We have managed to inspect pretty well all the senior referees and many of the juniors since the beginning of the season. It is pleasing to report that in general the standard of refereeing is good, and we pride ourselves in this zone of having a particularly high standard. However, there are some consistent issues that keep coming up and I’d like to highlight these for your attention. In fact in future inspections we’d like to see these issues attended to:

• There is a strong tendency for referees to run up and down the middle of the pitch. This means that decisions are sometimes made from behind play rather than at an angle. As a minimum you should be running to the edge of the penalty box and sometimes even wider. This also enables you to get closer to play even when it is in the corners. There is nothing better than being able to blow your whistle for a foul and only be 10 metres away and see the players startled to see you were there.
• Standing still is not an option. Keep moving, walking fast if not jogging. This also means moving ahead of the play for throw ins, goal kicks and clearances so that you are opposite and at an angle where the ball will land.
• Checking gear. This should be done as a team and means actually checking the boots to see if they are safe, NOT just seeing if the players are wearing them. All visible jewellery must be removed.
• Whistle. This is one of the weakest aspects of our refereeing. Learn to blow the whistle loud so that it has impact. Vary the whistle-short blasts for minor infringements such as offside and longer, harder blasts for bad fouls.
• Talk to players. We are not talking to the players very much. This means calling out ‘play on’ for an advantage and making it clear to everyone, telling players that they are getting out of line and warning them on the run, telling players to ‘get out of the back’ or ‘stop pushing’ if there is a minor foul and there is advantage so that you can avoid blowing a foul, and generally talking to players when the opportunity arises.
• When, as an AR, you are signalling for an interchange it is NOT necessary to keep the flag up in the air until the interchange is over. Put the flag down once the referee has signalled for an interchange.
• The AR on the attacking side indicates a goal by sprinting a short way to the half way line-not by flagging.
• If an AR sees an incident of violent conduct behind play, or a foul that would mean a goal should be disallowed PLEASE indicate to the referee that you’d like to talk to her and tell her what has happened.
• An appropriate standard of dress is expected at all times. This means the correct uniforms and turning up to grounds looking neat and tidy. Referees will be fined for not adhering to this policy.

AND SOME ODD INCIDENTS

• If the goal keeper has the ball and a player is injured and you stop play (or you stop play for any reason while the goal keeper has the ball) it is NOT appropriate to let the goal keeper restart play by kicking the ball into play. It is a drop ball. But I hope you will not allow this to happen in the first place because you will ask the goal keeper to kick the ball out of play before stopping play.
• It is NOT appropriate for the referee to restart play by kicking the ball to a player AT ANY TIME.

Happy Refereeing,

Stewart Hase

Zone Coach

Posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 11:02 pm and is filed under Announcements. Both comments and pings are currently closed.