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Herts Ref

New Member
Level 7 Referee
As a referee who only refs youth games, I was a bit surprised when I arrived for an U18 friendly, to find the away team was a mens team, but that is just setting the scene of the game and the fact that 99% of my games are with CAR's, not neutral assistants.

Attacking player is in the box and gets a shot off that misses the target, whilst the nearest defender literally screams at him as loud as he could. I call the indirect freekick and caution the defender, who of course says he didn't know that rule. At half time my assistant who is a level 5 referee said that there was no need to give the foul, at adult and higher levels it 'is not what football expects'.
For me, football expects you to apply the laws, especially when the infringement is so blatant. Am I applying the laws too strictly, and should have a little bit of leeway?

2nd incident, I give a penalty for what I saw as a trip, as usual the defender pleases his innocence. The other assistant tells me at full time it was 100% a dive, but because I told him pre-match to not go against a decision I give, he didn't let me know it was a dive. My question, if the assistant is 100% sure it was a dive, should he flag to get my attention and tell me to reverse the decision as the attacking player has committed an offence, or do nothing?
 
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Freindly or not can a mens team play a youth team? Something tells me that's not legitimate from a county FA view.

Incident 1 you were correct. The level 5 ref is talking rubbish.

Incident 2 the a/r should have flagged you for a chat.
 
1. Maybe the reason the defender didn't know the rule, is that all the other games he did it in the referee was your L5 AR. 🤣
Don't be LWR. Apply the law.

2. I'm afraid your instructions, as well as your process let you down here.
For instructions, "Don't go against my call unless...."
For process, if the NAR was sure it was a dive then you couldn't have been sure it was a trip (your description tone also tells me you were not sure). For these cases always have a quick eye contact with NAR before calling it. And your pre match instructions should cover how he can discretely communicate his opinion on the incident. In my case it's a nod or shake of the head.
 
one said:
1. Maybe the reason the defender didn't know the rule, is that all the other games he did it in the referee was your L5 AR. 🤣
Don't be LWR. Apply the law.

2. I'm afraid your instructions, as well as your process let you down here.
For instructions, "Don't go against my call unless...."
For process, if the NAR was sure it was a dive then you couldn't have been sure it was a trip (your description tone also tells me you were not sure). For these cases always have a quick eye contact with NAR before calling it. And your pre match instructions should cover how he can discretely communicate his opinion on the incident. In my case it's a nod or shake of the head.
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Yeah, as I am not used to having NAR's, I should have been clearer with my instructions.
 
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Think it would be interesting to find out what he screamed at him or if he just screamed?

Think that might also need to be taken into account potentially.

Edit: Oh and also was it actually NARs or a guy on one side claiming to be a L5? Maybe I'm the only one a little but confused by that
 
Josh the referee said:
Think it would be interesting to find out what he screamed at him or if he just screamed?

Think that might also need to be taken into account potentially.

Edit: Oh and also was it actually NARs or a guy on one side claiming to be a L5? Maybe I'm the only one a little but confused by that
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Didn't shout anything in particular, but was clearly an attempt to put him off his shot.
It was NAR's and he was definitely level 5
 
Herts Ref said:
Didn't shout anything in particular, but was clearly an attempt to put him off his shot.
It was NAR's and he was definitely level 5
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Ahh did think thats how I read it but thought maybe I read it wrong 🤣

Not really done anything wrong then at all. Defo some lower level mens players have quite a habit of screaming at players attempting to put them off. I know its something I've had to pull people up on a fair few times.
 
For incident 2, my instructions are along the line of don't go against me unless I'm the only idiot inside this ground that thinks I got the decision correct. If you tell an assistant to not go against a decision you have given then you've backed yourself into a corner. Why do you expect him to tell you it was a dive when you told him to just go with your decisions?
 
Herts Ref said:
Didn't shout anything in particular, but was clearly an attempt to put him off his shot.
It was NAR's and he was definitely level 5
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If the intention was to put the player off,then you are completely correct. Same as a push in the back, when completely unable to play the ball, puts a player off. Think of the wrestling at corners....designed to put players off. It was just vocal instead of physical.
Well done.
 
Herts Ref said:
As a referee who only refs youth games, I was a bit surprised when I arrived for an U18 friendly, to find the away team was a mens team, but that is just setting the scene of the game and the fact that 99% of my games are with CAR's, not neutral assistants.

Attacking player is in the box and gets a shot off that misses the target, whilst the nearest defender literally screams at him as loud as he could. I call the indirect freekick and caution the defender, who of course says he didn't know that rule. At half time my assistant who is a level 5 referee said that there was no need to give the foul, at adult and higher levels it 'is not what football expects'.
For me, football expects you to apply the laws, especially when the infringement is so blatant. Am I applying the laws too strictly, and should have a little bit of leeway?

2nd incident, I give a penalty for what I saw as a trip, as usual the defender pleases his innocence. The other assistant tells me at full time it was 100% a dive, but because I told him pre-match to not go against a decision I give, he didn't let me know it was a dive. My question, if the assistant is 100% sure it was a dive, should he flag to get my attention and tell me to reverse the decision as the attacking player has committed an offence, or do nothing?
Click to expand...
In my opinion, the game should have been advertised as an open age game and not an U18 (junior) game. Whilst an U18 player can play at open age level, an open age player definitely cannot play at junior level (U18 or below) !!
 
ChopChop said:
In my opinion, the game should have been advertised as an open age game and not an U18 (junior) game. Whilst an U18 player can play at open age level, an open age player definitely cannot play at junior level (U18 or below) !!
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Why can 16/17-year-old's not play in Open Age and Under-18 competitions, in your opinion?
 
Semantics at play here I think and I assume that what you meant by open age player is someone over the age of 18?
 
JamesL said:
Semantics at play here I think and I assume that what you meant by open age player is someone over the age of 18?
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I was merely responding to the original post which made reference to "an U18 friendly" and "a men's team". The term "open age" in football terms usually refers to "adult men/women" which I appreciate can often include 16/17/18 year old players.
In the original post, it reads as if Herts Ref was expecting to be officiating an U18 (junior) game and seemed surprised that the away team was a "mens" team. All I'm saying is in that the case, the game should have been classed as an "open age" game rather than an "U18 junior" game.
 
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