The Ref Stop

6-5 Observation

Mogdon

Mogdon

New Member
Gulp, first post so typing with sweaty palms, but just needed to ask for opinion on the following.
I had my first observation for my 6-5 promotion. Pretty much straightforward and on the whole a fairly positive report. Standard expected across all areas. No real KMI's but some decent development points to focus on as well as several examples listed of good match control and application of Law.
For this game I had NAR's and part of my pre-match covered who was senior and what was required with dealing with benches and substitutions. Also to keep full match record.
In all 5 substitutions were made. The assistant carried these out on the halfway line. Checked the player coming on and waited for the player to leave before allowing the sub on.
The exact procedure I carry out when assistant. After the game the referee would usually ask me to record the substitutions on the team sheet for him. Which is what I did after this game.
However, in my observation report the observer wrote "When carrying out substitutions, you must go to the half way and take charge of the substitution taking place and not to leave it all for your assistant to do"
I do this as standard when reffing with CARs but as stated I had NARs.
I realise this may be a trivial but in the overall context of the report it has niggled me a bit.

In asking for opinion and guidance on this forum I presume my journey to the dark side is complete!
 
The Ref Stop
By your description, it sounds like you signaled for the sub to take place and then left everything to your NAR? I think it's a fair point of development to say that you should take an active role in the process. That can just mean being in the general area, confirming who is coming on and off and taking their numbers, even if you're leaving the NAR to handle the major stuff like checking equipment, making sure it's done from halfway etc.

Did you take note of the substitutions as well or just leave it to the NAR?
 
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Standard for me in pre match would be "subs are yours, unless I'm closer in which case save your legs and stay with the last defender"

That way, keeps the observer happy as you've taken some control of them, but in reality you probably won't do any anyway :p
 
I have never heard this advice before and would suggest its absolute tosh. Assistants do subs, its pretty standard at all levels of football with NAR's. As Ross said if your closer then do it rather than have the assistant run up from the corner flag if you are 10 foot away.
 
In a recent Contrib game I was the senior AR and the referee told us before the game he got the exact opposite advice to the one you received. So I ended up taking care of all the substitutions myself even if i had to leg it from one end of the pitch to the halfway line.

But I agree a very strange advice, especially with NARs. Usually (with NARs) I do the same as what others have pointed out earlier, and tell the NARs that if I'm closer right in front of the dugouts I'll take care of it. On the corner kick, one advice I've been giving is try to have the AR deal with subs while you manage the penalty area. It does mean that they have some distance to cover, but you as a referee are more credible to deal with any incidents if they in or around the penalty area rather than the AR who will/might have limited view and thus less credible than you.
 
Yeah, I'd agree with the others, that seems like rubbish to me. I'd suggest you should be paying attention in case the assistant does need backup for whatever reason, and maybe look for some kind of thumbs up gesture at the end to confirm they're happy, but that's the most I'd expect.
 
It's also confusing roles / responsibilities a little bit if you delegate subs to your senior AR... but then sometimes take them off him / her. To me, that isn't strong teamwork. Trust them.

You also don't want to get into the habit of going into the Drama Zone (i.e. technical areas) for this sort of thing. When are subs most likely to be made? Towards the end of the match. When are the technical areas most likely to be agitated? Wandering over to do a sub is putting you in a situation you may not want to be in.

You can also use the time that a sub is happening in to catch-up with players where appropriate. E.g. polite chat with a captain that one of his players is being a bit chippy and can he keep an eye before you need to do something.

In short, there is no such thing as dead ball time when refereeing.
 
While it is on your shoulders to ensure that the substitutions are dealt with in accordance with league rules and LOTG, this is not sensible development advice!

if your AR had been struggling and getting it wrong (inexperience), then the logic may seem valid but the wording of the advice is CR4P. Only go there, if your AR cannot cope.

Going when not necessary, can only lead to you getting a "gob full" of issues that you may have to react to.

Leave to the AR's.
 
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However....if not with NAR's.......don't stand and just wave subs on......as I have observed on more than a few occasions......
 
Perhaps the observer forgot you had neutrals. That's all I can think. Otherwise it's advice I would ditch pronto.
 
Paul March said:
Perhaps the observer forgot you had neutrals. That's all I can think. Otherwise it's advice I would ditch pronto.
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Yeah, I think that's a possibility - perhaps it would be worth contacting teh observer directly and clarifying if this advice still applies when using NAR's?
 
It is poor advice, you don't need to go over for every substitution if you have NARs. It might be sensible to go over and help if there are multiple changes, so the assistant can deal with paperwork and you do the checks. Although that depends on the game, I'd go and help assistants if things were going well, but if one or both benches were annoyed with me then wild horses wouldn't have dragged me over there, as it would just be risking conflict.
 
Thank you all for the comments and advice. I feel more at ease. Good luck to all with your games this weekend.
 
UKColt said:
By your description, it sounds like you signaled for the sub to take place and then left everything to your NAR? I think it's a fair point of development to say that you should take an active role in the process. That can just mean being in the general area, confirming who is coming on and off and taking their numbers, even if you're leaving the NAR to handle the major stuff like checking equipment, making sure it's done from halfway etc.

Did you take note of the substitutions as well or just leave it to the NAR?
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I did not take an active role. One of the advantages of being with NARs is having some of those duties shared. I did clearly signal for play to halt while subs were done. Waited for the assistant to get back into position, thumbs up before signalling the restart.
 
Mike Donnelly said:
However, in my observation report the observer wrote "When carrying out substitutions, you must go to the half way and take charge of the substitution taking place and not to leave it all for your assistant to do"
I do this as standard when reffing with CARs but as stated I had NARs.
I realise this may be a trivial but in the overall context of the report it has niggled me a bit.
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Total tosh.
Mike Donnelly said:
In asking for opinion and guidance on this forum I presume my journey to the dark side is complete!
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Nope, not even part way there.
Nalbi said:
In a recent Contrib game I was the senior AR and the referee told us before the game he got the exact opposite advice to the one you received.
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A Level 5 senior AR on a Contrib game? I don't believe that. That would suggest that the other AR was also L5 or below. I was under the impression that it's a minimum L4 for Assistant on Contrib, especially in your neck of the woods.
 
Brian Hamilton said:
Total tosh.

Nope, not even part way there.

A Level 5 senior AR on a Contrib game? I don't believe that. That would suggest that the other AR was also L5 or below. I was under the impression that it's a minimum L4 for Assistant on Contrib, especially in your neck of the woods.
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Sorry my bad, I got that mixed up I meant supply league. I was under the impression that this the contributor league, so i hold my hand up and acknowledge my error. Please be gentle ;)
 
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