A&H

First game difficulties

S

shotscook

New Member
Hi all, Just thought I'd share some of my thoughts after my first few games having just completed the course.

My first game was on Saturday, an U13 boys game.

I have a few questions/points that I need clarifying so that I can improve and hoping some of you will be able to assist me.

Kit checks: As both teams were warming up (15 mins before KO) I asked each coach separately to get their teams to line up so I could do a kit check. Is this the normal way of doing this at youth level (I'm 23 so it's been a while since I've done youth football so forgive me if that's a dumb question).

Offside struggles: in the first half I was so focused at looking for fouls etc. on the field that I was forgetting to look at the assistants which meant I therefore missed them flagging for offside on a couple of occasions. The first occasion I gave a penalty then realised that the assistant had been flagging for an offside in the build up. I gave the penalty and apologised to the assistant at half time that I missed the signal. Could I have brought this back for the offside or was I right to stick with the pen?

How long ref? I'm sure this has probably been covered before but oh well. I answer the first few times when they ask how long left when there waas 10 mins to go, then say it louder so everyone can hear. 5 mins later same again, then again with 2 mins to go as I was repeatedly asked. should I just ignore it, how many times is overkill? please assist!

Having a word: One player tried standing in front of the ball on a couple of occasions to prevent a quick free kick. On both occasions i blew my whistle and sharlpy told him to move away. The 2nd time I feel i should have had a word with him. The game was not being played in that way at all and I feel that I bottled talking to him because he is only 13. thoughts?

2nd game was an u12 girls County cup game. nice and easy!

Look forward to hearing your tips and feedback!
 
The Referee Store
kit checks - when i'm doing a game on my own i generally undertake a similar approach and do the kit / equipment check during the warm up when all the players are together. makes it much easier to get round all the players quickly and with minimum fuss.

Offside - this is without doubt one of the hardest aspects of refereeing without neutral assistants. i would suggest that you should definitely not be relying on club assistants to give offsides (as it sounds like you may have been from your post), you should be looking for them as well (essentially to make sure the decisions they give are reliable and accurate). just something to get used to in general play.
changing subject slightly to how you notice them with their flag up...i work with neutral assistants mainly and have had similar issues in the past. i solve this by aiming to keep the ball inbetween myself and the assistant referee, that way you can see them raise their flag in your eyeline. this isnt always possible so i will also make a point of looking towards them if i think there's a possibility of an offside decision. that way i rarely miss a flag from them.
regarding coming back for the offside, as long as you haven't restarted play (ie the penalty kick hasnt yet been taken) you can come back for an earlier infringement so (assuming the player was indeed offside) offside will have been the correct decision

how long ref - just answer them, no matter the level / age group you'll get players chriping up every few mins, just let them know what they want to know and get on with the game

having a word - you already know what you've done wrong! next time do what you know is right and give him the bollocking he deserves!
 
Offsides - when I first qualified, I cut my teeth in “youth” Football, mainly u16, some U15. I found that, on the whole, the club Lino’s were great - they tended to be a Dad who did it week in week out for their club, tried their best, were honest, and were a great help. As the season went on, I got to know them as, inevitably, I’d end up doing the same teams. I feel somewhat spoiled, and I found the transition to OA hard as suddenly I now longer had reliable assistants and had to adjust my game to accommodate less help from the line.

Re: have a word - a phrase I often use when a player is standing over the ball is:

“Don’t make me come over and count them out, it’ll only make me grumpy” - seems to work most of the time: an implied threat without being threatening, so keeps the temperature cool and allows the player to withdraw without lose of face.

HTH
J
 
Regarding how long left ref, something to consider is telling them at a stoppage in play, as the less time you take your eyes off the ball /play to look at your wrist, the less chance you'll miss something.

Don't think they have to be told immediately.

Make them wait if needs be, but tell them you'll tell them how long soon.
 
wazztie16 said:
Regarding how long left ref, something to consider is telling them at a stoppage in play, as the less time you take your eyes off the ball /play to look at your wrist, the less chance you'll miss something.

Don't think they have to be told immediately.

Make them wait if needs be, but tell them you'll tell them how long soon.
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Absolutely agree with this, good advice.

If a player asks “how long, ref” whilst ball is in play I just say “ask me at the next stoppage” Keeps everyone happy and you focused on what’s important.
 
Thankyou for all your responses and tips so far, it really is helpful!

@es1 I think you're right in that I was over reliant on the assistants to give offsides, but I think this in part down to it being my first game and wanting to focus on the basics.

However, what @RefJef resonates with regards to the club assistants in youth football being quite good - that was certainly my experience on this occasion. They were also very supportive when I told them it was my first game and it was a very pleasant environment to referee in.
 
First, congrats on getting out there! A few thoughts:

OS: I don't use club ARs, so take with a grain of salt. It might have been useful to go talk to the AR and see exactly what he was flagging (assuming you had told ARs to flag OS). You absolutely can go back to the OS, if warranted. The conversation could help you decide if you should. FWIW: I tell my ARs that if I miss a flag, I'd like them to call "flag"--it's pretty distinctive on a soccer pitch.

How long? I used to not answer this, or only give cutesy responses like "plenty" or "enough," but evolved on it. I'll tell players if I can look conveniently, or give an "about 10," which can cover a more broad period. If it's the same player, I'll say something like "about 2 minutes less than last time you asked."

FKs: You have to deal a bit with what's customary where you are. But I would not have had as much patience as you did. I'll usually warn the first knucklehead, but you had the same knucklehead you warned come up and stop a quick kick a second time. I would have cautioned for that. But again, you need to know what local expectations are--you don't want (especially as a newer ref) to be on a one man crusade about respecting the distance.
 
I had zero help at the start, I was out there fighting a losing battle against what I thought was a lawless rabble. I was on a massive learning curve to sink or swim. Luckily for me and unluckily for them I learned quickly and eventually became the go to ref for any problem game in the crappiest league in Sheffield. They feared me more than I feared them. That took time though. It is hard at the start and you have to get through a few shiitty games to learn what’s what. Making mistakes is expected, they’ll make far more. Ask questions here too, a few actually know what their talking about!
 
Kit Checks - What you've done sounds spot-on to me.

Offside - I might be misunderstanding @es1 here, but I would say there seems to be a bit of a north/south divide on this. Up north, the convention seems to be for club AR's to be given nothing to do with offside, down south they're expected to flag offsides...but it's obviously always up to you if you want to accept the flag!
I agree with the advice to try and get wide - if you can manage big diagonals to get near the right backs, you'll have the ball between you and the AR most of the time and will usually see the flag in the background without having to especially look. If you're behind the play and central, you'll have to consciously look over to the AR and might not think to do so if it doesn't look like offside from your position.

How long ref - this is always going to be asked. It's a personal decision how much you want to respond, but given I'm yet to referee in a stadium with a big clock, it's always seemed fair enough to me to ask the only man who's allowed to wear a watch!

Having a word - you're entitled in law to whip a card out for this straight away...but to do so the first time (especially at U13's) would surprise most people. I've recently carded first time for a player who both ran from a distance to block and then refused to comply when I asked him to move away, but this is very unusual. Usually it would take a serial offender (or a consistent strategy by a team) for me to start carding for this.
Remember though - the team who will be wanting to block/slow down a FK are usually the offenders and a FK is designed as a punishment for their offense. Their rights in this situation are pretty limited and certainly don't include a right to frustrate their opponents' desire to play quickly.
 
Ben448844 said:
My first game was on the line. The ref got a bad assessment (unfairly imo) and cried in the showers.

@Sheffields Finest assuming I know the league you're on about, I'm reffing in that league on Sunday.
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It may be choir boys now I don't know!! But if you can cut your gib at that level you can forget all this 3,5,6 supply stuff. Thats for the glory hunters!! ;) They've never done a hard game in their life LOL!!!
 
We all had to learn how to deal with these situations
I never get neutral assistants and instruct Cars ins and outs only, you get used to doing offsides on your own but you will make errors. I apparently missed one last week that every man and his dog saw except me.
If I'm asked how long left, I wait until convenient and then bellow whatever time plus stoppage.
I had a game last season when at every fk the coach was screaming "stand over the ball". Warned them very loudly that if they do it once more the yc is out. Next free kick, guess what..
At the end of the game the young lads dad was adamant he shouldn't have had the caution because his coach told him to do it
.
Keep going and it will all fall into place. Its a great hobby, you meet some great people, embrace them and deal with the dickheads accordingly.
 
Just tell the tiddlers how long is left and worry about the big fish to fry and don't let players over the ball take the proverbial...
Missing an AR's flag is bad refereeing, so don't let it happen again (I occasionally tell myself)
 
GraemeS said:
Kit Checks - What you've done sounds spot-on to me.

Offside - I might be misunderstanding @es1 here, but I would say there seems to be a bit of a north/south divide on this. Up north, the convention seems to be for club AR's to be given nothing to do with offside, down south they're expected to flag offsides...but it's obviously always up to you if you want to accept the flag!
I agree with the advice to try and get wide - if you can manage big diagonals to get near the right backs, you'll have the ball between you and the AR most of the time and will usually see the flag in the background without having to especially look. If you're behind the play and central, you'll have to consciously look over to the AR and might not think to do so if it doesn't look like offside from your position.

How long ref - this is always going to be asked. It's a personal decision how much you want to respond, but given I'm yet to referee in a stadium with a big clock, it's always seemed fair enough to me to ask the only man who's allowed to wear a watch!

Having a word - you're entitled in law to whip a card out for this straight away...but to do so the first time (especially at U13's) would surprise most people. I've recently carded first time for a player who both ran from a distance to block and then refused to comply when I asked him to move away, but this is very unusual. Usually it would take a serial offender (or a consistent strategy by a team) for me to start carding for this.
Remember though - the team who will be wanting to block/slow down a FK are usually the offenders and a FK is designed as a punishment for their offense. Their rights in this situation are pretty limited and certainly don't include a right to frustrate their opponents' desire to play quickly.
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You're not wrong, I've never had a club AR give offsides!
 
Sheffields Finest said:
It may be choir boys now I don't know!! But if you can cut your gib at that level you can forget all this 3,5,6 supply stuff. Thats for the glory hunters!! ;) They've never done a hard game in their life LOL!!!
Click to expand...

Inner City Sunday League football is very different to other football. I've alot of experience playing and now reffing grass roots and slightly higher level stuff. The expectations and style in inner city Sunday League stuff is very different to contrib or supply football. It is a throw back and it's very different for the man in the middle. It made me as a player and it makes you as a referee. It's real, less choreographed than other football. It's also more fun. Its harder but it's enjoyable.
 
I’ve seen a few higher level refs locally that I wouldn’t trust on a kids game and they’re plying their trade in OA. I feel sorry for the players sometimes
 
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I have got back into refereeing after packing it in 10 yrs ago. My first game back was a 1 sides u14 game. In the league I'm doing club assistants give in and out and you have to call your own offside. It's difficult but it's also fairer I think.

Checking kit in warm up is good as you can interact with the players and as you say about the one stopping a quick free kick its good to have a word depending on the situation.

I've done 5 youth games so far ( all one sided ) im starting again from scratch so I need to prove myself again and next week I'm doing senior football. I've been keeping it simple and getting back into the groove of giving decisions without thinking about it.

I've decided that this time round I have no ambition other than to initially be a competent grass roots referee and should I be deemed good enough then a competent ref at the next level.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy it
 
shotscook said:
Offside struggles: in the first half I was so focused at looking for fouls etc. on the field that I was forgetting to look at the assistants which meant I therefore missed them flagging for offside on a couple of occasions. The first occasion I gave a penalty then realised that the assistant had been flagging for an offside in the build up. I gave the penalty and apologised to the assistant at half time that I missed the signal. Could I have brought this back for the offside or was I right to stick with the pen?
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This is a really tough one and very much depends on the league you referee in. I'm in Sussex and in general, even the club assistants are mostly fair and you just have to go with the assumption that they are being honest. You can very quickly figure out those that are fair and those that aren't and then can overrule any offside decision during a game that is incorrect.
As for spotting them, this is a big issue unless you've got the very expensive flags and something I miss often as well. Firstly learn to have a quick glance over if play allows you to. But failing that, as sometimes you can't take your eyes off the play, what I tell the assistants during the brief before the game (and don't forget to brief the new one if they change during the game) is if they flag, then they must stop dead and keep the flag up until I see them and if I haven't seen them, to bring it to my attention by shouting my name or "flag." I will make it clear if I've seen the flag but I'm playing on, I will give a big thumbs up to them. The biggest issue is them flagging, thinking I'm ignoring them and then putting the flag down and continuing on.
As for bringing the play back, you should 100% do that if the call is fair. After the ball has gone out of play / play has been stopped, ask them to explain why they flagged or ask a simple yes or no question, to verify they've made the right call. If it's a good call, you should go back and award the offside, if it's not a good call, player was in an offside position but wasn't interfering for example, then thank them, explain why it wasn't an offside offence and then allow whatever had happened prior to play being stopped to be the decision.
 
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