A&H

another lesson learned

richard ramjane

RefChat Addict
CARs. Love 'em
Sunday just gone I had a mildly unpleasant scene with one.
This guy had taken over the flag about 10 minutes into the second half as the original was a substitute and was coming on. 15 minutes later and ive awarded a throw in. Player has both heels on the line, and i'm happy with that...so are the players. The CAR is frantically waving his (my) flag and shouting ''foul throw ref! foul throw ref, he's literally on the pitch''.
My response was ''no, it was a good throw lino".... ball goes out of play and he starts shouting again... lots of expletives.
I asked him politely to give the flag to someone else, with a please and a thank-you... cue more swearing but he did as i asked and the game finished with no further incident, or any mention of what had occurred.
My lesson? When CARs change over, I should take the time to go to him/her and give them the same instructions I gave to the previous one... in this case at the start of the game.
 
The Referee Store
CARs. Love 'em
Sunday just gone I had a mildly unpleasant scene with one.
This guy had taken over the flag about 10 minutes into the second half as the original was a substitute and was coming on. 15 minutes later and ive awarded a throw in. Player has both heels on the line, and i'm happy with that...so are the players. The CAR is frantically waving his (my) flag and shouting ''foul throw ref! foul throw ref, he's literally on the pitch''.
My response was ''no, it was a good throw lino".... ball goes out of play and he starts shouting again... lots of expletives.
I asked him politely to give the flag to someone else, with a please and a thank-you... cue more swearing but he did as i asked and the game finished with no further incident, or any mention of what had occurred.
My lesson? When CARs change over, I should take the time to go to him/her and give them the same instructions I gave to the previous one... in this case at the start of the game.
I would do yes. Make a point of giving them instructions. Would instructions go as details as how to identify a foul throw and help in this situation though?
 
I would do yes. Make a point of giving them instructions. Would instructions go as details as how to identify a foul throw and help in this situation though?

No. Actually yes , what I tell them normally is that I'm not really fussed about foul throws unless they're blatantly one foot in the air type of throws ... in this instance the guy thought the player was "on the pitch". I could see both heels were touching the line ... however any reasoning with the CAR was out of the question as his opening gambit was a foul mouthed one
 
No. Actually yes , what I tell them normally is that I'm not really fussed about foul throws unless they're blatantly one foot in the air type of throws ... in this instance the guy thought the player was "on the pitch". I could see both heels were touching the line ... however any reasoning with the CAR was out of the question as his opening gambit was a foul mouthed one

I think it would be better to avoid ambiguity Richard - in your above instructions, you are giving the CAR the opportunity to get involved.

I would stick along the lines of - please leave all foul throws, arms and feet, to me.

Add that to the below, and you have yourself some concise prematch instructions to CARs that cover all bases, and can be relayed to replacements with ease and efficiency.

Opener: Thank you for volunteering to be the assistant today, just a couple of quick points to make. I won't keep you for too long.

1. Offisdes - could you please give offsides, being sure to take your time to ensure the player actually interferes... Sometimes I may see your flag and decide to play on; in such an instance, whereby I give you a thumbs up or thank you, could you kindly drop your flag. Please don't be offended, it's simply for game management purposes.
2. Fouls (i.e. FKs and PKs) - please leave all fouls to me
3. Throw Ins/GKs/CKs - could you please indicate accordingly. If you're not sure, please keep your flag down, and I'll make the decision
4. Foul Throws - please leave all foul throws, arms and feet, to me.

Closer: That's all ask of you today gents/ladies. If at any point I go against your decision, that is no reflection on you, it's just the wonder of different angles! Any questions?

Time taken: 2-3 minutes​
 
Last edited:
If I was you I wouldn't even give them foul throws, for me all I want to know is when the ball is out of play. If they know which teams it came off that's a bonus, but that's still entirely my decision should I decide to overrule them. That way at least everyone knows where they stand and they don't have an impact on the game too much
 
I think it would be better to avoid ambiguity Richard - in your above instructions, you are giving the CAR the opportunity to get involved.

I would stick along the lines of - please leave all foul throws, arms and feet, to me.

Add that to the below, and you have yourself some concise prematch instructions to CARs that cover all bases, and can be relayed to replacements with ease and efficiency.

Opener: Thank you for volunteering to be the assistant today, just a couple of quick points to make. I won't keep you for too long.

1. Offisdes - could you please give offsides, being sure to take your time to ensure the player actually interferes... Sometimes I may see your flag and decide to play on; in such an instance, whereby I give you a thumbs up or thank you, could you kindly drop your flag. Please don't be offended, it's simply for game management purposes.
2. Fouls (i.e. FKs and PKs) - please leave all fouls to me
3. Throw Ins/GKs/CKs - could you please indicate accordingly. If you're not sure, please keep your flag down, and I'll make the decision
4. Foul Throws - please leave all foul throws, arms and feet, to me.

Closer: That's all ask of you today gents/ladies. If at any point I go against your decision, that is no reflection on you, it's just the wonder of different angles! Any questions?

Time taken: 2-3 minutes​

actually, thats probably less than 2 minutes and pretty concise... thanks

my issue would still have occurred in this instance as i hadnt reissued instructions when they changed CAR.
It happens fairly often, and not unusual for the flag to change hands 3 to 4 times during a game. In this respect i dont want to be taking 2 minutes every time that happens... i'm sure i can shorten that even further to get the message across
 
in fact just taken this from another thread and that seems ok to me at a change of CAR

Usual briefing for the CAR's in front of captains "ball in and out please, fouls and misconduct mine at all times and offsides only when they are actively challenging for the ball"
 
as much as i like that @A Freethinker , we are encouraged to get them (in our area) to help us with offsides too.
A lot of them arent bad at it either, its the minority that spoil it for those that are trying to do a decent job.
Theres another thread going where the OP has literally one of each type on opposing lines !

having said that ive never actually said that to a CAR, that i dont want them indicating offside... i'm running out of games this season to try it in though.
3 games left and all involve NARs... pre season friendly i'll give it a go... whats the worst that could happen :)
 
as much as i like that @A Freethinker , we are encouraged to get them (in our area) to help us with offsides too.
A lot of them arent bad at it either, its the minority that spoil it for those that are trying to do a decent job.
Theres another thread going where the OP has literally one of each type on opposing lines !

having said that ive never actually said that to a CAR, that i dont want them indicating offside... i'm running out of games this season to try it in though.
3 games left and all involve NARs... pre season friendly i'll give it a go... whats the worst that could happen :)
You will be surprised how much better your game gets...you have to be sharper to make the decision and your positioning improves as well, ok the 50-50 ones you make a judgement call but 99% are clear cut! No arguments about the lino being a homer either!
 
You will be surprised how much better your game gets...you have to be sharper to make the decision and your positioning improves as well, ok the 50-50 ones you make a judgement call but 99% are clear cut! No arguments about the lino being a homer either!

True. The worst scenario is when the ball gets cleared from a corner kick and you then have a decision to make. Bust a gut and get an angle and your educated guess will be pretty good.
 
True. The worst scenario is when the ball gets cleared from a corner kick and you then have a decision to make. Bust a gut and get an angle and your educated guess will be pretty good.

Far worse than that is when one team is attacking so you are looking towards the other team's goal, the ball gets hoofed clear Peter Kay "ave-it" style at which point you turn around to see an attacker through on goal. Whatever you give there is a guess, simple as. In the time it takes you to turn round and judge the situation a player who was five yards onside when the ball was hoofed clear could be five yards offside by that point, or vice versa.

That's also one of the biggest causes of NAR mistakes with offsides. They get caught play watching rather than watching their defensive line, the ball gets hammered clear and they flag an attacker offside who was actually on when it was played.
 
Far worse than that is when one team is attacking so you are looking towards the other team's goal, the ball gets hoofed clear Peter Kay "ave-it" style at which point you turn around to see an attacker through on goal. Whatever you give there is a guess, simple as. In the time it takes you to turn round and judge the situation a player who was five yards onside when the ball was hoofed clear could be five yards offside by that point, or vice versa.

Have to say prefer to give a bad offside decision than a bad goal decision, you also get to know the players how quick they are do they play of the last man etc and experience lets you get into the best areas also if you see the hoof coming a quick look usually tells you.

Only ever made one bad offside decision that was looked across saw all defenders in front of me (I was 10 yards in from touchline) striker 5 yards offside ball kicked to him I blow and raise hands...side line and player go crazy....just then out of the corner of my eye see a midfielder who was slow coming out behind me...apologised to team explained what I saw etc.. thankfully they were winning 5-0 and didn't affect the result. However, I learned my lesson to always always have a wee glance no matter how obvious.
 
I used to hate the idea of not having CARs, but I started on a Saturday league that doesn't use them and I much prefer it. Players understand you're never going to be able to get everything spot on so are generally much more accepting of borderline calls, it encourages you to work harder and get wider to spot angles and you don't have any of the controversy created by a useless CAR.

Anyway, back to the original post, I always tell CARs that I'll handle all fouls, including foul throws. Just makes it easier.
 
Have to say prefer to give a bad offside decision than a bad goal decision, you also get to know the players how quick they are do they play of the last man etc and experience lets you get into the best areas also if you see the hoof coming a quick look usually tells you.

Only ever made one bad offside decision that was looked across saw all defenders in front of me (I was 10 yards in from touchline) striker 5 yards offside ball kicked to him I blow and raise hands...side line and player go crazy....just then out of the corner of my eye see a midfielder who was slow coming out behind me...apologised to team explained what I saw etc.. thankfully they were winning 5-0 and didn't affect the result. However, I learned my lesson to always always have a wee glance no matter how obvious.
Not as bad as mine...
Ball sent back in following a corner being cleared. Defence rushed out attacker 10 yards offside, easy? Nope. Blow and theres a defender stood on the line next to keeper. I was being assessed too. Some how pulled a great mark from the game and was even able to have a laugh with the captain about how poor a decision it was. In another game that could have lost all control but this one kept ticming over nicely.
 
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