A&H

Managing NARs effectively

SM

SM

The avuncular one
editted because it was long and waffle for the most part. Incident - you're the referee.

A ball is played through for an attacker in an offside position to run onto, he knows he has gone early and immediately puts his hands in the air, turns his back and walks away from the direction of the ball. This happens right in front of the AR on that side and he raises the flag straight away (far too quickly for a ball played into space down a wing) and despite my shouts that the attacker is not interfering with play and me looking right at him, decides to leave the flag up. In my head the question is, I could now blow and give the offside despite it being hugely clear that there is no offside offence (I have just shouted loudly that there isn't), or I can allow play to go on. I could have blown straight away when the flag went up of course, but it was obvious the attacker had no intention of trying to play the ball. A switched on team mate of the attacker notices the lack of whistle and runs in to challenge the defender. Ball goes out of play for a throw in to the defensive team.

Thoughts on this?
 
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The Referee Store
100% right in my opinion, no intention to go for the ball so not an offside offence. I personally say to NARs before the game "if I overrule you and let play continue I will give you a thumbs up, put flag down and continue with play"
 
By all means protect your Assistant ....but if they make a mistake over rule
 
I think you did all you can mate.

Did you go through delayed flagging on the pre match?

Obviously you could spend all the pre-match talking about delayed flags and at the moment in question the AR is still too quick with it.

How experienced was the NAR in question? I think that can be a huge factor in this too, if the NAR is inexperienced they can be so overawed at seeing it the flag goes up far too quickly.

Did you cover it at half/full time?
 
Wave him down, make sure everyone knows you're playing on and at half time or full time, explain in simple terms, the error of his ways. In this situation it reflects well on no one, but the players will give you hell if you back your obviously wrong assistant. In other situations, you back your AR to the hilt, but not this time, not when you've already verbally told him that you're playing on.

Out of interest was he inexperienced or "should have been doing this game"?
 
Sorry @SM, it is a lose/lose situation. Backing the Assistant ruins your match control, overruling destroys his confidence.

The least worst option is @Brian Hamilton suggestion. Wave him down, take the responsibly and deal with his confidence afterwards.

@SM What did you do?
 
Played on. Straight after this incident a couple of defenders moaned "the flag went up!", but they accepted there was no whistle and that I had shouted very loudly that there was no offence.

This leads me to the next incident. :)

Attacking play goes to the goal line again close to the assistant position (this is the other AR). Bit of jostling before the ball is cleared by the defender, i cannot see for certain if the ball crossed the goal line, but it is 10 yards from the AR who clearly signals throw in. Seemed plausible to me from the balls movement, no ref is going to interfere there anyway? Throw in given.

The attacker places the ball in the corner arc and quickly tries to take a corner. The AR does nothing to stop this and it catches me a little by surprise. So whistle is blown as the ball is kicked. I move a bit closer and ask the AR "is it a throw in?" to which he says "yes".

Now I am getting a bit of verbals moaning about what has just happened. I cannot blame them, I am baffled by what I have just seen but wave the moans away with a simple "you saw the signal for a throw in, let's get on with the game" and get to my position quicky before the long throw comes in.

I will admit I am starting to feel like a bit of a clown by this point.

Thoughts?
 
Definitely sounds like an inexperienced AR, or even official in general.

Again, not much more you can do than you did to be fair, the difference here you are agreeing with the AR, so can play on the incorrect attempted restart by the player as the issue, not an incorrect decision from the AR.

'You all saw the signal, I've no idea what he's doing' would be my comment.

Must have been frustrating.

How old or experienced were they?
 
If there's one thing worse than a clueless CAR then it's an NAR who isn't on his game. Justifiably, players' expectations of NARs are pretty high .. their teams are paying for them after all! All you can do is get in at half time and try to sort his s**t out pretty quick .. either by words of encouragement and advice (if inexperienced) or by something stronger (if experienced)!

Had something similar earlier this season. Advised NARs in briefing that on penalty decisions I'd either be clearly giving it, clearly saying no or looking at them for input. Halfway through second half of a game I'd had well in hand, I'm 15 yards from a penalty shout with a clear view. Immediate loud shout of "NO" and cut the grass signal ... only to find my NAR flagging wildly and continuing to flag for a good few seconds. Credibility shot and just extremely thankful that team in question was already 3-0 up and went on to win 5-0!
 
Welcome to the world of NARs.

I'd of been on high alert after the first flag and just lead them all the way from then on. Try to leave as little grey area's as possible for the assistant in your pre-match.

Curve ball's from grey area's where a flag is unexpected will ruin your match control, even if the club think you had a good game and were let down by your assistant they will down mark you if it impacts the result.
 
SM said:
Played on. Straight after this incident a couple of defenders moaned "the flag went up!", but they accepted there was no whistle and that I had shouted very loudly that there was no offence.

This leads me to the next incident. :)

Attacking play goes to the goal line again close to the assistant position (this is the other AR). Bit of jostling before the ball is cleared by the defender, i cannot see for certain if the ball crossed the goal line, but it is 10 yards from the AR who clearly signals throw in. Seemed plausible to me from the balls movement, no ref is going to interfere there anyway? Throw in given.

The attacker places the ball in the corner arc and quickly tries to take a corner. The AR does nothing to stop this and it catches me a little by surprise. So whistle is blown as the ball is kicked. I move a bit closer and ask the AR "is it a throw in?" to which he says "yes".

Now I am getting a bit of verbals moaning about what has just happened. I cannot blame them, I am baffled by what I have just seen but wave the moans away with a simple "you saw the signal for a throw in, let's get on with the game" and get to my position quicky before the long throw comes in.

I will admit I am starting to feel like a bit of a clown by this point.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Did you also signal throw-in? You should still signal even if led by your AR because it's in his credible area. Was your signal clear?

Now, where did you get these two from because you need to take them back as they seem to be faulty ;)
 
Did the right thing in the first case. Probably could have had a quick chat at the next convenient moment too.

As for the corner one, it just sounds like an inexperienced NAR who didn't know what to do and was expecting you to handle the situation of the incorrect restart, not realising (or not having the confidence to) that he should be the one
 
@SM - they must either like or hate you on that league to give you two such inexperienced NAR. In York, we having to use young inexperienced assistants due to the lack of other referees available. It is a test for the referees.
 
after assisting for the 4th time this season yesterday, I can tell you that's some shoddy work!

I tried to step up my game yesterday (had a level 4 ref) and be verbal on the lines - giving the whole 'still in play' etc when it was close to the by line - when it was a tough choice between corner/gk or throw for the ref, again, id flag it (he followed my flag) and I was also clearly stating throw/corner/gk etc

after the game he commented on it and said how well he thought it worked - thinking I like this linesman job more than the middle sometimes! haha
 
Personally I think you did the right thing, but it's a no-win situation. I had a game where my NAR also did the quick flag, then dropped it - right in front of the benches. I acknowledged what he'd done (and knew why - one player in an offside position but the ball went into space and another ran onto it) and shouted 'play on'. Of course, the attacking team scored from it and credibility was shot, even after I'd spoken to the NAR in question and then to the manager. I'd already overruled once by then too, after the ball ran directly through to the keeper without an attacker being nearby.

Even more coincidentally, the same NAR also flagged for a penalty late on in the game. In this case, I don't think I'd acknowledged anything (because it was so obviously soft to me) and so when he flagged had to make a split decision. A quick loud call by me would have been better but having not done that I decided I had to overrule him as it would have been worse to give the pen. I did feel awkward about it though and had to explain on the way home!

Left me feeling like I'd had a bad game unfortunately, as I find it easier to acknowledge a mistake I've made - whether on the line or in the middle. Mind you, I also find it more difficult with NARs sometimes as I try and get into wider positions and then don't always see things I should - like a possible handball in the penalty area which was obvious to the crowd but I genuinely couldn't see with certainty.

We live and learn I guess - and I learnt a lot from that one! For instance, even though we talk about delaying the flag, sometimes the urge to raise it and get it right (especially on the bench side where they're appealing for everything) seems to overrule the senses and the arm starts to go automatically. That's why I can't hold it against my NAR in this case - just wish it hadn't happened like that!
 
I don't blame the NARs - I am certain they did what they did with the best will in the world.

What I have taken away from the game is these incidents and another one which I am not going to post about. Still cogitating on that one. Our brains are built to dwell on negatives, discounting positives quite easily. :)

Funnily enough, there is nothing I am concerned about which solely concerned me (not to say there weren't some things I could have done better mind), brain is stuck with my management of these incidents.

Feel a little reassured by the responses though. Thanks for the replies.

@Brian Hamilton - yes, I did signal.
 
I remember once upon a time being an NAR and sticking my flag up for a player who obviously wasn't interfering. I just tried to look at the ref and shake my head mouthing ignore me - Didn't work :(
 
@Nottsman that reminds me of the time (3 weeks ago in fact!)I flagged a players offside, but the ball ended up curling to another player who wasn't offside .. cue the most odd, totally obvious, arm stretching motion I've ever done! and then I kind of whistle and roll of the eyes!

fortunately 3 of the parents were standing behind me, saw it and then continued to laugh at my expense for the remainder of the game! (in good jest may I add!)
 
And if we're confessing, I had a game a short while ago where it inexplicably occurred to me that offside was reset once a defender gained control of the ball - so much so that I shouted that the offside attacker wasn't interfering much to the obvious consternation of the ref (and the defending team manager). Again, lesson learned but I went home that day very disappointed in myself!
 
things like that are best laughed off! if nobody takes it seriously and finds it rather comical, then relax and laugh with them!
 
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