Christiaan Bax says goodbye to the referee’s profession. The referee whistles for the last time in professional football during Telstar – Excelsior in the Kitchen Champion Division on Friday evening. He tells it Algemeen Dagblad that his studies cannot be combined with work as a referee. The 32-year-old Bax has been working in professional football since September 2011.
Bax has been working as a physiotherapist for eleven years and is now in his first year of training as an osteopath. He will now fully focus on his social career. “I started that study last June and I had already indicated to the KNVB in January 2020 that this would be my last season. And if the combination would become too tough, I would have stopped earlier. study quietly, which allowed me to continue as a referee. “
Bax refereed a total of 234 games in professional football in the Netherlands, of which 168 (after tonight 169) in the Kitchen Champion Division, 44 in the Eredivisie, 18 in the TOTO KNVB Cup and 4 in the play-offs for promotion / relegation. Opposite RTV Rijnmond he says he is now of the age to make a choice about his future. He can no longer combine his studies with his work. “I’ve always focused 100 percent on football. Then I can’t whistle the matches at 70 or 80 percent. That’s not fair to myself, but also not to the players and the clubs.”
In conversation with it Algemeen Dagblad tells Bax that he has no intention of leading competitions at a lower level. “Never say never, but in principle I will stop whistling completely. I have been asked to continue as a coach for boys from the talent process. I have been doing that for a year now. That way I stay a bit involved in the refereeing world. But in a different way, where I can manage my time much better myself. “