Recently while watching (not reffing) a game at step 5 in the English non-league system there was an incident in the game where the ref did not show up presumably for a valid reason. To make up for this a linesman acted as the ref and the teams supplied a 'linesman' for each half. I was a little confused as I know linesman don't necessarily need to have all the 'kit' in lower leagues, grassroots etc. And just wandered what the rules were surrounding this. Cheers for any help!
Does a linesman need to have necessary training?
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League rules typically state that in the non-appearance of or injury to the referee the senior assistant will take over and a suitable substitute be agreed by both clubs. This can be an active official who is there as a spectator or sometimes someone from either clubs committee.
Very rare it’s happened to me. I’ve had one where referee has no showed and I ended up doing it, and 2 cases of injury where the referee has been replaced and a volunteer found for the other line.
Very rare it’s happened to me. I’ve had one where referee has no showed and I ended up doing it, and 2 cases of injury where the referee has been replaced and a volunteer found for the other line.
At step 5 the referee will be a level 4 and the ARs anything between 5 and 7. The standard step 5 rules will say that the senior AR takes over in the middle and a replacement AR is found, or the game continues with 2 officials if the clubs can't agree on a replacement.
As for necessary "training", a level 4 will have had decent observations at level 5 to get to 4, and will have passed the fitness test. The level / standard / quality / qualification of the AR taking over will vary per game. There's a more than decent chance that AR1 will be either a former L4 or someone on the 5-4 promotion path, but there really isn't any kind of guarantee. There's absolutely no requirement for an L4, or indeed an L3 to have "advanced" equipment such as buzzer flags.
As for necessary "training", a level 4 will have had decent observations at level 5 to get to 4, and will have passed the fitness test. The level / standard / quality / qualification of the AR taking over will vary per game. There's a more than decent chance that AR1 will be either a former L4 or someone on the 5-4 promotion path, but there really isn't any kind of guarantee. There's absolutely no requirement for an L4, or indeed an L3 to have "advanced" equipment such as buzzer flags.
Thanks for the prompt replies! What was interesting was that the replacement AR changed at half time as both teams offered a 'substitute'. This resulted in having a member of the backrooms staff of one team on the line in the 1st half and a sub/reserve player on the line in the 2nd (neither I assume with any sort of training, certainly from how they officiated anyway though they did a fine job). Thankfully the only questionable decision (as I could see) went against the team that won anyway.
Out of interest how would that work in relation to offside calls? Cheers for any help again.
The referee would take offside on his own in the half without an AR.
I see that makes sense. I do think if any decisions had been too outrageous the referee would have overruled.
I had it happen in a step 3 game I was refereeing where an AR got injured. Both clubs were arguing like children about who should take over, the home club actually had a qualified referee in the crowd but the away team objected because he coached at youth level at the club. Once I said "OK, we will carry on with the two of us then", and they had worked out it would be their defence without an AR, they were more than happy for him to be used.
I have been the referee when only 1 assistant turned up at step 6.
I kept my qualified assistant bench side for both halves, and each club provided a volunteer to run the line for their team each half.
The instructions were clear, no fouls. Only ball in/out of play, and offsides. I made sure that my positioning favoured the CAR side, and gave my neutral assistant a bigger credibility zone.
I also made it clear that if I thought at any stage they were not keeping up with play, or being unfair towards the opposition with their decisions, then I would have them replaced or call the offsides myself. Thankfully both CARs were helpful, and neither caused any issues for me.
ChasObserverRefDeveloper
Regular Contributor
The NAR can help to control the technical area occupants and manage substitutions, which a CAR could not.
Personally I would always put my more senior official on the benches - they're more suited to the extra mental load of handing the benches and subs. And in the case where you have a NAR and CAR, the NAR is more senior by definition even if they're a brand new L9.
I did recently work with a referee who was given me and another L5 as AR's, designated me as Junior and then put me on bench side. His argument was that if he went down and one of us had to step in, the Senior AR being on the far side would have a clean slate with the benches. I'm not convinced that's a good thing (I think if the benches were causing trouble, I'd want to know that I need to start off being stricter with them?), but it's definitely a fair argument.
I had similar in step 4 game recently. I was 'junior AR' but went bench side.
The referees reasoning was to keep consistency on that side. If he were to get injured and I had come on, there other AR would have had to start from scratch building the rapport with the benches.
The referees reasoning was to keep consistency on that side. If he were to get injured and I had come on, there other AR would have had to start from scratch building the rapport with the benches.
Think it is an emerging trend. Someone trying to be different and standout and it is catching on.
At step 3/4 and above the standard of AR is more consistent so you're going to get more success but the notion of putting a brand new L7 on dugouts on his first line it just not going to happen.
ChasObserverRefDeveloper
Regular Contributor
And the increasing number of specialist AR's is creating a situation where the non-specialists tend not to gain experience on the bench side.
That’s what I was referring to to be honest .. I had the exact same from a level 5 once .. so was querying what was the norm