Always play to the whistle

Wherever football is played, the chances are that the referee's whistle is an 'Acme Thunderer'.  Invented by Joseph Hudson, an English toolmaker from Birmingham, in 1884, the Thunderer has been heard in 137 countries; at World Cups, Cup Finals, in parks, playing fields and beaches across the globe.

Over 160 million Thunderers have been manufactured by Hudson & Co., which is still based in Birmingham, England. Apart from football, Hudson whistles have also been used by crewmen on the Titanic, by British 'bobbies' (policemen) and by reggae musicians.

Today the Fox 40 series of whistles are very popular with many referees because of their "pea-less" design.

1860/70s: A toolmaker in England, called Joseph Hudson, converted his humble washroom at St. Marks Square in Birmingham, which he rented for 1s. 6d. (one shilling and six pence per week) into a whistle making workshop.

1878: It was generally written that the first football match to be officiated with a whistle was held in 1878 at the English Football Association Cup 2nd Round game between Nottingham Forest (2) v Sheffield (0). This was probably the 'Acme City' brass whistle, originally made by Joseph Hudson around the year 1875.  Before that, signals where communicated by the umpires to the players by waving a handkerchief, a stick or by shouting.

In 1878, football matches were still officiated by two umpires who patrolled inside the field of play. The Referee of those days, took a subservient role on the touchline, and was only used as a mediator if the two umpires were unable to reach a decision. It would therefore have been most unlikely for the Referee of 1878 to require a whistle for his 'referring' role. The two umpires would have been the whistle blowers in these games.

The popular Fox 40's range also offers some excellent whistles. The FOX Classic - is their loudest, shrillest penetrating power whistle. Its patent pea-less design is ideal for outdoor safety as it is virtually indestructible, has no moving parts to jam or freeze and can be heard up to a mile away. It is the recommended safety whistle of the Scouts Association and the Duke of Edinburgh's Awards Scheme and is used by many Referees. The Fox Classic CMG has a 'Cushioned Mouth Grip' that enhances the original Fox Classic design. This added feature increases comfort and grip during prolonged use, and is ideal for officials who carry the whistle in the mouth during matches. The Fox Mini Compact, has a smaller mouthpiece, and has the same pea-less design and ultra shrill tone of the Fox Classic (it is ideal for Lady's and Children's safety). The Fox Pearl is a patented two chamber pea-less whistle, with a low pitched tone, and is another favorite with multi-sport referees and coaches. The Foxtreme, is a popular choice with younger users and is the same design as the Fox Pearl but is available in an attractive marbleized color scheme, each whistle having it's own unique color and pattern formation.

The Fox 40 "pea-less" whistle originated from an idea by Ron Foxcroft a USA basketball Referee who like others, had experienced problems with pea whistles not reacting quickly enough, and were unable to be heard above a large crowd noise. He explains. "They have a cork pea in them and when you blow a pea - whistle really hard, nothing comes out. When they're frozen or wet or get some dirt inside, they lose their efficiency."

Foxcroft listed a number of improvements that could enhance the performance of a whistle, and showed them to, Dan Bruneau the President a plastics molding company Promold Corporation, based in Stoney Creek, Ontario. The company agreed to manufacture the whistle parts designed by Foxcroft.  Promold went on to perfect a plastic molded injection process that ultrasonically welded together whistle parts, rather than glued them. Chuck Shepherd, an Ontario design consultant took on the project.  It took 14 prototypes to perfect the first Fox 40 pea-less whistle, which was patented on Ron Foxcroft's 40th birthday.

This whistle was first professionally used at the Basketball, Pan Am Games in Indianapolis.  It was not long after this, that other sports realized its quality.  Its tones were heard above the crowd at the Seoul Olympics, and was the predominant whistle used by Referees in the 1990 World Cup Soccer held in Italy and the 1994 World Cup held in the United States. The Fox 40 whistle is now patented in many Countries, and is popular not only with Referees, but with coaches, water safety, rescue teams, personal safety, dog owners and trainers, and many other sports enthusiasts.  It is also an approved and recommended sound signaling device with Coast Guards Worldwide.

How does a whistle work?

All whistles have a mouthpiece where the air is forced into a cavity or hollow confined space. The air stream is split by a bevel, and partly whirls around the cavity before exiting though an opening (or sound hole) which is usually small in proportion to the size of the cavity. The size of the whistle cavity and the volume of air contained in the whistle determine the pitch or frequency of the sound produced.

The protocols of the Whistle are here... -= Whistle While You Work =-

A Whistle Mentoring Opportunity
The below is from dialogue from SocRef-L

A while ago, I had the opportunity to work with a lesser-experienced colleague who, to put it gently, has some room for improvement. (That is not meant to be hyper-critical – I dare say that few of us have “arrived” as perfect referees, including me.)

One specific area of need for him is “presence”, that rather elusive category of putting one’s own stamp of personality on the match; of building rapport with the players and coaches by the nuanced forcefulness of style of one’s interactions; with the goal that, later on, the referee need apply only minimal amounts of force to guide the participants away from evil and/or harm.

More specifically, his whistle technique sucked. He frequently had one finger partially covering one or more of the outlet holes, which ruins any wind instrument’s performance. Toward the end of the first half, one of the players told him (loud enough for me to hear) “We can’t hear your whistle”. We were on the East end of a set of 3 fields, I was on the East touch line, and the whistle from the middle field was usually louder to me than his. I jumped at the opportunity that that player’s comment gave me to address this topic during half-time.

I asked if he minded a little feedback – he said go for it. I noted the player’s comment, and mentioned that he seemed to be blocking his whistles air-holes – he interjected that he did that on purpose, to reduce the volume. I let him know, rather firmly, that he needed to consistently and uniformly increase, not decrease, his whistles volume – that he was mezzo-piano at most [a soft whisper & small], and needed to aim for fortissimo [to be Loud & Large]; that as part of his bigger goal of needing to increase his presence, he needed to start by making his whistle considerably louder. I suggested that, every time he blew the whistle in the second half, he should see if he could stop play on the West field.

It took a moment for that to sink in; I could tell he had been aiming at being polite, and not whistling so loud as to affect play on the next field. His whistle was noticeably louder in the second half, and although he never managed to stop play on the other fields, he told me after the match (when prompted) that the players seemed much more responsive to his calls – that he didn’t have to blow the whistle two or three separate times to stop play (when they did not respond to the first, which I gather was a much more common experience for him); that he felt much more in control of the match.

I hope the light bulb went on for him in this match. One of the necessary progressions in each referee’s career arc is to come to the realization that we need to be an active participant in the match, not just a spectator in a yellow shirt trying to stay out of the way of play; that we need to be actively involved in guiding the players toward safe and fair play, not just waiting to react when bad stuff happens; and that the needs of this match outweigh the needs of the match on the next field over (the other guy can take care of matters over there as they arise).

One of the negative things that we referees occasionally get accused of is being on a “power trip”, where we get our jollies from being the guy in charge. Much more common, in my experience, and usually more damaging, is the referee who never learns to be sufficiently assertive, who never develops the field presence to ride herd on a bunch of rowdy ruffians. Especially if assignments working the older and more aggressive teens/young adults are sparse, getting acclimated to that required higher level of applying one’s personality can be a challenge.

Our goal is not to cause hearing damage to the people near us when we happen to blow the dang whistle; but it is our goal to let the participants know we are in charge of this rodeo.

Hurray: every once in a while we get a glimmer of hope!

You could tell he had been aiming at being polite, and not whistling so loud as to affect play on the next field.

I have imparted to him is to carry at least two whistles with different pitches and use the whistle with the pitch different from the one on the next field.

Yeah... As well as having multiple whistles (I carry three, with different sounds), there are ways to blow appropriate for each event, including the one where everybody needs to stop right now, or when you want to indicate that BTW, the ball went out over the touchline before reaching the goal line, so we have a throw-in not a Goal Kick.

Some whistles are better than others at making these distinctions.

You dropped your whistle... the Mechanics!
The below is from dialogue from SocRef-L

I have never use a wrist, finger or neck lanyard for my whistle in soccer.
I have dropped, had it hit out of my hand, or just fumbled it clumsily no more than a dozen times in my 40+ year career. In every case within a minute or two, having already put my spare whistle into play, found my dropped one.
All my whistles have been black. A few of my favorite whistles have been in use for over 20 years.

~ Richard Houser


I am puzzled by repeated references to the color of the whistle helping to find it when dropped. All my whistles are on wrist/finger lanyard or finger loop; have never dropped one. Nor have I ever held one in my mouth as I saw in Champions League games.

~ Ferenc Korompai


From viewing available videos, one might gain the impression that there are two requirements for using a brightly-colored whistle:
One must be a FIFA (Grade 1) Referee, and one must be female. But I would not swear to this...

~ Doug Smith


Or one must've had one given to you by either a vendor at a trade show or your daughter. Because you can never have enough of those :)

~ Alex Fletcher


Only once have I ever dropped a whistle. It was on a wrist lanyard and it must have unclipped itself during my holding it.
A player jostled me and it fell off in to the very muddy field. It was black and I never found it.
I always have two whistles on my wrist lanyard and a spare back in the bag.

~ ...Larry Savell


No coin, easy fix... Rock, Paper, Scissors

~ ...Larry Savell


I occasionally tell the story about the very first NFHS matches I refereed.
I worked the JV match solo, and was joined for the Varsity nightcap by two very senior referees (at the time, one a grade 4, the other a grade 5).
The Referee (4) is getting ready to toss the coin, except he doesn't have one! He asks us urgently, "Do either of you have a coin?" AR1 (5) hands over a quarter.

As we are shaking hands and preparing to get into position, 4 is patting his pockets and says, semi-frantically,
"I don't have any cards! Do either of you have cards I can borrow?"
As 5 is handing over yellow and red cards, he says, pointedly, "I am NOT loaning you a whistle!"

The lesson I derived that day is that, no matter whether I am carrying whistle, flag, or clipboard for this match, my pockets should always be completely loaded.

You never know what the team will need. Not that that implies I would loan out whistles, either.

~ Doug Smith


I normally lurk on this list but Doug's story below reminds me of a story I have to share:

NAIA boys conference match (Number 1 and 2 in the conference - near the end of the season), USSF 5 in the center, I'm AR 1 as a USSF 6, and AR2 is a USSF 7.

The last game between had been contentious.....

Teams are on the field, ready to kick off. CR runs over to me and says (frantically at this point) do you have a spare whistle?

Sure...

I covertly hand it to him and he proceeds to start the game and end the half.

As we meet with the 4th and AR2 he asks casually "Okay, how much will that whistle cost me?" My response was $100. He said, "Man, that's an expensive whistle".

My response was: "The whistle is $5. The other $95 is for me not to tell anyone......."

Needless to say, I've told that story plenty of times... <grin>

Regards to all,

~ Hugh Griffis
USSF grade 16
Retired NISOA


I just don't understand not using a wrist lanyard. They are cheap, and you can convert the things you find at key shops to that use instantly.
There are times I need BOTH hands free, especially when writing, and I don't want to stick my whistle in my pocket.
Using a lanyard, I can carry two or three whistles into each game, and can make a quick change if I feel I need to.
I'm not going to claim a lanyard will prevent you from dropping the whistle, however;
I did have the mounting ring on the back of one of my favorites break off without my noticing, and the next time I let loose of the group, it fell to the ground, again without my noticing.

But since I had two others on the ring, we just played on. I found the lost one later.

~ Jim MacQueen


Have you *tried* using a pair of whistles instead of the wrist lanyard? I was a wrist lanyard advocate and thought the folks that carried the whistle loose were nuts.
But I heard enough folk that I respected (here and elsewhere) say that's how they did it, and saw guys on TV doing it, so I finally figured I should at least try it once, not expecting to do it more than once.
And I've never used a lanyard since.

I connect two different whistles. (And a spare pair in my pocket.) I can move them from hand to hand -- no dangling whistle on signals.
I can (rarely) leave the whistle in my mouth while taking my hand away.
If I need both hands, I just slip a finger through the connecting ring. I've never dropped them -- but if I did, I have the spares in my pocket.

Consider giving it a try if you haven't already.

~ Steve... So Cal Lurker


I thought it wouldn't work for me until I tried it, too...

If you need two hands for something, you slide the ring connecting the whistles onto your pinky -- no more in the way that way than a whistle on a wrist lanyard.

I personally don't see any value to a third whistle in the hand, but there's no reason you couldn't have the three connected instead of just two...

As I said, I thought it was nuts till I tried it and really liked it. As a convert, I'd encourage everyone to try it at least once -- I suppose not everyone will like it, but you won't know unless you give it a try.

~ Steve... So Cal Lurker


Nope. Doesn't work for me. I still have the same problem: What do I do when I need two hands? And I connect THREE total whistles on my wrist lanyard anyway.

~ Jim MacQueen


I think the point is that it's easy to drop a single whistle if it's not connected to you in some way.

But two whistles plus the ring that joins them together is a bit more mass that gives you more to hold on to, so it's less likely you'll drop them.
I use three whistles on a ring that's also connected to a wrist lanyard, although I don't put the lanyard around my wrist.
That's very comfortable to hold, and I can also hold a whistle in my mouth with both hands free if needed (or hook it around one finger, as has been suggested), as it's not heavy like my wife's huge collection of linked together keys, medallions, and remote controls, that she somehow uses to operate her car.

====================

I thought it wouldn't work for me until I tried it, too...

If you need two hands for something, you slide the ring connecting the whistles onto your pinky -- no more in the way that way than a whistle on a wrist lanyard.

I personally don't see any value to a third whistle in the hand, but there's no reason you couldn't have the three connected instead of just two...

As I said, I thought it was nuts till I tried it and really liked it. As a convert, I'd encourage everyone to try it at least once -- I suppose not everyone will like it, but you won't know unless you give it a try.

~ Jim Geissman


Hey folks,

For whatever it's worth:

I used the wrist lanyard for a number of years. It worked pretty well except I didn't like the stuff flopping around my wrist when I let go to use both hands.

I switched from that to the ring with multiple whistles for about a season. I didn't like having to move the ring around.

I decided to do something different. I had been coaching a girls team for a number of years.
One of the things I kept in my coaching bag was a snap link full of girls' hair bands (black only - no metal). You can buy 15-30 of them at Walmart for a couple of dollars - I just did it again the other day.

I started keeping one of them on my practice whistle (so I could find it in my coach bag...).

I found I liked it.

I put it on the middle finger (with one whistle) and I haven't lost/dropped one since.
When I need two hands I just let go. It's there when I need it. Depending on the field situation, I keep one or more spares in my back (left) pocket - Ballila and Fox40 (with bands on both as well).
If I need to change, I change when I can (ASAP).

So I started using those bands exclusively on my whistles.

NOTE: One of the things I learned from some State Referee Mentors when I was a new grade 7 was that the Referee doesn't do things that can potentially distract the players.
Not everyone feels that way; it's just what I learned from a couple of pretty good Referees.
Both of them kept whistles in their hand - no lanyards at all.
I lost a couple of whistles this way...

So I developed my own compromise. This one seems to work for me and I don't have to mess with keeping a whistle under control.

Food for thought...

Regards,

~ Hugh Griffis
USSF grade 16
Retired NISOA


I just found a hair band (teenage daughter) and a whistle (me) in the house ... that really is a terrific idea. Feels better than the wrist lanyard. Thank you!

~ Ron Antonette


I believe what you are describing is the finger lanyard. If so, it was part of my original missive.

~ Ferenc Korompai


Except one would have to find/order/buy a finger lanyard, whereas hair bands are abundant in some households! :-)

~ Ron Antonette


LOL. Pretty complicated path to looking ridiculous. :-)

BTW, you have to test that spring to make sure the recoil, as you let go of the whistle from you mouth. will not hurt you or somebody close by. :-O

Yes, in women lacrosse the goal signal must be given while blowing the whistle. And the signal is made of two parts:

First, you raise both arms like a Touch Down signal and then bring both arms down and then transition to the 2nd part which involves moving both arms forward together horizontally similar to the play-on signal.

During this 2-step signal you whistle with the sound dipping as you switch from first part of the signal to the 2nd part.

We had an official who insisted on using a whistle on a wrist lanyard! You can imagine the contortions he would go thru to give the signal and looked awfully ridiculous.

~ Reza Pazirandeh


I do what So Cal Lurker does...

I'm fairly new, but I learned this in a particularly funny way so I'm sharing.

For four years, I used a hand lanyard, basically an elastic key-chain around my palm with two whistles clipped.
It was comfy, I could transfer hands fairly easily for signals, and I almost never dropped the whistles.

Then I had my first mass confrontation. I instinctively held out my arm to indicate to the aggrieved team that they did not all need to pile on the miscreant. I did this while simultaneously trying to whistle, causing the lanyard to stretch out while I made the hand motion...

I then released it and snapped it back into my face, nearly knocking myself over. Not my strongest moment, although I think a couple of the players got enough of a laugh out of it that they forgot about fighting each other.

From that point on, I've used the two whistles clipped together. I hold them in exactly the same way I did when I had the lanyard, but with less security. My main goes between thumb and index finger. The other I wedge between my third and fourth fingers so it acts a bit like a Valkeen's finger grip.

I've still never dropped them (and I have two spares in my pocket if I do) but now I can get both my hands free when I need them.


~ Dylan Matthias


Another solution is to keep the extra, really loud whistle all by itself (no clip/lanyard/etc.) in a pocket. When the xhit hits the shan, the Referee can quickly remove the wrist lanyard, and exchange it for the bare whistle, which is then held tightly by one's teeth while blowing long and loud, preferably close to the ears of the brawling players. This keeps both hands free, and provides no easy handles for players to grab (my most compelling reason for disapproving of necklace-type lanyards).


~ Doug Smith

Some whistles are easy or hard to hang on too!!!
Once you get the 'Mechanics' down the use of the whistle it will become second nature!!!