The Zebra
BAFRA Member #217
Had my first game as an official in another sport yesterday - with a pre-season friendly between the Birmingham Bulls and the Coventry Jets (this is American Football btw).
First of all - there were 5 of us appointed to officiate the game - each with their own particular role. I was tasked with "Line Judge" duties. Basically I was functioning in much the same way as an Assistant Referee - on the one touchline to watch for offsides, the ball out of play and if a catch was successfully made.
The support I got from the other officials was superb, definitely put the nerves at rest pre-match.
I got not one single dissenting comment from a player or coach - or any abuse of any type from them or the crowd - an extremely weird feeling!
And when one of the coaches wanted to query something that had happened on the field of play - we stopped the clock (as we are allowed to) - asked the coach to enter the field of play to discuss the actual call with 4 of the 5 of us in attendance. Once explained to him totally, he accepted the decision as made, thanked us and then left the pitch without any further questions - all of this exchange was conducted in an entirely adult and civil manner.
The communication and back-and-forth with the bench behind me was as I remembered it from the old days - and a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.
I did however make one mistake - throwing a flag for a defender going offside as the game restarted and blowing the whistle at the same time to stop the game to enforce the penalty against the defence. I should have waited to see what the result of the play was before we gave the decision...
First of all - there were 5 of us appointed to officiate the game - each with their own particular role. I was tasked with "Line Judge" duties. Basically I was functioning in much the same way as an Assistant Referee - on the one touchline to watch for offsides, the ball out of play and if a catch was successfully made.
The support I got from the other officials was superb, definitely put the nerves at rest pre-match.
I got not one single dissenting comment from a player or coach - or any abuse of any type from them or the crowd - an extremely weird feeling!
And when one of the coaches wanted to query something that had happened on the field of play - we stopped the clock (as we are allowed to) - asked the coach to enter the field of play to discuss the actual call with 4 of the 5 of us in attendance. Once explained to him totally, he accepted the decision as made, thanked us and then left the pitch without any further questions - all of this exchange was conducted in an entirely adult and civil manner.
The communication and back-and-forth with the bench behind me was as I remembered it from the old days - and a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.
I did however make one mistake - throwing a flag for a defender going offside as the game restarted and blowing the whistle at the same time to stop the game to enforce the penalty against the defence. I should have waited to see what the result of the play was before we gave the decision...