Monday Night Club special: Premier League & World Cup final official Darren Cann

Football Daily

BBC

Soccer, Sports, News, Sports News, Sport

4.3 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Recently retired assistant referee Darren Cann joins Mark Chapman, Steph Houghton, Chris Sutton and Rory Smith on the Monday Night Club to provide some amazing insight into life on the touchline. Among other things, he discusses his career - explaining what a week in his life looked like. He also explains how VAR has changed the role of an assistant referee and explains how officials block out hostility from players and fans. And - the big question - is Chris Sutton or Darren Cann a better footballer? Oh - and how many miles has he run sideways? The answer is really rather amazing.

Timecodes: 00:31 Darren Cann's background. 07:46 How do referees analyse their performances? 12:20 Has VAR changed the role of an assistant referee? How do referees communicate? 18:36 Darren's best moments and the 2010 World Cup. 22:20 How do assistant referees train and what skills do they need? 25:28 What is a refereeing team like and why is a good relationship with that team so important?

BBC Sounds / 5 Live commentaries this week: Tue 20:00 - Arsenal v PSG in the UEFA Champions League. Wed 20:15 - Man Utd v Chelsea in the Women’s Super League. Thu 20:00 - Athletic Club v Man Utd in the UEFA Europa League. Thu 20:00 - Tottenham v Bodø/Glimt in the UEFA Europa League.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy.
0:05.4	My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds.
0:10.8	The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that.
0:17.5	With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to
0:22.4	helping you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all put
0:28.3	together by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music in your life,
0:34.9	check out BBC Sounds.
0:41.3	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:47.3	On the Football Daily Podcasts, the Monday Nightclub with Mark Chapman.
0:49.3	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:55.0	Steph Horton, Rory Smith, Chris Sutton, with us in the studio, delighted to say Darren Canne,
0:59.0	who's retired this month after a record-breaking career as an assistant referee.
1:04.6	579 matches in the Premier League, a World Cup final, a Champions League final,
1:10.4	an FAA Cup final, three championship playoff finals across 25 years.
1:12.1	Why didn't you wait till the end of the season?
1:18.8	Because my knee is not too clever at the moment. So I had to bring my, my impending retirement forward by six games. Did you always want to do it? Yes. I always wanted, well, I didn't want to
1:24.1	injure my knee. No, no, no. I wanted a career as an assistant referee.
1:28.0	I never wanted to be a referee.
1:29.3	I only ever wanted to be an assistant referee.
1:31.7	So I'm very privileged to have had the career that I've had.
1:35.3	And from what age?
1:36.6	What age did you start?
	...

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