The Ref Stop

Select Group 4th Official one day Ref the next

B

Ben Day

New Member
I have started to see a trend where top select group referees will 4th official one day and then middle the next - I have seen Bobby Madley do it a few times

I understand that 90% of the time the 4th official has a highly inactive (not running around) role and these guys are physically fit gents so fitness isn’t the issue

I think it’s more a question of why. The 4th official has to be te same level as the ref (1 higher than the AR) but surely (similar to Man City naming 6/7 subs) it would be a great experience for a younger/less experienced select group 1 ref or just change the fact they have to be the same level as the ref. After all a fan was a suitable replacement at Norwich the other month
 
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The Ref Stop
At least here in Scotland unless it's a "high profile" game, the fourth official is generally less experienced than the referee and tends to be the new Category 1 referee's.
 
The seniority is needed to ensure that a suitable referee can take over if required. Remember EPL & EFL AR's are now on assistant duties only, as they have to make a decision at L3 after 3 years.

There has been talk of using SG2 referees as 4th official, but this removes them from the active list for a game thus weakening the Championship referees pool.
 
In addition to what @lincs22 said, the 4th official is a very important role in the PL. Given some of the managers' behaviour, there needs to be an experienced referee there to deal with that.
 
As we found in the recent (Norwich?) match where the 4th official was required to step in and a replacement had to be found from the crowd, apparently the 4th official isn't just considered a spare referee any more. Apparently they're so necessary that the game has to be delayed until one can be found, even when there are only a few minutes of the game left....
 
If the referee becomes injured the 4th official immediately takes over a multi-million pound football game. Like it or not money rules, and having a 4th official who has never refereed outside of the Championship would be a massive risk. Not just for the teams but also for him, could you imagine if he comes on and has an absolute nightmare in front of the World's media? That could be his confidence and career in tatters. It's really a lose lose situation, as even if he has a stormer he'll go back to refereeing in the Championship or back to 4th official as only SG1 referees can take charge of PL games.

That's why they almost always have an SG1 referee on board duties.
 
I guess the only way to avoid it would be for more officials to get selected to sg1.

There must be more referees in SG2 who are ready to step up, and referees in the efl ready to move up to sg2.

I’m starting to sound like Keith Hackett now so I’ll stop
 
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