This article summarizes the words of Mr. Björck, a FIFA Instructor and member of the FIFA Referee Committee from Sweden, to the assembled National Referees and candidates.

A few months after he had refereed in the 1990 World Cup, Vinnie Mauro traveled to Alabama to officiate in the Sun Belt Conference championship together with longtime college refs Ken Andres and Alex Ivanhenko. They bunked at a friend’s house and attended his 7-year-old daughter’s youth soccer game in the morning. Sure enough, the assigned refs didn’t show up, so the youngsters got to play under the watch of what may have been the most experienced refereeing crew ever to officiate a U-8 game.

"After the game, a woman comes up to Vinnie and starts giving it to him," Andres says. "She tells him, ’I don’t know where you got your referee license but you sure aren’t qualified to referee!’"