The Ref Stop

Positioning

K

Kinellref

New Member
Level 6 Referee
Hi all
Not sure if this should go here but wanted some opinions ahead of my assessments this year.
Now I know all about running the diagonal and getting wide etc but something gives me a bit of a headache.
Where should you be when the play is basically in the middle third of the park? Is it better to be behind play level or what? I find myself getting stuck in the middle too often - not intentionally but I can't help going through the middle as part of the diagonal. I think partly due to the level of football I ref that the ball does a lot of pinging around in that area. I do set myself a little challenge now to basically try not to go into the centre circle but still get caught out.
I would guess I'm not the only person who has this problem but any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
The Ref Stop
positioning is hard, to be honest I think you can be told the basics but think the rest comes with experience, when I first started, I was to far away because I was worried about getting in the way but I was missing a lot of stuff but then I got closer and kept getting hit but now I have found a new balance that suits me! :)
 
The lower the level, the harder the positioning becomes.

You want to be as far away from play as possible but still being in a credible position to give any decisions or non-decisions. It's a very tough balance and there's no perfect answer. I'm a Level4 with countless assessments but still find myself getting caught up in play every so often, so you're not alone!

Assuming you don't have neutral AR's, a basic position for situation you described would be slightly behind play, towards the left back of the team with the ball. The reason for this is it means should that team break forwards, you'll be in a great position to follow play towards the 18-yard box. If they lose possession and the other team start attacking, you can get round the back of them and again be in a good position to penetrate the box and towards that general zone.

Hope that helps

PS - this is not gospel, nor is it what an assessor may necessarily suggest as I'm not an assessor. This is merely my opinion from my own experiences!
 
http://www.refchat.co.uk/threads/positioning.2031/

Check that out for some great positioning adviceto add to the great advice above.

Try to think about what you need/want to see, where your lead assistant is and work out the angle from there. If play breaks down and you get caught in the middle, back away out wide to give yourself a good angle whilst keeping view of the action. It's going to happen from time to time at grass roots level.

Don't worry about it too much, it does get easier with experience. Or you stop worrying about it, one or the other!
 
I struggled today on a very small pitch to get positioning right but my mentor was there a I swore a vast improvement by the end of the match, just takes experience and help
 
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