Senior AR Tips

[Libano Ref]

What are your tips for a Senior AR as we start climbing the football pyramid (Step 4)? It begins to get pretty serious and the expectations & responsibilities are obviously higher, especially with league games not having a 4th Official.

How do you deal with managers, staff, and subs? What's your routine from right before kick-off until the end?

Also... an example that always seems to trouble me is when you're busy running the line, and one of the benches goes mental. Ball's gone out for a corner lets say and you're next to the corner flag and the appealing gets louder and slightly more aggressive. What can you do about it 55-ish yards away?

 

[MattTheRef]

Also... an example that always seems to trouble me is when you're busy running the line, and one of the benches goes mental. Ball's gone out for a corner lets say and you're next to the corner flag and the appealing gets louder and slightly more aggressive. What can you do about it 55-ish yards away?

Nothing. If they continue when you get back to the halfway line then get involved, unless it's crossing the line you're not going to run 55 yards to stop play to bollock them.

 

[JamesL]

What are your tips for a Senior AR as we start climbing the football pyramid (Step 4)? It begins to get pretty serious and the expectations & responsibilities are obviously higher, especially with league games not having a 4th Official.

How do you deal with managers, staff, and subs? What's your routine from right before kick-off until the end?

Also... an example that always seems to trouble me is when you're busy running the line, and one of the benches goes mental. Ball's gone out for a corner lets say and you're next to the corner flag and the appealing gets louder and slightly more aggressive. What can you do about it 55-ish yards away?

1) introduce yourself before kick off on route to taking up your position
2) remind them that your focus is on the green stuff.
3) set expectation about behaviour eg 2 standing, 1 coaching
4) don't defend indefensible.
5) don't throw referee under bus
6) Ask. Tell. Involve Referee.
7) you aren't 4th official so nothing really changes in how technical areas are managed.
8) your specific question: this is the referees responsibility. You aren't a battering ram. If you cant deal/manage then it's the referees job to get involved.

 

[RustyRef]

I would tell them that I'm not there as a 4th official, I'm an AR and my primary focus has to be on the pitch so if they asked me a question it might take a while to get an answer.

James has answered it well, and points 4 and 5 are sometimes where AR1s get into bother. Saying an obviously wrong throw-in on the far side looked wrong from here falls under point 4, saying that the referee definitely missed a penalty is very much point 5. If there's a chance of a goal arising from a decision it is probably best to say nothing, or cop an Arsene Wenger and say you didn't see it, perhaps because you were checking the offside line at the time

If you are by the corner flag and they are ranting loud enough for you to hear then the referee can also hear it. If he can hear it and does nothing then you don't need to do anything, he's the team leader so if he is OK with it so should you be. You could have a quiet word with them when you next get back up there, but personally I wouldn't.

 

[Quarryref]

1. Pick your battles.
There are very few games where everyone is going to behave nicely for 90 minutes. If you are getting involved in minor breaches of technical area etiquette early in the game when it's not causing any practical problem, for credibility you are going to have to be prepared to do it consistently for both teams for the rest of the game and you're probably in for a long 90 minutes of focusing on the wrong things.

2. Have a repeatable process for substitutions and take your time.

3. Make good use of the words please and thank you with managers, coaches, physios and subs. Politeness can be disarming

 

[CA1992]

2. Have a repeatable process for substitutions and take your time.

Good point - being senior you will be in charge of substitutions. Don't be pressured in to rushing the process and not getting the info you need - can be tricky when against the clock, or multi subs are taking place at once.

Write down the names and corresponding numbers of all subs before you go out. When making a change, signal the referee (this can be a bit tedious if not on buzzers and the referee is over the far side of the pitch and not naturally looking for you). Once the change is given the green light, check the name and number of the player coming on, note down against the number of player coming off and the time of the change.

Make sure the player coming off is off the FOP before letting the sub come on, then head back to your position and let the Ref know you are ready.

 

[santa sangria]

Nothing. If they continue when you get back to the halfway line then get involved, unless it's crossing the line you're not going to run 55 yards to stop play to bollock them.

Hmm… In prematch as ref or AR I mention that the AR needs to tell the ref to pause the game if the benches need sorting out and e.g. a verbal warning - easy with comms.

I think coming from the corner flag the problem is presentation. If you need to pause the corner to deal with benches then there needs to be at least a card involved and that means the ref coming too. Again easier to choreograph with comms.

In the OP, if the benches are out of control and you need to hold a corner, but you don’t know the offenders, this what the head coach card is for

On a related note, if I’m AR1 I ask my ref to wait for me to join if they want to card the bench. Otherwise, if i don’t know who/what/why I can’t sell the decision after and react/follow up. Again, not a problem with comms

Those 250 quid moto-derived headsets are getting more appealing. Many of my younger colleagues at the same levels as me have them.