The Ref Stop

Remembering who you have booked

HibbyGaz

HibbyGaz

New Member
I had a busy U16 yesterday, Division 1 sides so both sides evenly matched and up for it. Some boys on both sides knew each other from school so added spice if you know what I mean.

Anyway, 4 yellows later and a red for a played for two bookings, I was worried trying to remember who was on a yellow, clearly all recorded in the little book but wanted to know if anyone has any tips for remembering these things when there is more than one or two booked??

I tended to quickly look at my book several times when there was a lull in play, silently saying yellow team 4 and 7, blues 1 (Yes, goalie), 2 and 9.

Oh and it was sheets of driving rain and book looking a bit soggy.
 
The Ref Stop
Write-on card stickers helps for recording numbers, and very easy to have a look. Or you can just DIY by getting some tape and sticking onto the yellow card. I have found refsix to be very good with cautions, but I know others don’t agree as it can be a bit fiddly and may look unprofessional. Also very good for sinbins
 
A big part of this comes with experience and being able to stay relaxed. Then you can pick out the position players are playing, as well as their number, boots they’re wearing etc. my biggest way of remembering was players names. Obviously you won’t know this off the bat, but if you can get on name terms with them, I always found it helped me remember. But it’s something I think each referee will have a different way of remembering.

Marcus’ advice above can be helpful, but at grassroots, you need to be very careful just taking number on your card, as you will either not get team sheets, or team sheets will be rather lacking.

Remembering players numbers will generally help, but bear in mind, this could change if they get a blood injury or rip in shirt.
 
Totally agree with this, player positions helps me as well and don’t just rely on numbers. I just gave some tips on how to avoid messing up your bookings with the book if the pouring rain is a factor
 
I used to be terrible at remembering who I had cautioned, by now I know instinctively and don't need to check. It just gets better with experience in my case.

To help me when I was struggling I used to write the numbers discreetly on my hand as well as the notebook, that way I could have a quick glance to see who was on cautions.
 
RustyRef said:
To help me when I was struggling I used to write the numbers discreetly on my hand as well as the notebook, that way I could have a quick glance to see who was on cautions.
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Imagine if it was lashing down, if your hand got wet and writing got blurry and you were squinting and moving your hand up and down to try and focus... what would that look like...
 
Interesting that so many referees feel the need to know which players they have cautioned.
Surely it's never to allow them to reconsider whether the offence just committed merits a (second) caution(?)
 
ChasObserverRefDeveloper said:
Interesting that so many referees feel the need to know which players they have cautioned.
Surely it's never to allow them to reconsider whether the offence just committed merits a (second) caution(?)
Click to expand...
We’re all old enough to admit whether a player is on a caution impacts how we manage that player, aren’t we?

There are soft yellows we can give to a player not on a caution for game management that we Dan’s give to a player on a caution. Conversely, there are offences we can deal with a public warning for a player not on a caution that we must show a yellow card for for a player on a caution to avoid the, quite rightful, complaints about how the yellow card should be their warning.
 
ChasObserverRefDeveloper said:
Interesting that so many referees feel the need to know which players they have cautioned.
Surely it's never to allow them to reconsider whether the offence just committed merits a (second) caution(?)
Click to expand...
To a point I think it is partly down to your last sentence. In law a second caution is still a caution, but I’m sure we’re all realistic in that we’d rather avoid a ‘soft’ second caution.

But my main reasons for wanting to remember are simple:

1- You have them being on a caution as a tool to help control the player. If they’re already on a caution, you can use this to your advantage

2- alertness and awareness. It’s not a good look if you don’t remember who you’ve booked. E.g Graham Poll…….
 
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Runner Ref said:
To a point I think it is partly down to your last sentence. In law a second caution is still a caution, but I’m sure we’re all realistic in that we’d rather avoid a ‘soft’ second caution.

But my main reasons for wanting to remember are simple:

1- You have them being on a caution as a tool to help control the player. If they’re already on a caution, you can use this to your advantage

2- alertness and awareness. It’s not a good look if you don’t remember who you’ve been. E.g Graham Poll…….
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I saw an even messier situation than the Graham Poll one at an EFL game last season where a referee who had had a fantastic game up until 90 mins correctly sent a player off in stoppage time for a second caution, then proceeded to allow someone to convince him he hadn't already cautioned that player and had to cancel the red card and allow them to stay on the FOP. Felt really sorry for the referee, as like I say, he was excellent other than that one moment, whatever the root cause, I'm sure he won't do it again.
 
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HibbyGaz said:
I had a busy U16 yesterday, Division 1 sides so both sides evenly matched and up for it. Some boys on both sides knew each other from school so added spice if you know what I mean.

Anyway, 4 yellows later and a red for a played for two bookings, I was worried trying to remember who was on a yellow, clearly all recorded in the little book but wanted to know if anyone has any tips for remembering these things when there is more than one or two booked??

I tended to quickly look at my book several times when there was a lull in play, silently saying yellow team 4 and 7, blues 1 (Yes, goalie), 2 and 9.

Oh and it was sheets of driving rain and book looking a bit soggy.
Click to expand...
Use REFSIX on a smartwatch. If you give a serving yellow it literally tells you.
 
Runner Ref said:
To a point I think it is partly down to your last sentence. In law a second caution is still a caution, but I’m sure we’re all realistic in that we’d rather avoid a ‘soft’ second caution.

But my main reasons for wanting to remember are simple:

1- You have them being on a caution as a tool to help control the player. If they’re already on a caution, you can use this to your advantage

2- alertness and awareness. It’s not a good look if you don’t remember who you’ve been. E.g Graham Poll…….
Click to expand...
You would have been torn by the decision correctly made at Wimborne three weeks ago then . . first yellow for delaying a restart, second for feinting after completing run up at a penalty . . .
 
Runner Ref said:
I'm not sure I'd class that as a soft 2nd yellow. The feint was far too obvious
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Agree. That was classic play silly games get silly prizes moment.
When the options are caution send off or allow a goal and the question is the kicker commits a mandatory caution offence there's only one option viable option there.
You may very well lament the 1st caution, but i refer to my opening statement regarding the 2nd offence.
 
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