A&H

Assistant referee for open age match

Rob123

Active Member
Got my first open age match this weekend and I’m running the line. Any tips would be appreciated
 
The Referee Store
Help your Centre to make the right decisions by listening carefully to his / her pre-match instructions and carrying out these to the best of your ability. Listen particularly carefully to what he / her wants to happen for any penalty call. Signal / don’t signal / run to corner / etc. Be confident with your out calls, signal any fouls in your zone whilst giving your Centre first shot at these. Keep up with the offside line and wait for players to get involved in play (unless that is the only obvious outcome) before signalling for O/S. Most of all... have fun... enjoy the game and learn as much as you can while observing the match skill and player management techniques of the Centre and other AR. Adult teams tend to look for any weakness in referee decision making and so expect a bit more banter than juniors, constant statements about how that couldn’t have been offside and frequent questions to specifically identify which player was offside at what moment because it certainly couldn’t have been them!
 
Read the few pages back of the good book about practical guidelines for assistant referees and team work.

If your referee doesn't give you pre match instructions ask for it and follow it. Let him/her know it's yr first line.
 
It might be too late for your first pointer, which would be, touch base with your ref, if they have not been in touch with you, quick text/email.
" hi am Robert, heads up its my first line, looking forward to it, see you midday Saturday", or words to that effect.
ice now broken, ref can adjust their mindset, as opposed to ref turning up and finding out hour before ko that one of his two helpers has not ran a line before.

Ask, listen, watch, learn but most of all, enjoy. Its what you have waited for all week so savour the moment

Game wise, am guessing its a friendly so a bit of the pressure is off, as much as we like perfection, firstly, that never happens, secondly if you make a mistake, nobody gets relegated, nobody wins a cup.

Dont stress too much on how you are holding the flag etc focus on the basics, number one being ball in and out of play ( for if this is overlooked, anything else is nullified), keeping in line with second last defender, and thirdly, assisting the referee where and when its credible.

speak in your mind, red ball red ball red ball, and when ball doee go out, its red
likewise offside, nines off nines off nines off, 9 gets involved, flag, nines off

Ask referee at ht and ft, its possible they may offer advice regardless.

worry not about window dressing, just focus on basics, am sure there is nothing you can break that the referee cannot fix.

re a fear you may have, any shouts on sidelines etc, kill it stone dead with
' guys am doing the best I can, exactly the same as you are' or
" its a practise match for you, its the same for me"

enjoy
 
It might be too late for your first pointer, which would be, touch base with your ref, if they have not been in touch with you, quick text/email.
" hi am Robert, heads up its my first line, looking forward to it, see you midday Saturday", or words to that effect.
ice now broken, ref can adjust their mindset, as opposed to ref turning up and finding out hour before ko that one of his two helpers has not ran a line before.

Ask, listen, watch, learn but most of all, enjoy. Its what you have waited for all week so savour the moment

Game wise, am guessing its a friendly so a bit of the pressure is off, as much as we like perfection, firstly, that never happens, secondly if you make a mistake, nobody gets relegated, nobody wins a cup.

Dont stress too much on how you are holding the flag etc focus on the basics, number one being ball in and out of play ( for if this is overlooked, anything else is nullified), keeping in line with second last defender, and thirdly, assisting the referee where and when its credible.

speak in your mind, red ball red ball red ball, and when ball doee go out, its red
likewise offside, nines off nines off nines off, 9 gets involved, flag, nines off

Ask referee at ht and ft, its possible they may offer advice regardless.

worry not about window dressing, just focus on basics, am sure there is nothing you can break that the referee cannot fix.

re a fear you may have, any shouts on sidelines etc, kill it stone dead with
' guys am doing the best I can, exactly the same as you are' or
" its a practise match for you, its the same for me"

enjoy
Did my first two lines in Cup Finals no idea why got some great advice off the other AR be confident flag straight up and always flag pitch side.
 
Did my first two lines in Cup Finals no idea why got some great advice off the other AR be confident flag straight up and always flag pitch side.


Thats the presentation.

Which is all good and proper but secondary to the correct call. Little point giving pristine signals if the decision you are making is incorrect

Substance over style
 
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Thats the presentation.

Which is all good and proper but secondary to the correct call. Little point giving pristine signals if the decision you are making is incorrect

Substance over style
True, but at grassroots, looking like you know what you doing helps sell decisions when wrong and true of the oppositex disagreement with correct decisions.

Best advice I would ever offer is, take your time, you have a lot more of it than you think and look at the ref.
 
Just like being in the middle, good form can help sell the idea that you know what you’re doing. Yes, the substance matters more, but form helps with the PR aspects of what we do.
 
Just like being in the middle, good form can help sell the idea that you know what you’re doing. Yes, the substance matters more, but form helps with the PR aspects of what we do.


At 0-0 with 5 mins to go, given the choice of a new AR flagging offside correctly with the wrong arm, or, calling offside wrongly but flagging beautifully, am taking the correct call option.

Maybe the poster can report back at to how they got on.
 
At 0-0 with 5 mins to go, given the choice of a new AR flagging offside correctly with the wrong arm, or, calling offside wrongly but flagging beautifully, am taking the correct call option.

Maybe the poster can report back at to how they got on.
Not really a choice. Flag techniques are unlikely to affect their decision making.
Yes, we'd like a correct decision, but most likely the flag in your scenario is coming anyway so it better look good so we can sell it
 
At 0-0 with 5 mins to go, given the choice of a new AR flagging offside correctly with the wrong arm, or, calling offside wrongly but flagging beautifully, am taking the correct call option.

Maybe the poster can report back at to how they got on.
What you responded to clear said substance matters more which is pretty much what you are asking for. But are you saying flagging technique matters not at all?

I don't know why we are arguing about this. I think we are all on the same page. It doesn't have to be one or the other. Getting the decision right is most important. If you can do it the right way, you have done yourself, and more importantly the referee a big favour.
 
In short its the guys first game(s). Ideally decision and presentation is immaculate.
Can practise flagging at home in front of a mirror
Can only practise the decisions real time match time.
hopefully the person enjoyed their game
 
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