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I once refereed a ladies' game where the keeper took the ball in hand to the edge of the penalty area, then handed it to a defender who carried out the drop kick! They seemed very surprised when I gave a penalty, explaining that the goalkeeper "did not have a good kick". They caused a huge...

I am also an older ref and have always recorded my games freehand on two 3' x 5" note pads. I need to note goals, goal times, and all misconduct. I also note team name, colours, and who kicked off. I have never found it any problem to fit all the info in.

Both kicking backwards and wrong kicker are offences that are met with a caution and IFK (though for wrong kicker it is the new kicker who is cautioned, not the original). And in all these cases, if goalkeeper also offends, we ignore it. Clear and simple, what's the problem?

As an Australian referee can I just ask what UK refs need to do for cautions? Do you need to write up a report for each, or just indicate it has been given? Here in Western Australia we just enter online the game result, plus goalscorers (with times). For cautions we indicate time and basic...

I think you guys are missing the point here. The Law quite clearly states that the goalkeeper is considered to be in control of the ball if they hold it in both hands, or hold it between one hand and ground, or even MERELY TOUCH the ball with a hand or arm while it is in the air ("or by...

Just to be clear, as Social Lurker said, CREF is not used with holding offences. A caution would depend not on severity of hold but on how much it affects play (eg is it SPA or DOGSO?). Also be aware thgat in the Glossary to LOTG it says: Holding offence A holding offence occurs only when a...

I don't usually do junior games (open age games do allow you to add on time), but in one junior game I had a serious injury that could not be moved and we had to abandon the match.

Here in Western Australia it is written into the FootballWest rules for Community Junior Football that: "No time may be added to the end of each period for stoppages or injuries." There is nothing however about not cautioning for time wasting.

I had a ladies' game where one player went down injured just outside the touchline. I called out "She's off the pitch, she can get treatment, play on". The coach (probably jokingly) said to her "roll on the pitch, he'll have to stop the game". She immediately did so, just as the play moved in...

Actually I fully agree with this. I think they wanted to set right an awful mistake, but had to twist it to sound like an error in Law, since replaying over an error in fact would have opened a terrible Pandora's box.

Social Lurker has been spot on in his comments. Some of you guys clearly do not understand the distinction between error in facts and error in Law. An error in Law is only committed if the referee displays a lack of knowledge of the Laws of the Game. Let's be clear, just making a mistake is not...

Rester is quite correct, and JamesL I believe there IS a black and white distinction between fact and Law. If you give a goal and a replay shows the ball did not cross the line, you may get into serious problems for missing it, but NO error in Law has been committed. This kind of error is not...

It seems a number of people here are confusing errors in fact with errors in Law. Referee sends off wrong player; books someone three times; says the ball went into the net when it didn't; gives a penalty when a player clearly dived - all errors in fact. Referee writes on report that he...

I am sorry but I have seen the outcome of this kind of thinking. In the 70s and 80s the Law worked in precisely this way. It led to games with 30 offsides or more ( I know, I officiated in them) and dull low scoring outcomes. Offside is always gonna be unfair, either to attackers or defenders...

On a more practical level, you will find you need to adjust your positioning for corners and goal kicks. Corners: I often set up on the same side of the penalty area as the kicker. It is rare for a corner to be kicked to far post or beyond. Goal kicks: I usually waiting about halfway between...

The problem is, we HAD Laws that left handball as essentially "if in the opinion of the referee it was deliberate" and Football (ie coaches and commentators) screamed that it was unfair and needed rewriting. Whenever people say that football wants something, they really mean that THEY want it...

Except, being a corner kick, if he scored this goal directly he could not be offside.

I have been officiating at games since 1978 and handling has ALWAYS been a problem. Back in the day the Laws gave no other guidance than that handball had to be "a deliberate act". It was totally left to the judgement of the referee. Did this make decisions consistent? Not in the slightest...

Here in Western Australia we use team sheets, entered online by clubs pre match, and when we caution or dismiss a player we merely show the card and make a note of their number. This is at all levels, including grassroots. We have never had any problem with it, and clubs know that if they made...

I don't know Comet. We use a program called Gameday for entry of results/cautions/scorers and another called Schedula for letting everyone know what games they have been allocated. It's all very easy, and totally paper free.