A few years ago I was appointed AR at a youth cup final. It was a national tournament with the final at a Scottish league ground so a big deal for the teams and officials. I ended up on the opposite side from the main stand and technical areas. There was a decent crowd, several thousand, but they were all in the main stand and the side I was at was deserted. The strange thing was that there was hardly any action at my side for the entire match which went to extra time. Apart from half a dozen obvious throw ins I hardly had anything to do but it was a bright sunny day and I did pick up a bit of tan. On that experience I'd definitely say AR is easier.
Line or middle?
- Thread starter Sheffields Finest
- Start date
Any ref that behaves like that must have a very small reproductive organ! The fact that they'd even ask/expect that from an AR suggests that no one in the past has told him to stop being so weird and that's rather disappointing
Ciley Myrus
RefChat Addict
The reward being a potential place in the World Cup final......true, very true story
Would you carry your refs bags from the car for a chance at the WC final?
PinnerPaul
RefChat Addict
You have to make more decisions as a ref and they get paid more so MUST be harder!
Senior AR role has some unique challenges though including the expectations that you are
a) Going to give decisions over 50 yards away from you
b) Explain EVERY decision made by your colleague in the middle
c) Going to get every offside spot on whilst doing a) and b)
Senior AR role has some unique challenges though including the expectations that you are
a) Going to give decisions over 50 yards away from you
b) Explain EVERY decision made by your colleague in the middle
c) Going to get every offside spot on whilst doing a) and b)
socal lurker
RefChat Addict
I'd just laugh at the joke if an R asked me to carry his stuff.
But the latter seems pretty normal to me--at least once you've reached the point in pregame where the ARs are carrying flags. That seems to me to be nothing more than the team look--most experienced folks that I work with around here fall into those positions naturally without comment. (And often that means a different one of us is walking in the middle the next game when we rotate roles.) But perhaps whether it is normal or officious is a matter of local custom.
Ciley Myrus
RefChat Addict
am talking serious, like, in the hotel and if they went for a stroll in the town prematch.
Is it like Ant and Dec with them always on the same side? 
socal lurker
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Ciley Myrus
RefChat Addict
Some people just need to get a life . . .
This was the instruction. And, if you wanted to be considered, yes, even considered, to be in HIS world cup team, then that's how it was to be....
I despise the upper echelons of this trade, not the actual refs that do a decent job under difficult pressures that we can only guess at. It’s the crap behind it, the secret meetings, the grey suits pushing certain candidates, the skullduggery and bending double to the paymasters of the EPL and below. Not for me, couldn’t afford the pay cut! 
Nope....
Corrected that for you....
Yes for such a huge oppurtunity like that. After the game id tell him how weird he is amongst other things! Even at the world cup, it's a football match, we're not goose stepping alongside our general.
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Ciley Myrus
RefChat Addict
I read the AR who messed up Liverpools goal last week has no game this weekend
Mr Taylor, who reduced the badge he wears to recycyled bog roll, is of course off to title hopefuls Liverpool at Anfield.
Mr Taylor, who reduced the badge he wears to recycyled bog roll, is of course off to title hopefuls Liverpool at Anfield.
Forgive my ignorance, but is it standard practice to 'drop' and AR, or indeed any official, after a bad performance?
zarathustra
RefChat Addict
That's because getting an offside call wrong is an obvious error.
However, letting a tirade of foul mouthed abuse go unpunished isn't seen as an error by the majority of the football watching public.
Ciley Myrus
RefChat Addict
Granted, so the bar is set, get an offside wrong and your publically dropped.
These guys are employed? In the interests of fairness, if I was that AR, every Ar who gets an offside wrong this weekend should be dropped next weekend.
In your legendary words is that getting gimped? 
In all fairness, I think this is certainly on the extreme scale of getting it wrong. There's getting a narrow decision wrong but this was far worse than that. There's a big difference
Ciley Myrus
RefChat Addict
Not disagreeing, just a dangerous road to go down, ranking mistakes. If that sole error is the reason he is dropped (if he is dropped) this weekend, I think that's very harsh. Is he suddenly going to become better by not taking a game this weekend? Surely what we all strive to is improvement....