Jewellery - when did it change?

[Russell Jones]

There probably was mate. I care so little about the role outside of the matches themselves that I operate with no too much pressure myself. I am a pretty decent referee in relation to my local standard. I could easily have progressed but it was never my intention to. I am simply a paid volunteer and facilitator of youth football and I am proud of that. Internet chat rooms are very poor judges of people in the real world.

You absolutely should be proud of the role you play in facilitating football matches .. it's a relatively thankless task and fair play to you for stepping up when the vast majority simply carp from the sidelines

That said, it's worth understanding that the background to the 'harsh' comments on both this and the sin bin thread is that (previously unknowingly) you are most definitely making the lives of your fellow referees materially harder when you pick and choose the things you wish to apply. They will then rock up the following week and simply try to do a good thorough job and may well be perceived as picky / over officious / incorrect because of the players and coaches memories of your game the previous week. If you're ok with this, that's completely your choice ... but at least you'll now be making it with knowledge of the full context.

 

[Big Cat]

@SpecsSaver66 I haven't read the entire thread, but I would believe you when you say that you're competent when it comes to refereeing local youth football etc.... I get where you're coming from with respect to jewellery to a small extent... A referee wearing a wedding band is a trivial consideration in the overall scheme of things (and an argument could be made for taping stuff up)... the risk of doing so is unbelievably trivial blah blah blah... But frequently in life and refereeing, we must apply rules/laws whether we agree with them or not. There's many aspects of Law (and especially the fragmented, regionalized guidance) that I very much disagree with, but just like in the workplace, I'm duty bound to conform with expectations. Whilst I accept that you may turn a blind eye to stuff you view as overly officious, you're fundamentally wrong to take things to the extent of ignoring Sin Bins

I think we'd probably get on quite well in person and I reckon I'd like you as a Referee, but I'd have to insist that you conform with the job because you're duty bound to do so. FWIW, if you're any good, it would be very rare to need to use the Sin Bin in kids footy

So just make an effort to do things properly. It doesn't have to detract from your overall approach to the job. You just have a duty and you can't pick and choose which duties to align with. In any job, you have to conform to an extent that is acceptable

 

[RustyRef]

There probably was mate. I care so little about the role outside of the matches themselves that I operate with no too much pressure myself. I am a pretty decent referee in relation to my local standard. I could easily have progressed but it was never my intention to. I am simply a paid volunteer and facilitator of youth football and I am proud of that. Internet chat rooms are very poor judges of people in the real world.

Generally I find that when people that have never gone for promotion claim they are good referees the opposite actually applies. They think they are, and the clubs probably like them as they don't apply the laws, and on the rare occasions they issue cards they don't submit them, but then when an observer, coach, mentor, etc, first watches them it would be a car crash. We used to have a member on here who frequently claimed that, despite him never having gone beyond L7, that he could "easily referee Premier League games" and that he was better than all of our elite referees. Clearly that was absolute nonsense, but I think he genuinely believed it to be true.

You are helping to facilitate youth football, but you are also being paid to provide a service, that service being a referee who will apply the laws of the game. If you hired a plumber to install a boiler you'd expect him to follow gas regulations, not just put it in how he felt was right because he didn't agree with one or more of the regulations, why should you take payment for a service where you knowingly aren't doing it properly.

P.S. Before I get shot down I know there are a lot of referees that have never gone for promotion that are good and do apply the laws correctly. But they typically don't say that they are a good referee, and don't openly state that they ignore the laws.

 

[santa sangria]

What he said

 

[Trip]

@SpecsSaver66But frequently in life and refereeing, we must apply rules/laws whether we agree with them or not. There's many aspects of Law (and especially the fragmented, regionalized guidance) that I very much disagree with, but just like in the workplace, I'm duty bound to conform with expectations.

I don't think we necessarily have to slavishly apply laws that really are trivial. For example, if a kid wears a base layer that is a different colour to his top I am not going to insist he freezes in order to apply the law provided it doesn't clash with the opposition strip. At my level you're lucky if all 11 players have the same colour socks.

But Jewellery really does cause injuries. It's not applying a law for the sake of it, it's an unnecessary and avoidable risk.

 

[Runner-Ref]

At grassroots, an element of common sense needs to be taken into account. Law even says this nowadays (or words along those lines)

Base layers, sock tape etc can be overlooked as long as it isn't going to cause you major issues (yellow team player wearing red base layer against a team playing in red) but where health & safety comes in, you need to be that more picky. Yes it sounds pedantic, but sometimes you need to be.

 

[RustyRef]

At grassroots, an element of common sense needs to be taken into account. Law even says this nowadays (or words along those lines)

Base layers, sock tape etc can be overlooked as long as it isn't going to cause you major issues (yellow team player wearing red base layer against a team playing in red) but where health & safety comes in, you need to be that more picky. Yes it sounds pedantic, but sometimes you need to be.

Absolutely, if I'm observing, or rather coaching, a 7 to 6 or 6 to 5 referee on Hackney Marshes I make a point of saying to them before the game "don't lose your match control before a ball is even kicked by trying to sort out different coloured under garments, especially not if it just because I'm here". More often than not at least one player in the team has different coloured shorts and socks on, so under garments are somewhat irrelevant. But I would expect them to deal with any jewellery, including their own.

 

[DazN]

I have a metal tunnel in my ear, smallish around 6mm which I always remove (I found out the hard way when I had a bigger one that kept in as a player in a 5aside game once. The goal net decided to pull it right through the much smaller hole)

I’ve had the odd comment from younger players ‘You have a hole in your ear’ which I usually laugh off or pretend I didn’t know it was there, but is there any provision to wear a flesh coloured silicon ‘plug’ in its place to fill the hole or would that still be classed as jewellery?

 

[ChasObserverRefDeveloper]

I have a metal tunnel in my ear, smallish around 6mm which I always remove (I found out the hard way when I had a bigger one that kept in as a player in a 5aside game once. The goal net decided to pull it right through the much smaller hole)

I’ve had the odd comment from younger players ‘You have a hole in your ear’ which I usually laugh off or pretend I didn’t know it was there, but is there any provision to wear a flesh coloured silicon ‘plug’ in its place to fill the hole or would that still be classed as jewellery?

Law 4 sounds like silicon would be OK.
Non-dangerous protective equipment, for example headgear, facemasks and knee and arm protectors made of soft, lightweight padded material is permitted.

 

[DazN]

Thanks that’s interesting to know.

 

[Peter Grove]

I have a metal tunnel in my ear, smallish around 6mm which I always remove (I found out the hard way when I had a bigger one that kept in as a player in a 5aside game once. The goal net decided to pull it right through the much smaller hole)

I’ve had the odd comment from younger players ‘You have a hole in your ear’ which I usually laugh off or pretend I didn’t know it was there, but is there any provision to wear a flesh coloured silicon ‘plug’ in its place to fill the hole or would that still be classed as jewellery?

There was just such a provision made for Ricardo Fuller who played for Stoke City a few years ago.

People kept mistaking the plastic inserts for jewellery, to the extent that the FA/PGMOL had to issue a clarification on the matter in November 2008.

As it stated (in part):

Ricardo Fuller of Stoke City does NOT play with earrings in. He takes them out in front of the referee and covers the two holes with 'plastic caps' covered with tape to stop dirt getting into the holes and causing a possible infection. The referee checks this before every match.

So if a provision was made for him, I don't see why it couldn't be made for you as well, using his case as a precedent.

 

[Runner-Ref]

There was just such a provision made for Ricardo Fuller who played for Stoke City a few years ago.

People kept mistaking the plastic inserts for jewellery, to the extent that the PGMOL had to issue a clarification on the matter in November 2008.

As it stated (in part):


So if a provision was made for him, I don't see why it couldn't be made for you as well, using his case as a precedent.

How do you know/remember this stuff?!

 

[JamesL]

How do you know/remember this stuff?!

 

[RustyRef]

How do you know/remember this stuff?!

Even I remember that and my memory is rubbish

 

[Runner-Ref]

Even I remember that and my memory is rubbish

So what you're saying is....... you & @Peter Grove need to get out more

 

[Peter Grove]

How do you know/remember this stuff?!

Well, that one's easy. I remember it because it was such a topic of discussion at the time - and it's been discussed on here several times since.

And it's not like it was all that long ago, relatively speaking.

 

[Deleted member 2447]

Not for me. I am not doing any promotions or trying to impress anybody so my ring stays. I only do low level grassroots so I am not concerned about it at all. Any dangly stuff on people would be off as kids dont need it on a football pitch regardless.

If you don't apply all LOTG to yourself then your authority across the board for every Law you try to apply to the players has evaporated. Where else do you make your own judgements on whether the Laws should be applied? Time to hang up the whistle methinks if for no other reason that you are indirectly undermining other referees in your league (some of whom may be seeking promotion or a more professional approach) by your inconsistency with the LOTG.

 

[Peter Grove]

In the US at lower levels, I think it is common for the ref’s wedding ring to be seen as the one exception to the “no jewelry” rule. I think, but am too lazy to look it up, that it used to be in the official USSf guidance. (At the levels I do, I don’t take off my wedding ring.)

Are you sure that used to be in the guidance? It's certainly not in the 2012 edition, which I think was the last one issued before it was discontinued, of the USSF's "Advice to Referees."

It does contain the following:

In general, referees, assistant referees, fourth officials, and reserve referees may not wear any item of equipment, clothing, or jewelry (with the exception of a watch) which the Law does not permit a player to wear.

 

[socal lurker]

Hmm. I’m pretty sure it was there. The last edition or two of the ATR were stripped way down—I think they took out pretty much everything that came from USSF rather than directly from an IFAB. So it’s possible it went away then. It’s also possible I have a bad memory, and I was told wedding rings were an exception elsewhere. (Edit: I checked an older version, and you’re right, it was never there.)

 

[sunnycrofter]

I've had that a few times. There is an FA guidance that if a person cannot be separated from jewellery for religious reasons they can wear it taped to their chest. In practice I tell people they can put it in their socks.

Is there anywhere I can find this guidance?

Tomorrow I have a game where I know a player is going to say that his chain has religious significance, that'll have it taped to his chest, and that he has a "religious exemption" from the FA. I refereed them four weeks ago, and he said the same thing (which I let slide on that occasion as the game was already tough enough from other incidents)