First OA assistant referee

[Trueman1991]

Had my first OA assistant referee yesterday. Felt it largely went well, the referee said I needed to be more confident in my decisions and maintain myI flags longer which I agreed with.

There were a few points of note in the match.
1) I gave an offside because an attacker was a few yards past the last defender and the ball was played towards him. The ball never got to him and was intercepted by a defender, but then the attacker attempted to tackle him. As soon as this happened I flagged for offside. The attacker and his team mates didn't take that too well. The referee said he agreed with me but I could have used a signal to show he came back from an offside position, which at the point I gave the offside I completely forgot what signal I could use to show that.

2) play was on my side and there was a foul but the ref tried played advantage so I didn't flag. He then pulled it back. A player from the team that the foul was against (same team as above) moaned at me and asked what I was watching. Once the ref pulled back play should I have made a signal for the original foul?

3) there was a handball on my side which the referee gave, this time to the same team as above. However again one of their players moaned at me asking if I was going to give it. At which point I told him the referee already had and that shut him up. Again should I have flagged for this? I personally wasn't 100% sure if it was handball.

 

[Ciley Myrus]

1- remind the referee that unauthorised signals are not recommended and your offside flag is the only signal required, if the referee has been tuned in, he/she will have recognised what was going on. So, there is NO signal other than a flag required or advised, as per the LOTG

I might shout, came into play from offside, but there will be no signals other than a flag from me

2- no, the ref has called the foul, thats his responsibilty, you sound correct not to have flagged for the original foul, just shout, "there was no advantage, ref has called it, i dont need to flag"
To flag here is just being a sheep

3- again you sound spot on, if you are not sure, you cant give it, this one sounds more like you COULD have supported the ref decision with a flag but either way I would not be critical

 

[Trueman1991]

1- remind the referee that unauthorised signals are not recommended and your offside flag is the only signal required, if the referee has been tuned in, he/she will have recognised what was going on. So, there is NO signal other than a flag required or advised, as per the LOTG

I might shout, came into play from offside, but there will be no signals other than a flag from me

2- no, the ref has called the foul, thats his responsibilty, you sound correct not to have flagged for the original foul, just shout, "there was no advantage, ref has called it, i dont need to flag"
To flag here is just being a sheep

3- again you sound spot on, if you are not sure, you cant give it, this one sounds more like you COULD have supported the ref decision with a flag but either way I would not be critical

Thanks, I have another assistant referee match this afternoon so I'm going to try and be more confident and maintain my signals for longer.

I'll look to add more supportive flags if possible too.

One other thing from the match yesterday was that the referee missed a shirt pull in the penalty area in final few minutes, the player admitted it after the match but there was no way the referee could see it.

It was up the other end of the pitch to me, I didn't see it but a few subs said they did. It got me thinking if I had seen something, could I flag from the halfway line? Even though the player admitted it afterwards I can imagine they would have had an issue with me giving it from there.

 

[Ciley Myrus]

Support, assistance, and interference are very different things and can make or break your own performance, and the refereeing teams in general

The other point you make, credibility is the key. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. 1. you never saw it so thats that
2. even if you did, can you realistically sell it, to the referee and all and sundry.
by the sounds of it, no.

with comms is a slightly diff story, and i have seen pens given without comms from the situation you describe, as well as free kicks in the opposite wing from the AR but they are rare.

As usual you would need to be there to cover every situation but generally a shirt pull in the other box, no, no AR involvment required from the half way line AR

You might occasionally say, at a flare up, get the ref coming over to the "other" AR to seek information but some things just have to be classed as , missed it, move on, akin to a midfielder messing up a pass, it happens