WiisardNic
Well-Known Member
Yes, I think this is a good way to do it as well actually.Another option might be to try the AR route - you might enjoy it more than the middle and/or get your appetite back for the middles.
Plenty of decent games available as AR for level 7s - I do mostly lines and thoroughly enjoy it - most of the time!
This season was my first season refereeing (Level 4 in Australia, which is... I dunno, probably like way down like 8 or something in the UK). My first weekend (2 games on AR with the same middle referee) I was feeling a bit out of my depth almost immediately when two players went up for a header in the penalty area, when the defender must have copped a sly elbow to his face (I wasn't able to see the elbow, and neither was the referee), and I only flagged when I noticed the injury to the defender who wasn't getting up, and with blood to his nose, and the defending team were upset that it didn't end up being called a foul (ball was already out on the other side of the field by then. Later in the same game, I also had an issue with what we labelled as a "passive offside" call I made.I flagged for an offside in the centre of the field, when an attacker on the far side sprinted through from his own half to be 1-on-2 on goal, but the referee saw my flag and the striker had a go at him. When they chatted at the end of the half, the referee came up and was polite about it, explained it, and we moved on and it was something I looked out for as an AR for the rest of the season (which I didn't have an issue with going forward, I think), and then the player involved was starting the second half on the bench (interchange in this competition), and had really a quite polite word with me, as I think the referee had told him that it was my first game, and the player understood, because normally these games don't have any AR's at all. That experience of them understanding helped me move past my own doubts, even if I know I made a mistake, because I know further along in my career, I won't get that benefit. Easing in as an AR helped me understand some nuances as well, so that the following weekend I felt comfortable leading my first match from the middle (which ended up being followed the next day with two more games in the middle with no AR's)