{"id":28566,"date":"2014-06-11T14:56:23","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T19:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=28566"},"modified":"2014-06-12T08:10:05","modified_gmt":"2014-06-12T13:10:05","slug":"from-brock-to-brazil-fletcher-ready-for-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2014\/06\/from-brock-to-brazil-fletcher-ready-for-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"From Brock to Brazil: Fletcher ready for World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Brock University grad Joe Fletcher, 38, will be the only Canadian making up the 25 referee teams in Rio de Janeiro for the FIFA World Cup.<\/p><\/div>\n

As a teen, refereeing house league soccer in Niagara was a quick way to make an extra buck.<\/p>\n

Now, it’s become much more than that for Brock University Goodman co-op grad Joe Fletcher (BAcc ’00), who is preparing for his most-high profile gig on the pitch – being an assistant referee at the FIFA World Cup<\/a>, one of the biggest sporting events in the world, which begins Thursday at 4 p.m. when Croatia takes on host Brazil.<\/p>\n

Fletcher, now a 38-year-old family man and chartered accountant at St. Catharines’ Wormald Masse Keen Lopinski LLP, will be the only Canadian making up the 25 referee teams in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n

“It won’t feel real until the first time I step onto the field, because this is as good as it gets,” Fletcher says. “But I’ll settle in quickly because I know I have a tournament to work.”<\/p>\n

And when it’s all said and done, Fletcher will take off his cleats and referee uniform for loafers and dress shirts when he returns to his firm in July. It’s a balancing act he says he’s learned to manage going back to his Brock days.<\/p>\n

Aside from studying, Fletcher played for the varsity volleyball team and was a recurring member of the Student Welcoming and Awareness Team.<\/p>\n

“It was a way to give back and help students on their first day not feel like a number. (Being on SWAT) was an excuse to go up and be nice to someone who may look lost,” Fletcher says. “That’s definitely helped me get to where I am now. It’s character building.”<\/p>\n

Fletcher grew up in Niagara Falls and fell in love with soccer. When he was told he could make $9 a game officiating minor soccer, he started to take on more games. Eventually he enrolled in courses and was climbing up the referee levels.<\/p>\n

Twenty years later and Fletcher has officiated in big-name events such as the London 2012 Summer Games and the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football Under-17 championship in Hondurus.<\/p>\n

“That was my first time being sent away to do a tournament,” Fletcher says of the under-17 championship. “I kept thinking, ‘Wow, someone paid for me to be here.’ I felt like I had a ton to prove.”<\/p>\n

He says he’s entering the World Cup with a different mindset, however. Fletcher went to Brazil unsure of how many games he’ll be on the field for.<\/p>\n

“I don’t care if thousands of people are cursing my name. All I care about is making the right call and if I can look at the replay after the game and see that I got it right that’s all that matters.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brock University grad Joe Fletcher, 38, will be the only Canadian making up the 25 referee teams in Rio de Janeiro for the FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,1],"tags":[309,1976,1977,914,613,1978,1979],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28566"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28566"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28570,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28566\/revisions\/28570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}