A&H

Had a rubbish one today

R

RefRyanAus

Member
Hi everyone,

Today I did a seniors age group school game. No AR’s but both teams think it’s sheep stations. It is wet, damn wet actually, and there are timed and sometimes miss-timed slide tackles going every which way. To be honest, almost every tackle could have been a foul. I thought the playing surface was unsafe but the authorities insisted the game go ahead. Both coaches are offering advice from the sidelines from before kick off. There are no technical areas.

I think I did the first half OK apart from a handball I apparently missed in the penalty area (fair play - I just didn’t see it). The second half was a bit intense and I probably lost a bit of control in the last 10 minutes. 1 yellow for dogso in the penalty area but I probably should have given a few more for reckless tackles and dissent. There is a lot of connection with ball but long slides that upend players. I ask myself is it the leading leg or the trailing leg and does it even matter? I think I managed to confuse myself on some of these tackles.

All up it wasn’t my best day and it has certainly knocked my confidence. This is annoying because it isn’t even a Federation sanctioned game. I am glad there was no assessor.

Just venting really but thought I might put down a couple of learnings too.

1. I shouldn’t have allowed the game to be played at all. It was an unsafe surface and I needed to be firmer in making that point. Because it was unsafe for the players it was also unsafe for the referee.

2. I should have called out undermining dissent earlier - made a rod for myself on that one. Funny - the most damaging dissent today came from someone I refereed with last Sunday... and that threw me. No grudge... I just didn’t expect it. He is a funny bugger and he had me on the back foot from the get go.

3. I needed to set a lower tolerance for fouls given the conditions. I had the setting about right in the first half when the intensity was lower but didn’t predict or immediately appreciate the change in intensity in the last quarter. This was a bad error on my part and led to some poor non- decisions and advantage calls that just heightened the mood.

4. I realise now how much I appreciate being part of a referee team. I missed the advice of my AR’s and the chance to slow the game down by consulting them at the key moment of intensity.

5. I also better appreciate the protections we get through Federation. I felt pretty alone today if I am honest - no AR’s, no mentor, no technical area, no ground official. I am not sure I want to do unsanctioned games again.

Anyway... onwards and upwards. Let’s hope I got this season’s shocker of the way and don’t **** up on Saturday! :)
 
The Referee Store
if you think it's unsafe, no game. simple (no matter what the authorities / clubs / owners etc say)
 
1. As other have (and I'm sure, will continue to) point out, you have final call on the conditions and shouldn't be afraid to call it off. YOU are the authority on this, all groundskeepers and managers can do is offer their opinion.

2. Again, this is a lesson every referee learns - and one I have to re-learn every time I come back from injury or the summer break. Sometimes a firm word is enough to get people to calm down, sometimes you need a card - but you almost always need to do something, just ignoring dissent and hoping it goes away is very rarely a good approach.

3. Correct. The line I often use is the idea that a foul is a foul - if the conditions make it more likely that an otherwise-normal tackle will end up being a foul, the responsibility is on the players to modify their tackles, not on you to modify your foul threshold.
 
Excellent points Graeme - especially point 2 - something I learned very early on my 'career'.

Ryan - don't forget there are different ways you can slow the game down without neutral ARs.

1) Publicly warn a player with a little chat after a foul
2) Take a little longer to get in position before any 'ceremonial' free kicks
3) Don't play advantage

If you do that for about 10 minutes you will hopefully find that some of the 'heat' dissipates from the game.
 
Thanks Paul and Graeme. These are really helpful tips for a young and developing referee like me.

I think I just needed a circuit breaker but for some reason struggled to find it in the moment. In hindsight, playing advantage was crazy and just added fuel to the flames.

On reflection I was probably also a bit mentally unprepared for the game. I didn’t expect it to be played and was surprised when it was. I didn’t go through the normal pre-game routine of warm up and assistants briefing or properly think about what posture I needed to adopt. In summary, I wasn’t ready enough and it is obviously hard to make up for that lack of prep once you are in middle and things go pear shape.
 
Another thing to think about when games are overly heated is your foul bar. Move down the bar when the game is hot, and the extra stoppages can help calm the game. This obviously is something that takes a careful touch and you will develop with time.

But most of all, don't let it get you down. Even the best refs have off games. Get back on that horse!
 
socal lurker said:
Another thing to think about when games are overly heated is your foul bar. Move down the bar when the game is hot, and the extra stoppages can help calm the game. This obviously is something that takes a careful touch and you will develop with time.

But most of all, don't let it get you down. Even the best refs have off games. Get back on that horse!
Click to expand...
Very good advice @socal lurker.

Lowering your foul bar can also apply to advantages. A good way to bring the temperature down is to blow for everything for a short period and "kill the game" - make sure free kicks are from the right blade of grass, stop playing advantage (unless there is an obvious goal scoring opportunity or similar) and just generally take the sting out of the game. Being able to recognise when this needs to happen will come with experience, as will knowing when to release things again.

Keep your head up and don't let tone bad game get to you! :)
 
Thanks everyone. Adjusting the tolerance bar and knowing when to ratchet up control is definitely something I am still learning. I know it in theory but need to work on making it instinctive in games.

it is raining on the east coast of Oz this weekend and most of my games have been postponed. I have some good appointments for the following weekend though and am looking forward to getting out there again.

I very much appreciate all the tips and support. This is a great forum with very helpful advice always at hand!
 
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