The Ref Stop

Club Linesman

SWRef

SWRef

New Member
Had a tricky one this weekend with the club linesman. Any advice on how to deal with this? The guy was a coach for the away team, and seemed to take his role of linesman very seriously, and informed me he does it every week for the club. He flagged offside very frequently but to be fair the away defence held a high line, and the home attackers weren't the most positionally aware! A couple of calls looked suspect but I couldn't tell for sure from my angle. After the 4th or 5th offside call in the first half the entire home team and manager were convinced he was actively cheating.

In the second half I informed the home captain I'd be adjusting my position to get a better perspective. In doing this I felt I was out of position for incidents closer to the middle of the pitch and didn't feel comfortable. At the end of the match the lino was fully convinced every decision he made was spot on.

I felt like I had a solid game but the players were unhappy at the end, any tips on how to manage this better?
 
The Ref Stop
At the end of the day, if he's taking it seriously and doing his best to stay level with the second last defender then you need to back his decisions until / unless you see one that is OBVIOUSLY wrong. Players are often unhappy at the end of games .... especially when they lose :)
 
As he was a member of the opposite club, the defending team are going to argue it when he's flagging on a consistent basis regardless of whether he was right or not. That's the problem with CAR's really.
 
As @Russell Jones said, back him until obviously wrong. A little thing I do to help match control (or to sell it better) is say to the offside player "I could see you were offside from here and the lino confirmed that for me".
 
Back him until he clearly drops you in it, though won't stop you being proactive when you know a ball forward is coming and getting up and ahead of it so you have a great view of the movement of attacker v second-last. Either a "cheers Lino, spot on" or a "no thanks" and sell your decision. If CAR gets antsy, remind that he's there to assist not insist. CARs are a weird bunch :D
 
QuaverRef said:
As he was a member of the opposite club, the defending team are going to argue it when he's flagging on a consistent basis regardless of whether he was right or not. That's the problem with CAR's really.
Click to expand...

That's a problem with NARs. I did a line a few weeks ago and an attacker was convinced I was out to get him because I flagged him ELEVEN times in the first half. The video showed every decision was spot on too - I enjoyed finding that out at FT!
 
Jtpetherick1 said:
That's a problem with NARs. I did a line a few weeks ago and an attacker was convinced I was out to get him because I flagged him ELEVEN times in the first half. The video showed every decision was spot on too - I enjoyed finding that out at FT!
Click to expand...

He probably honestly believed he was on--I'm amazed at how many players will truly think they are on when they aren't. I see them lining themselves up, but they are half a yard off as they do it. (And particularly perplexing on those fields also marked for American football that have lines every 5 yards!
 
I've come across some excellent CARs. If a manager/player gives them grief I usually say to them 'I thought he was offside and the lino confirmed my decision' or 'lino's in a credible position to call that'
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top