The Ref Stop

Referee Microphones

Brian Hamilton said:
His is Level 5, he did use them on the County Final and he's been given the hard word on more than one occasion for wearing non-black shirts.
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His use of coloured shirts are pretty infamous around these parts, I thought he was Level 5 but then something in the back of my mind made me think he may be Level 7 and just hasn't ever attempted promotion despite a fair bit of experience.
 
The Ref Stop
RegalRef said:
I heard a story about a FL ref a few weeks ago (apologies: can't remember who!) who apparently during the pre-match sternly tells assistants and 4th 'I want law and law only on the coms kit, unless something has been missed. And no talking out loud to yourself at all'.

Sounds like a barrel of laughs :eek:
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That's very rare. Most of the officials will talk to each other, have a laugh etc, as well as use them for the originally intended purpose of improving decisions.

Kieran W said:
What is the lowest level for buzzers, if there is one and you don't mind me asking, going slightly off topic?
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Level 3+ referees, officiating at Contrib and up, are generally expected (although certainly not compulsory!) to use them and most do.
Certain supply league ref secs don't like the use of them, but a lot of L4's use them to good effect. Personally, if used correctly, I see no reason why a ref can't use them on any game involving NAR's!
 
DanCohen17 said:
That's very rare. Most of the officials will talk to each other, have a laugh etc, as well as use them for the originally intended purpose of improving decisions.


Level 3+ referees, officiating at Contrib and up, are generally expected (although certainly not compulsory!) to use them and most do.
Certain supply league ref secs don't like the use of them, but a lot of L4's use them to good effect. Personally, if used correctly, I see no reason why a ref can't use them on any game involving NAR's!
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I've found that electronic flags at supply level have become more used than not used now.
 
I've got a set of comms, we use them at most of our development games now and I used them on a county cup final not too long a go, where we had a goal line decision incident, the comms made it extremely easy, especially with quite an inexperienced active AR who didn't really know how to flag for a tight goal situation.

I must say what a brilliant piece of kit, I love them and I think that they will eventually become common place wherever there are 3 officials, similar to buzzer flags. I'll be posting a review of mine soon, after I've finished it.
 
HullRef said:
I've got a set of comms, we use them at most of our development games now and I used them on a county cup final not too long a go, where we had a goal line decision incident, the comms made it extremely easy, especially with quite an inexperienced active AR who didn't really know how to flag for a tight goal situation.

I must say what a brilliant piece of kit, I love them and I think that they will eventually become common place wherever there are 3 officials, similar to buzzer flags. I'll be posting a review of mine soon, after I've finished it.
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Did you have permission to use them?
 
Kieran W said:
What is the lowest level for buzzers, if there is one and you don't mind me asking, going slightly off topic?
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There is no lowest level.
It's generally down to the referee, who either has them or he doesn't. Many Level 4's have them and so if you're a 7-5 running his line - he'll more than likely expect you to use them.
I've used them as an assistant twice in the past. Once for a Level 4 in an FA Vase match and once in an Army (Corps level) match for a Level 5 who was going 5-4 that season.

There is no minimum level - league wise or referee wise. :)
 
I am surprised by the amount of people that don't regularly use them on here as assistants. The last 10 games I've done on the supply league have all had electronic flags.
 
How do you keep the earpieces clean between multiple users?

They won't be commonplace at £650 a pop unless the FA fund them.

Grassroots football has survived for decades without them.....yet to hear a convincing argument for them outside of the professional game.
 
Padfoot said:
How do you keep the earpieces clean between multiple users?

They won't be commonplace at £650 a pop unless the FA fund them.

Grassroots football has survived for decades without them.....yet to hear a convincing argument for them outside of the professional game.
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The earpieces come with multiple foam ear tips, and you can get replacements very easily which mean that I just swap them every use, but the reality is that I am using them with the same few refs most weeks so I just label the earpieces and they use the same ones. I also clean them with anti bacterial wipes after every use too, just incase there is any sweat on the wires etc.

They a bit prices at the minute, but that is for 4 units, a normal referee would probably only need the 3 set which is £530, which is not much more than a new set of Touchline's or Ervocom's. In the next few years the technology will decrease in cost and so will the prices, as this happens and they become more affordable I'm certain that they will become much more common, and will hopefully be embraced by the FA at lower levels.

On a side note, does anyone know if there are rules set regarding when and where they can be used?
 
HullRef said:
The earpieces come with multiple foam ear tips, and you can get replacements very easily which mean that I just swap them every use, but the reality is that I am using them with the same few refs most weeks so I just label the earpieces and they use the same ones. I also clean them with anti bacterial wipes after every use too, just incase there is any sweat on the wires etc.

They a bit prices at the minute, but that is for 4 units, a normal referee would probably only need the 3 set which is £530, which is not much more than a new set of Touchline's or Ervocom's. In the next few years the technology will decrease in cost and so will the prices, as this happens and they become more affordable I'm certain that they will become much more common, and will hopefully be embraced by the FA at lower levels.

On a side note, does anyone know if there are rules set regarding when and where they can be used?
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Electronic flags haven't overly gone down in price. There's very little competition which has allowed the price to stay steady.

They're not sanctioned to be used at any foreseeable level that you can referee at. We're talking Conference and above they're sanctioned although may go one step down unsure of the exact level.
 
Irrespective of however technology develops or however cheap they become, the fact is that for as long as Level 5's (or future equivalent) and below operate at a level where they only have CAR's, - it's unlikely to be something that is seen or used at grass roots level for a long time yet...... :)
 
Kes said:
Irrespective of however technology develops or however cheap they become, the fact is that for as long as Level 5's (or future equivalent) and below operate at a level where they only have CAR's, - it's unlikely to be something that is seen or used at grass roots level for a long time yet...... :)
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I completely agree, I can't see them ever being used with CAR's but I don't think it will be too long before they will be used in games with NAR's, especially at lower levels of the football pyramid.
 
Yeah, I've got a nice-ish pair of non-electronic flags and I've considered multiple times getting hold of a second-hand set of not so nice ones to give to CAR's - they wouldn't get near anything with technology in!
 
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