1st Year - Cup Semi
- Thread starter Gabriel
- Start date
If it's youth football it's not a huge shock. I landed one within about 6 weeks of refereeing. So many games go without refs that it generally becomes a case of who can do it, and who is close enough to do it.
Not that it isn't warranted or something that's been earned, but finals are when considerations of merit are most typically seen at youth football in my experience.
Not that it isn't warranted or something that's been earned, but finals are when considerations of merit are most typically seen at youth football in my experience.
Do you have neutral assistants? If so, that's a great opportunity for you!
As said above, while some league systems will appoint their semi finals on merit, some will just appoint whoever is reliable and about for a semi-final. Either way, you're clearly not doing much wrong, so well done.
As said above, while some league systems will appoint their semi finals on merit, some will just appoint whoever is reliable and about for a semi-final. Either way, you're clearly not doing much wrong, so well done.
Gabriel
Well-Known Member
I'm supposed to have neutral assistants although they are yet to be appointed. I was originally chosen as an assistant as the 2nd highest in the club merit table in the relevant age group up to this point, although both of the other officials dropped out so I ended up being given the middle. I ended up doing this semi-final as I couldn't do the one I was originally appointed to last week due to family commitments. I am really looking forward to having NARs for the first time. Any advice on what I should say to them if they do get appointed, if it is different to CARs?
It should be different to CARs, yes. Firstly you'd want them to feel invited to assist you with fouls in their credible area in accordance with the way you're refereeing the match, i.e. if you're letting some minor pushing and shoving go, then you don't want them to start signalling fouls for it.
More experienced referees regularly working with NARs at 4 and above tend to give a quite in depth pre-match to their assistants about what they want and what they don't. This is something that's easier to learn via listening to others when you start running the line to them, rather than trying to cram all in to your first game with NARs.
Theoretically, your game should be quite different with NARs to CARs, but I would advise you that that will change in time once you're working with them regularly. Don't try and build Rome in a day, concentrate on refereeing how you would normally if they were neutral, but mostly, don't fall in to the trap of assuming they will cover everything in their credible area so you don't need to worry if it goes in to that corner. Some ARs you can trust to do this and some you can't, so best to ensure you're still in a position to make a call.
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