Story: Family of football fans referee a game together

Vladimir Alter and two of his sons, Daniel and Joshua, recently had the memorable opportunity to joint referee for an Over 45’s game for Maccabi Senior Soccer.

“It was a great experience,” says Vladimir. “It just made me proud of how far boys went and it was a privilege to service that game together.

“This experience came a long way. I’d 100% do it again if the opportunity arises.”

Vladmir’s oldest son, Daniel was centre referee with father and brother providing assistance.

“The game itself was a great game,” says Daniel. “All 3 of us made a great team and I would love to be able to showcase for everyone over and over again that we are a family of football fans and referees. I encourage everyone else to get their family involved, not only in football, but also to become a football referee.”

Vladimir has been playing football all his life and represented Australia in Maccabiah 2017. He’s been refereeing for over 7 years.

Daniel has been refereeing for over 8 years and has been awarded Junior referee of the year in the past. He’s being assigned NPL1 games to referee and does ESFA games as well. Daniel’s skills and experience have taken him across Australia and overseas – enabling him to enhance his career further.

Vladimir’s younger son, Joshua, has been refereeing for 4 years now and is only 16 years old.

The men hope to see more referees moving up the ranks for both senior and junior players.

“There is a continuous training and opportunities to improve,” says Vladmir. “Refereeing also provides an unparalleled and unique opportunity to gain experience in managing people.”

“When I started refereeing, I was rubbish,” adds Daniel. “I know I was! And when I look back on some games I have officiated, there are some very laughable moments of “What was I doing?”.

Learning from your mistakes comes with years of experience and I like to think I make far fewer mistakes now than I did when I started. It’s important to support our new and young referees and to help them gain confidence in making their decisions. The more referees we can teach, the better it is for our game.”

For more information about becoming a referee, speak to your team/club manager or visit

https://www.footballaustralia.com.au/get-involved/refereeing or https://esfa.com.au/become-a-referee/