The Ref Stop

Keepers before kick off

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So having gone round the houses on this I can see a variety of responses...

Personally, if I want to avoid any unnecessary nasty surprises, I'll check the goalkeeper is ready. I'll do that because unlike the left back or any other position, his/her not being ready can, as we have seen from the OP, result directly in a goal being scored AND causing grief for the referee.

I will also use the captain's name at every opportunity. It's call relationship building. If I'm going to call that captain in to support some control with one of his/her players, I want them on my side. It's tougher for them not to be on my side if I've been using their name all game.

And as for counting the players, a quick look around to make sure we haven't got to many will usually suffice.

Some of this forum's users do like to make life harder for themselves an the teams they are supposed to be serving.
 
The Ref Stop
My last take on this. By basically asking the goalies permission to start the game, it sends out the wrong message as of who is in control

Extreme but you shout, keeper ready, and he shouts back, no, Then straight away you are placing the control of the game from yourself, to the players
Given he has said no, do you now have a time frame on how long you wait!
Do you have to judge on what reason is causing the hold up?
All another player needs to do at say, a throw, is to shout, wait, am not ready!

A pointless ceremony, and as we know, one thats not repeated by the guys we aspire to,
 
Ciley Myrus said:
My last take on this. By basically asking the goalies permission to start the game, it sends out the wrong message as of who is in control

Extreme but you shout, keeper ready, and he shouts back, no, Then straight away you are placing the control of the game from yourself, to the players
Given he has said no, do you now have a time frame on how long you wait!
Do you have to judge on what reason is causing the hold up?
All another player needs to do at say, a throw, is to shout, wait, am not ready!

A pointless ceremony, and as we know, one thats not repeated by the guys we aspire to,
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Is it control or is it management of a potentially difficult situation? s for those we may aspire to, they are paid to be ready. Little Jimmy with the mismatched socks and shirts that's 2 sizes too big, isn't
 
Brian Hamilton said:
Is it control or is it management of a potentially difficult situation? s for those we may aspire to, they are paid to be ready. Little Jimmy with the mismatched socks and shirts that's 2 sizes too big, isn't
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If kick off is 3pm, then the ability level goes out the window. We all use the same means of telling the time, as ref and player, we would be in the same time zone, my 3pm is also the players 3pm.
Being ready to start on time is not even a referee matter, its a general everyday life procedure.
If either ref, or player, is going to struggle with that simple chore, its going to be a very tedious occasion all round
 
I've always checked the keeper is ready and still do. Done that in countless games as a L4 and L3 and no one even commented on it, and I can't remember seeing many referees when I've been on the line who hasn't done the same. Perhaps it is an English thing, I don't know.

It doesn't delay anything as you have to check there is a keeper there as play can't start without it. I do a "circle" - Keeper, check with AR at that end, other keeper then other AR.
 
Thanks for all the comments. Seems like it has really divided opinions. I normally do wave to the keeper as a courtesy. Really don't know why I didn't do it on this game on Monday. I believe that it's not my responsibility to check that the keeper is wearing his gloves. He will be ready in his next game.
 
Ciley Myrus said:
My last take on this. By basically asking the goalies permission to start the game, it sends out the wrong message as of who is in control

A pointless ceremony, and as we know, one thats not repeated by the guys we aspire to,
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It's very common practice where I am.

Never has it and never will it diminish the referee's control. I am yet to hear a referee ask a keeper if he is ready and had a player say "Oh is he in charge then ref?" - just so unrealistic.

As for the guys we aspire to, you know as well as anybody there are countless differences between how we and they operate so that's not an argument for me.

I've had one assessor ask why I am asking the goalkeeper if he is ready and all the referees in my area acknowledge his questioning as strange. Maybe it is a regional thing.

It's not causing any problems, so do whatever is best for you.
 
RustyRef said:
I've always checked the keeper is ready and still do. Done that in countless games as a L4 and L3 and no one even commented on it, and I can't remember seeing many referees when I've been on the line who hasn't done the same. Perhaps it is an English thing, I don't know.

It doesn't delay anything as you have to check there is a keeper there as play can't start without it. I do a "circle" - Keeper, check with AR at that end, other keeper then other AR.
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Just out of interest (for someone who has refereed at a higher level in England than most here), do you do a visual check and satisfy yourself that the keeper is ready? Or do you verbally ask them or signal to them and wait for an acknowledgement?
 
Ciley Myrus said:
My last take on this. By basically asking the goalies permission to start the game, it sends out the wrong message as of who is in control.
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That's a straw man argument. There's a clear difference between checking whether a particular state of affairs is true or not (in this case, whether the keeper is ready or not) and asking for permission to start.
 
Peter Grove said:
That's a straw man argument. There's a clear difference between checking whether a particular state of affairs is true or not (in this case, whether the keeper is ready or not) and asking for permission to start.
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If the keepe shouts back,"no" though, as referee you cant really now go ahead and start?
Until when?

Until the keeper is ready.....so really, you do need his permission to start, if you go down the road of asking him.
 
Non issue really.... some goalies can’t string 4 words together so why should we expect them to be able to put gloves on efficiently
 
@Ciley Myrus I think you're over thinking it!
@RefJef Extending your pre-KO routine, I have a checklist in the back of my notebook for everything that needs doing pre-match
I encountered that 'I've forgotten something' feeling a few times on KO and it wasn't for me! It's very easy for distractions to lead to blushes
 
It doesn't matter if I check it myself by shouting, visually or by asking my AR's to do it - If the keeper isn't ready, then I'm not starting the game.

It makes sense to avoid the kind of situations seen in the OP, it's logical as of all the players on the pitch, they're they one who's unpreparedness could more readily lead to a goal, and also, given how far away from the centre circle they are, they're the most likely to be unable to hear the KO whistle or to misinterpret it and therefore not realise the game has started.

Downsides? Genuinely can't think of one caused by doing a check. You might have to delay the game - but then, if the keeper's not ready or distracted by something else, should you be starting anyway?
 
Big Cat said:
@Ciley Myrus I think you're over thinking it!
@RefJef Extending your pre-KO routine, I have a checklist in the back of my notebook for everything that needs doing pre-match
I encountered that 'I've forgotten something' feeling a few times on KO and it wasn't for me! It's very easy for distractions to lead to blushes
Click to expand...


Maybe so with the over thinking, but, afterall, refereeing is simply played out in the head a lot of the time anyway
Goalie says "no am not ready" then, who is in control of when game starts? As ref, you can hardly start now that he has said no !!!

Checking in with the goalies, (here) is an old fashioned public park thing and up and coming refs (here) dont do it. As ever, wherever you are, if its your thing, great.
 
I visually watch the 'keepers and when I can see they're switched on and not messing about with their gloves/laces I shout out to them and raise my hand. So it looks like I'm checking with them but I already know they're ready anyway.

Checking with the goalkeeper I think is common across grassroots but I can't recall seeing it on TV or at any EFL games I've been to. Also, I was at a game this season when a level 4 did the goalkeeper's first name shout as mentioned previously
 
Kieran W said:
I visually watch the 'keepers and when I can see they're switched on and not messing about with their gloves/laces I shout out to them and raise my hand. So it looks like I'm checking with them but I already know they're ready anyway.

Checking with the goalkeeper I think is common across grassroots but I can't recall seeing it on TV or at any EFL games I've been to. Also, I was at a game this season when a level 4 did the goalkeeper's first name shout as mentioned previously
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2 possible reasons for that: 1 is comms - the AR can visually check the keeper from relatively close, tel the ref that everything looks OK and no-one without a comms kit knows anything has happened. And 2 is that TV means the game is expected to kick off on-time regardless.
 
Ciley Myrus said:
My last take on this. By basically asking the goalies permission to start the game, it sends out the wrong message as of who is in control
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Seriously? No player will ever see this scenario and think 'oh, that referee hasn't got control of things'. You're not asking his permission, you're checking if he's ready. If he says no and there's no genuine reason (that's unlikely) then get on with it. If he's not ready because he's taken his gloves off to do his shoelace, or he's noticed part of the net has come off and it's putting that back on etc (both of which has happened in my games) then just delay it for a few seconds while they finish. You're still in control because you're dictating the decision to delay the KO for a genuine reason.
 
I always do it. It's not just for the keepers, it alerts all the players that the game is about to start. It takes 2 seconds, it avoids possible unnecessary grief, it's expected, I can't see a reason not to do it.
 
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