A&H

Academy U15

WilliamD

Well-Known Member
Level 4 Referee
Hi All - I have a Chelsea U15 academy assignment next week - my first academy game. I normally only do OA football but as my county appoints for Chelsea I have made myself available to be a helpful soldier to the RDO and county appointment people.

At the risk of starting the exhausted debate about carding youth - does anyone have any tips or experience on how we might approach a youth academy game differently? At the moment my approach will be no different to any other game. If it's a yellow they get a a yellow etc. Appreciate any advice which might save me looking silly though...

Also assuming it's not ok to turn up in my Arsenal tie? ;-)
 
The Referee Store
Turn up very early (an hour at least) and wear suit and county tie.

In my experience at Colchester academy, someone will usually advise you of their expectations regarding cards - and if you want to be invited back, I'd recommend you follow their expectations as best as you feel you can. I suspect they will expect you to give benches the opportunity to sub a player in lieu of a caution for a SPA tackle, PI or persistent low-level dissent. If they fail to give you any guidance, then yeah, do as you normally would for a non-academy U15s game.

Whatever they say to you, carry your cards regardless and always be prepared to use them for anything along the lines of DOGSO, clear SFP, VC or OFFINABUS directed at an opponent, plus yellows for AA are also generally acceptable.
 
And this is why we have professional footballers who wouldn't understand RESPECT if it were tattooed onto their girlfriends lower back.

Because the Academy system discourages the correct application of the LOTG in case little Johnny has his feelings hurt.

And why I will never do Academy games, and advise any sensible referee to avoid them like the plague. It's just an ego stroke that will add absolutely zero, except for bottling out of disciplinary sanctions, to your game.
 
Thanks for the predictable response @Padfoot. My ego is well fed and this won't make much difference - I'm taking it as an opportunity to help my CFA out and see if I enjoy it or learn something.

I don't think what @GraemeS is suggesting is much of a compromise on how we would all manage any of our games. The caution can be a deterrent based on getting two and hurting your team or with associated fine or accumulation leading to a suspension - obviously that's not so relevant in any non league game.

Either way I asked the question because I guess I already expected the answer to be "referee as you always would be add the common sense that it's an academy and the purpose is development". If the instruction were to not use cards under any circumstance I would not be comfortable and not do it....I was really hoping not to have the general "carding youth debate". My bad.
 
And this is why we have professional footballers who wouldn't understand RESPECT if it were tattooed onto their girlfriends lower back.

Because the Academy system discourages the correct application of the LOTG in case little Johnny has his feelings hurt.

And why I will never do Academy games, and advise any sensible referee to avoid them like the plague. It's just an ego stroke that will add absolutely zero, except for bottling out of disciplinary sanctions, to your game.

Agree entirely - these are the future professional players, which says it all really!
 
Thanks for the predictable response @Padfoot. My ego is well fed and this won't make much difference - I'm taking it as an opportunity to help my CFA out and see if I enjoy it or learn something.

I don't think what @GraemeS is suggesting is much of a compromise on how we would all manage any of our games. The caution can be a deterrent based on getting two and hurting your team or with associated fine or accumulation leading to a suspension - obviously that's not so relevant in any non league game.

Either way I asked the question because I guess I already expected the answer to be "referee as you always would be add the common sense that it's an academy and the purpose is development". If the instruction were to not use cards under any circumstance I would not be comfortable and not do it....I was really hoping not to have the general "carding youth debate". My bad.

It's not a "carding youth debate"....far from it.

It's a "I'm going to ignore my responsibilities under the LOTG and allow (or even worse suggest to) a manager to substitute a player in lieu of the correct disciplinary action" debate.

And is learning not to be a spiteful undisciplined little **** part of a players development?
 
It's not a "carding youth debate"....far from it.

It's a "I'm going to ignore my responsibilities under the LOTG and allow (or even worse suggest to) a manager to substitute a player in lieu of the correct disciplinary action" debate.

And is learning not to be a spiteful undisciplined little **** part of a players development?

Not disagreeing with you, but just putting this out there for discussion ...

If this is a "nothing" game (i.e. a friendly/development game for the Academy, not league or cup), which has the bigger impact on the player who has wronged - a YC that is meaningless - i.e. it won't accumulate towards a suspension, he wont get fined (or at least, he won't pay the fine - club (or possibly) Dad will) or he gets subbed and looses his playing time?

(Not saying he shouldn't be carded, in an ideal world coach would sub them off as soon as they have been carded.)
 
I heard a story from a ref that an official from the FA came to him in his dressing room and told him not to issue cards but to tell the manger to sub the player. I don't know if this is true or not, but that impacts on your match control. I think that if you gave a yellow in a sunday morning youth league surely it is imperative to give it at academy level. Padfoot has got a very valid point, by not giving cards at academy level is not teaching vital lessons to kids who may become footballers. If they don't receive cards when needed they are not going to accept from refs when it becomes fair game, then the lack of respect comes through. The FA should be strong and say all academy games should bee reffed with in the laws of the game and we might see the future stars have a tiny bit of respect for match officials.
 
Having refereed as at an academy this week I can say that the respect towards officials and opponents vastly exceeds that shown in normal youth and adult leagues.
 
Only reffed once at SUFC's Academy, lovely carpet like grass pitches, I turned up changed as i'd done an OA game around the corner in the morning. Boots and socks were full of mud and i was ready!!! Kitman came over and asked me for my boots, i took them off and he proceeded to clean them!! WTF, probably the first and last time they were ever done properly! Game was an absolute doddle, very good standard of U12s but compared to the dross and crappy parents I got at that time it was a breeze!! Hardly a foul in sight and over player critical coaches playing being Alex Ferguson!!! I gave a penalty from memory to Nottingham Forest, not a squeak out of anyone in disagreement!! I wish that was a constant!!!
 
Looking back at my first season of being a Level 4 my 'favourite' moment was refereeing an Academy game and I gave a free kick and caution for a player tripping an opponent.

Why was this different? Because the offenders team was in possession of the ball deep in the opposition half.

Why did I 'enjoy' it? Because the Head of the Academy of the offending team was delighted that I'd booked his captain for doing something stupid and said it loudly.

Lesson? Academies want you to referee their games properly. When you don't that's when they don't like it....
 
Looking back at my first season of being a Level 4 my 'favourite' moment was refereeing an Academy game and I gave a free kick and caution for a player tripping an opponent.

Why was this different? Because the offenders team was in possession of the ball deep in the opposition half.

Why did I 'enjoy' it? Because the Head of the Academy of the offending team was delighted that I'd booked his captain for doing something stupid and said it loudly.

Lesson? Academies want you to referee their games properly. When you don't that's when they don't like it....

I agree Darius, but you're talking about U18 Professional Development League games or Youth Alliance games refereed by level 4s, in which the players compete in a league and are paid scholars learning their trade.

The U11-U16 'academy' games are generally a more sterile environment where cards are frowned upon and player development, etc.
 
And this is why we have professional footballers who wouldn't understand RESPECT if it were tattooed onto their girlfriends lower back.

Because the Academy system discourages the correct application of the LOTG in case little Johnny has his feelings hurt.

And why I will never do Academy games, and advise any sensible referee to avoid them like the plague. It's just an ego stroke that will add absolutely zero, except for bottling out of disciplinary sanctions, to your game.

To be fair, I've seen some good academies which uphold respect, because even when then players are not carded, they face internal discipline or even expulsion for their actions.

Of course it's all part and parcel, some academies don't really protect their referees, in that case I'd have nothing to do with them.

I agree to some extent, there should be cards, even if the academies deal with it internally and are allowed to, it sets a good standard. But on the other hand most (not all) academies are well behaved.

I don't think it's anything to do with hurt feelings, but yeah, the concept of not using cards seems alien to me.
 
Thanks for all the opinions and tales of experince on this. Had my game tonight - it was a dream. Chelsea treated us very well, the pitch was out of a movie, the football was good quality (not great but good), and I'm building experince in the middle with NARs. Overall really enjoyed it - though I wouldn't give up OA football on the weekends for this. The club told us to referee as we normally would and didn't even mention anything about using cards or not. Also as there were a number of games going on i ended up getting to talk to a bunch of other refs before and after which is always nice.

Seems I waved off a strong shout for a pen towards the end but the coaches and staff hanging about were great about it, had a very calm chat at the end about what I saw and what they think it was. They said it was close and said they'd send along the video if I wanted to have a look (which I DO).

I got lost on positioning a few times because these kids made strange decisions with the ball that I wasn't anticipating. I do 99% OA so this is probably a bit normal with youth?

Thanks again for all the advice.
 
Having been invited to Gillinghams Academy I'd echo these comments - they'll take the laws to the edge, when it comes to tackles etc... but even when they stepped out of line - it was greeted with respect.

Having refereed as at an academy this week I can say that the respect towards officials and opponents vastly exceeds that shown in normal youth and adult leagues.
 
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