Running the line Sunday

[Deleted member 3014]

It's a fair point that it's entirely possible to pick up tips and tricks even from a ref who you don't particularly rate. Either by singling out the good thing he does in a poor performance, or by seeing mistakes he makes and avoiding them yourself.

The main example of this that springs to mind for me was a ref who took up some very wide positions for some set pieces, which is something I've tried to introduce into my game. But at the same time, he had a really tough game, and I put a lot of that down to him missing 3 early opportunities to get a dissent caution in the book and clamp some authority on the match. Something I've been concious to avoid since.

So why do u have to run the line to take in all of the above.

 

[zarathustra]

So why do u have to run the line to take in all of the above.

Obviously you don’t have to run the line to get all this, you could just roll up to the local park on a Sunday morning, but that wouldn’t give you the opportunity to pick the referees brains at half time and/or after the match.

It wouldn’t give you the opportunity to discuss match incidents with other match officials who were involved in the same game and will have had different views on incidents etc.

You say your strength is controlling a game, but that your knowledge of the laws of the game and positioning is poor.

Good man management will only get you so far, if you can’t get into a good position you will miss stuff, and you will lose your grip on a game very quickly.

If you don’t know the laws of the game very well you again will lose control of matches very quickly, your past experience as a player will count for naught if you get something wrong in law and cost a team a match.

Positioning is about experience, but the opportunity to work with and talk to other more experienced match officials will help you improve greatly, the same as discussing the laws of the game with other match officials will help you learn those too, especially when it comes to the more obscure elements that you won’t come across everyday.

 

[Deleted member 3014]

Obviously you don’t have to run the line to get all this, you could just roll up to the local park on a Sunday morning, but that wouldn’t give you the opportunity to pick the referees brains at half time and/or after the match.

It wouldn’t give you the opportunity to discuss match incidents with other match officials who were involved in the same game and will have had different views on incidents etc.

You say your strength is controlling a game, but that your knowledge of the laws of the game and positioning is poor.

Good man management will only get you so far, if you can’t get into a good position you will miss stuff, and you will lose your grip on a game very quickly.

If you don’t know the laws of the game very well you again will lose control of matches very quickly, your past experience as a player will count for naught if you get something wrong in law and cost a team a match.

Positioning is about experience, but the opportunity to work with and talk to other more experienced match officials will help you improve greatly, the same as discussing the laws of the game with other match officials will help you learn those too, especially when it comes to the more obscure elements that you won’t come across everyday.

I agree fully discussing incidents with officials is gold dust I discussed a few on Sunday after the game not regarding the game we had just officiated but just general chit chat about past experiences.

I get the whole part of being a team on a match day the three of you the bonding etc but I had a bad view of anything that happened up the pitch not in my half, anytime the ball was played forward in my half i was glued to the last man etc, had I have been a spectator I could have taken up any position I liked on the sidelines I could have watched the referees performance positioning etc it would have been a lot easier and beneficial being a spectator I would have been relaxed and could have concentrated on things that I wanted to see, things i need to improve on, instead I’m stuck to a line in one half & spent half my time looking at the last defender.

For me given the choice if I wanted to learn from a ref I’d rather watch as a spectator, oh and any game I go to watch I actually chat to the ref at HT / FT it can be a lonely old morning at HT / FT they are quite pleased that somebody neutral is paying an interest.

 

[zarathustra]

I agree fully discussing incidents with officials is gold dust I discussed a few on Sunday after the game not regarding the game we had just officiated but just general chit chat about past experiences.

I get the whole part of being a team on a match day the three of you the bonding etc but I had a bad view of anything that happened up the pitch not in my half, anytime the ball was played forward in my half i was glued to the last man etc, had I have been a spectator I could have taken up any position I liked on the sidelines I could have watched the referees performance positioning etc it would have been a lot easier and beneficial being a spectator I would have been relaxed and could have concentrated on things that I wanted to see, things i need to improve on, instead I’m stuck to a line in one half & spent half my time looking at the last defender.

For me given the choice if I wanted to learn from a ref I’d rather watch as a spectator, oh and any game I go to watch I actually chat to the ref at HT / FT it can be a lonely old morning at HT / FT they are quite pleased that somebody neutral is paying an interest.

That’s fair enough, but it just sounds like you don’t like running the line and so are looking for any reason to justify why you shouldn’t do it, and the reason you didn’t learn anything is because you didn’t want to

 

[Deleted member 3014]

That’s fair enough, but it just sounds like you don’t like running the line and so are looking for any reason to justify why you shouldn’t do it, and the reason you didn’t learn anything is because you didn’t want to

No in all honesty it was harder than I thought I made mistakes and I found it both challenging and unenjoyable, it dented my confidence a wee bit, it reminded me of my first couple of games in the middle and it wasn’t nice.

There was no chance of me even beginning to try and watch the referee with any great detail, all I did was either agree or disagree with the decisions given but that was about it, I was to busy with my own job.

I will do the line again because I’d like to see if I could do it better next time but on the flip side I don’t want to dent my confidence any further, I was really confident refereeing on Saturday come Sunday I felt like sh*t doing the line felt like I’d taken a step backwards.

Also I’m adamant I would learn more on the sidelines as a spectator than I would as a Lino, as a Lino your restricted somewhat.

I get the whole team of three etc and it was nice to see two other referee kits on a Sunday morning but as far as my opinion on AR duties it hasn’t changed I don’t like it and don’t think it benefits you anymore than standing on the sidelines with a burger in your hand watching the referee for 90mins.

 

[Deleted member 3014]

Got a couple of middles again this week & wknd but low and behold I’m back on the line Saturday premier league cup semi final, I think I better start getting used to this & try to embrace it.

I really did start this refereeing at stupid time of year, it’s been freezing games on & off all the time, now it’s cup semi & final months, it dented my confidence Sunday doing the line, now I’m questioning how I can be a good referee if I can’t run the line properly.

Anyway better get used to the AR duties because the powers that be obviously think it’ll benefit me :-(

 

[one]

I don't know too many referees who prefer doing the line over the centre. I am not saying they don't enjoy being AR, I am saying they enjoy being CR more. My son is a specialist AR but that's just because he is much better at it than CR. He is still a decent CR and enjoys it more when he gets the occasional CR appointment.

For me its simple, I prefer CR, I know being AR befits me (but so does being CR). But when i get to be an AR I only look at the positives (learning points, different challenge, helping a colleague, helping two teams, helping the game...) and that makes me enjoy doing it. I kid you not, when you think of the positives and believe in them, you do actually enjoy doing it. I suspect that would be the same for most others here who point out the benefits of being an AR.

That's not to say sometimes (very seldom ) I absolutely hate being there, but that has nothing to do with being on the line, its either the game is dull or the player's don't appreciate having an official, and it happens just as often in the centre .

 

[boblardo]

Got a couple of middles again this week & wknd but low and behold I’m back on the line Saturday premier league cup semi final, I think I better start getting used to this & try to embrace it.

I really did start this refereeing at stupid time of year, it’s been freezing games on & off all the time, now it’s cup semi & final months, it dented my confidence Sunday doing the line, now I’m questioning how I can be a good referee if I can’t run the line properly.

Anyway better get used to the AR duties because the powers that be obviously think it’ll benefit me :-(

@Men in Black, I am pretty sure I officiate on the same leagues as you (its a hunch just based from comments in your posts) and if that's the case I know the referee you are assisting this weekend and also the two teams and as such it will be a decent game for sure. FWIW the game you have been appointed too is probably the best one of the schedule.

You will notice a difference in the standard of the teams and also how the match is refereed. We are all different and you will see how this weeks referee will deal with match incidents, you can then compare them to last weeks referee and take both good and bad points from them.

If you want any advice or support, drop me a DM and I will happily share my limited wisdom

 

[Ross]

I don't know too many referees who prefer doing the line over the centre.

I prefer doing the line over refereeing. Guess it’s coz I like the challenge of it

 

[Deleted member 3014]

@Men in Black, I am pretty sure I officiate on the same leagues as you (its a hunch just based from comments in your posts) and if that's the case I know the referee you are assisting this weekend and also the two teams and as such it will be a decent game for sure. FWIW the game you have been appointed too is probably the best one of the schedule.

You will notice a difference in the standard of the teams and also how the match is refereed. We are all different and you will see how this weeks referee will deal with match incidents, you can then compare them to last weeks referee and take both good and bad points from them.

If you want any advice or support, drop me a DM and I will happily share my limited wisdom

You could well be I better watch my mouth from now on lol
I’ll drop a you a DM when I get a min
Cheers.

 

[boblardo]

@Men in Black - no bother, I have no interest in "outing" anyone and anything said on this type of forum remains on this type of forum, No point having anonymous usernames etc if anyone can come on and identify us

 

[zarathustra]

I thought I preferred running the line to being in the middle.

But having thought about it, I think I now prefer being in the middle. I’m not sure why, possibly the issues I was having last season aren’t as bad now, or that my l argues started giving me better/more difficult games.

Some good title deciders and cheeky little county cup games.

I will be going back to the Bostik Development League next season, and maybe also divide my Saturdays between refereeing and running the line on the local supply League to get more experience.

 

[Deleted member 3014]

@Men in Black - no bother, I have no interest in "outing" anyone and anything said on this type of forum remains on this type of forum, No point having anonymous usernames etc if anyone can come on and identify us

Appreciate it with my motor mouth I should have realised that there is likely to be referees in my leagues on here, I get a bit carried away sometimes.

Think I need to concentrate on my game now anyway, and leave the refereeing structure to the FA

 

[Tino Best]

I am a happy level 7 and will stay there as the reason why I got into reffing was that I was fed up seeing Dads from the home teams doing a poor job when no refs were around. So I made a commitment to ref youth footie, meaning that I only ref adults on Saturday afternoons, meaning it would be difficult to ref 20 adult games and 10 lines, with closed dates and no availability during the week day nights. A hobby I get paid for. I do my best and ref the best I can. I prefer middles but would never turn a line down just because it is not a middle. I have had good times learning on the line, some very boring games, but when a team wins 11 0 that can be boring. NAR is a good skill to have and the ones who speicialze are exceptionally good. Its only this time of year at grass roots levels you will be a NAR enjoy and embrace it. It makes you a better ref as you see the game from a different angle and I think you will appreciate the company the more lonely middles you do.

 

[Trip]

To be frank, I don't really like running the line either. In my league only the top division (out of 25 divisions) gets NARs and referees are able to choose whether they want to do the occasional line. So I do about 4/5 lines a season which isn't too bad, plus the odd cup final.

 

[Big Cat]

(out of 25 divisions)

The lads and lasses in Div 25 must be some players

 

[Sheffields Finest]

To be frank, I don't really like running the line either. In my league only the top division (out of 25 divisions) gets NARs and referees are able to choose whether they want to do the occasional line. So I do about 4/5 lines a season which isn't too bad, plus the odd cup final.

Go on Trip lad..... Cup Finals here we come!!!

 

[QuaverRef]

Personally I love running the line. Entirely different experience, out of the firing line, an opportunity to learn from another referee. As said many times before, it's not something to look down on, its part of the job

 

[RustyRef]

I much prefer refereeing to assisting, but I grew to realise that I was much better at the latter than the former.

 

[boblardo]

How was today’s game @Men in Black