A lot of what happens on a field during a game falls under the heading of player management. It might be the communication of why you've given a particular decision or it might be the conversation you have with a player and his captain at the obvious rebuke stage of the stepped approach or it might be as simple as the checking off of a substitutes name as he joins the game.
Player management is no excuse for shirking your responsibility to apply law, especially for mandatory offences like failing to respect the required distance but it is your key to earning higher club marks. This means that if the assessors are picking up on things that don't seem to be completely correct in your games, then the love from clubs might save your season.
Player management is a skill which can be practised so that you know exactly what you're going to say and do when events happen in your game. If you don't believe you already do it, think about the decisions you have to "sell" to players, such as the big "cutting the grass" sweep with both arms to deny a claim for a penalty kick?
Player management also requires confidence. Confidence to respond with the right words but also with the correct tone of voice and matching body posture. I have seen referees get the words and tone right but their body language was screaming the opposite, giving the players a mixed message which was enough for them to more vehemently challenge the decisions.
So how do you develop this confidence? Well some fortunate few are born with an innate sense of infallibility which leads them to automatically match their vocal message with their posture and nothing will shake them. They are indeed the fortunate few. I was asked recently about how I cope with the constant questioning of decisions and challenges to my perceived authority on the field. I had to admit that I adopted the strategy of "smoke and mirrors".
I try to look so confident, display facial expressions which range somewhere between indifference and incredulity when a decision was challenged, that no one took the challenge beyond the first question. I also introduced the often disarming admittance that I had gotten a decision wrong from time to time. This unnerves players as I remember when I was first introduced to refereeing I refused to countenance the thought that I was wrong. Now I hold my hands up and explain (briefly) what I've seen and players generally accept it.
So how does this make you the referee you want to be? Those at the top of the game in this country wear a mask of confidence, look nonplussed when a challenge is made to a decision and often can sway a player with their presence or posture. So how can you work that into your game.
Firstly, recognise that you may fool some of the people all of the time, fool all of the people some of the time but you will never fool all 22 players, plus subs, plus club officials, plus spectators for the whole of 90 minutes plus added time!
Secondly, begin by reflecting on times when your decisions have been challenged,. Replay the encounters in your mind and you'll find out the one or two things which might have made you more convincing in that scenario. It might have been your proximity to play, your speed to the scene, tone of whistle or as simple as the strength of your arm signal.
Thirdly, write down every single situation that may occur during one of your games. Record even the most unlikely (spectators stopping the ball from running into the car park by sticking a leg into play and trapping the ball anyone?). Once you've written them down, consider what action you would want to take, if you were the referee you've always wanted to be. Give a few minutes to thinking about what you want to do, what you want to say and to whom you want to say it. Have a thought about their possible response and think about your own next steps.
Fourthly, in your next game, once one of those situations crops up, try out your practised management and after the game reflect on the success of your chosen strategy. If it didn't go to plan, what could you try next time?
So to summarise, accept you have weaknesses, identify when they are exposed, develop strategies to deal with those weaknesses and reflect on the success (or otherwise) of your strategies adapting if necessary. Failing all else, smile a lot, it also unnerves players if they think you are enjoying the game more than them.
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Player management is no excuse for shirking your responsibility to apply law, especially for mandatory offences like failing to respect the required distance but it is your key to earning higher club marks. This means that if the assessors are picking up on things that don't seem to be completely correct in your games, then the love from clubs might save your season.
Player management is a skill which can be practised so that you know exactly what you're going to say and do when events happen in your game. If you don't believe you already do it, think about the decisions you have to "sell" to players, such as the big "cutting the grass" sweep with both arms to deny a claim for a penalty kick?
Player management also requires confidence. Confidence to respond with the right words but also with the correct tone of voice and matching body posture. I have seen referees get the words and tone right but their body language was screaming the opposite, giving the players a mixed message which was enough for them to more vehemently challenge the decisions.
So how do you develop this confidence? Well some fortunate few are born with an innate sense of infallibility which leads them to automatically match their vocal message with their posture and nothing will shake them. They are indeed the fortunate few. I was asked recently about how I cope with the constant questioning of decisions and challenges to my perceived authority on the field. I had to admit that I adopted the strategy of "smoke and mirrors".
I try to look so confident, display facial expressions which range somewhere between indifference and incredulity when a decision was challenged, that no one took the challenge beyond the first question. I also introduced the often disarming admittance that I had gotten a decision wrong from time to time. This unnerves players as I remember when I was first introduced to refereeing I refused to countenance the thought that I was wrong. Now I hold my hands up and explain (briefly) what I've seen and players generally accept it.
So how does this make you the referee you want to be? Those at the top of the game in this country wear a mask of confidence, look nonplussed when a challenge is made to a decision and often can sway a player with their presence or posture. So how can you work that into your game.
Firstly, recognise that you may fool some of the people all of the time, fool all of the people some of the time but you will never fool all 22 players, plus subs, plus club officials, plus spectators for the whole of 90 minutes plus added time!
Secondly, begin by reflecting on times when your decisions have been challenged,. Replay the encounters in your mind and you'll find out the one or two things which might have made you more convincing in that scenario. It might have been your proximity to play, your speed to the scene, tone of whistle or as simple as the strength of your arm signal.
Thirdly, write down every single situation that may occur during one of your games. Record even the most unlikely (spectators stopping the ball from running into the car park by sticking a leg into play and trapping the ball anyone?). Once you've written them down, consider what action you would want to take, if you were the referee you've always wanted to be. Give a few minutes to thinking about what you want to do, what you want to say and to whom you want to say it. Have a thought about their possible response and think about your own next steps.
Fourthly, in your next game, once one of those situations crops up, try out your practised management and after the game reflect on the success of your chosen strategy. If it didn't go to plan, what could you try next time?
So to summarise, accept you have weaknesses, identify when they are exposed, develop strategies to deal with those weaknesses and reflect on the success (or otherwise) of your strategies adapting if necessary. Failing all else, smile a lot, it also unnerves players if they think you are enjoying the game more than them.
Continue reading...
