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First Game yesterday - help with positioning

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snap_RL

snap_RL

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Whilst I'm still waiting for the county FA to restart their Referee Courses (I'm on a wiating list), I did my fisrt game yesyerday - an U15 match for my local Club. Really enjoyed it, played in a great spirit, bit of back-chat here and there but nothing that over-stepped the mark. I felt it went OK.

On reflection, the one thing I felt unsure about was some of my positioning in open play. I was running the suggested diagonal from right back to right back (you know what I mean), but often found myself veering away from this and almost following the ball. I know this will get better with experience, but if anyone has any tips, that'd be great.
 
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snap_RL said:
Whilst I'm still waiting for the county FA to restart their Referee Courses (I'm on a wiating list), I did my fisrt game yesyerday - an U15 match for my local Club. Really enjoyed it, played in a great spirit, bit of back-chat here and there but nothing that over-stepped the mark. I felt it went OK.

On reflection, the one thing I felt unsure about was some of my positioning in open play. I was running the suggested diagonal from right back to right back (you know what I mean), but often found myself veering away from this and almost following the ball. I know this will get better with experience, but if anyone has any tips, that'd be great.
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As you mentioned experience plays a big part but if you focus on getting wide as much as you can, whilst being close enough to play when there’s pressure on the ball then you’ll find you’ll be where you need to be most of the time.

The caveat is you need to work hard to make sure you’re in those positions. Personally I’ve found the more I’ve ran, the easier it’s been to make and ‘sell’ decisions.

The more experienced you get the more you’ll be able to read play and know where you need to be. For example if a teams in comfortable possession towards the halfway line and they’ve been playing balls in behind, I know I need to get wide and push up to watch for the potential offside.

Same if there’s a press or if a team isn’t great in possession, I’ll make sure I get closer to play for the inevitable challenges.

No doubt there will be a difference in opinion in regards to the diagonal when there’s no AR’s, but i find you need to be more dynamic in your positioning when you’re by yourself. I’ve heard the ‘lazy S’ being mentioned in here which is probably more realistic.

For aerial challenges always make your best effort to get side-on.
 
Cheers Eddie - that's really helpful advice about reading the game. I think I was keen to be near the play to help "sell" the decisions (as you put it) and I reckon that was part of the issue about me getting caught out when the ball was switched quickly.

There were 2 ARs yesterday (both willing parents) and to be fair they did a decent job with the offsides, so I can't use that as an excuse!
 
snap_RL said:
Cheers Eddie - that's really helpful advice about reading the game. I think I was keen to be near the play to help "sell" the decisions (as you put it) and I reckon that was part of the issue about me getting caught out when the ball was switched quickly.

There were 2 ARs yesterday (both willing parents) and to be fair they did a decent job with the offsides, so I can't use that as an excuse!
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If you’ve got the time you’ll find watching some local referees will be useful. The higher the standard the better. Watch what the referee does as play develops etc.
 
snap_RL said:
Whilst I'm still waiting for the county FA to restart their Referee Courses (I'm on a wiating list), I did my fisrt game yesyerday - an U15 match for my local Club. Really enjoyed it, played in a great spirit, bit of back-chat here and there but nothing that over-stepped the mark. I felt it went OK.

On reflection, the one thing I felt unsure about was some of my positioning in open play. I was running the suggested diagonal from right back to right back (you know what I mean), but often found myself veering away from this and almost following the ball. I know this will get better with experience, but if anyone has any tips, that'd be great.
Click to expand...
The aim we get across in basic courses is for the referee to have a good viewing angle and to be within 10-15 metres of the active play whenever possible.
Aim to be left of the ball, so you can see the action and your active assistant(s)
Hope that helps
 
When you have ARs, think about having play more or less between you and the AR so you can see a flag. That will put you on enough of a diagonal—and is the purpose of the diagonal. The diagonal is not supposed to be a rigid path, but a tool to help you see what you need to see and the AR. When play is near the AR, there is. To pint in you being 40 yards away across the field. Congrats on your first game!
 
Firstly, you say that you have done your first game but are waiting on referee course? Assume you were a person mutually agreed upon who shall have full powers blah blah blah, rather than an assigned referee?

Secondly, the diagonal is best for with neutral Assistants, as they help cover the areas that you don't when running a diagonal.
When on my own, I tend to work in an oval, being closer to play, than perhaps I would in a team of 3, so don't worry about being drawn off the diagonal line.
And in any event, positioning is not rigid. There are times when play and you starting position require you to be less orthodox.. There was a great example of this at a recent world Cup, the referees sprint and change of position allowed him to make a crucial decision, all because he took an unorthodox line to get a good view of play.

The last point I will make which couples with my previous is that the best position is one from which you can make the correct decision.
 
JamesL said:
Firstly, you say that you have done your first game but are waiting on referee course? Assume you were a person mutually agreed upon who shall have full powers blah blah blah, rather than an assigned referee?
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Absolutely James. We are always short of referees in our lower division Youth games, so unqualified but enthusisastic newbies are very much the order of the day!
 
A couple of items from me, be wary of your threshold for "nothing that over-stepped the mark". In my experience for most new referees, this is too high and very often they put it in the empathy basket. Empathy is a very good quality to have as a referee but you should also know when the line ends. Even with empathy you have to know when to be firm. Not knowing that line often leads to loss of control with ill disciplined teams.

The traditional style of teaching has three factors for positioning,
1. Angle of view to play, get side on angle to play. External angle (to the left of play) if possible or internal.
2. Distance, be about 10 to 15 yards from play
3. (memory fails me for the term) Ref ball AR. keep play between yourself and your AR

Above is in the order of priority. 3. which requires diagonal running is the least important. Some instructors put the importance at 60%, 30% and 10% respectively. My suggestion, as far as positioning, the first things to work on are anticipation of play to give yourself a head-start, not ball watching (common to new referees) and getting your angle of view right.
 
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I’m just going to add one more comment. Don’t worry too much about the details until you do a few games. Once you’ve actually been out there a few times, positioning advice will resonate more as you have mental hooks for the ideas that you really won’t have until you experience it.
 
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