I have quoted before a game where the committee man who had volunteered to referee did not turn up. 30 players, no ref, so the home team captain said "I suppose I had better do it." When we went across to the pitch, there was a lone spectator. Apparently he was a regular, so the captains agreed to ask him if he would referee, and he agreed.
It quickly became apparent that he had never played the game. At a 22 dropout, he penalised a team for not being 10m back. At another penalty the team opted to kick for goal, then ran the ball and "scored". He allowed it. "Knock-on" was not in his vocabulary.
The first half was a shambles, and our opponents deliberately capitalised. At half time we said this was ridiculous, and it was agreed that we would tell him when he needed to stop play. This worked surprisingly well - better than just abandonning the game.
However it did require the compliance of the "referee".
