The Ref Stop

Referring Friendlies

Degnann

Degnann

As incompetent as the last ref
Level 4 Referee
I’ve just finished playing an 11 a side (not something that happens often), one big observation from the referee who was there. Now I sit my referee test next week so this may be something I cannot comment on yet so thought I’d get your opinion.

the referee had no cards with her as she said it was a friendly and openly said it was easy money. To me thats just highly unprofessional. If you are getting paid to do a job then you should do this proper. Maybe thats just me.

is this something you find often with yourselves?
 
The Ref Stop
Awful mistake. The only game I ever feel like I've lost a control and wasn't strong enough was my 4th game - an u15 friendly. There were lots of bad challenges and aggression which I hadn't dealt with at that point in my refereeing career. I had never given out a card before so was reluctant to for that reason, but also because it was a 'friendly'. I eventually didn't take anymore dissent and gave a card in the very last minute for dissent.

I find it massively surprising a qualified referee wouldn't take cards to any game. They're a tool that is there to be used and even if you don't want to use them as 'freely' as you would in a competitive fixture, I don't understand why you wound't bring them in case you HAVE to use a card
 
Small chance she just said it so unless you actually searched her and confirmed, in fact, she was not in posession of red and yellow cards, there is a chance she did have them on her person, with intent to supply and that what she said was a smoke screen.
 
Degnann said:
I’ve just finished playing an 11 a side (not something that happens often), one big observation from the referee who was there. Now I sit my referee test next week so this may be something I cannot comment on yet so thought I’d get your opinion.

the referee had no cards with her as she said it was a friendly and openly said it was easy money. To me thats just highly unprofessional. If you are getting paid to do a job then you should do this proper. Maybe thats just me.

is this something you find often with yourselves?
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I highly doubt this was a psychological ploy!

Terrible.

If I was playing and got this from a local ref I’d be straight in touch with my ref sec. They want to know.

(I also get straight in touch about positives too e.g. saw a 15 year old looking after U7s couple of weeks ago and he was amazing. Turns out he applied and failed to get into our academy. Of course they want to know there are talents going way beyond and working hard.)

And, even after the advice in here to treat friendlies like a normal game, my worst decision ever was not to RC a blatant SFP a year ago in a friendly where I knew a lot of players.
 
JamesL said:
Small chance she just said it so unless you actually searched her and confirmed, in fact, she was not in posession of red and yellow cards, there is a chance she did have them on her person, with intent to supply and that what she said was a smoke screen.
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0 chance. She openly admitted they were in her car. There was one challenge that was 100% at least a booking, infact the player had to be carried off and this is when she said she didn’t have them on her.
the team we were playing organised the ref, I believe she has done a few of their games
 
There will be those on here that disagree with me, but here’s a couple of card based caveats that I’ve employed in friendlies:

  1. RC player in first half (offinabus). (U18 - quite a high standard) At half time, managers have a conflab and approach me to ask - as it’s a friendly - can the side bring a sub on (not RC’d player) to make it 11 v 11 again. I agree, had become a very one sided game. As an aside, as we were waiting to kick off 2nd half, player from side with player RC’d apologised to me for his teammate, said he’s always like that, thanked me for sending him off and said he might now learn.
  2. Ball hoofed forward, attacker chasing ball down, keeper come out of area and collects. Obvious HB DOGSO, definite red card. Then discussed with both captains & managers, all agreed they wanted to keep keeper on pitch - was a pre-season friendly and “sinned against” side wanted to play against a full strength opposition in preparation for their opening game the next week.
 
Degnann said:
There was one challenge that was 100% at least a booking, infact the player had to be carried off and this is when she said she didn’t have them on her.
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Okay, fine, but she can still caution/dismiss a player even without the cards. So, she can't rely on the 'I left them in the car' excuse there IMO.

RefJef said:
At half time, managers have a conflab and approach me to ask - as it’s a friendly - can the side bring a sub on (not RC’d player) to make it 11 v 11 again.
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I did that before, I'm not sure I would again in the future though. I'm just trying to think whether the Area Association would approve, because we still have to submit the cautions/dismissals for those matches, so changing the rules might impact on that? I don't know. I mean, the strangest request I had was this pre-season where two teams asked and agreed to play three 'halves' of 30 minutes each. I agreed on the basis that it would be an unofficial combined training session as opposed to a match, but I won't be doing that again in a hurry.
 
I don't think the word "friendly" helps in these games. A better word is "training" and that training is not just for the players but for the referee. As such definitely prepare as per any match.
 
I have a higher tolerance in friendlies, and I'll tend to talk to the managers instead of giving yellows or sin bins if the context is right for doing so. But for SFP or violent conduct it's always going to be red.

The girl who didn't bring her cards out has presumably learnt her lesson!
 
afronaut81 said:
I don't think the word "friendly" helps in these games. A better word is "training" and that training is not just for the players but for the referee. As such definitely prepare as per any match.
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Exactly what I came in to say, I try to avoid even thinking of or referring to them as friendlies - they're "pre-season" or "non-league" matches in my head
 
Big Cat said:
I'm not interested in Friendlies. Pretty much simple as that really
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Only issue with doing that if you are on a promotion track is that you can get observed early in the season and if you've dodged the pre season friendlies, then you end up undercooked in your early games and run up against the chance of getting an observation and being marked accordingly.
 
Friendlies are something that two teams arrange between them. As far as referees are concerned, they are simply another game where they are there to implement the LOTG as necessary. In experience any type of sporting event between the males of the species is always competitive, even if there is nothing at stake.
 
Where do we stand on the 'let the 10-men bring a sub on because everyone wants it' thing? I've done it before and can't decide whether it's sensible or stupid. I also suspect that at grassroots, 80% of referees don't submit cautions/dismissals for friendlies...
 
I don't do many friendlies, my Men's Sunday league has pre-season cups that start in August, so those normally suffice.

I've never understood the mindset some referees have where they won't caution or send off in a friendly, or they'll allow a sub instead of a red card.

I only accept appointments to friendlies which have come through the leagues (I know they're affiliated etc) and I make it clear that I will treat it the same as any other game, and any cautions etc will be submitted to the CFA.
 
zarathustra said:
I don't do many friendlies, my Men's Sunday league has pre-season cups that start in August, so those normally suffice.

I've never understood the mindset some referees have where they won't caution or send off in a friendly, or they'll allow a sub instead of a red card.

I only accept appointments to friendlies which have come through the leagues (I know they're affiliated etc) and I make it clear that I will treat it the same as any other game, and any cautions etc will be submitted to the CFA.
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In my case, I gave a RC and then let them bring a sub on. Seemed sensible at the time but I probably wouldn't do it again.
 
JH said:
Where do we stand on the 'let the 10-men bring a sub on because everyone wants it' thing? I've done it before and can't decide whether it's sensible or stupid. I also suspect that at grassroots, 80% of referees don't submit cautions/dismissals for friendlies...
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If the other team want to bring a man off to keep it 10 v 10, I'm not going to argue....
 
I've forgotten my cards once.
After having seen a youtube vid of a ref doing similar, I simply put an imaginary card in the air for my one caution.
Noone said a thing!!!
Might have been different if it were red?
 
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