Junior/Youth Just Completed My First Game

[Matt Bickerton]

Just reffed my first game since completing my course, and to my surprise it went really well! I had spent quite a lot of time preparing so i was confident in my pre-match routine, but I was still fairly nervous.

There were a couple of incidents that I had to deal with. One was one of the parents (apparently the first aider) had come onto the pitch and was checking her son over. I had a quiet word about waiting for me to call her over as he was obviously ok, she took this well however.

I did find myself switching off over offside, with a goal I allowed having a few complaints about being offside but I was confident in my decision.

The only question I have was over a goal I gave. The keeper lunged for the ball but fumbled it, knocking it into the path of a striker who scored. The players claimed he had a hand on it, but I didn't believe so as it had been out of his control and not an infringement from the striker. Thankfully this was not a game-changing decision as that team lost 14-0!

So, a good game overall, but a great learning experience and one I look to improve on next week!

 

[Padfoot]

Just reffed my first game since completing my course, and to my surprise it went really well! I had spent quite a lot of time preparing so i was confident in my pre-match routine, but I was still fairly nervous.

There were a couple of incidents that I had to deal with. One was one of the parents (apparently the first aider) had come onto the pitch and was checking her son over. I had a quiet word about waiting for me to call her over as he was obviously ok, she took this well however.

I did find myself switching off over offside, with a goal I allowed having a few complaints about being offside but I was confident in my decision.

The only question I have was over a goal I gave. The keeper lunged for the ball but fumbled it, knocking it into the path of a striker who scored. The players claimed he had a hand on it, but I didn't believe so as it had been out of his control and not an infringement from the striker. Thankfully this was not a game-changing decision as that team lost 14-0!

So, a good game overall, but a great learning experience and one I look to improve on next week!

What side of the pitch did the parent come on from? If from the technical areas, then you were spot on......if they came on from the spectator side of the pitch....I'd be having words with the relevant manager, to verify that they were part of the coaching staff and then reminding them that she should have been in the technical area from the start........

Massive debate on here about what constitutes a GK "being in control".......read what the LOTG says is "in control" and then consider your decision again........let us know what you decide......

 

[Matt Bickerton]

The parent came on from the other side of the pitch (not the technical area), with her defence being "what if he was dying?". I told her to take him off the pitch, and talked to her and the away manager at half time (I went to talk to him and she was already there) and told her that she needs to wait for me to call the physio on to come on to the pitch. When we had a different injury however, she wasn't the one to come onto the pitch. The away manager had confirmed that she was the one to treat injuries but he came on instead. After the incident she went to the technical area for the rest of the game.

I read over law 12 like you suggested and I'm pretty sure that the goalkeeper was not touching the ball but I guess i'll never be 100% sure on that one, i'm sure i'll remember it for my next game though!

 

[Sheffields Finest]

I'm baffled why they don't let professionally qualified practitioners enter the pitch without the refs permission. In serious injuries seconds count. Seems to work well in other sports with little issues. Apart from the refs wave on formality do we really deserve the right to withhold swifter treatment? Do we really have special powers to run past someone and diagnose seriousness?
No sleight on the OP just a general question?

 

[ARF]

I'm baffled why they don't let professionally qualified practitioners enter the pitch without the refs permission. In serious injuries seconds count. Seems to work well in other sports with little issues. Apart from the refs wave on formality do we really deserve the right to withhold swifter treatment? Do we really have special powers to run past someone and diagnose seriousness?
No sleight on the OP just a general question?

But can these people watching from the side of the pitch necessarily identify how serious something is from 40 yards away? Letting anyone run on as they please because they 'think' there's a serious injury could potentially turn a match into a farce! And are you going to know at the time whether that person is actually qualified as they say they are?

 

[Matt Bickerton]

I'm baffled why they don't let professionally qualified practitioners enter the pitch without the refs permission. In serious injuries seconds count. Seems to work well in other sports with little issues. Apart from the refs wave on formality do we really deserve the right to withhold swifter treatment? Do we really have special powers to run past someone and diagnose seriousness?
No sleight on the OP just a general question?

On this occasion it was about 5 yards from the line and it wasn't until she had run on that I was informed by the away manager that she was the Physio. Is this something I should've checked beforehand? I did feel at the time that it was just an excuse to check if her son was OK but if the manager hadn't have confirmed that she was the physio I would have made a bigger issue of it.

 

[Tino Best]

I think you managed the physio situation well and will have learnt from it. If you didn't feel the GK had control of the ball and you were there your decision was right. With reffing sometimes you have to go with what you feel.

 

[RefJef]

What age are we talking about?
I know the LOTG are the same, but the game played on a Saturday afternoon in the Premier League is a long way removed from an U13 game on a Sunday morning.

A kid is hurt, lets get that sorted. Some kids (& adults!) will keep going like the Black Knight of Monty Python fame, others will go down in floods of tears if the ball hits them a little hard. It doesn't matter. Get 'em treated. If we can do that safely whilst keeping the game going (at this level) then why not? Makes sense.

Sounds like an outbreak of common sense all round: Adult sees a kid in pain, does what they can to help. Ref has quite word with said adult, who apologises/accepts ref's point of view, game continues, everyone happy. A perfect Sunday morning.

 

[Matt Bickerton]

It was an U11's League cup match. I'm not totally sure what was wrong with him, but he was back playing after the incident.

 

[Sheffields Finest]

But can these people watching from the side of the pitch necessarily identify how serious something is from 40 yards away? Letting anyone run on as they please because they 'think' there's a serious injury could potentially turn a match into a farce! And are you going to know at the time whether that person is actually qualified as they say they are?

Of course any man and his dog running on isn't a healthy situation, however, properly controlled with identifiable medically trained experts surely works ok in most field sports, i'm not sure why we are involved at all.... We have no qualifications or training in diagnosis whatsoever!