zarathustra
RefChat Addict
Had a cup match with two teams who were first and second in their division and separated by 1 point, so I expected it to be a competitive game.
And I was right, the teams were very evenly matched, until the home team took the lead in the 76th minute.
The away team was full of big guys, and they played a very physical game, unfortunately they often crossed the line between a fair "battle" for the ball and committing a foul. It was mainly for pushing at throw ins etc.
They were getting a bit upset that all the fouls were going against them, didn't occur to them that it was because the home team were more interested in playing the ball than the man. Ended up with my first C1 against an away player where he jumped through the back of his opponent, after which their pushing etc improved significantly.
Of course, this then meant that they were calling for "in the back" every time a home player touched them, but other than that the first half finished 0-0.
Two minutes into the second half another away player got in the book for kicking the ball away after a careless foul.
After this I got a home player in the book for C1, with no complaints, at the 71st minute. The game was starting to get heated, so I was taking my time at free kicks to let people simmer down, and at one point I had to call both captains in to warn them about player's attitudes towards the CARs, there'd been a number of "complaints" as the away team were always getting caught offside. I wasn't in a great position to accurately judge the offsides myself, I was trying to get there but it was lots of long balls from one end of the pitch to the other, but I'm happy that if there were any mistakes, a few were quite close calls, that they were honest mistakes. After my quick chat with the captains abuse towards the CARs stopped, I didn't caution anyone as I wasn't confident I could identify the player/s concerned, but made it clear that anyone I do identify will be dealt with the same way as if they directed dissent/abuse at me.
At around the 75th minute the home team pulled ahead, queue lots of claims that he would an away player in the build up, he was on a run from the wing and a cross was played to him, and it was just him plus a couple of defenders and the keeper. I didn't see anything even remotely resembling a foul, and shortly after the keeper went in the book for dissent.
In the whole I am happy with how I performed, positioning was good, as was distance from play, though I suspect I may have been a caution or two for PI, and I probably could have sold a few more cautions for dissent, but no players other than the keeper really crossed the line.
Final 15 minutes played out without much incident, although the away team did come close to equalising a couple of times.
Both teams seemed relatively happy after the match, obviously the home team were happier than the away team. I spoke to the away manager afterwards, and he was happy and had no complaints about any of the cautions etc, he did think a couple of the offside against his team were wrong, but accepted that they were close calls and accepted that I could be sure from where I was, and that only the CAR had the best view.
Walking back to the changing rooms I had a few spectators and players said I'd done well keeping control of the match, and handled things well.
And this got me thinking, it didn't seem an obviously difficult match to me. I know players usually have a good read of the game, and know when it's starting to get out of hand, or has the potential to, so I assume, I've reached a point where I'm starting to recognise some improvements in my refereeing.
I don't think an observer would have graded this as a challenging game or anything like that, but thinking back to last season and the start of this season I've struggled with games of a similar level of competitiveness/temperature.
I have to say I think my improvement, has to be in part due to this forum.
I've employed a number of techniques I've gleaned from here, whether be it positioning, dealing with players etc, and as I didn't pick up the whistle til I was 30 so never had the opportunity to get involved with the academy etc, I think this site has been fundamental in my development.
Thanks to everyone who's helped me so far, keep up the good work.
And I was right, the teams were very evenly matched, until the home team took the lead in the 76th minute.
The away team was full of big guys, and they played a very physical game, unfortunately they often crossed the line between a fair "battle" for the ball and committing a foul. It was mainly for pushing at throw ins etc.
They were getting a bit upset that all the fouls were going against them, didn't occur to them that it was because the home team were more interested in playing the ball than the man. Ended up with my first C1 against an away player where he jumped through the back of his opponent, after which their pushing etc improved significantly.
Of course, this then meant that they were calling for "in the back" every time a home player touched them, but other than that the first half finished 0-0.
Two minutes into the second half another away player got in the book for kicking the ball away after a careless foul.
After this I got a home player in the book for C1, with no complaints, at the 71st minute. The game was starting to get heated, so I was taking my time at free kicks to let people simmer down, and at one point I had to call both captains in to warn them about player's attitudes towards the CARs, there'd been a number of "complaints" as the away team were always getting caught offside. I wasn't in a great position to accurately judge the offsides myself, I was trying to get there but it was lots of long balls from one end of the pitch to the other, but I'm happy that if there were any mistakes, a few were quite close calls, that they were honest mistakes. After my quick chat with the captains abuse towards the CARs stopped, I didn't caution anyone as I wasn't confident I could identify the player/s concerned, but made it clear that anyone I do identify will be dealt with the same way as if they directed dissent/abuse at me.
At around the 75th minute the home team pulled ahead, queue lots of claims that he would an away player in the build up, he was on a run from the wing and a cross was played to him, and it was just him plus a couple of defenders and the keeper. I didn't see anything even remotely resembling a foul, and shortly after the keeper went in the book for dissent.
In the whole I am happy with how I performed, positioning was good, as was distance from play, though I suspect I may have been a caution or two for PI, and I probably could have sold a few more cautions for dissent, but no players other than the keeper really crossed the line.
Final 15 minutes played out without much incident, although the away team did come close to equalising a couple of times.
Both teams seemed relatively happy after the match, obviously the home team were happier than the away team. I spoke to the away manager afterwards, and he was happy and had no complaints about any of the cautions etc, he did think a couple of the offside against his team were wrong, but accepted that they were close calls and accepted that I could be sure from where I was, and that only the CAR had the best view.
Walking back to the changing rooms I had a few spectators and players said I'd done well keeping control of the match, and handled things well.
And this got me thinking, it didn't seem an obviously difficult match to me. I know players usually have a good read of the game, and know when it's starting to get out of hand, or has the potential to, so I assume, I've reached a point where I'm starting to recognise some improvements in my refereeing.
I don't think an observer would have graded this as a challenging game or anything like that, but thinking back to last season and the start of this season I've struggled with games of a similar level of competitiveness/temperature.
I have to say I think my improvement, has to be in part due to this forum.
I've employed a number of techniques I've gleaned from here, whether be it positioning, dealing with players etc, and as I didn't pick up the whistle til I was 30 so never had the opportunity to get involved with the academy etc, I think this site has been fundamental in my development.
Thanks to everyone who's helped me so far, keep up the good work.
