The Ref Stop

I've been refereeing for 3 years now and I still don't have a solid pre-game for my ARs

GrantFrosty

GrantFrosty

New Member
I'm going to my first out-of-state referee event (in the US) where we will have referee coaches watching us and assessing us on each game. I need a good pre-game as a center referee anyone wants to share what they say to there ar's before the game

I just know the basic thing to say like first priority offsides, second in and out of touch, and third fouls
 
The Ref Stop
GrantFrosty said:
I'm going to my first out-of-state referee event (in the US) where we will have referee coaches watching us and assessing us on each game. I need a good pre-game as a center referee anyone wants to share what they say to there ar's before the game

I just know the basic thing to say like first priority offsides, second in and out of touch, and third fouls
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You have your priorities wrong, ball in and out of play is duty number one
 
First thing to do is work out which of your AR's is Senior (bench side) and which is Junior. This will be relevant to other bits and pieces later on so work it out early, you can also take this opportunity to give them specific instructions relating to the different roles.
  • So for that, here I would typically say to take a full match record for the Senior, "eyes and ears" for the junior, and that the Senior AR has full responsibility for subs and managing the benches. If they need to call me over, I expect to be asked to issue cards at least, anything below that is theirs to manage as they see fit. Adapt this to fit your own comfort and local norms.
To help me remember, I then tend to structure the next three points "working backwards" from half way - so will discuss offside, then ball in/out of play (including goal/no goal) and then fouls (including penalties). If you've worked as an AR you'll have an idea of what's normal where you are and what you think you would want from your AR's
  • I don't want to give too specific details here as I think this can vary significantly depending on region. Particularly if you trust them, you want your AR's acting on instinct (that has been honed through experience). Giving them unusual instructions can cause them to hesitate or second-guess decisions, so unless you have a good reason (and you probably won't if you're new to working with AR's), go with what is normal for them.
Then cover all the other little bits that don't neatly fit in the above sections. How to handle mass cons, sin bins and blood injuries are the main things that come to mind. Do you want them to closely monitor GK's, fly kicks and throw in positions, or priorities their other duties? Certainly near me in the UK, observers recently seem to have been told to make sure blood injuries are discussed, so bonus brownie points for mentioning that!

Finish off with going over pre-match. Are you expecting them to do a kit inspection of the teams? Will you be walking out in procession and doing handshakes? Do you want them to check the goal nets and if so, before or after they witness the coin toss? Will the Senior AR want to introduce themselves to the benches?
 
Anubis said:
Nonsense

if the balls out of play, everything else does not matter. Games dead when ball goes out of play.
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That does not mean that ball in and out of play is the priority focus for assistant referees. If an offside offense occurs, then nothing else matters either. The game is dead when an offside offense occurs.
 
RyantheRef said:
That does not mean that ball in and out of play is the priority focus for assistant referees. If an offside offense occurs, then nothing else matters either. The game is dead when an offside offense occurs.
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Ball out of play, game dead, factual

Ar raising flag means, i have deemed someone to have gained an advantage from being in an offside position, here is my flag. The referee is not obligated to accept this flag.

Ar indicating offside is not definitive. Ir does not mean the game must stop.
Has the ball ran to the gk and we can play on
Has the offside position player taken to part and a team mate has ran onto the ball
Is the referee best placed and has seen the offside position player had no impaxt on the defenders actions
Has the ar wrongly judged the through ball to be from striker when reality is its the defender who has played it
Endless variables

ball out of play, its either in play, or its not

Its barely worth a debate
 
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With all due respect to both, I deem neither as more important than the other, rather, they are both basic responsibilities of the assistant referee and neither should be given greater importance.
In all honesty if I turned up to a game and the R said to me, James, first duty ball out of play I'd be thinking, great, got one here.
When I turn up, I know I am doing ball out of play, I want to know how much responsibility is shared for the restart direction as this is about the only thing that varies, and I don't really want a song and dance on offside, mainly what you want me to do in a non obvious situation!!!
 
JamesL said:
With all due respect to both, I deem neither as more important than the other, rather, they are both basic responsibilities of the assistant referee and neither should be given greater importance.
In all honesty if I turned up to a game and the R said to me, James, first duty ball out of play I'd be thinking, great, got one here.
When I turn up, I know I am doing ball out of play, I want to know how much responsibility is shared for the restart direction as this is about the only thing that varies, and I don't really want a song and dance on offside, mainly what you want me to do in a non obvious situation!!!
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Its a given the Ar is priorty ball in and out of play, its so obvious it does not get a mention. Everyone knows that are doing it, as, its the very basics
If the balls out, everything else is null and void
If someones in an offside position, we still have a number of tick boxes to complete
 
Anubis said:
Its a given the Ar is priorty ball in and out of play, its so obvious it does not get a mention. Everyone knows that are doing it, as, its the very basics
If the balls out, everything else is null and void
If someones in an offside position, we still have a number of tick boxes to complete
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It's still a primary and basic responsibility. You can't do one and not the other. It's neither more or less important than the other. I treat each with equal priority.
 
JamesL said:
It's still a primary and basic responsibility. You can't do one and not the other. It's neither more or less important than the other. I treat each with equal priority.
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Might be your engrained mindset due to cars doing offside
A practise that is ridiculed elsewhere, where, its explict ball out of play only

its a trillion times more important to have ball in play, because if its out of play everything else is null and void
 
Anubis said:
Might be your engrained mindset due to cars doing offside
A practise that is ridiculed elsewhere, where, its explict ball out of play only

its a trillion times more important to have ball in play, because if its out of play everything else is null and void
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I don't work with CARs very often and have never really worked a great deal with CARs doing offside as they didn't do them where I started refereeing so there is no mindset engrained here.

Interestingly law 6 provides no prioritisation on the tasks of the AR... And as AR you should only be flagging an offside offence that can be penalised, as per law.

If a player is offside and commits an offside offence then everything after that is null and void, save for the rarest of rare advantage situations.

As I said they are two basic responsibilities given to the AR in law and whilst I understand what you are saying I don't think it makes the job a 'trillion' times more important.

A goal scored from a player committing an offside offence is equally as bad as a goal that is scored following the ball leaving the FOP. Neither should happen.
 
JamesL said:
I don't work with CARs very often and have never really worked a great deal with CARs doing offside as they didn't do them where I started refereeing so there is no mindset engrained here.

Interestingly law 6 provides no prioritisation on the tasks of the AR... And as AR you should only be flagging an offside offence that can be penalised, as per law.

If a player is offside and commits an offside offence then everything after that is null and void, save for the rarest of rare advantage situations.

As I said they are two basic responsibilities given to the AR in law and whilst I understand what you are saying I don't think it makes the job a 'trillion' times more important.

A goal scored from a player committing an offside offence is equally as bad as a goal that is scored following the ball leaving the FOP. Neither should happen.
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Obv never going to agree on opinion so if we stick to facts

ball out of play. game dead
flag raised due to a deeming player in offside position, game live

ones beyond crucial, ones negotioable,
 
Anubis said:
Obv never going to agree on opinion so if we stick to facts

ball out of play. game dead
flag raised due to a deeming player in offside position, game live

ones beyond crucial, ones negotioable,
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Facts I can deal with:
Goal scored by offside player - wrong in law
Goal scored after ball out of play - wrong in law
 
Anubis said:
Obv never going to agree on opinion so if we stick to facts

ball out of play. game dead
flag raised due to a deeming player in offside position, game live

ones beyond crucial, ones negotioable,
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Whilst I understand the point you are making, in reality the referee is not obliged to accept the AR flagging for either offside or ball out of play (or fouls for that matter). In every case the flag is simply advice to the referee about the AR's view of what's happened. Whilst it's incredibly rare, I've certainly waved down an incorrect CAR flag (for a Goal Kick) where I felt I was far better positioned to judge whether the whole of the ball had gone over the goal line. In reality, tricky as it is, NAR's are expected to get ALL offside and ball in / out decisions correct. Missing a foul (even in your credible area) is however sometimes somewhat excusable if, by necessity, your attention was needed on one of your other two priorities.
 
Assisting involves ball in/out, offside, fouls and generally assisting the Referee
They're all different considerations and in reality none of them gets prioritised. We make equal effort to get them all right. (although I'm guessing at higher levels, assessments may weight them differently... even then I ain't 'prioritising')
Any talk of 'priority', stems from Referee's trying in vain to embellish their pre-match (a recurring theme)
 
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