Technical Areas

[TheRef]

Hi folks,

Just a quick query about an incident that I had in a game recently.

I had a team and their technical area listed the following people;

1. Manager
2. Assistant Manager
3. Physio
4. Kitman

For this particular game, the manager was suspended so his name has been stroked off leaving the assistant manager to be in charge of the technical area. Normally not an issue, but in this instance he was also listed as a substitute. In the second half he then brought himself on as a player, meaning that he was no longer in charge of the technical area.

If my assistant referee then told me an incident had occurred that needed the person in charge of the technical area to be sent away, who would I be sending away? My thoughts would be the Physio as she was the next person down in the list of occupants, but you can't remove a physio. Would I be justified in removing the Kitman or would it be OK to just tell the Physio that they are in charge of the technical area and are going to be reported without actually removing them?

Fortunately it never came to it where I needed to do that, but I did wonder. This team usually has an extra couple of coaches so it wouldn't normally be an issue but the Christmas period meant that both teams were short of players and coaches.

 

[Justylove]

Hi folks,

Just a quick query about an incident that I had in a game recently.

I had a team and their technical area listed the following people;

1. Manager
2. Assistant Manager
3. Physio
4. Kitman

For this particular game, the manager was suspended so his name has been stroked off leaving the assistant manager to be in charge of the technical area. Normally not an issue, but in this instance he was also listed as a substitute. In the second half he then brought himself on as a player, meaning that he was no longer in charge of the technical area.

If my assistant referee then told me an incident had occurred that needed the person in charge of the technical area to be sent away, who would I be sending away? My thoughts would be the Physio as she was the next person down in the list of occupants, but you can't remove a physio. Would I be justified in removing the Kitman or would it be OK to just tell the Physio that they are in charge of the technical area and are going to be reported without actually removing them?

Fortunately it never came to it where I needed to do that, but I did wonder. This team usually has an extra couple of coaches so it wouldn't normally be an issue but the Christmas period meant that both teams were short of players and coaches.

You only send away the most senior person if you can't identify the perpetrator of any misconduct inside the technical area.

 

[GraemeS]

When it comes to judging who's the most senior, I think you have to just go with what your eyes are telling you. If you've got to a point where you need to send someone away from the technical area, you should already have identified earlier which of the physio/kitman is being the most vocal - for me, they are therefore the de facto "manager".

If that person happens to be the kitman then easy, red card and send him away. If that person happens to be the physio then show them the red card (I think?), but tell them they can stay in their capacity as physio but any further misconduct and you may be forced to abandon the game. Depending on what he's done to warrant a red card, you might be considering abandonment regardless?

And as @Justylove says, this whole problem goes away if you can actually identify which of them has comitted the offence, so try and encourage a specific person to be identified by your AR to make life easier.

 

[Grayson]

I’d be asking my AR to confirm exactly who they wanted dismissed. Then dismiss that person.

If by dismissing that person means a game can no longer continue, then that’s on the offender not the officials.