Q&A with Alan Snoddy
1) Name :- Alan Snoddy
2) Date of Birth or Age :- 45
3) Divisional Association :- North East Ulster
4) Year You Started Refereeing :- 1972
5) First League :- Churches League
6) First Fixture (if possible) :- Lowe Memorial II v Bourneview Y.M. II
7) Proudest Moment of Your Career :-
1. Being appointed to the World Cup Finals for a second time in
Italia 90.
2. I.F.A. Youth Cup Final 1976.
3. Appointed to 5 Irish Cup Finals
8) Best Player You Ever Refereed :- Eric Cantona , Franco Baresi , Zinedine Zidane
Jurgen Klinsmann, Denilson, Joas Pink
Peter Schmeichel, Marc Overmars,
Ole-Gunna Solskjaer
9) Best Team You Ever Officiated :- France, A.C. Milan, Germany,
Real Betis, Benfica, Brondy Copenhagen
Holland, Norway.
10) Highlight of Your Career :- Refereeing in two World Cup Finals
Monaco 86 & Italia 90. Unforgettable experience and lessons learnt that I
Have been able to use for the rest of my career, 21 years as a F.I.F.A.
Referee. Also appointed to an Olympic Tournament in Australia and World
Youth Championships in Saudi Arabia. Five Irish Cup Final appointments,
unfortunately the last one, Portadown & Cliftonville was not played.
11) Most Embarrassing Refereeing Moment :-
1. Disallowing a goal for offside in a junior game and discovering there
was a player behind me playing everyone on side.
2. Awarding a penalty-kick just on the half-time whistle and blowing
for half-time before the kick was taken because the players were
wasting time and arguing over who would take the kick. This
happened again in the early days, luckily the players did not realise
they were entitled to take the penalty!
12) What Law If Any Would You Bring In, or Change That In Your Opinion would
Improve the Game (Fair play) :-
I would like to see the defending team, who have been awarded a free-kick in
their own half, be allowed to take the free-kick from anywhere in that half
as long as it is not nearer their opponents goal than where the incident
occurred, and they do not waste time moving the ball. The advantage would
be the ball is played quicker, time could be saved collecting the ball and
getting it back to the spot where the offence occurred. Instead a defender
could simply place the ball on the ground quickly and re-start play. At
present a goal-kick can be taken from anywhere on the goal area, this change
is on similar lines.
13) If You Were Beginning Refereeing Again What, If Anything Would You Do
Different :-
Very little, if anything, I was able to referee on the FIFA list for the maximum
time available, starting at 25 and finishing at 45.
I think I started refereeing at the earliest possible age of 16 and made progress
through the ranks at a young age gaining valuable experience.
I also refereed my first Irish League match aged 23, so it is vital that any young person thinking of refereeing at the highest level starts early.
14) What Advice Would You Give To Any Up And Coming Referee :-
1. Ensure you are as fit as possible.
2. Attend your monthly referee meetings and all organised training courses.
3. Ask for help at all times, learn by your mistakes, we have all made them.
4. Analyse your own performances after every game, be honest with yourself.
5. Review your assessment reports regularly and ensure you improve any areas of performance that have been identified by an assessor.
6. Enjoy your games, experience is gained from every match.
7. Complete your paperwork in time, don't spoil good work on the pitch by
poor administration off the field.
