A&H

Open Age Whistling for decisions.

dylan22

New Member
Level 7 Referee
Hello all,

Had another game yesterday so that's two of my five required games done - though I haven't now got anymore until the season starts the first weekend of September, so I'm not sure what I'll do with my Sunday mornings until then!

But yesterday's was good I thought, 1-1 pre-season friendly, nothing of note really though I did get a bit of stick for not blowing up on a few occasions, perhaps when I should've done and I was quite mindful of it too.

I had a similar thing during my first game where there was a bit of shirt tugging or whatever and instead of blowing up I just let it continue to see what happened - there was a lot of tugging yesterday, but on every occasion the player either passed it on or wriggling away with the ball. I don't know why but I was content to let it go as I was fairly sure the player with the ball (being fouled) was going to do something with it.

I know that sounds stupid, and reading it back it does, I suppose I should blow up as soon as the foul is committed. Sorry more of a rant than anything else.
 
The Referee Store
From how you've described it, I don't think you've done much wrong, apart from perhaps not thinking of what you're doing as "playing advantage". If there's a foul and you're letting play go on because the fouled team are still in possession moving forward, give the advantage signal and a big shout. If not, then yeah, maybe consider blowing back even if you do wait a second or two to see if advantage develops.

It'll help your match control and will go down incredibly well with clubs, players and assessors if you get into the habit early in your refereeing career.
 
I'm with Dylan on this - I think its one of the hardest things to get right. I think if you blew for every little infringement you could be stopping every minute, particularly at the lower range of ability: players trying to tackle but nipping as much leg as ball, although player with ball rides out the challenge and comes away with it. (I'm thinking now of some of the U15 B team school games I've done where enthusiasm clearly outstrips ability!)

As Graeme says, try and be clear that your are playing advantage - but I've found that I consciously have to make the decision to do so, with all else that's going on, remembering to raise your arms and shout "advantage" doesn't always come naturally. I have also found that I quick word with the impeded player at the next break in play often goes a long way: "yeah, I saw that tug/trip/kick but also saw that you were coming away with the ball so I played advantage"
 
You need to be mindful that if you are allowing lots of seemingly trivial little fouls go, then you may encounter the player that decides that if you aren't going to do something about it...he will.

There is a danger specfic to shirt pulling and holding.....and that is that the arms, then elbows tend to start swinging when a player is being continually held and the referee either doesn't see it, or does nothing about it.

If a player easily shrugs it off, or its just a half hearted desperate grab that doesn't affect the grabbed player...then you might be able to let it go....but if it involves some real effort from the grabbed player to break loose, i would be blowing up for it regardless of whether they kept the ball or not......if they are being that much affected by the holding that they are battling to break free...i'm not letting that go on any longer as i don't want the arms/elbows to start swinging.....

As with everything, the "trivial foul" needs to be viewed as part of the bigger picture in regards to the game.....if the game is getting heated, or there are an increasing amount of niggly little fouls, then i am blowing for every single one of them and taking the heat of the game.....when the players settle down and behave then i will relax my grip on the game and allow them a little more latitude....if they start gettting silly again we go back to step 1 and increase our involvement in the game.
 
I'm with Dylan on this - I think its one of the hardest things to get right. I think if you blew for every little infringement you could be stopping every minute, particularly at the lower range of ability: players trying to tackle but nipping as much leg as ball, although player with ball rides out the challenge and comes away with it. (I'm thinking now of some of the U15 B team school games I've done where enthusiasm clearly outstrips ability!)

As Graeme says, try and be clear that your are playing advantage - but I've found that I consciously have to make the decision to do so, with all else that's going on, remembering to raise your arms and shout "advantage" doesn't always come naturally. I have also found that I quick word with the impeded player at the next break in play often goes a long way: "yeah, I saw that tug/trip/kick but also saw that you were coming away with the ball so I played advantage"
Oh I think that's absolutely true. There's a reason that advantage doesn't feature in the L7 to L6 promotion requirements - it's considered an advanced skill and isn't something you're expected to be able to do straight away.

I almost had the opposite problem when I was starting out (and it's come back this pre-season, I'm hoping just until I get back into the swing of things). I always used to blow too quickly and slow the game down too much - if I'm nervous or out of practice, I find myself trying to ease myself in by quickly giving the "easy" fouls, but often miss a good advantage by doing so and not considering the context.

I'd encourage @dylan22 to avoid making "no decision" decisions and instead consider classifying every incident one of three ways: foul - no advantage, foul - advantage or no foul. Even if you don't feel the need to vocally communicate the conclusion you come to, I think you'll feel better if you come out the end of the match feeling that you've made positive decisions, rather than the concern you seem to have at the moment that some incidents may have just slipped past?
 
i too like to see where we go after a minor infringement, but found that when i first started doing that some players would remark on it both negatively and positively in the same instance. After a few games i'd worked out that i wasnt really being very vocal about my thought process, @GraemeS and @RefJef have both mentioned making things clear as to whats going on.
ive now started telling players ive seen things , or play on, or keep going etc etc ... sometimes it evolves and everyone is happy, sometimes i bring it back for the foul, and everyone is happy (ish) . what i am still lacking is the big shout of 'play on advantage' and its something i will be working on.... i cant seem to find the timing aspect of it
 
Hi
At one time the laws had this statement
Law 5 Decision 8 "" 'The Laws of the Game are intended to provide that games should be played with as little interference as possible, and in this view it is the duty of referees to penalise only deliberate breaches of the Law. Constant whistling for trifling and doubtful breaches produces bad feeling and loss of temper on the part of the players and spoils the pleasure of spectators.""'
That is still relevant today. Only call the deliberate breaches and the ones that impact on play. If a player gets away from a foul advantage can be played. If you call every "foul" including trifling and doubtful ones the game will turn into a whistle fest. In some games that may be required yet in general most want to get on with play
 
Dylan, think a lot of it comes with experience.

Another factor is area of fop the tug/pull/hold takes place - many referees, especially outside top level advise against playing any advantage in defending third, so if for example an attack breaks down and attacker grabs defenders arm in that third of fop, blow straight away - most times everyone will be happy with that.

I flagged immediately for a pull on Sunday - that was a blatant arm pull breaking up an attack - no one moaned - attacker (advantage) or defender thats always a good sign!

Padfoot is quite right, you have to be careful about letting every pull/tug go to see how play develops, but usually waiting a second or two and then pulling back if necessary is the way to go, but not always - that's the fun of it!
 
@dylan22 Prevention is better than cure, and as @Padfoot says, if players think you are missing something, they may try and take the law into their own hands, or dissent creeps in.

The approach that I take in these kind of minor contact / foul situations is to be verbal, saying things like "hands down", "let go", "no pushing" etc., that way the player being fouled is aware that you've seen something, and the offender may stop the minor contact developing in to something further.

This means that whilst you are waiting for either a clear advantage or a clear foul, the players know you are aware of what's developing rather than assuming you've missed it.

Then as play continues, you can either bang out your arms and call advantage, or when you blow for the foul everyone knows what it's for. In fact I often find the offenders team mates will have a moan at the offender "well he did tell you to stop pushing" etc., so helps alleviate dissent too.
 
Thank you very much for all of the replies, chaps, all very helpful indeed and I will certainly try to take all the suggestions on board - and I'll certainly try to be strict in not letting the little things go, but I'll also try to strike that balance by not constantly whistling. But as Matty says I suppose it'll come with experience.

But thanks again for the comments, very much appreciated.
 
Back
Top