A&H

Second Week As A New Referee

Referee117

Referee117

"No. I think we're just getting started."
Level 7 Referee
Hi all!

Bit of a late "I'm a new referee" post, but I've finally got around to posting it.

Last Saturday I officiated my first two games (back to back) for a local U13s league. To be truthful, I was pooping bricks a few days before the matches and it only got worse when I arrived to the pitch to find it was in an absolute state to the point where I was leaning towards abandoning the match. Not a fantastic start for my first game officiating, but football could not have been played on that pitch and I was aware of the safety of the juniors too. I had a couple of Team Officials/parents say the pitch would be fine for adults so it should be for kids.

But cue a clean up by the parents and teams, the match went ahead with no issues. Couple of careless tackles here and there, nothing reckless. I found myself ball watching a couple of times, especially when it was launched in the air. A couple of times I also drifted onto the same side as my AR's, but I found my positioning and my awareness of where the play was likely going get better during the match. Just the one caution for a deliberate push in the back from a frustrated player, but that was it for that match. Done and dusted.

Not 15 minutes later, and I'm officiating my second of the day. Again U13s, but I could tell soon from kickoff this was going to be a more eventful match. One side were running away with the match, and the other side were getting visibly frustrated which was where the tackles started coming in. Again only careless and nothing deliberate. Until a defender on the losing side slides in with a late tackle on a forward. Looked obvious to me, so gave the penalty and a caution for the late tackle. My mind immediately thinks the kids, coaches and parents are all going to turn on me though not one person said anything. Ball was placed on the mark, kids line up behind, penalty taken, and off we go again from the centre. After the restart at half time, the losing side decide to turn on the pressure and the match heats up. Lots of tackles flying in, frustration, swearing. The ball hardly stayed in play for long each time which was a shame, though again no other incidents.

One question for everyone, I found that due to rolling subs players were not waiting to enter the FOP. At U13s is this something you would be concerned about? I know we're asked to give a little leeway to the young ones, but there's also the flip side where they need to learn for when they enter the higher age groups.

Lastly I have to thank all the 'New refs' posts I read up on the nights before my match and the guys/gals that replied to them, the advice I used was priceless. I knew on the course this was a good decision, and Saturday only proved me right again.

Now onto the 10 matches I have scheduled in the middle for the rest of September.

Referee117
 
The Referee Store
Referee117 said:
Hi all!

Bit of a late "I'm a new referee" post, but I've finally got around to posting it.

Last Saturday I officiated my first two games (back to back) for a local U13s league. To be truthful, I was pooping bricks a few days before the matches and it only got worse when I arrived to the pitch to find it was in an absolute state to the point where I was leaning towards abandoning the match. Not a fantastic start for my first game officiating, but football could not have been played on that pitch and I was aware of the safety of the juniors too. I had a couple of Team Officials/parents say the pitch would be fine for adults so it should be for kids.

But cue a clean up by the parents and teams, the match went ahead with no issues. Couple of careless tackles here and there, nothing reckless. I found myself ball watching a couple of times, especially when it was launched in the air. A couple of times I also drifted onto the same side as my AR's, but I found my positioning and my awareness of where the play was likely going get better during the match. Just the one caution for a deliberate push in the back from a frustrated player, but that was it for that match. Done and dusted.

Not 15 minutes later, and I'm officiating my second of the day. Again U13s, but I could tell soon from kickoff this was going to be a more eventful match. One side were running away with the match, and the other side were getting visibly frustrated which was where the tackles started coming in. Again only careless and nothing deliberate. Until a defender on the losing side slides in with a late tackle on a forward. Looked obvious to me, so gave the penalty and a caution for the late tackle. My mind immediately thinks the kids, coaches and parents are all going to turn on me though not one person said anything. Ball was placed on the mark, kids line up behind, penalty taken, and off we go again from the centre. After the restart at half time, the losing side decide to turn on the pressure and the match heats up. Lots of tackles flying in, frustration, swearing. The ball hardly stayed in play for long each time which was a shame, though again no other incidents.

One question for everyone, I found that due to rolling subs players were not waiting to enter the FOP. At U13s is this something you would be concerned about? I know we're asked to give a little leeway to the young ones, but there's also the flip side where they need to learn for when they enter the higher age groups.

Lastly I have to thank all the 'New refs' posts I read up on the nights before my match and the guys/gals that replied to them, the advice I used was priceless. I knew on the course this was a good decision, and Saturday only proved me right again.

Now onto the 10 matches I have scheduled in the middle for the rest of September.

Referee117
Click to expand...
Welcome to the fraternity! That's one word for it!
Specifically, what was the problem(s) with the pitch?
To answer your question, in the absence of an assessor, you'd travel far and wide to find a grass roots referee who assumes full AR duties when it comes to substitutions. That said, I would recommend that you jog over to the sideline to maintain order, as the process can turn into a shambles if you let it. Fundamentally, count players off and on because it's more than feasible to end up with too many or too few players on the pitch (particularly rolling subs in youth football). However you go about it, just make sure you're overseeing the process as it's not far to jog across
The difficulty level of refereeing U13 is primarily a function of your own age (imo) and secondly the ability level of the players. Good players at youth level are more competitive in all respects, in my experience
 
Where are you? If rolling subs are allowed without a stoppage in play (flying subs) in your league/area then you can't go over and manage the subs.

IMHO it is one for the pre-match. Tell both coaches what you expect "11 players on the pitch please, we're only human, a couple of yards cross over when the ball is dead is fine, but if you try to gain an unfair advantage by sending on a 12th player with the ball in play, I'll have to card and maybe worse for you" or words to that effect. Coaches of 10-12s are the worst for this in my humble!
 
santa sangria said:
Where are you? If rolling subs are allowed without a stoppage in play (flying subs) in your league/area then you can't go over and manage the subs.

IMHO it is one for the pre-match. Tell both coaches what you expect "11 players on the pitch please, we're only human, a couple of yards cross over when the ball is dead is fine, but if you try to gain an unfair advantage by sending on a 12th player with the ball in play, I'll have to card and maybe worse for you" or words to that effect. Coaches of 10-12s are the worst for this in my humble!
Click to expand...

Assuming it is England, it isn't flying subs but rather repeated subs. Flying subs tends to be associated with 5-a-side where they can be made at any time even with the ball in play. Repeated subs allowed in England now have to be done at a break in play, and should be supervised by the referee. I agree that it is too much to expect him to go over to the touchline at every change though. As a minimum he needs to record who comes on, as any unused sub isn't considered to have played in that game (e.g. for eligibility rules).
 
Even though it's rolling subs, you still need to ensure subs are occurring properly.
Say a sub runs onto the field before the player leaves, and that sub commits a red card offence. Arguably, they're still a sub (because they haven't entered the FOP in accordance with the LOTG) and the team doesn't lose a player. My point is, complications can arise. Same with ensuring it's occurring at halfway. Roughly halfway may be the most you get, but let's at least get somewhere in the vicinity. If you've had a few players/subs wandering off and on and it looks like 3 have come on and 2 off, don't be afraid to count the players on the field.

I know it can be tricky, but just a quick double tweet on the whistle and 'wait until he's off the field' is usually all that you need. Then next time you have a stoppage in the vicinity of the bench, just hold up play and give the coach a quick friendly reminder 'hey coach, can you just make sure that your subs stay off the field until the player has completely left? Appreciate your help'

With rolling subs, I argue you don't want to be running over to halfway to manage them. It's just wasting everybody's time, and pointlessly tiring you out. If you're right in the area you could, but you might find it confuses people a bit (wondering why you're running over). If I was assessing you, I'd honestly prefer you weren't running over to halfway everytime - heck, the time you're wasting may well cause arguments! Maybe do one or two if they're that bad (same as an AR, I don't expect the AR to be managing subs on rolling subs unless they're not even close to following the law, or maybe when the AR isn't more than 10 yards or so away).

Sounds like it would have been a good game to get a 2nd opinion on - if lots of tackles are flying in, be careful they're not crossing the line - especially if mouths are starting to run too. Sometimes there's a gradual buildup and it can be hard knowing when to clamp down.
 
Big Cat said:
Welcome to the fraternity! That's one word for it!
Specifically, what was the problem(s) with the pitch?
To answer your question, in the absence of an assessor, you'd travel far and wide to find a grass roots referee who assumes full AR duties when it comes to substitutions. That said, I would recommend that you jog over to the sideline to maintain order, as the process can turn into a shambles if you let it. Fundamentally, count players off and on because it's more than feasible to end up with too many or too few players on the pitch (particularly rolling subs in youth football). However you go about it, just make sure you're overseeing the process as it's not far to jog across
The difficulty level of refereeing U13 is primarily a function of your own age (imo) and secondly the ability level of the players. Good players at youth level are more competitive in all respects, in my experience
Click to expand...

I assume it was left until the night before when the pitch's grass was cut. Must've been long, as the cut grass came up at least a foot off the ground. There was one instance when there was 12 players from one team on the pitch during a throw in as the sub was still coming off, so held off play until we were back to 11. For the future matches I'll definitely be bringing this up with the coaches pre-game, not only is it good for me to get into that habit but also they'll learn to make another referees job easier.

santa sangria said:
Where are you? If rolling subs are allowed without a stoppage in play (flying subs) in your league/area then you can't go over and manage the subs.

IMHO it is one for the pre-match. Tell both coaches what you expect "11 players on the pitch please, we're only human, a couple of yards cross over when the ball is dead is fine, but if you try to gain an unfair advantage by sending on a 12th player with the ball in play, I'll have to card and maybe worse for you" or words to that effect. Coaches of 10-12s are the worst for this in my humble!
Click to expand...

Officiating in England. My immediate thought was I'll bring this up in the pre game talk with the coaches next time.

CapnBloodbeard said:
Even though it's rolling subs, you still need to ensure subs are occurring properly.
Say a sub runs onto the field before the player leaves, and that sub commits a red card offence. Arguably, they're still a sub (because they haven't entered the FOP in accordance with the LOTG) and the team doesn't lose a player. My point is, complications can arise. Same with ensuring it's occurring at halfway. Roughly halfway may be the most you get, but let's at least get somewhere in the vicinity. If you've had a few players/subs wandering off and on and it looks like 3 have come on and 2 off, don't be afraid to count the players on the field.

I know it can be tricky, but just a quick double tweet on the whistle and 'wait until he's off the field' is usually all that you need. Then next time you have a stoppage in the vicinity of the bench, just hold up play and give the coach a quick friendly reminder 'hey coach, can you just make sure that your subs stay off the field until the player has completely left? Appreciate your help'

With rolling subs, I argue you don't want to be running over to halfway to manage them. It's just wasting everybody's time, and pointlessly tiring you out. If you're right in the area you could, but you might find it confuses people a bit (wondering why you're running over). If I was assessing you, I'd honestly prefer you weren't running over to halfway everytime - heck, the time you're wasting may well cause arguments! Maybe do one or two if they're that bad (same as an AR, I don't expect the AR to be managing subs on rolling subs unless they're not even close to following the law, or maybe when the AR isn't more than 10 yards or so away).

Sounds like it would have been a good game to get a 2nd opinion on - if lots of tackles are flying in, be careful they're not crossing the line - especially if mouths are starting to run too. Sometimes there's a gradual buildup and it can be hard knowing when to clamp down.
Click to expand...

Definitely will be something I'll look to specifically improve on. I would've liked for a mentor or an assessor to be watching, but it looks like I had neither. Luckily I know a few areas where I can improve for the next one, but I may not be aware of positioning at certain times etc.
 
spuddy1878 said:
If never heard of flying subs, is this basically the manager makes them whenever he wants and doesn't have to wait for a stoppage in play ?
Click to expand...
Yes.

Don't see it (typically) at 11v11, unless it's a friendly or an intra-squad game. 9v9, 7v7, 5v5? See it more often there.
 
Thats not a great addition to the game that, you generally dont go very long in junior football without a stoppage at some stage.
 
spuddy1878 said:
Thats not a great addition to the game that, you generally dont go very long in junior football without a stoppage at some stage.
Click to expand...

That was my first thought when rolling subs was mentioned, and whilst not too bad during the game I can definitely see it harming the game in some ways. It gives kids a chance to get as much game time as possible, but also increases the stoppage in an already limited game for them
 
AlexF said:
Yes.

Don't see it (typically) at 11v11, unless it's a friendly or an intra-squad game. 9v9, 7v7, 5v5? See it more often there.
Click to expand...

We have it from the 6th tier down. Only the 6th tier has flying subs and ARs, which is odd, but makes it a nice practice ground for officials.
And it's all about encouraging participation...
 
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