Captain's Only

[Runner Ref]

As always when personnel changes happen things can go in a different direction.
Nathan Magill who has come in has a different take on things and this is now the direction of travel

This would make sense. The previous person holding that role was rather robotic. So much so I got a telling off for daring to have stubble at a training event.

DM- Name all of the top flight officials either stubble beard

Me- what?

DM- see, you can’t name any as it’s unprofessional to have.

Me- Jake Collin & Stephen Childs

DM-……….walks off

Think my card was a tad marked at this stage

 

[Archer]

Were the FA planning on telling us any of this, at any point?

(Much like the webinar on the new Referee Portal is on August 5th. By then I'll have done 14 matches since it went live)

 

[JamesL]

Were the FA planning on telling us any of this, at any point?

(Much like the webinar on the new Referee Portal is on August 5th. By then I'll have done 14 matches since it went live)

Yes. It was talked about on the step 3-6 observer form calls. And I imagine will be down to individual counties to spread the word to their referees outside of the NLS.

 

[BCMilan]

Another initiative that's doing it's best to improve player behaviour at grassroots, but once it starts getting ignored at the professional level, it'll fall away like all the other campaigns ?

 

[Archer]

[edit] forgot completely

 

[Russell Jones]

Were the FA planning on telling us any of this, at any point?

(Much like the webinar on the new Referee Portal is on August 5th. By then I'll have done 14 matches since it went live)

Email received from FA just now. They must have been monitoring Refchat ….

 

[JamesL]

Email received from FA just now. They must have been monitoring Refchat ….

Got mine and hour ago.

 

[Archer]

Got mine and hour ago.

They work from the bottom up

 

[Dicky Herts]

Based on the email received from the FA on Monday 21 July it is clear that competitions (so leagues and their cup competitions) have the option on this ….
Law 3. The Players

• Competitions have the option of implementing the ‘Only the captain’ guidelines

 

[JamesL]

Based on the email received from the FA on Monday 21 July it is clear that competitions (so leagues and their cup competitions) have the option on this ….
Law 3. The Players

• Competitions have the option of implementing the ‘Only the captain’ guidelines

I will repeat.

Whilst the LOTG state competitions choose in England competitions have to be sanctioned by the FA. So the FA can make the rule mandatory as part of sanctioning through SCOR.

So the leagues are choosing by affiliating.

Nathan Magill who is head of refereeing said at a recent conference it is being implemented at all levels of the game

 

[Dicky Herts]

I will repeat.

Whilst the LOTG state competitions choose in England competitions have to be sanctioned by the FA. So the FA can make the rule mandatory as part of sanctioning through SCOR.

So the leagues are choosing by affiliating.

Nathan Magill who is head of refereeing said at a recent conference it is being implemented at all levels of the game

JamesL, thank you for your informative and interesting posts and I apologise if you’ve felt a need to repeat yourself. However your position does seem to directly contradict the email that the FA emailed referees on 21/07 (I assume all registered referees) with the law changes and on this law it stated the text below. It seems strange that the FA would send this and then mandate the law when they had the perfect opportunity to confirm that they would mandate it in this email. So despite your “I will repeat” reply I think I will wait for the competitions I referee for to confirm if they will / won’t implement.
Thank you JamesL. Excerpt from yesterdays FA email below…..
Law 3. The Players

• Competitions have the option of implementing the ‘Only the captain’ guidelines

Change to Law 3. The Players > 3.10 Team captain

Additional text:​

Each team must have a captain on the field of play who wears an identifying armband. The team captain has no special status or privileges but has a degree of responsibility for the behaviour of the team.

Competitions may implement the ‘Only the captain’ guidelines listed under ‘Notes and modifications’.

Explanation:​

Competitions are encouraged to use the ‘Only the captain’ guidelines to improve on-field behaviour and to enhance cooperation and strengthen the rapport between the players and the referee.

 

[CaptainsPlease]

JamesL, thank you for your informative and interesting posts and I apologise if you’ve felt a need to repeat yourself. However your position does seem to directly contradict the email that the FA emailed referees on 21/07 (I assume all registered referees) with the law changes and on this law it stated the text below. It seems strange that the FA would send this and then mandate the law when they had the perfect opportunity to confirm that they would mandate it in this email. So despite your “I will repeat” reply I think I will wait for the competitions I referee for to confirm if they will / won’t implement.
Thank you JamesL. Excerpt from yesterdays FA email below…..
Law 3. The Players

• Competitions have the option of implementing the ‘Only the captain’ guidelines

Change to Law 3. The Players > 3.10 Team captain

Additional text:​

Explanation:​

Competitions are encouraged to use the ‘Only the captain’ guidelines to improve on-field behaviour and to enhance cooperation and strengthen the rapport between the players and the referee.

Nothing is being contradicted. You have focused on the second link in the email which is to IFAB's website, saying competitions have the option which is true in countries that do not require the protocol to be implemented. However the first link in the email is to The FA Refereeing Department's own practical guidance slides, which discuss the protocol without mentioning any dependence on competition rules. This is because in England it applies across all competitions.

 

[JamesL]

JamesL, thank you for your informative and interesting posts and I apologise if you’ve felt a need to repeat yourself. However your position does seem to directly contradict the email that the FA emailed referees on 21/07 (I assume all registered referees) with the law changes and on this law it stated the text below. It seems strange that the FA would send this and then mandate the law when they had the perfect opportunity to confirm that they would mandate it in this email. So despite your “I will repeat” reply I think I will wait for the competitions I referee for to confirm if they will / won’t implement.
Thank you JamesL. Excerpt from yesterdays FA email below…..
Law 3. The Players

• Competitions have the option of implementing the ‘Only the captain’ guidelines

Change to Law 3. The Players > 3.10 Team captain

Additional text:​

Explanation:​

Competitions are encouraged to use the ‘Only the captain’ guidelines to improve on-field behaviour and to enhance cooperation and strengthen the rapport between the players and the referee.

I'm only trying to help mate.

I understand the email that went out quoted the law change as written in the LOTG with no context. It also has the protocol in it which has the crossed arm signal which we have been told they dont want us doing as well.

I Have attended two meetings now, one which Nathan Magill (head of refereeing) confirmed all levels of the game and another where Ross Joyce and Mo Matadar (national referee managers) repeated that assertion.

These messages tend to trickle down from the top so I would expect, if you arent yet operating at level 4 (and so won't have been privy to the above yet) your county FA should share this message in due course. Our county FA has started CPD inviting league reps and clubs along too in which I expect this will be covered.

Whilst I accept what the law says, I can only repeat what the governing body in the country has said. This is not going to be this league does it and this league does not. It will be at all levels of the game.

Edit: also what @CaptainsPlease said

 

[Dicky Herts]

I'm only trying to help mate.

I understand the email that went out quoted the law change as written in the LOTG with no context. It also has the protocol in it which has the crossed arm signal which we have been told they dont want us doing as well.

I Have attended two meetings now, one which Nathan Magill (head of refereeing) confirmed all levels of the game and another where Ross Joyce and Mo Matadar (national referee managers) repeated that assertion.

These messages tend to trickle down from the top so I would expect, if you arent yet operating at level 4 (and so won't have been privy to the above yet) your county FA should share this message in due course. Our county FA has started CPD inviting league reps and clubs along too in which I expect this will be covered.

Whilst I accept what the law says, I can only repeat what the governing body in the country has said. This is not going to be this league does it and this league does not. It will be at all levels of the game.

Edit: also what @CaptainsPlease said

Ok. I guess we will see what trickles down. But I’ve already heard leagues saying they don’t want to implement it so let’s see. Four things I would say are:
1. The first link in the FA email which is a 20slide presentation gives guidelines yes but does not state that it is mandatory in all leagues in England. Again a missed opportunity by the FA causing confusion (hence this thread).
2. I personally quite like the idea because if it’s implemented properly and on TV it will help at as a deterrent at all levels. (Although I fear too many refs who don’t study the guidelines will get it completely wrong and cause many problems).
3. I suspect that I personally in older youth and step 6/7 matches will rarely use it because so far in 300+matches I could count on one hand how many times I’ve felt surrounded.
4. A little bit of feedback for you James. Please don’t start a message on a public referee forum with the words “I will repeat” … some will find that condescending and arrogant, two traits that referees should best avoid if possible. I hope you accept that feedback in a positive way.

 

[JamesL]

.
4. A little bit of feedback for you James. Please don’t start a message on a public referee forum with the words “I will repeat” … some will find that condescending and arrogant, two traits that referees should best avoid if possible. I hope you accept that feedback in a positive way.

I will take your feedback in good faith but that is the problem with forums is messages can be read in whichever way the reader perceives it.

It was not meant to be condescending, I was merely, as I stated, repeating what I had already pointed out earlier in the thread the messages that I had received from senior figures within the FA refereeing department. So apologies that you took that in the wrong way.

 

[Kent Ref]

Ok. I guess we will see what trickles down. But I’ve already heard leagues saying they don’t want to implement it so let’s see. Four things I would say are:
1. The first link in the FA email which is a 20slide presentation gives guidelines yes but does not state that it is mandatory in all leagues in England. Again a missed opportunity by the FA causing confusion (hence this thread).
2. I personally quite like the idea because if it’s implemented properly and on TV it will help at as a deterrent at all levels. (Although I fear too many refs who don’t study the guidelines will get it completely wrong and cause many problems).
3. I suspect that I personally in older youth and step 6/7 matches will rarely use it because so far in 300+matches I could count on one hand how many times I’ve felt surrounded.
4. A little bit of feedback for you James. Please don’t start a message on a public referee forum with the words “I will repeat” … some will find that condescending and arrogant, two traits that referees should best avoid if possible. I hope you accept that feedback in a positive way.

It will be interesting to see what CFAs will tell us non-level 4s.

 

[Kent Ref]

I will take your feedback in good faith but that is the problem with forums is messages can be read in whichever way the reader perceives it.

It was not meant to be condescending, I was merely, as I stated, repeating what I had already pointed out earlier in the thread the messages that I had received from senior figures within the FA refereeing department. So apologies that you took that in the wrong way.

Agreed - the spoken word is so different to the written word.

As an autistic person this is very hard to understand / deal with.

 

[Dicky Herts]

I will take your feedback in good faith but that is the problem with forums is messages can be read in whichever way the reader perceives it.

It was not meant to be condescending, I was merely, as I stated, repeating what I had already pointed out earlier in the thread the messages that I had received from senior figures within the FA refereeing department. So apologies that you took that in the wrong way.

Thanks and I appreciate your support and opinion on this matter. Will be interesting to see what comes from the FA and counties to the grassroots leagues. Hope you have a good pre season James.

 

[one]

And I thought only our administrators down here were poor in communication. We had a similar confusion when sin bins were introduced. Hopefully this time it will be better.

Your season is about to start and from what I read on this forum there is no documentation or clear communication to all if the protocol is mandated or not.

 

[JamesL]

And I thought only our administrators down here were poor in communication. We had a similar confusion when sin bins were introduced. Hopefully this time it will be better.

Your season is about to start and from what I read on this forum there is no documentation or clear communication to all if the protocol is mandated or not.

From a regional perspective it varies.

Our county FA has already started delivering the message to its referees and wider football community.

From a national point of view (level 4 referees and up) these meetings have already taken place and the message communicated.

Back when sin bins came in here no one was allowed to referee until they'd been to a meeting about them