Game 1

[marshr02]

Corrected to L7, thanks ... guess it'll update in a bit

 

[Kref]

If I'm being super honest, by main problem is speed of thinking of which side to give it to and in which direction to point. If I could nail that then I would be much more confident, and the 'grief/backchat' would be much easier to handle.

I watch the action, and see the foul contact first... then play a bit of catch up in my head working out which colour did the foul, and in which direction the FK should go (especially as the ref I have no 'direction of play' like the players). I tried keeping a running commentary in my head to follow the action

Maybe like driving a car, I need a few more games, before many action become automatic, and there's more head space left over to address the above.

Yeah I still get that where you have to think about the decision in your head before you call, and people are staring at you awkwardly for like 4 seconds. But according to the saying; "Its better late than never", even if you call as soon as you finish thinking its better than not calling it and having someone come to you during halftime or after the match and calling you out or calling you a cheat.

For me when I try and make those situations before a match I write on my matchcard the colour of each team, and think about making sure I can remember the colour and then if a foul is committed I just call out the colour instead of team. And generally teams understand which one gets the ball or who has committed the foul.

Just a thing to tell you, I'm fairly sure you might have been told this on course. But if you are receiving verbal abuse/degatory comments of a spectator you have the right to stop the match, use a dropped ball go over to the coaches and tell them about telling the spectator shut up/leave the pitch depending on the comments or you'll end the match. And in most cases that will cause those comments to end. Spectators will always give you grief and you get used to it.

Enjoy reffing I know I didn't handle my first mens match as well as you did.

 

[ChasObserverRefDeveloper]

Just a question are you sure it was lower level mens football as you have to be a level 7 referee to referee open age football which is anything above U18s anything below that is often described as youth football which can be refereed by someone who is level 8. And the minimum requirement for level 7 is the referee being 16 years old. So if it was you said lower level men's football match you shouldn't have been put on this fixture and instead a youth football match. If the above is true I would recommend having a word with your referee development officer as this shouldn't happen to a level 8 referee especially on their first match.

Level 8's in England are referees aged 14 or 15, and can only referee players younger than they are. They cannot referee the older youth football games, therefore.
Once a referee reaches the age of 16 they can referee open age and/or youth games.

 

[Richardp10145]

Im also on that learning curve and I would suggest joining your local RA group….they are there for support, continual training and learning from others experience. Best of luck.