The Ref Stop

No linesmen?

The Ref Stop
Same as millions do worldwide every weekend.

How do you tell when the ball goes out of play off a quick break and you are 60 yards away ?
How do you get in the optimal position to call a penalty ?
How do you give a free kick in the corner flag area on your opposite normal diagonal?

You adapt. You get into the best positions possible, for the entire game.

If you think having linesman means all offside calls are correct, I will dispute that, from grass roots to Champ League. So why would your game be any different.
 
Ask Miley Cyrus. They don't bother with Club Assistant Referee's north of the border by all accounts and many refs on the forum prefer their absence. I'm not one of them. CARs are the lesser of two evils imo. I guess you need to do more running to get into advanced positions
 
I promise when am head of the English Referee Association that CARS are getting scrapped.

The previous head of Scottish refereeing was a great advocate of no linesman, not even neutral ones, at our semi pro level. I happen to agree

if you think for one moment am allowing a person affiliated to a club, or not verse with the laws of the game, to have ANY say, even an opinion on points of play then that day will never come.

Usual disclaimer, I understand the requirement of some leagues. but, do what you do for every call, make your best call based on what you see



I suppose if I can offer some constructive advise that might help, as you are about to penalise for offside, if you find you are not in a credible position, delay the whistle a split second, then, as you do blow, keep running to make it appear you were in a better position that you actually were
it of course is not fool proof, but if the players at least think you had a decent view of it, they are more likely to buy into your decision.
Standing static 60 yards away central and giving an offside which is clearly a guess will deem your presence to be a waste of time.
 
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If you're without linesmen, just tell the captains at the coin toss that all offsides are on you, and that given your position in the middle, you will only give them if you are certain from your position. Therefore, they play the offside trap/high line at their own risk.

I find most teams very quickly drop into a deep defensive line once they realise it is too risky to gamble on my decision-making. :P (Also, be quick to stamp on any dissent when you give/don't give an offside. For sanity's sake.)
 
RobOda said:
If you're without linesmen, just tell the captains at the coin toss that all offsides are on you, and that given your position in the middle, you will only give them if you are certain from your position. Therefore, they play the offside trap/high line at their own risk.

I find most teams very quickly drop into a deep defensive line once they realise it is too risky to gamble on my decision-making. :p (Also, be quick to stamp on any dissent when you give/don't give an offside. For sanity's sake.)
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At risk of sounding obtuse as referee do we not only give any call when we are certain from our position?
 
I think the whole CAR thing is an interesting debate. I've said in the past that the biggest hindrance to my role as an Open Age referee, is the standard and integrity of CARs. That said, i'm not sure i'd be willing to drop them (voluntarily)
 
Having refereed in the AFA (Amateur Football Alliance) in London, the biggest loss of not having CAR's is the ball in/out of play. Eventually I left the league because of all the arguments this caused.
Offside was not a problem.
 
Make it clear to the captains at the toss that when the ball is played you may well be facing the other way and therefore the picture you see may be different to what they see. If they are still stupid enough to play an offside trap with that information they only have themselves to blame.

If you think the ball might have gone out of play give it as out of play. Much better to get a thrown in wrong than play on and someone scores from it.
 
I have two points of view:

As a player I have played in a league with no CARs/ARs for 16 years, mostly as CB/sweeper, quite a competitive league at that. Referees that stand in the middle or patrol the centre circle - no matter how "good" they are - have to guess offsides... and that is a nightmare. Random goals disallowed, random breakaways stopped. It's just horrible, because every game has bad KMIs. As a player you learn quick to keep running as you appeal!

As a referee, I've done maybe 150 games with no CARs/ARs. CARs that I cannot trust would do my nut. As said before, I sacrifice a bit of ball in/out on the touchline, use the diagonal, and get extra wide to see across the offside line as much as possible, depending on the game and the situation. I really enjoy the challenge. The games are lower league, therefore slower, therefore more chance to anticipate, slower players to run past to get into position, and less risk of ending up too far from play. Adapting your position at set pieces I think is quite straightforward - for attacking free kicks get wider, corners nearly the goal line etc etc. Anywhere but the centre circle!

...and if someone complains about a ball in/out: "get promoted, get assistant referees!" Easy!
 
Can someone explain to me how these Linesman thingies work, I spent all my career doing it all myself, i'm not sure id accept some miscreant messing my bad decisions record up!!
 
Had CAR's once this season. 5 mins in and the home CAR is flagging furiously for perceived fouls against his team in the other half of the pitch whilst shouting "ref, ref" constantly, followed by raising his flag for offside from a throw in.

More hassle than they're worth imo. I can sell any mistake I make on throw ins etc with the usual lines about being the ref and both linesman today.
 
Ben448844 said:
Had CAR's once this season. 5 mins in and the home CAR is flagging furiously for perceived fouls against his team in the other half of the pitch whilst shouting "ref, ref" constantly, followed by raising his flag for offside from a throw in.

More hassle than they're worth imo. I can sell any mistake I make on throw ins etc with the usual lines about being the ref and both linesman today.
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With all due respect, it sounds like you've totally failed to brief him. I make it very clear to my CAR's that misconduct is on me and I don't want them getting involved in fouls. When I say this, they generally don't - or at the very least, wait for a break in play before flagging me over for a chat (even if I totally ignore what they say).

And the offside from a throw-on is an easy overrule. Just because you have CAR's, doesn't mean you're obliged to completely forget everything you know about the laws and go with them without thinking. If they're clearly wrong, overrule. If you think they're not being 100% fair, adjust your run as if you had no CAR's. If you think they're being reasonable, you can give them a longer leash and position yourself with a greater emphasis on foul detection.

You're also empowered to remove them if they're truly awful. Fortunately, I've not felt the need to do this in 5 years of reffing with CAR's, but knowing the option's there can help you feel more confident when you brief them or need to overrule them.
 
GraemeS said:
With all due respect, it sounds like you've totally failed to brief him. I make it very clear to my CAR's that misconduct is on me and I don't want them getting involved in fouls. When I say this, they generally don't - or at the very least, wait for a break in play before flagging me over for a chat (even if I totally ignore what they say).

And the offside from a throw-on is an easy overrule. Just because you have CAR's, doesn't mean you're obliged to completely forget everything you know about the laws and go with them without thinking. If they're clearly wrong, overrule. If you think they're not being 100% fair, adjust your run as if you had no CAR's. If you think they're being reasonable, you can give them a longer leash and position yourself with a greater emphasis on foul detection.

You're also empowered to remove them if they're truly awful. Fortunately, I've not felt the need to do this in 5 years of reffing with CAR's, but knowing the option's there can help you feel more confident when you brief them or need to overrule them.
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With all due respect, I did brief him and I obviously overuled the offside from a throw in. At such a low level of football, I'm quicker than the players so I'm ok for throw ins etc and I think the majority of league's around here are right to not have CARs. The negatives outweigh the positives in my opinions
 
First mention of 'CARs are useless' and the Suffern Softies rise up as one in condemnation, can't they do anything on their own down there without help!!!!!! :cool:
 
First rule for any footballer given the flag is to be as deliberately awful with it as possible so you never get asked again.
 
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