A&H

Swapping from CAR's to NAR's

GraemeS

GraemeS

RefChat Addict
Level 5 Referee
I had a game last night with NAR's, only my second of the season, observed of course! And I'm finding that I really struggle with the switch and ceding some of the responsibility that you normally have to carry with CAR's. For example, specifically from last night.

* Twice I instructed play to restart without letting the senior AR get back into position after a sub - simply forgetting to wait for him to give me the OK.
* I was too quick with a "clean tackle" shout, which then looked really clumsy when my (admittedly only borderline credible) AR started flagging for the foul.
* The opposite - two players wrestling for the ball under my AR's nose and he's not giving anything. I blew for the foul and then had to justify it based on seeing hands on my side, but it was so close I surely should have let him lead me and allow play to go on even if I did want to give the foul?
* Just general positioning - drifting too close to my AR, then overcompensating and leaving too big a gap once I realised what I was doing! In my other NAR game this season, I found myself taking up a position to monitor the offside line on a FK (as I sometimes would with CAR's), which is dangerously patronising with an experienced NAR on the line.

And of course, I'm worried I'm going to make the exact same mistakes in reverse when I'm next out on my own, waiting for a CAR to get involved a a decision I've told them to stay out of, missing opportunities to discretely double-check their offsides. Anyone got any tips for how to switch between the two modes easily?
 
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GraemeS said:
I had a game last night with NAR's, only my second of the season, observed of course! And I'm finding that I really struggle with the switch and ceding some of the responsibility that you normally have to carry with CAR's. For example, specifically from last night.

* Twice I instructed play to restart without letting the senior AR get back into position after a sub - simply forgetting to wait for him to give me the OK.
* I was too quick with a "clean tackle" shout, which then looked really clumsy when my (admittedly only borderline credible) AR started flagging for the foul.
* The opposite - two players wrestling for the ball under my AR's nose and he's not giving anything. I blew for the foul and then had to justify it based on seeing hands on my side, but it was so close I surely should have let him lead me and allow play to go on even if I did want to give the foul?
* Just general positioning - drifting too close to my AR, then overcompensating and leaving too big a gap once I realised what I was doing! In my other NAR game this season, I found myself taking up a position to monitor the offside line on a FK (as I sometimes would with CAR's), which is dangerously patronising with an experienced NAR on the line.

And of course, I'm worried I'm going to make the exact same mistakes in reverse when I'm next out on my own, waiting for a CAR to get involved a a decision I've told them to stay out of, missing opportunities to discretely double-check their offsides. Anyone got any tips for how to switch between the two modes easily?
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Yes, I'd agree that transitioning from CARs to NARs is challenging. It's worse if you're regularly flipping between games with & without. All of my Saturday and Tuesday National League System games are a team of three. I choose to continue doing a couple of Sunday League games each month, mainly because the Appointment Secretary gives me decent games
No doubt in my mind though, there's a strong potential to lose marks when we're inclined towards a CAR mentality in games
I also find it tricky to Ref the two codes of the game, because expectations are quite different between Saturdays/Sundays
 
Yeah, part of it certainly might just be that I've not got much recent experience with NAR's - maybe it becomes easier to flip if you're regularly doing both? I've got my debrief with the observer tonight, so will be interesting to see if he picked up on all of the bits I was worrying about!
 
GraemeS said:
Anyone got any tips for how to switch between the two modes easily?
Click to expand...

If the majority of your games are with CAR, then there's not much to be done as you'll be in CAR mode 90% of the time.

But that should make NAR matches that much more 'stand out', so talk to yourself the entire week before the game about what you want to do and where you want to be. Start thinking about positioning and communication - every ball out of play, I want to know where my A/R is, eye contact is a great thing.

For me, this 'week' of thinking about it, means when I turn up, I'm primed and ready to implement the positional changes I want to go through - it's basically a bit of revision really? It's the only thing you can do, short of going on a pitch and practicing on your own where you want to be.

Eventually, it should become second nature. You're not the only one who makes these mistakes.

I was A/R for a referee once who did all of what you did, including standing in front of me to decide offside for a free-kick, and for ball in/out for a corner... It was a very interesting half-time talk!
 
It is extremely common for referees who aren't used to NARs to do silly things like restarting play without the AR in position. I've lost count of the number of times I've managed a sub and the referee has blown to restart with me on the half way line still putting my book away and having to peg it down the line. Assuming the AR pulls the referee up on it after the game, and they absolutely should, it really shouldn't ever happen again.

For positioning think of the lazy S concept, you don't want to be too close to them but you don't want to be too far away either. If there's a big challenge close to the AR and near the penalty area you don't want to on the far side of the area as with a traditional diagonal, rather you want to be "squeezing the play" and be between the middle and the edge of the PA on the AR's side.

On fouls cover it in your pre-match instructions, tell them that you'll give them first bite in their credible area, but that you reserve the right to come in quickly if it is on their blind side and not to be offended if that happens. The same goes the other way, if they see a foul that is clearly on your blindside they can still come in even if it is slightly outside of their credible area. Also remember that not all ARs are equal, I've worked with some that I absolutely trust to make the right decision in their area, but others I've had to get involved as I was less trusting of their foul detection. It's the same the other way round, as you work with referees regularly you know what they want. Some I would be a lot more active on giving fouls, others I'd leave it a bit more to them, and for one particular referee there would have to pretty much be a murder for me to give a free kick.

This is one of the reasons why L4s are often advised to not carry on refereeing Sunday football, it is very difficult to switch between NARs and CARs. It certainly helped me, I stopped Sunday football when I was hovering around band C, I was double A the following season and top on both clubs and assessors the season after.
 
I don't go between CARs and NARs--we use NARs even at very low levels. One note on NARs and fouls that you appreciate more if you AR more--just because the AR is close doesn't' mean he has a good look at a foul. The AR is multi-tasking with watching the play and watching for attackers that may be in OSP. So it is not uncommon for ARs to not see fouls right under their nose as they are anticipating a cross and also tracking the two attackers 40 yards away flirting with the 2LD.

In the OP, tough to know without being there, but I have more concern about an AR flagging after @GraemeS loudly said clean tackle than I do with him making that judgment. The AR is there to assist, not to overrule the R. An AR flagging a foul should be looking at the R before flagging and should not flag after the R yells no foul--at least not unless there is something serious that the R clearly cannot see, like a punch that the R is shielded from. (At the risk of sounding like "everything should be in the pregame," I do think pregaming what you want from NARs you haven't worked with on fouls is advisable--especially in your world where you may have NARs at a reasonable level game who haven't done it very often.)

With NARs, it is useful to be in the habit of making eye contact with both of them at every restart--a glance back over the left shoulder to the trail, and then a look across to the lead before the start. It helps avoid surprise restarts and also helps with ref team cohesion. (Seems to me like it would be a good idea with CARs, too, but I hesitate to advise on that as I only end up with a CAR if a ref fails to show.)
 
socal lurker said:
I don't go between CARs and NARs--we use NARs even at very low levels. One note on NARs and fouls that you appreciate more if you AR more--just because the AR is close doesn't' mean he has a good look at a foul. The AR is multi-tasking with watching the play and watching for attackers that may be in OSP. So it is not uncommon for ARs to not see fouls right under their nose as they are anticipating a cross and also tracking the two attackers 40 yards away flirting with the 2LD.

In the OP, tough to know without being there, but I have more concern about an AR flagging after @GraemeS loudly said clean tackle than I do with him making that judgment. The AR is there to assist, not to overrule the R. An AR flagging a foul should be looking at the R before flagging and should not flag after the R yells no foul--at least not unless there is something serious that the R clearly cannot see, like a punch that the R is shielded from. (At the risk of sounding like "everything should be in the pregame," I do think pregaming what you want from NARs you haven't worked with on fouls is advisable--especially in your world where you may have NARs at a reasonable level game who haven't done it very often.)

With NARs, it is useful to be in the habit of making eye contact with both of them at every restart--a glance back over the left shoulder to the trail, and then a look across to the lead before the start. It helps avoid surprise restarts and also helps with ref team cohesion. (Seems to me like it would be a good idea with CARs, too, but I hesitate to advise on that as I only end up with a CAR if a ref fails to show.)
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The other one that is very difficult for ARs is when they are sprinting and play is to their left. That makes foul detection all the more difficult and the referee needs to be ready to come in for fouls. This is why I don't like to see referees stick to traditional diagonals, as they will be making that decision from as far as 50 yards away.
 
I always mention NARs flagging fouls in the pre-match:
- if play is right in front of you and I whistle it just means I saw something you didn’t - it’s not a bad thing
- if you want to flag a foul, think first, am I signalling or shouting to carry on, or is there a potential advantage
- if you want to flag a penalty you need to be 2000% sure and look at me and be sure I’ve missed it etc.
 
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