A&H

Junior/Youth Quarter Final

C

CallumS

Mr Referee
Level 7 Referee
Well for whatever reason I've been given an U14 quarter final county cup game this week. Probably due to convenience of location although my ego would like to believe that they've been massively impressed with my 10 games to date!

How are cup games different to league? Are they harder to manage / more feisty?

Obviously I will read through the competition rules and all that exciting stuff but do you approach a cup game differently?

The home team are mid table championship and the away team are 1st in the Premier (2nd placed team have played 5 more games than them) so am fairly sure of who'll win but also worried it'll be a thrashing. I have done a 10-2 game and just ended up feeling sorry for the players. Anything you do with those type of games?

Very excited for the game though and will do some interval training in advance to prepare myself for the inevitable sprints that a top team will do .

Edit: Forgot to ask how should you conduct a penalty shootout?
 
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The Referee Store
I did an U14 county cup not long ago, the game itself was not much different to the league apart from the fact that I got team sheets :eek:

The standard of game isn't much different but both teams will really want to win. In mine the 2 teams were in U14 premier division, top v mid table. When they played in the league it was 8-0 to the top team. In the county cup match it was 2-1 with the underdogs lead most of the game up until the last few minutes. Great game really :)
 
Normally I find the standard is like a grade or two higher, and there's a much bigger crowd than normal. I love doing junior finals, great fun. You also do get the extended family that haven't been to a match all season yet still think they know all the rules though.
 
One tip is to decide which end you will take any penalty shoot out.Take into account sun. wind, what's behind the goal and most importantly the state of the penalty spot/mark.

If I get to extra time, I remind managers that only players on the pitch at end of match can take penalties, saves arguments later.

Take along something to note down penalties in shoot out & read the laws on that so you're clear - no one else will be!

As its U14s, you need to decide if you're going to be strict and only allow players in centre circle as per LOTG.

For that age I personally allow 2 adults to stay with them, but everyone else MUST be off the pitch and no one is allowed anywhere behind goal line.

Final reminder - you don't need to know which 5 players are taking penalties in advance, note down numbers as they come up so you make sure all 11 (if 11 finish) take pens before anyone (and it can be anyone, even PK taker No 11) takes a 2nd one.

Hopefully you won't even get to extra time!
 
Really enjoyed the game, very good standard of football!
It did mean that my positioning to begin with wasn't as good as it could have been as I'm used to teams not spreading play whereas they played like adults.

Finished 3-0 to the premier team which was a shame as I had hoped for more drama. They had a little bit more quality in the end though as chances and possession were even.

3 cautions. One where a player fouled someone and when I blew he said to me "shut up ref". Other 2 were for persistent infringements. 3 fouls for one (I think I should have cautioned at the 2nd with retrospect). The other was for a player that even after a couple warnings still tugged at the shirt.

How do you write the persistent infringement report? I didn't make note of the time when the first fouls happened.

Also for the dissent booking I took his name with spelling and as I was writing it down he went to the penalty area ready for the free kick. I called him back to me so I could show the card and finish speaking with him. Should I have done this?
 
CallumS said:
How do you write the persistent infringement report?
Click to expand...
Report it on Standard Caution Report under C3.

CallumS said:
Also for the dissent booking I took his name with spelling and as I was writing it down he went to the penalty area ready for the free kick. I called him back to me so I could show the card and finish speaking with him. Should I have done this?
Click to expand...

In my opinion that's the way to do it. Because if you start waving your card around with nobody near you then you can open yourself to a few unnecessary questions and issues.
 
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