Good evening all, I recently got picked up by an assessor for not making notes of substitutions when in the middle - I simply didn't realise that this had to be done as there is technically nothing about it in LOTG as far as I can see. I'm therefore curious - as both a referee in the middle or as AR1 - what should I be writing when substitutes come on? I assume I need the name of who is coming on but do others consider shirt number? Time? Player being replaced? to be important?
How are you going to know that they're allowed to sub at all, if you haven't noted how many subs were already made, or whether this individual started on the field and was subbed off earlier, or whether the incoming player was actually sent off an hour ago?
How you note things depends on whether it's rolling subs or not, and whether you have team sheets with numbers that match.
It can be as simple as writing e.g. "7 --> 13 (81)", or starting with the subs' numbers and crossing them off once they enter. In both cases you know exactly who has taken part in the match, and if necessary, where the sub occurred in the match timeline.
If you have to ask for a name instead, it just takes a few seconds longer to write down, but the process is much the same.
Also, if I have two substitutes on at once, can I just count that as 30 seconds added time rather than 2 x 30s.
You should count it as however long the stoppage takes, regardless of how many players are being subbed at the same time.
If all six get done in 13 seconds, you add 13 seconds. If it takes one player 37 seconds, you add 37 seconds.