A&H

First two matches

Trueman1991

Member
Level 5 Referee
Had my first two matches in the middle today.

First was an u12s match, CARs and ended 3-3. Nothing much happened in the match, very little fouls. It got a bit scrappy at times but very rarely was anything a bad tackle / careless. Both of the CARs were good and helped with in/out of play and off sides. One thing of note during the match, an away player went down and was upset, the home team had the ball and despite calls to put out of play didn't do that. They then lost possession and the away team got the ball (child still down and calls to put it out of play) went forward and scored. There weren't any complaints but I heard a few home team players mention the calls to put it out of play.


Straight after the above I had a surprise OA county cup game (their ref hadn't turned up) again playing with CARs. Immediately I notice the more vocal aspect of OA. Early on each team questioned offsides from the CARs so I decided to get a wider angle which would help calling offsides. The questioning against offsides died down but one team began to question how far I was away from the decisions I was giving. I felt like I got the right but due to the wide angle I was a little further away than I would have liked. This was evident in a PK I gave against the home team, the defender fouled the attacker close to the goal line, I was on the other side of the box and the home team questioned how I gave it from there - I'm very sure it's a penalty. After this there wasn't too much of note, a 50/50 where the keeper got injured, again home team briefly questioned why it wasn't a free kick but there it was just normal play for me. The home team also questioned me not giving them a few free kicks and claimed I wasn't looking, I had seen them all and there was very little in them. The only caution was for a reckless tackle from a home team defender towards the end of the match. The home team questioned me not giving them offsides later in the match, but their CAR was going mental at them for playing so deep and saying they were obviously on side so that definitely helped.

At the end of the match the away team won 6-1. They were very thankful for helping them out today. A few of the home team shook my hand.

I didn't give any cards for dissent as I felt like nothing crossed the line, although they were questioning a few calls.

A few notes I made was that maybe I could have dealt with the questioning of calls better to stop it. I also said maybe I was too lenient and by being so risked tougher tackles. Also I feel like it highlighted that I needed to be closer to play, which was tiring when also trying to get wide.
 
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Why are you having CARs giving offsides ?
Something I picked up from the course. I call them in to the centre at the coin toss, ask them if they're comfortable with the offside law and give them instructions in front of the captains so they know what's happening. Always say the final decision is mine so I may not give it if they flag.
 
Why are you having CARs giving offsides ?
Amazingly they do in some parts of the country. It's a pain when I pickup the uni game and a uni from a town that lets CARs turn up.

Anyway, loads of threads on this topic, and I think this may be one of the banned debates
 
Any age group can be challenging when you're first starting out. In fact, any age group can throw up an unexpected challenge further down the line. The younger the kids, the more you should look after them. This takes time and experience to gauge. As for the OA game, sounds like you must have done well. You'll find your own way of dealing with the volume turned up; empathy, humor, ignoring, discipline and all that! Social morals are a thing of the past, so an absence of handshakes afterwards is a poor performance barometer
 
Why are you having CARs giving offsides ?
Absolutely standard around here. You do as the OP did and get wide to an extent so that you have enough of a view that ou can overrule if needed (or as I did today, if the flag goes up against a player who doesn't get involved), but there are still some leagues where that's what's expected.
 
We're not expected to use CARs for offsides where I referee. I watched my mate refereeing a county cup game in another county last week where they do allow it. To be fair, the two CARs were good; better than some neutrals I've had on supply leagues!
 
Good stuff.

Sounds like you experienced low level dissent in the OA match. Accusing you of being a long way from play is the kind of thing that is designed to undermine you. As you've probably read elsewhere on here, don't rise to the bait and feel you have to explain yourself. Cut them off. It's a penalty, stop the whinging.

When you have the whole pitch to deal with it is hard. You can cheat a little bit by sprinting in to problem situations. This is what the best refs do if there is potential scuffle or the kind of foul in of benches that might get ugly. Sprinting in to signal a penalty, sprinting another 10 yards across to give a foul on the far side... it's active, it says you are in control, and it well... puts you closer ;)
 
The whole CAR offside / non-offside has been covered many times before. It is a geographical thing, and whilst I'm generalising a bit the South says they do and the North says they don't. Remember as well they aren't giving offsides, the referee is doing that, all the CAR is doing is indicating that he believes there is a player in an offside position, as the referee you are not obliged to accept this flag.
 
Sprinting in to signal a penalty, sprinting another 10 yards across to give a foul on the far side... it's active, it says you are in control, and it well... puts you closer ;)


I have trouble with this myself. I find that once I believe there could be a big decision to make, for instance a ft in the penalty area, I get myself into position and slow right down. I don't want to miss anything because I'm running to get a closer position. I want to slow right down ensuring I don't potentially make an incorrect decision.

Any tips on how to get around/through this?
 
I just about get a volunteer to give throws.

Our leagues have it written into the rules, if the clubs don't provide them they get fined. However, the referee dictates what decisions they are used for
 
The whole CAR offside / non-offside has been covered many times before. It is a geographical thing, and whilst I'm generalising a bit the South says they do and the North says they don't. Remember as well they aren't giving offsides, the referee is doing that, all the CAR is doing is indicating that he believes there is a player in an offside position, as the referee you are not obliged to accept this flag.
CARs calling offside is the 'expectation' in my area and overruling them has more of a destabilizing effect on the game than accepting the flag. I talk to the CARs frequently during stoppages in a futile effort to management them
In my experience, CARs are very good in youth football, but very problematic in OA. Yesterday's Guardian article pointed out the difficulties of refereeing at the bottom of the ladder. You're not just on your own at the bottom, you'd be better off on your own, because the CAR idea makes solitude even worse
 
I have trouble with this myself. I find that once I believe there could be a big decision to make, for instance a ft in the penalty area, I get myself into position and slow right down. I don't want to miss anything because I'm running to get a closer position. I want to slow right down ensuring I don't potentially make an incorrect decision.

Any tips on how to get around/through this?
Sprint in after/as you blow, once you know ;)
 
If you give a penalty and you're worried you're some distance away, run as you blow. By the time anybody looks up at you, you'll be closer than you where by the time you blew the whistle. Sometimes, especially if you're already running and you just keep moving, you can have people think you're right on top of it. Sounds like you were probably only about 20 yards away, that's not too far away - the idea position at this point is probably just outside the PA, to the left of the penalty arc, more or less.
 
The whole CAR offside / non-offside has been covered many times before. It is a geographical thing, and whilst I'm generalising a bit the South says they do and the North says they don't. Remember as well they aren't giving offsides, the referee is doing that, all the CAR is doing is indicating that he believes there is a player in an offside position, as the referee you are not obliged to accept this flag.

Excellent last point and I ALWAYS remind captains to play to the whistle not the flag when using CARs. I know many on here say its a waste of time saying anything like that to the captains, but it DOES give you a 'get out' if players stop when flag is raised & you want to play on.
 
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