The Ref Stop

Dissent tolerance levels

The Ref Stop
Just had one tonight, academy game so no sinbins, players told me to f*ck off right in front of his own manager. I’ve booked him and said ‘keep your opinions to yourself and wind your neck in a touch before it’s a different coloured card’ as he was still mouthing off. Gaffer goes ‘ref, can you not speak to my players like that’ I just went ‘respect goes both ways, if he’s going to say that to me then he can expect to get a telling off and told to calm down’ couldn’t believe what I was hearing from him despite him knowing what he said🤦🏻‍♂️🤣
 
I didn't understand why you randomly brought VAR into a thread from a level 7 referee asking about dissent.
In the context of the opening post and following discussion it was confusing.

Dissent tolerance can often be mistaken as a reason for simply not dealing with dissent. That's the best advice I can give you. If you have got a player constantly questioning decisions, ask him to stop, tell him to stop, publicly warn him and then when he does it again caution/sin bin.

Even better when you have standout behaviour you can deal with. @wazztie16 gives a great example, slamming the ball down although I'd argue this falls into the obvious category and can be dealt with with no management.

Action is much easier to deal with than words as often action is seen by everyone, sometimes only you and the player know what was said and that's harder to sell from an optics point of view. Words of disagreement are manageable using the Stepped approach, big clear actions (slamming the ball, excessive waving of the arms in dissent, booting the ball away to show dissent) are easy sell to move straight to caution/sinbin depending on where you are and your level
The thread starter doesn't state any particular level of reffing, so it was reasonable to bring in the situation where VAR and the monitor are available as one possible scenario.

I agree that constantly asking questions isn't acceptable as it's just a form of trolling and undermining the ref, not too dissimilar to what happens on forums all over the web. Some kind of disciplinary action is indeed appropriate there.
 
I agree that constantly asking questions isn't acceptable as it's just a form of trolling and undermining the ref
I have a fairly high tolerance to being asked question, but you are right and after a while it gets wearing.

I refer to it as "drive by dissent". The players jog past with little comments with the sole purpose to sow seeds in your head. When my tolerance of this starts to wear out I tend to bring in the worst culprit(s) along with the captain and have a word. Next time someone is getting a 10 minute sit down. Worked a treat last time. This type does need to have a clearly spelled out warning. No surprises.
 
@Viridis1886 I can't wait for them to bring the sin bin to the Premier League and Champions League. It's so humiliating for the naughty player to be made to sit in the naughty spot for a bit, lol.

Do the players get all grumbly when they're forced to sit it out? Also, is it the ref who times the 10 minutes, or another official? I'm just asking since the ref already has enough work to do as it is.
 
At the levels where sin bins operate, it would be the ref that times it. 10 mins plus stoppage. If you are fortunate enough to have Neutral ARs then they will often keep an eye out too.

My personal way of doing it is to add 11 mins and then write on the back of my hand with a sharpie the time they can come back. It is very rare there is less than 1 min in 10 mins of play. Eg sin bin on 53min I'll write 64 on my hand

Edited to add: I will sometimes say to the manager that they are welcome to run a clock, but it will be me that decides when they come on or they'll be getting a yellow. You need to tell them the 10 doesn't include stoppages. I actually find it quite useful to know that someone else has also got an eye on the time. Next season I think they can only return at a stoppage in play.

Do they grumble... of course, but that's why giving a decent warning is essential as they can take all the responsibility for what has happened. "You were warned player."
 
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