in why we do what we do every weekend.
Thanks Ted for inviting your friend and using your network, it'll be a weekend to remember.
Photos from tonight can be found on here on my Flickr account - feel free to cross post to FB - further updates over the next few days as I get time.
