A&H

Change of cards in friendlies

Although a few games into my refereeing career ive only done friendly games and have probably had three incidents that warranted a yellow card but haven't issued any.

I would try my best to keep it 11v11 and if someone committed a red card offense for Violent Conduct or Serious Foul Play i think id ask the manager to take him off and cool him down but allow a sub.

I dont think id ever send anyone off for deliberate hand ball or stopping obvious goal scoring opportunity

Hi, apologies but feel the need to answer you with a lot of “noooo”!

-Few games, welcome!
-Yellow cards, this is the job, give them. No one likes giving them. No one wants players to do bad things. But use the cards.
-Keep it 11 v11, no. That is not your job. It’s the players’ and coaches’ jobs.
-VC/SFP, allowing a sub, if you do this at any level you risk a report/complaint and probably a short ref career.
-DOGSO and DOGSO-H will come. When they come they are a test for you. You will be unpopular when you make the right decision.

I fear you missed the point of Ciley’s post here.

I’ll be brutal: if you are avoiding YCs/RCs at anything older than U9 (even then beware) then you are not really refereeing and you will cop it from players, coaches etc. shortly IMHO.
 
The Referee Store
Back out tonight at short notice for another one.

Half me says to make it clear at start, a red will be a red
Half of me says get a feel for how it is and make my judgment call at the time for what it is..
There is another line which I used in days gone by..."dont give me a reason to bring a card out"
 
It’s amusing that there seem to be many occaisions when we have to remind the teams that it’s “same rules” as my old man used to say.

Friendlies, tournaments, post-world cup and recently I had a game “post-ambulance” where I thought it best to remind both teams that the same laws still applied. 4 mins after we restarted the home captain saw red for a slider that took out two opponents. Due a thread I think;)
 
If a team employs a qualified referee, then the match should be refereed per the LotG. If the team(s) don't want the LotG applied, then save themselves a few quid and let a manager / coach / sub / random bloke walking by take the whistle. They might do that for one "friendly", and then accept they do need the LotG applying, and book a "proper" referee for their next match.
 
Several pages, namely any place where it says that a player "may be cautioned" for an offence and where it says that the referee uses his discretion to determine if a foul is careless, reckless, or excessive in force.


By your logic, you are going to allow tackles but min a player scores and takes shirt off, he is in the book, because thats mandatory !
 
Whenever I do friendlies it's normally teams I know well, and there isn't any issues. I take the game on the basis they're a decent bunch of lads that I've reffed before, and although i'd rather have my feet up over the summer, those lads deserve a referee. They've probably asked me because they know i'm fairly laid back with my approach. However, they know there is a line and VC, swearing at me etc etc will not be tolerated. And that's what they would expect.
 
By your logic, you are going to allow tackles but min a player scores and takes shirt off, he is in the book, because thats mandatory !

Well it depends on if the tackle was obviously reckless or with excessive force. I didn't say I wasn't going to give cards, I said my tolerance may go up for what I would consider reckless or excessive force. If it is evidently reckless, he's going in the book. If I have wiggle room, in a friendly, I'm likely to manage the situation without using cards unless I've tried that and the lads don't want to play along nicely.
 
2 Mandatory cautions, 1 each, penalty decision waved away, so the Home attacker who wants the penalty comes chasing 20 yards telling how wonderful I am😊, waiting for the ball to go dead and cautioned, Home manager took exception to this and called me everything under the sun, which earned him a reserved seat in the stands for the last 35 minutes of the game... apart from that, a pretty quiet affair, 2-0 to Home.
 
2 Mandatory cautions, 1 each, penalty decision waved away, so the Home attacker who wants the penalty comes chasing 20 yards telling how wonderful I am😊, waiting for the ball to go dead and cautioned, Home manager took exception to this and called me everything under the sun, which earned him a reserved seat in the stands for the last 35 minutes of the game... apart from that, a pretty quiet affair, 2-0 to Home.
You know you can stop play to caution for dissent while the ball is in play? You just don't want to if that disadvantages the other team.
 
Oh dear. What happened here? :(:oops:

I am in the camp of loosening the leash a bit more on the genuine non-physical footballing offences (technical stuff) if they are there for the game and not gamesmanship. A bit more so than what I do in competitive games. But as Captain said, anything that has no place in a game, I am harsher on it.

Another think to keep in mind in some of the pre-season friendlies, some player are trialling for a place in the team. Some of them go into the challenges with a nothing to lose attitude. You can identify them pretty quick most times. Don't stop them early and you end up with serious injuries or mass cons... early public warnings, talk to captain/coach to get them off, early yellow cards... anything that works.
 
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I have, in the past, allowed substituted players to be replaced if both teams agree (though I'm not advocating for anybody else to do that).
Not sure if i understand correctly what you mean here but why you are not advocating it? Isn't this the same as adding the replacing player's name on the teamsheet or in effect having his name on in the first place.
Most leagues I know don't limit the number on the teamsheet or the limit is very high.
 
Oh dear. What happened here? :(:oops:

I am in the camp of loosening the leash a bit more on the genuine non-physical footballing offences (technical stuff) if they are there for the game and not gamesmanship. A bit more so than what I do in competitive games. But as Captain said, anything that has no place in a game, I am harsher on it.

Another think to keep in mind in some of the pre-season friendlies, some player are trialling for a place in the team. Some of them go into the challenges with a nothing to lose attitude. You can identify them pretty quick most times. Don't stop them early and you end up with serious injuries or mass cons... early public warnings, talk to captain/coach to get them off, early yellow cards... anything that works.



Thats a good phrase. Anything that has no place in the game.
It does not give free range, but, it "excuses" a handball on line or a harmless dogso, but it gives you justification, if it was ever needed, to deal with spf/vc etc
 
I've done 5 friendlies this summer, all in warm temperatures and on rock hard pitches. I have a chat with both teams/gaffers before the game explaining that we are all here for a friendly and I fully intend to referee the game accordingly, but that will depend on yourselves. I then explain that any violent conduct, bad tackles or dissent will result in the relevant cards.

No cards required in any of them so far (all OA). The first time there's any incident at all which may raise tempers or comes close to a yellow I change my persona and make it very clear that I'm not accepting a deterioration in behaviour just because it's a friendly. It normally makes them think a bit. Usually gets the manager then telling them to give over as it's a friendly and he can see that the ref is about to change tact.

I'm not saying that's right or wrong but it works well for me. People seem extremely certain in their views as to what's right on here but to me there's no perfect way when it comes to friendlies and you should do what's best for you, avoiding obvious pitfalls like not carding for violent conduct, using excessive force, dissent etc.

6th friendly tomorrow night on the hottest day of the year, let's see how we go on
 
Not sure if i understand correctly what you mean here but why you are not advocating it? Isn't this the same as adding the replacing player's name on the teamsheet or in effect having his name on in the first place.
Most leagues I know don't limit the number on the teamsheet or the limit is very high.
Sorry, I meant sent off players :)
 
Another think to keep in mind in some of the pre-season friendlies, some player are trialling for a place in the team. Some of them go into the challenges with a nothing to lose attitude. You can identify them pretty quick most times. Don't stop them early and you end up with serious injuries or mass cons... early public warnings, talk to captain/coach to get them off, early yellow cards... anything that works.

You can actually spot them earlier than that. Watch the warm up, if a player is flying in on his own team mates in the pre-match keep ball session you can be more than pretty sure that he will be doing the same during the game against his opponents … :)
 
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