Completed first few Games, Looking for advice

Hi All,

Sorry if this has been covered before,

I've completed my first few games, and I am just after some advice really.

When in the middle with no AR's looking at tight offsides do you tend to give the advantage to the attacking player or defender? I've been going with the defender because it influences the outcome of the game less.

The age groups I've been doing have been U13's - 16's, quite often there ends up being a cluster of 3-4 players all kicking at the ball and potentially kicking eachother in the process, do you just let it play out and let the ball come free? If someone gets injured do you give them the free kick?

How do you deal with injuries, yesterday there was a coming together of 2 players challenging for the ball, I didn't see much in it but I saw one player go down, so I played on as it wasn't a head injury, as play quickly changed ends the "injured player was behind me" the manager has then screamed he's hurt and he sounded distressed so I've stopped play while the opposition was on an attack, I stopped it because my concern was the player, should I have carried on? The manager of the attacking team was obviously not happy, because earlier I'd allowed play to carry on when one of his players was down but I could see he wasn't in real pain.

Hope all that makes sense

Thanks

Hi, I have been refereeing for a few months now and have experienced some of what you have highlighted, of course there will be others with greater knowledge and experience but I thought I would share what I can!

The first one: to clarify I will be going with you not having neutral ARs (having club members run the line for you etc). I go with the defender as offside. As both teams would appreciate an offside call on their behalf when there was a close goal scoring opportunity towards their goal. Plus playing advantage for the attacker, your view isn’t the greatest albeit your position on the pitch so your authority and game management would decrease with the defending team. Stick with the defender then at points of the game, teams will appreciate that. No surprises.

I do similar age groups for boys and girls, personally I find girls much worse when coming all together to get the ball so my view isn’t the greatest. When this happens and I see arms linking, I say watch the arms , resulting in them dropping. Keep sharp, when the ball leaves the cluster stay focused on it, just in case there is a late foul. If there is give a direct free kick then explain to the fouling player the situation.

With injuries, at the age group you ref at, be softer. I learnt the hard way until I was told that U12 boys for example are not professional players so can’t take a tackle as well as premier league player (that may be the opposite but just an example lol). So put yourself in their situation and think if I was them on the floor potentially injured, either let it come to a natural stop or stop the game then restart with a dropped ball to the team that had possession after the player has been seen or taken off. Majority of the time some need a couple seconds to recollect themselves and are fine, others are not, wait for the ball to go out or if they are still on the floor after 15-30 seconds stop and restart with a dropped ball.

I hope this helps answering your question and gives you some guidance in future games!

If an offside is too close to call I don't penalise it, similar to any infringement. Usually shout something like "they're level play on" so the decision is clear. Often get complaints from defenders over this but usually it's when they're not defending very well!

If I'm on my own I will explain to the captains at the toss that I might be facing the other way when the ball is played, and by the time I've turned around the picture might have completely changed. That's especially the case when a team have the ball in their defence and then hoof it long. It doesn't stop them moaning, but you can then say you told them so.

I mostly work on my own these days and my pre match talk to the captains is simply introduce myself, we’re not going to fall out over offsides and heads or tails.

ianryder said:

When in the middle with no AR's looking at tight offsides do you tend to give the advantage to the attacking player or defender?

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On your own you'd probably get offside calls wrong more than any other aspect of play. I was once told that if you're thinking about offside then the chances are that it probably is offside.

if you think its close then i would usually blow. its worked for me for years and you get less hassle from the attacking team

Offsides are the worst for us on our own but for me it’s simple.. if you don’t see it you can’t give it. If you think it’s offside you blow. Defenders will shout for everything and they rarely see where their team mate defenders are, so you can’t blow just because it’s tight, again unless you see it. If you think its off then blow. I’ve found constant communication to be the best. I don’t mind shouting to defenders.. that’s too tight for me to call offside or I can’t see that from this angle. You’re on your own, you’ll get plenty wrong but if your genuine and honest, I’ve found I’ve had no issues.
I always let it play out unless I see something obvious. Few players going at it, giving each other a bit of contact I’ll let play.
Parents and coaches want their kids protected. So blow and simply give the drop ball to team that had possession, you’ll rarely get complaints for looking after kids.

RustyRef said:

If I'm on my own I will explain to the captains at the toss that I might be facing the other way when the ball is played, and by the time I've turned around the picture might have completely changed. That's especially the case when a team have the ball in their defence and then hoof it long. It doesn't stop them moaning, but you can then say you told them so.

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Argh - I really would advise saying that to players. It's the kind of thing that will encourage someone clever to constantly try to start offside behind your back. I don't mind being deprecating but this approach is not for me

If you are on your own, I think the most important thing is to try to get wide and give yourself a chance of seeing offside properly. If you spend the match in the centre circle, or make minimal effort to get wide, or are constantly turning 180 so missing the positioning of players... well, I have no sympathy and the players from both sides will not trust any decision you make.

If you make an effort to get in good positions, firstly you will get more right, and then when you have to sell a decision it will be easier.

The other thing you can do on your own is vocalise. Tell them. As soon as the ball is kicked "OK" or "carry on". You are sharper than the defenders. You have already decided in your head long before they are thinking of raising hands in appeal - tell them! Again, it's much easier to sell a close one either way if you are proactive about decisions and he players have already got used to playing to the whistle.

Therealcjhill said:

Offsides are the worst for us on our own but for me it’s simple.. if you don’t see it you can’t give it. If you think it’s offside you blow. Defenders will shout for everything and they rarely see where their team mate defenders are, so you can’t blow just because it’s tight, again unless you see it. If you think its off then blow. I’ve found constant communication to be the best. I don’t mind shouting to defenders.. that’s too tight for me to call offside or I can’t see that from this angle. You’re on your own, you’ll get plenty wrong but if your genuine and honest, I’ve found I’ve had no issues.
I always let it play out unless I see something obvious. Few players going at it, giving each other a bit of contact I’ll let play.
Parents and coaches want their kids protected. So blow and simply give the drop ball to team that had possession, you’ll rarely get complaints for looking after kids.

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Agree with this. I used to tell the captains before the game that "I won't guess" - but I learnt there's no need for that, just counter productive. Much better to communicate the decisions as they come.

santa sangria said:

Argh - I really would advise saying that to players. It's the kind of thing that will encourage someone clever to constantly try to start offside behind your back. I don't mind being deprecating but this approach is not for me

If you are on your own, I think the most important thing is to try to get wide and give yourself a chance of seeing offside properly. If you spend the match in the centre circle, or make minimal effort to get wide, or are constantly turning 180 so missing the positioning of players... well, I have no sympathy and the players from both sides will not trust any decision you make.

If you make an effort to get in good positions, firstly you will get more right, and then when you have to sell a decision it will be easier.

The other thing you can do on your own is vocalise. Tell them. As soon as the ball is kicked "OK" or "carry on". You are sharper than the defenders. You have already decided in your head long before they are thinking of raising hands in appeal - tell them! Again, it's much easier to sell a close one either way if you are proactive about decisions and he players have already got used to playing to the whistle.

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Of course getting wider helps, but if the ball goes back to front you have no chance. You are looking at play in one penalty area, it gets hoofed clear and you are expected to rule on an offside in the other half. By the time you have turned the picture might have completely changed, I'm not making any apologies for getting those decisions wrong.

ianryder said:

When in the middle with no AR's looking at tight offsides do you tend to give the advantage to the attacking player or defender? I've been going with the defender because it influences the outcome of the game less.

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I've been refereeing for 10 years and I do this. In cases like Rusty describes when you're facing play and the ball gets hoofed and by the time you look the attacker is 5 yards off but could easily have been on when the ball was played I'm giving it.

However, I've learned that when a player is teeing up for the hoof spinning round before he kicks it and using the sound as cue can work.

ianryder said:

The age groups I've been doing have been U13's - 16's, quite often there ends up being a cluster of 3-4 players all kicking at the ball and potentially kicking eachother in the process, do you just let it play out and let the ball come free? If someone gets injured do you give them the free kick?

Click to expand...

You just have to get close and have a proper look. If there's a kick I'll blow up straight away, hopefully before anyone gets hurt. So long as you're close enough to be credible I think that's enough.