Referee Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old referee quotes, referee sayings, and referee proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Once the referee throws the ball in the air, it's either your ball or their ball and you have to just take your shot. LL Cool J
The referees have it hard enough and we have to be honest to make their job easier. Miroslav Klose
The objective of a referee is not to get mentioned. I tell a lot of young referees that not being mentioned is king. If you can achieve that, that then it has been a pretty good game. Alan Lewis
I don't have any ideas, my coaches have them. I just pass the ideas on and referee the arguments. Bear Bryant
No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I'm not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal. Bill Cosby
The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game. Bill Shankly
I ruined my hands in the ring. The referee kept stepping on them. Bob Hope
Never take your eyes off the ball, even when it's in the referee's pocket. Christy Ring
Time is only linear for engineers and referees. Craig Ferguson
Having one child makes you a parent, having two you are a referee. David Frost
I was waiting for my teammates to embrace me and no one came, I told them, come hug me or the referee isn't going to allow it. Diego Maradona
You don't notice the referee during the game unless he makes a bad call. Drew Curtis
Life was a damned muddle a football game with everyone offside and the referee gotten rid of everyone claiming the referee would have been on his side. F. Scott Fitzgerald
The referee is going to be the most important person in the ring tonight besides the fighters. George Foreman
Referees are the law. They have a whistle. They blow it and that whistle is the articulation of God's justice. Harold Pinter
As all of us with any involvement in sports knows, no two umpires or no two referees have the same strike zone or call the same kind of a basketball game. Herb Kohl
Although people rarely died playing Quid-ditch, referees had been known to vanish and turn up months later in the Sahara Desert. J. K. Rowling
The referee told me this league has never had a brawl of that magnitude, said Mr. Penderwick after a long, painful silence. Of course, at the time I was pretending to be a casual passerby and not a father at all. Jeanne Birdsall
I think you and the referee were in a minority of one, Billy. Jimmy Armfield
If you're good enough, the referee doesn't matter. Jock Stein
You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed by the won lost record of the referee. John H. Holcomb
It annoys me when people who don't know what they're talking about boo the referee. Jonah Lomu
When I saw Rijkaard entering the referee's dressing room I couldn't believe it. When Didier Drogba was sent off, I wasn't surprised. Jose Mourinho
Life is a game with many rules but no referee. One learns how to play it more by watching it than by consulting any book, including the holy book. Small wonder, then, that so many play dirty, that so few win, that so many lose. Joseph Brodsky
I do swear a lot, but the advantage of that having played abroad is that I can choose a different language from the referee's. Jurgen Klinsmann
Anyhow, isn't it a bit wrong to think happiness is all smooth and serene. Isn't it mostly a great energetic struggle, you against the universe a great whopping opponent, with the referee in its pocket? Margaret Mahy
McCarthy shakes his head in agreement with the referee. Martin Tyler
When government in pursuit of good intentions tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost come in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player. Milton Friedman
I want fifteen referees to be at this fight, because there ain't no one man who can keep up with the pace I'm gonna set except me. Muhammad Ali
He does not depend on insider tips, crooked referees, or other sorts of hustles to make his bets. Nor does he have a "system" of any kind. He uses computer simulations, but does not rely upon them exclusively. Nate Silver