A&H

First game

T

Tommy

New Member
Level 8 Referee
i have my first game coming up on Thursday, any tips or advice would be much appreciated
 
The Referee Store
Hi Tommy. What age group?

My advice to you is just be confident and have courage in your convictions. Remember what you let slide early on can come and bite you in the arse later on during the match. Remember your training and just have fun. Pack your kit the night before, check again in the morning and make sure you have everything you need.

Let us know how it goes :) Good luck
 
My advice would be to have the courage of your conviction- you know the laws, apply them with confidence, use your voice and keep up with play at all times. Smile and enjoy it and don't fret about small mistakes , chances are no one will notice. Get someone to watch you, you RA or CFA will put feelers out for an experienced ref to pop along as a mentor if you ask them. Age is not an issue, I am an old fart and have a mentor half my age. Have fun
 
Be positive. If you sound right and signal well players and coaches and spectators will accept your decisions. And if you do make a mistake, try not to think about it and keep concentrating. The time to think about mistakes is after full time.
Good luvk
 
Hi all, @DB @martin avis @Twinblade blade @Paul March
Overall it was a good game. It was a mid table clash and ended 3-1. I only had to blow my whistle twice.
1st - The away team pulled a players arm and shirt which caused him to go down
2nd - they were both shoulder to shoulder to the ball but the the away player stuck his foot out.

The only thing I need help on is two players were both going for the ball and kicked each other at the same time. I just let play go on as they were both in the wrong and didn't know who started it. Was this the correct decision??
And another thing that I'm unsure about is if 2 players are running shoulder to shoulder towards the ball and one player slows down a bit causing the other to fall over, is this a foul??
 
Tommy, fantastic that you only blew the whistle twice. Seems like you had an easy game, particularly with the age group.

Last season, two players going at it at the same time (both fouling each other), if you needed to stop play, the restart would be a dropped ball. However, this season it has changed. You now have to punish the most serious offence, so the restart would have been a direct free kick or penalty kick. Often, play unfolds how it has for you and you can continue. I usually shout "carry on" to see what happens, it gives me a bit of thinking time. However, keep your trailing eye on the players. If one of them is a little naughty, there's your more serious offence. It is a tough one but if you think someone has led quicker, someone has gone in a bit harder etc, there's your more serious offence. Thankfully it doesn't come about all that often.

That's a tricky one for me. If the player has slowed down because he's tiring, it can't be helped, so long as he doesn't commit a punishable offence, he's not contravened law 12. However, if he has deliberately changed his pace to interfere with the opponent (in an attempt to impede or foul the player), you could call it. Have a look at what the arms are doing aswell as that could be an indicator, aswell as the distance to the ball. These ones are difficult to decide when you haven't seen the incident.

Judging by the way the game went for you, it sounds like you handled both situations very well.
 
DB said:
Tommy, fantastic that you only blew the whistle twice. Seems like you had an easy game, particularly with the age group.

Last season, two players going at it at the same time (both fouling each other), if you needed to stop play, the restart would be a dropped ball. However, this season it has changed. You now have to punish the most serious offence, so the restart would have been a direct free kick or penalty kick. Often, play unfolds how it has for you and you can continue. I usually shout "carry on" to see what happens, it gives me a bit of thinking time. However, keep your trailing eye on the players. If one of them is a little naughty, there's your more serious offence. It is a tough one but if you think someone has led quicker, someone has gone in a bit harder etc, there's your more serious offence. Thankfully it doesn't come about all that often.

That's a tricky one for me. If the player has slowed down because he's tiring, it can't be helped, so long as he doesn't commit a punishable offence, he's not contravened law 12. However, if he has deliberately changed his pace to interfere with the opponent (in an attempt to impede or foul the player), you could call it. Have a look at what the arms are doing aswell as that could be an indicator, aswell as the distance to the ball. These ones are difficult to decide when you haven't seen the incident.

Judging by the way the game went for you, it sounds like you handled both situations very well.
Click to expand...
Thanks I'll take that in for next time.
The only mistake I think I made was not setting my timer but luckily I knew what time kick off was so I just kept looking at my watch.
 
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Easily done mate. I always wear two watches, usually one look at them reminds me. As I've finished doing the toss and just as I'm about to start the game, I write the time I kick off either on the back of my hand or on my match sheet... If you forget to set your watch, you're then covered.
 
Well done Tommy, sounds like you had a good game. Much of refereeing is about credibility, if you are close enough to the incident when it happens whatever decision you make on those 50/50 challenges will be heeded.

I think every ref has had an issue with time in the past. As DB confirms the second watch should stop this being a big problem- just remember to always leave one running during the game- you can stop and start the other as you see fit without worry

Are you going to ask for a mentor?
 
What part of Kent are you in, and have you joined the RA yet?

If you have no joy with getting an official mentor then there might be someone in your local ra who could help.

If you're local to me I wouldn't mind coming to watch one of your games in an unofficial capacity.
 
I'm in Thanet so my local mentor is Collin ansell but if I can't get a hold of him then I'll contact nick Dunn but yeah if u want to come and watch then ur more than welcome.
 
Its when you're whistle ends up like this that you want to worry
whistle-broken_645x400.jpg

A few too many blows on that bad boy... So vicious it ripped it apart :facepalm:
 
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