The Ref Stop

Coin Toss - YOUTH Games

Josh the referee said:
Think that's quite rude actually. I'm just generally asking a question that wasn't covered in my course. I have only refereed 4 games and am just trying to work out how to do things properly.
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Apologies if you found that rude, however, several members had already posted the correct procedure in law and you’d argued back that it’s only U11’s and you’d watched over 100 games where there were no change of ends.

If you ask a question and are then given an answer by experienced, knowledgeable referees then don’t ignore, dismiss or argue with it.
 
The Ref Stop
Will_A said:
Apologies if you found that rude, however, several members had already posted the correct procedure in law and you’d argued back that it’s only U11’s and you’d watched over 100 games where there were no change of ends.

If you ask a question and are then given an answer by experienced, knowledgeable referees then don’t ignore, dismiss or argue with it.
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I do apologise for the way I angrily reacted to the other comments in the thread, I just had a really bad match experience today that made me think about quitting. Just being constantly shouted at and having 12 parents and a manger who think they are all qualified referees. It's hard to block out as an U16 and unexperienced referee.

I do want to ask a few genuine question: how exactly do you carry out this coin Toss? What do you say to the captains? And how does it work for Extra Time?
 
Josh the referee said:
I do apologise for the way I angrily reacted to the other comments in the thread, I just had a really bad match experience today that made me think about quitting. Just being constantly shouted at and having 12 parents and a manger who think they are all qualified referees. It's hard to block out as an U16 and unexperienced referee.

I do want to ask a few genuine question: how exactly do you carry out this coin Toss? What do you say to the captains? And how does it work for Extra Time?
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We all have bad games/days, key is to try and identify if it was 22 idiots + parents/coaches that caused it or whether there was something different you could have done to make the game easier.

The positive is, I can guarantee the coin toss wasn’t the catalyst for whatever happened!

Everyone has different spiel at the start of a game, but the coin toss doesn’t need to be anything more complicated than:

“Away skipper call heads or tails”
“It is heads, well done, would you like to kick off or pick ends?
“Home skipper, your kick/your choice of ends”

Repeat the same process for extra time.
 
Will_A said:
We all have bad games/days, key is to try and identify if it was 22 idiots + parents/coaches that caused it or whether there was something different you could have done to make the game easier.

The positive is, I can guarantee the coin toss wasn’t the catalyst for whatever happened!

Everyone has different spiel at the start of a game, but the coin toss doesn’t need to be anything more complicated than:

“Away skipper call heads or tails”
“It is heads, well done, would you like to kick off or pick ends?
“Home skipper, your kick/your choice of ends"
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Really appreciate that!! Thank you!
 
Josh the referee said:
What at YOUTH Level!! U11's switching ends!!
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But you are not forcing them switch ends. You are giving them choice to (as per law). If they choose to do so, then it's their choice.

What age do you think is a good aga to switch ends? What if someone else doesn't agree with it and wants to start at a different age?

Laws of the game are there so that we are all consistent and none of us hears last week's ref didn't do this or that.
 
Taking my ref hat off and popping my coaches hat on... the GK for the U10 team I coach has drilled our captain into which end they want at home (ideally). When away, the team will often have a very quick chat about which end they'd prefer if given the choice.

Teams will change if given the option, even if individual refs haven't seen it at youth levels... keep it simple, follow the LOTG.

Ref hat back on...
 
DAW7 said:
Taking my ref hat off and popping my coaches hat on... the GK for the U10 team I coach has drilled our captain into which end they want at home (ideally). When away, the team will often have a very quick chat about which end they'd prefer if given the choice.

Teams will change if given the option, even if individual refs haven't seen it at youth levels... keep it simple, follow the LOTG.

Ref hat back on...
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Absolutely. I remember we'd do it if we were going to be playing into the sun and won the toss.
 
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RustyRef said:
It is a bit worrying that something as basic as how to choose ends and kick off wasn't covered on your course. You have your answer now though so hopefully there is no further confusion, the winner of the toss gets to choose ends or to kick off.
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If Josh attended the new style of course introduced in England last year, the coin toss was covered in the online learning, although in my area we repeat it on the course via a question on Slido.
 
Serious question, now that ifab are getting a little pedantic about this, do we actually have to flip a 'flat disc used as money' to comply. For example the FIFA fair play disc is technically not a coin.
 
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one said:
And 99.9% of referees give the option of heads first when asking the question (heads or tails). The stats may be dependent 😉😊
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That is interesting. May be guilty of that myself. May have to run the experiment.
 
On another point, professional teams tend to warm up in front of their own fans but prefer kicking towards them in the 2nd half - hence why, even at that level, changing ends is quite rare.
 
Always surprises me that more away teams in particular don't switch ends. At our level, the home team will often arrive and start warming up first at a particular end, and will then line up in that end ahead of the game. If I was the away captain, even if I couldn't see why, I would assume there is a reason they wanted to start at that end and therefore would switch ends if given the choice.
 
My local lot always want the away lino (CAR) their side second half so they can get in his ear. :D
 
I've NEVER (not even a U5 rec game) seen teams NOT switch sides at half time. For the coin toss, I like to be clearer than most because I find kids to be confused when a referee just says...."Side or Ball" or even "Pick an end". The kids are always like "what?" Are the kids assumed to know that you are asking which side to "attack" or are you asking them which side to "defend" or something else? So I ask what the law says, "Would you like to choose which goal you would like to attack in the first half or would you like to Kick Off instead?" It's very clear to the kids. When doing the coin toss, if there is NOT a HEAD on the coin, I don't ask them to pick "heads or tails". So many refs have these commemorative type coins with a some logo on one side and something else on the other. They'll say...OK, this picture of the Capitol Building (or something) is Heads and this picture of the Statue of Liberty (or something) is tails. The ref flips the coin and no one remembers what the hell the ref said was heads and what was tails...including me. The kids have no idea if they won the toss or not. They just take the referee's word for it. If I have a "real" coin with a head/face on one side, then I will ask "heads or tails". Otherwise, I will say..."Black or Gold" or "Red or Silver", because they are the coins I have an like to use. I understand that there can be color blindness issues but I haven't had that yet. I just ask if everyone can see that this side is "Red" and this side is "Gold". I also have a 50 cent piece as well that actually has a head on it so, if I use it, I will ask "Heads or Tails". Lastly, once I did a game and the center referee did the toss. One team won. And he asked, Ball or Side". They captain choose, side. He said to the team that did not win the toss "OK, you will be kicking off this way". The captain of the team that lost the flip said, we don't want to kick off first. So the center referee asked the winning team if they wanted to kick off first as well and they did, so the ref gave the KO to the team that won the toss and picked the side. I was like....what did I just see. : )
 
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