Hello everyone. First post following my first match today. U14s. A decent match, especially considering the weather and a pitch that got increasingly wet. Overall, I felt it went very well and there were only two incidents of note.
The first was the away team not arriving until 28 minutes after the scheduled kick-off time. The league rules states it's the referee's discretion whether to play if the team hasn't arrived within 30 minutes of ko. I allowed them a brief warm-up and then we got started. The league rules state they want late arrivals reported - my question is how to do that - would it be via a misconduct / extraordinary report on the WGS?
The second incident - sod's law for my first game - it was 1-0 to the home team and into added on time at the end of the second half, when I ruled out a potential equalising goal for the away team due to offside. It was a clear offside and I am very comfortable with my decision. A number of the away team approached me shouting and complaining but stopped when I told them to zip it - bad language was reported by the home team but I didn't hear any. I decided not to take any action for dissent and instead took the approach of calming the situation down. Their coach didn't appear to have a problem with the decision when I spoke to him post-game - I told him it was a clear offside. I think I handled the situation pretty well but will reflect on whether I should have taken action for dissent.
Overall, it was enjoyable. Looking forward to the next one. As a side note, it's been useful reading a number of the discussions on these forums prior to my first match - lots of great tips and advice, so thank you to regular posters!
The first was the away team not arriving until 28 minutes after the scheduled kick-off time. The league rules states it's the referee's discretion whether to play if the team hasn't arrived within 30 minutes of ko. I allowed them a brief warm-up and then we got started. The league rules state they want late arrivals reported - my question is how to do that - would it be via a misconduct / extraordinary report on the WGS?
The second incident - sod's law for my first game - it was 1-0 to the home team and into added on time at the end of the second half, when I ruled out a potential equalising goal for the away team due to offside. It was a clear offside and I am very comfortable with my decision. A number of the away team approached me shouting and complaining but stopped when I told them to zip it - bad language was reported by the home team but I didn't hear any. I decided not to take any action for dissent and instead took the approach of calming the situation down. Their coach didn't appear to have a problem with the decision when I spoke to him post-game - I told him it was a clear offside. I think I handled the situation pretty well but will reflect on whether I should have taken action for dissent.
Overall, it was enjoyable. Looking forward to the next one. As a side note, it's been useful reading a number of the discussions on these forums prior to my first match - lots of great tips and advice, so thank you to regular posters!
