First Game at Academy

[AW93]

Hello, first time poster and new referee.

Had my first game in the middle today at an academy U12, 9v9 with offsides. I was told prior to the game we do our own offsides. No AR's or Club assistants.

I found it really difficult to keep an eye on the offsides as well as everything else. I called some I thought were off but I imagine so I missed or didn't get right etc.i Didn't really help the players attitude towards me.

Just wondered if anyone could offer some advice on this type of scenario (particularly in terms of positioning) as I've got a few more Academy games coming up.

Thank you,
Alex.

 

[Gabriel]

I have never had to do that and wouldn't like to. All I can say is do your best, and try and be nearer to the 2nd last defender than anyone else if possible/necessary so that you can actually judge the offside.

 

[RustyRef]

There's no easy answer unfortunately. You can help yourself by giving yourself an angle on your patrol path, if you stay central you won't be able to see all of the attacking players when the pass is played, but if you are wider you have a better chance. There will always be occasions when you have no chance though, for example the defenders have possession and then play it long, you will be looking away from the offside line and by the time you've turned around the offside position might have changed from the point the ball was played.

 

[markref]

As Rusty says, a wider angle can help with offsides. Another thing which really helps is using field markings.
For example, you may spot that the defender is slightly closer to the half way line than the attacker, which means the player is offside. The centre circle, penalty arc, penalty area line, penalty mark and goal area line can also help in the same way. If the grass has been cut there may be mowing marks in the grass that help. You won’t get them all right, but you will get more right than not. Most offside decisions are not that close.
It gets harder if there is a distance between them, but you should just make a decision and stand by it.
Don’t worry about players moaning meaning that you’ve got a decision wrong. Players are sure they’re right and you’re wrong, even when they’re blatantly wrong.
I did a line on a cup final last week, and one of the forwards was always at least a couple of yards offside when the ball was played to him. It got boring he was so often offside, but that didn’t stop his team moaning at me to put the flag down!
In addition, players will moan at decisions they know are right in order to get in your head and make you doubt yourself so you may not penalise them next time.

You won’t get everything right - no one does - but you’ll make fewer mistakes than most players. All you can do is your best. Good luck.

 

[AW93]

Some really good advice thank you!
Looking forward to going again and doing better.