A&H

Non active assistant referee positioning

ref11

New Member
Hi everyone, just wanted to get people's opinions on the positioning of the assistant referee in the match at Wigan on Sunday as it took me by surprise and I'm not sure why! The assistant, Shaun Hudson, often took up the position that's shown in the image I've attached, pushing past the half way line when play was active in the half he was not covering. He only adopted this position on free kick and corner kick situations, I'm guessing to aid team work as they're obviously in touch over the comms kit. Does he get a better view from there compared with the half way line? IMO the angle may be slightly improved but negligible. Anyone think of any other reasons why he does this?

IMG_1818.jpg
 
The Referee Store
I've never seen that recommended, but it doesn't seem nuts. There are none of his attackers anywhere close, so is not at risk of being out of position on anything he has to do, so I think he is definitely getting closer in (the unlikely) event there is something he can help with. I don't know that I would do it, but I don't ref with comms, so helping from back there would usuall be extremely difficult to actually do.
 
I haven't seen or heard of it before. I'm not against it in set pieces so long as he doesn't go past the second last defender so there is no chance of him getting caught out. I don't see any harm in it but there is a chance something good may come out of it.
 
New one on me.
Cant even begin to think why
Second last defender can be ruled out as the attacker gets penalised at half way

I have stood yard or so over line at times, no real reason

Comms? Your going to have the same input from halfway as you are ten yards down the line.

At that level, I think we can also rule out being naive

I really dont know. Cant say its making me mad but am not keen on it either
 
Look at the players and the other AR who's 30 yards out of position. It appears a player is leaving the pitch with trainers, a sub is about to come on, and I have no idea where the ref is. It looks like something has just happened and play is not even close to restarting (because of the other AR and the sub). Maybe he was taking up this position frequently, but to me it looks like AR2 is watching the referee's back as he deals with something near the technical area.
 
Agree, both assistants appear to have taken up a triangle position at a stoppage and I would hazard a guess the referee is somewhere off the left hand side of the picture.
 
Look at the players and the other AR who's 30 yards out of position. It appears a player is leaving the pitch with trainers, a sub is about to come on, and I have no idea where the ref is. It looks like something has just happened and play is not even close to restarting (because of the other AR and the sub). Maybe he was taking up this position frequently, but to me it looks like AR2 is watching the referee's back as he deals with something near the technical area.

On the occasion when I thought to grab a pic the ref was injured and swapping with the fourth man but he adopted this position on multiple open play situations as stated in my original post. Guess you’ll just have to take my word for it ;)
 
Definitely appears to be a dead ball situation where AR2 is coming down the touchline to get a better look at the group of players near the penalty area boundary line.

Depending on the score/time situation, we should take unusual positions. I referee high school soccer in the US, and our high school rules require a scoreboard countdown clock where the ball is immediately dead when the clock hits 0:00 and the referee blows the whistle (yes, the vast majority of us in the States think this is dumb and that we should use traditional FIFA timing procedures). I was the trail AR, and the scoreboard clock was behind the goal that wasn't being attacked. The clock was at 0:03 as the attackers were trying to get a corner kick off. I knew offside would not be any issue, so I backed off onto the athletics track (10 yards or so off the touchline) so I could see the clock and the play in my field of vision. When the clock hit 0:00 to end the first half, I raised my flag to help the center know time was up. He blew the whistle before the ball was headed into the goal. It was the right call by the rules, even though it shows how dumb the US high school timing rules are relative to the rest of the game.

Bottom line is that sometimes a completely unconventional refereeing position allows us the right position to help make an important call.
 
New one on me.
Cant even begin to think why
Second last defender can be ruled out as the attacker gets penalised at half way

I have stood yard or so over line at times, no real reason

Comms? Your going to have the same input from halfway as you are ten yards down the line.

At that level, I think we can also rule out being naive

I really dont know. Cant say its making me mad but am not keen on it either

Comms 'black spot' on halfway? - anyone 'technical' confirm that is even possible?
 
Comms 'black spot' on halfway? - anyone 'technical' confirm that is even possible?

It's possible if someone has a faulty receiver that isn't transmitting very far, at that level you would expect them to have tested the radios, put in fresh batteries and have a spare available.
 
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