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First Game Errors...

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Kdawg

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Well I had my 1st ever game at the weekend there. I forgot to start my stop watch at kick off....schoolboy error! Thankfully I had another watch so I was able to keep an accurate timing!

I struggled with positioning, I didn't have any assistants so couldn't really tell the offsides very well and was more or less guessing! Do any of you have any advice on positioning without assistants?
 
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Hi there and welcome , its really down to a bit of experience to be honest , you will learn to have a glance at the offside area and judge when the ball is gonna be played .

during your first few games your more worried about getting fouls correct and all the rest of it

when it comes to positioning run as long a diagonal as you possibly can , depending on your fitness levels , box to box if poss , if you cant, shorten it a bit

just enjoy every game and remember it will get easier

I have forgot my whistle , coin, and watches in the past , happens to everyone
 
Kdawg said:
Well I had my 1st ever game at the weekend there. I forgot to start my stop watch at kick off....schoolboy error! Thankfully I had another watch so I was able to keep an accurate timing!

I struggled with positioning, I didn't have any assistants so couldn't really tell the offsides very well and was more or less guessing! Do any of you have any advice on positioning without assistants?
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Trust me - forgetting to start your watch on your 1st ever game is a good thing, it means you'll never forget again when it matters! Happened to me too ;)
 
Id actualy say the opposite. If youre just starting out you are best sticking to penalty area width and length of the pitch. Keep it as simple as possible - and follow the play. Positioning of credability so that you are close enough to both see the foul and then when you blow and erveryone turns around, you are stood right on them - that is worth more than anything.

Offside - from where you are, does it look like they are too close or have too much of a lead over the defenders to have been onside. One thing that you will learn quickly is that everyone will always call for the OS, and the reaction to what you do, or dont do, will tell if you were right or wrong.

If everyone shouts, they get the ball and someone is genuinely losing the plot at you not blowing, you can alwasy blow and just that you were blowing late.

On the other hand, if you decide first and blow up - if the attacker spins, glares and probably makes his thoughts know (and the defenders stay quiet) then you might have got it wrong.

I talk to the teams before KO, and i tell them that I've got no assistants, so some i will get right, some might be less right, but I will do my best. That way, I've lready said my piece and need say no more during the game.

But whatever you do, do it confidantly, and be true to yourself. You think he was off - blow that he was off, "offside thank you" and moe on to the next phase of play.

What is it they say - if you're not 100% you cant give it ....
 
Some good advice above.

I would add that experience will help. A lot.

Offside is always hit and miss because one ref cannot do the job of 3 officials to the satisfaction of everyone. As long as you try to get a good viewing angle and it is an honest decision, don't lose any sleep over it.

Refereeing. It gets better as you do!!!
 
Beezer said:
when it comes to positioning run as long a diagonal as you possibly can ,
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Just a thought: if you don't have assistants, do you need to run a diagonal? If the purpose of the diagonal is to keep the ball between you and the AR then if there is no AR then no need for a diagonal. Or have I missed something obvious?
 
Can't believe that monkey is suggesting that guessing offside could be construed as good advice to a new ref...or is he?

As for hrw, i may be reading it wrong but you seem to be saying guess, guess and guess again then finish by saying never guess

McTavish said:
Just a thought: if you don't have assistants, do you need to run a diagonal? If the purpose of the diagonal is to keep the ball between you and the AR then if there is no AR then no need for a diagonal. Or have I missed something obvious?
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You still need the diagonal if you're going to try and get deep enough and wide enough to properly judge offside assuming, of course, that your not just going to run up and down one touchline. Depending on the age group, however, you may well be seriously knackered come the final whistle ;)
 
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just really to get yourself into good habits early

during my early assessments I was always pulled on my diagonal not being wide enough
 
haywain said:
Can't believe that monkey is suggesting that guessing offside could be construed as good advice to a new ref...or is he?
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What are you suggesting haywain; even from the Middle always positioning yourself in line with the second last defender so you can really give a correct decision on offside. Every time. :D

Any ref who does not have NARs is a liar if he says he doesn't have to give a best guess on occasions.
 
There's guessing and there's thinking that you're right

Personally I never guess ;)
 
Didn't mean it to read like that - but I'll state that now as opposed to thining how to re-write it. No implying or attempting to, to guess.

What's the other one - if unsure , give it to the defence?
 
Yeah simplest piece of advice I can give you is balance it out as much as possible, everyone will hate me for saying if and is something that I shouldn't be saying to a new ref but teams appreciate an average ref who is "consistent" rather than a good ref who gives lots of stuff against them. Not that you need to bow down to the teams but when you are out there you are trying to get along with the two teams without any dissent or confrontation, remember the best ref is the one that no one hears from ;)

Queue onslaught from everyone on this site ;)
 
Good heavens @HullRef even I'm rolling my eyes at that and I'm no pro. I've willed teams to commit the next foul sometimes, just to even things up. But I wouldn't start giving things that aren't there. That said this season I'm being strict, really strict, and some teams get that quicker than others and tend to commit less fouls.

@Kdawg with regards to not starting your watch. My first game I didn't count the players and 10 minutes in the away side realised they only had ten men out there. Now I religiously count the players at all time. Like has been said already it's a good thing as it'll never happen to you again! And in essex I've been fortunate enough to always have cars and not sure how I would deal with also trying to call offside a swell, so hats off to you!
 
I'm always a tad wary of referees who assert confidently that something will never happen again ;)
 
@haywain I'm 100% sure I will never start a game without the correct number of players out there! Once we've started then as with all refereeing aces are wild and anything can happen!
 
if you say so, dave :)....tho, as an agnostic, i'm now wondering what the alternative to religiously counting the players is

for myself, i vaguely recall being on the verge of telling a manager that he only had 9 players on the pitch once....remembering, just in the nick of time, that it was 9 v 9 :)
 
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It's once you've sent someone off the old mind starts playing tricks. Or better yet when some pesky player stands behind doing their laces and you don't spot them!
 
Positioning with no ARs is always tricky, so I just try and keep up with the action, while trying to anticipate the next active area. Getting a good view is more important than where you are on the pitch.

With offsides and no NARs, I always tell the players beforehand, as part of my pre-match, that I am the one calling offside, I will rarely be in the best position to see it accurately, but the the Laws tell me to give benefit of the doubt to the attacker, so that's what I will do. Please don't stand there with your hand in the air shouting at me, get after him while I consider it and only stop if you hear me whistle.
 
Have to say regarding the offside issue I found it very tough in my first game on Sunday just gone. Positioning was key for me, I just didn't have the confidence to call something if I wasn't 100% sure so the 'tight' ones were very difficult. I explained that I was calling everything honestly as I saw it and to be fair the teams were decent enough about it. Now I'm 27 and a reasonable runner so I consider my level of fitness to be pretty up there, but the pitch I was on was vast and I was absolutely knackered after 90 minutes of trying to keep up with the play, lots of box to box sprints etc. I think it's a case of do your best to keep up with play and hope that teams are understanding.
 
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