Update #3 from Steve Jones
England Korfball League referees Steve Jones and Paul Jeanes are also both Elite level International Korfball Federation referees – they are both out in Portugal refereeing at the European Championships.
Sunday 26 October 2014
Today Paul and myself had a change of scenery we were going to the other sports hall to referee Poland v Serbia (Paul) and Scotland v Hungary, as the games weren’t until 18:00 and 20:00 we had time to spare so we went for a walk around Maia before going to lunch at Hall 1.
Hall 2 is located in an urban area with only one very small cafe where the owner thinks he’s won the lottery with all this business coming his way!
Today was quite a good day for most of the home nations; I watched Ireland win on golden goal against Serbia (14-15), then Wales gain a hard fought win against Turkey (14-12). Paul had a top of the pool clash, Poland v Serbia, which ended in a one sided contest (17-9).
My match was between the two unbeaten sides from Pool D, Scotland and Hungary, for me this felt a little strange as I was reffing quite a few players I ref in the England Korfball League, but today they were playing for their country.
The game was going goal for goal until Hungary hit a golden patch of scoring which any team would have struggled with. I must say the way the Scotland supports sang the “Flower of Scotland” gave me goosebumps! One of the jury members filmed it on his phone as it was so good and loud. My best memory of the tournament so far. Thanks Scotland fans.
Monday 27 October 2014
This was a rest day so all the referees and jury members went into Porto took a sightseeing bus for €11 this included a tour around the Cockburn’s winery.
Having lunch at the Cais de Gala where we had the local speciality “francesinha” and local wine “Vhino Verde”
In the evening Paul and I had a meeting with the IKF Referee assessors to discuss our matches from Sunday. Thankfully the feedback was positive! We now must keep it going until the end of the tournament.
We’ve also been given out duties for Tuesday, Paul has the Czech Republic/Catalonia match and I’m doing the Russia/Germany showdown. I’m also down to be reserve referee for The Netherlands/England match.