A&H

First Game

The Referee Store
My first game was a quiet one. I had a very old and experienced referee's officer who made sure I had a game between two teams that were angels in terms of behaviour.

Both teams were friendly and good spirited. They both ensured I had a smooth game as well.
 
One red card, (I didn't have any cards), One mass confrontation, one whistle, jeans and a teeshirt......Next....They were easy after that!!
 
I disallowed a goal where the ball was dancing around the line, did it go in? Did it go in and out? Probably went completely in but my positioning was piss poor and I wasn't 100% so didn't award which made me the most unpopular person on that particular day. Felt guilty and when later in the game the team that had the goald disallowed dribbled the ball near to the goal line starting claims from the other teams that its gone out for a GK, I played on, they subsequently scored so I was the best referee in the world. But only for one team. Positioning improved for games after that.
 
Mine was u9 and I was 39. It was fine until one coach wanted to cheat by send extra players on. Plus he argued every throw in. I had to stop the game and warn him. It wasn't ideal and I was very spooked at the time.
 
Gave a throw-in the wrong way- forgot to look at what the NAR had given & contradicted her decision...no biggie right? Well that directly led to an attack where I awarded a PK (clear foul) but may have JUST been outside the box. Well it was according to my NAR, who only thought of telling me after the game 😂.

Couple of lessons learnt, been getting better since. In my humble opinion! Experience is key in officiating however I think it’s just as important not to be too hard on yourself early-on. Learn from your mistakes and try not to make them again.
 
Gave a throw-in the wrong way- forgot to look at what the NAR had given & contradicted her decision...no biggie right? Well that directly led to an attack where I awarded a PK (clear foul) but may have JUST been outside the box. Well it was according to my NAR, who only thought of telling me after the game 😂.

Couple of lessons learnt, been getting better since. In my humble opinion! Experience is key in officiating however I think it’s just as important not to be too hard on yourself early-on. Learn from your mistakes and try not to make them again.

And come here to learn from other people's mistakes!

If you are working with NARs you don't work with routinely, it is always good to talk about touch line calls in your pregame. And to get in the habit of eye contact on throw-ins. If the referee team creates confusion, it is not inappropriate to slow down the throw until teams are ready.

On PKs near a line where an AR may have a better of view of in/out, it is good practice to make immediate eye contact as you blow the whistle so the AR knows you are asking for input. See page 199 for signals for AR on PK in/out.
 
Easy U13s 7-3 my records tell me.

It was my son's club (different age group) who lost, so don't think they were too pleased with me.

My 3rd game I was threatened with being reported for playing on an unfit (too muddy/wet) pitch - it was a long time ago but remember thinking 'I shouldn't have played this!':oops: Of course I never was 'reported' or at least if I was no one ever told me!
 
Easy U13s 7-3 my records tell me.

It was my son's club (different age group) who lost, so don't think they were too pleased with me.

My 3rd game I was threatened with being reported for playing on an unfit (too muddy/wet) pitch - it was a long time ago but remember thinking 'I shouldn't have played this!':oops: Of course I never was 'reported' or at least if I was no one ever told me!
Is there any guidance as to when to call off a game due to weather, condition of the pitch and player safety?
 
Is there any guidance as to when to call off a game due to weather, condition of the pitch and player safety?

Well if its windy enough for the ball to move about without being touched at all, then you should probably think twice.

If you're falling over doing your warm up routine, it's probably not going to be safe to play on.

Otherwise, if the ground is fine and it's pissing down, tough luck. :D
 
Thanks guys. My game went alright but I stopped the clock every time the ball went out and had a trigger happy linesman so just had to ignore him. It was u11 and I am 14. I am reffing the same team on Saturday morning and I think I have improved since then even though I have only reffed two other games.
 
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Well done Louie, the great thing about the first few games you take is the noticeable improvements you can make between them as things become more familiar/comfortable for you.
 
Thanks guys. My game went alright but I stopped the clock every time the ball went out and had a trigger happy linesman so just had to ignore him. It was u11 and I am 14. I am reffing the same team on Saturday morning and I think I have improved since then even though I have only reffed two other games.
Errr.... that would result in over 20 minutes added time to both halves of most EPL games :oops:
 
Errr.... that would result in over 20 minutes added time to both halves of most EPL games :oops:

We all made mistakes when we started. Err, and we all keep making them. @Louiecliff won't make that one again, as we all learn form our mistakes, and hopefully this forum helps us learn from other people's mistakes, too, so we don't have to make them all ourselves.

I am imagine we could out together quite an entertaining thread if we were to all offer up one of our worst mistakes.
 
We all made mistakes when we started. Err, and we all keep making them. @Louiecliff won't make that one again, as we all learn form our mistakes, and hopefully this forum helps us learn from other people's mistakes, too, so we don't have to make them all ourselves.

I am imagine we could out together quite an entertaining thread if we were to all offer up one of our worst mistakes.
I'd contribute to that.
 
About 17 minutes into my first game there was a blatant dogso-h.

I gave the penalty, spoke to the offender, but for a reason I still haven't worked out why, I didn't send him off, didn't even caution him.
 
I went to watch my first game and ended up reffing it, clueless!!.... 500+ games later..... clueless!! :(
 
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