Yellow and red cards

[Jordan96quinn]

Refereeing an open age league. I’ve done 4 games so far. Not sure how to approach the games regarding yellow and red cards. There has been quite a few occasions where I think a foul would be a yellow card in a professional game but these type of fouls are happening a lot so far. Any advice?

 

[Nij]

Refereeing an open age league. I’ve done 4 games so far. Not sure how to approach the games regarding yellow and red cards. There has been quite a few occasions where I think a foul would be a yellow card in a professional game but these type of fouls are happening a lot so far. Any advice?

If you think it's worth a yellow, you should give the yellow.
At grades where the skill level is not as high as the individual player might wish, you can use whistle tone and length to distinguish the severity for such fouls, body language to indicate the displeasure with the actions a player has taken, and of course the verbal warning about being more careful or making better decisions.
Of course these don't apply for a "must" caution, but those are fairly rare at that level, and they stand out even more because of it.
If at all possible, watching a game with other referees is a great way to develop a better understanding of what is and isn't a caution situation. You can analyse real situations that occur in the exact level you're working at, with officials you're trying to be consistent and develop with, and without the pressure of being out on the field or being limited to a camera recording (often doesn't capture the atmosphere of the game or creates an unrealistic perspective of the incident).

 

[RobOda]

There is nothing better than experience to help you out on this.

Don't get too hung up on what the professional game does, there are differences in expectations (and skill) at the professional level compared to what happens at grassroots level.

The best advice I can give you is to go with your gut feeling on what you judge to be a caution/sending off, and try to gauge how it will affect your overall control - you will get things wrong, don't worry about that, that's part of the learning process. There's generally a happy balance between punishment and control of the game. As already said, go with your own judgement but be prepared to revise that judgement over time.

If you can, attend training seminars by your area assoc or the referee's society, they will usually cover fouls and misconduct and the punishment you should go for at the various levels, usually in video form which will help massively. If you happen to get assessed pay particular mind to what they say about your handling of cautions and dismissals, their advice is often excellent.

 

[Viking]

Match control is important. If you think something is reckless, a card should help to calm things down. I had a situation in a u15 game yesterday when a few legs got tangled after one player felt aggrieved he'd lost the ball. Some handbags then appeared on both sides. Rather than go for cards, which I felt would be unfair on the retaliator, I had a word with the latter to not get involved himself and then had a longer chat with the instigator to be careful for the rest of the game, otherwise a card could well be coming his way. No incidents for the remainder of the game (60 mins).

One thing I specifically gave in the opening minute was to penalise a shove in the back as the ball was going out of play, just as a benchmark that I don't want that nonsense going on on a Sunday afternoon (or any other times). This shove is usually not given in the higher leagues.

And one thing I hadn't seen before happened at the handbags incident. As I blew very loudly to stop it, a coach asked if he could quickly do a sub. I suggested he waited until after I'd dealt with the situation. He then didn't sub. At the end he said to me that he was going to sub but because he'd heard what I'd said to the player, he kept him on. Apparently the player is a 'handful' and he was worried his retaliation might go further.

 

[Tino Best]

If it looks like a card and smells like a card it is a card. As a new ref it is hard to caution but as soon as you have done a few it becomes second nature

 

[Russell Jones]

Refereeing an open age league. I’ve done 4 games so far. Not sure how to approach the games regarding yellow and red cards. There has been quite a few occasions where I think a foul would be a yellow card in a professional game but these type of fouls are happening a lot so far. Any advice?

Worth experimenting in different games to see what works best for you. It could be that the reason these fouls are 'happening a lot so far', is that the other players see them go unpunished and are therefore more likely to commit them themselves!

 

[Jordan96quinn]

On sunday, 2 minutes into my game. A player stops a goal by hand balling it on the line. I awarded a penalty but I didn’t send the player off. I knew it was a sending off but I didn’t send the player off. I’ve only done 4 games so far so my confidence in my decision making will only increase the more games I do. Thanks for the advice so far

 

[Big Cat]

On sunday, 2 minutes into my game. A player stops a goal by hand balling it on the line. I awarded a penalty but I didn’t send the player off. I knew it was a sending off but I didn’t send the player off. I’ve only done 4 games so far so my confidence in my decision making will only increase the more games I do. Thanks for the advice so far

Everything you do and say (in the capacity of refereeing) can and will be used against you
The player who handled on the line may have been distraught if dismissed after a few minutes, so it's understandable to have reservations on a personal basis. However, you'll quickly realise that doing someone a 'good turn' is disastrous to you in terms of your refereeing experience. Once you've ignored a very important KMI, you can't subsequently justify any 'Application of Law' and the players will stab you in the back long before they give you the 'hip hip hooray treatment'
You just cannot referee a game with the intention of keeping everyone happy because it simply can't be done (and it's not what you're there for)

 

[Tino Best]

Next time you will give a red. It is hard to learn but after the first milestones you will do this automatically.