What do Premier League referees perform off the area? One official has taken a career turn quite different for his weekend whistle-blowing – and – swapped red cards for records.
There are few greater pleasures than whiling away a half an hour surfing through a few vinyl. Tucked away in Headingley, Leeds’ pupil funding, is a shop run by a face in the Premier League. The Vinyl Whistle is a labour of love including referee Jon Moss, who first set foot on the streets of Headingley as a pupil in the early 1990s.
“I was very lucky when I was at university as it was that Manchester scene just taking away,” states the Select Group referee.
“James, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, all very great bands which are still going today. It only had a excellent scene from Leeds and Manchester. We used to head on for a night outside to the Hacienda. If they had been going through a bit of a rock phase I found Scream at Huddersfield Uni after.
“My wife wanted a coffee shop, and we toyed with this idea. We were on vacation in February and I said,’Shall we take a go?’ So this property was found by us and it went from there. We wanted it to be in Headingley since we adore this place.”
Therefore has opening his eyes opened to genres he neglected, moss is firmly rooted in the category?
“Absolutely. I am right out of the comfort zone with things like jazz,” he acknowledges. “I am really trying to get into jazz but the most I could listen to is about half an hour. Among the men who works is a pupil who is right into his jazz so he is trying to educate me so there is a bit of this.”
Into this question, what exactly do the other referees enjoy listening to?
“From the Select Group we have got a true mix of songs,” Moss explains. “I did an interview a while ago and stated that Kevin Friend was right into his dance music, I watched him and he stated,’It is not dance, it’s trance!’
“Then we have Craig Pawson into indie songs, such as me. Anthony Taylor is into some music, things like this and all those guilty pleasures such as Miley Cyrus. Martin Atkinson is into The Jam and Graham Scott enjoys a bit of Queen. There is a real mix across the board.”
The thought of bumping into Kevin Friend at a Cream Ibiza night, hands in the air, as Binary Finary’s 1998 (Paul van Dyk remix, of course) pumps out across the dance floor is surely an honorable one.
On television, we’re utilised to seeing the images of gamers drifting through the tunnel on coming in a matchday with cans on and then hearing the music pumped out of the dressing rooms. Referees are no different.
“We have got a group of four men in the dressing area,” Moss explains. “The players have a music-off between both vanities and we are in the middle of everything. 2pm is audio time in the room where you’ve got desktop audio, preparing for your match.
“Then you have got your accumulation last tune prior to going out. I have a playlist of about one hour. In general, it’s The Courteeners before we move out ‘Not Nineteen Forever’. Then Take That since the tune just before we head out. I am not even a Take That fan but it is a mickey take from years ago that is just stuck”
For Moss and a lot of his colleagues, music is a vital portion of a job that pressurised each season and is growing more and more high profile.
“Refereeing is changing, obviously we have got a great deal of engineering, VAR and goal-line technology,” says Moss. “But also social media. Generally, when you’re writing something on social media it’s not to say even though there are some parody accounts out there, so we’re not permitted to have a social media account, the referee has a terrific match.
“I think that it’s getting more and more challenging for referees to escape from the other side also. For your younger referees, it’s something that they are going to need to cope with more and more.
“Once I did a match past Saturday I was at Brighton, therefore it is a long drive back to Leeds. I just set up a load of music on all of the way and before I knew it I was at Leicester with a hundred miles to go to home.
“I really don’t want to do a match and listen to radio shows, phone-ins analysing everything, so I think it’s great merely to switch away. If you’ve had a fantastic game you’re buzzing with all the music but when things have not gone to program it might be more of a reflective playlist.”
You can view our attribute on Sky Sports News in 12pm with Jon Moss in The Vinyl Whistle on this weekend Soccer Saturday.
Read more: http://www.olcayreklam.com/mlb-starting-pitching-report-and-wagers-wednesday/