Officals and reffing and stuff

I was talking to a friend today and he is a bit upset about the response he got to his refereering on Saturday. He went to watch friends play in lower league stuff and he volunteered to referee.

Get this: Got told by the captain/organiser of team A he was a cheat. Got told by team B captain/organiser, in the clubrooms, post match, that "your reffing was **** today".

FWIW: Team A won by a good margin.

What should his next step be? ( He is not going to bother offering to ref again. )

Man that sucks but its nothing new. I've played in more than a few social teams over the years and refs are always members of the teams themselves or mates, they don't have linesman, and they always get grief from at least one person but often whole teams for their performance when as far as I'm aware at least 90% of them are geniunely trying to be fair. I've reffed games and been given stick and its not fun - you try your best, you don't actually want to be doing it, and then someone gives you sh*t about your performance... very frustrating. The other side of it is that as a social player you pay the same fees as a player in a higher grade but you get the crappiest grounds to play on (generally speaking) and you never get an official referee who either knows what he is doing or can be actually held accountable to some degree. So yo uget frustrated sometimes at the state of it, especially if you are palying social bvecause you don't have the time to go to trainings or something but you still take it seriously.

Anyway, I don't think your mate can do anything about it other than refuse to ref and spread the word. I'd like to see either more people encouraged to become referees so lower grades can have real refs, or at least a campaign to tell lower grade players to respect the refs they have to have. I would never want to be an offical ref myself, but I'm sure there are some people out there who find the idea appealing!

Even though it may not make any difference, he should still file a report with the federation, if only so that, if there are historic trends with certain team(s), the federation can identify that.

I think telling a ref that he sucked is freakin' rude and unpleasant, but I can't see that it's an actionable offence. Calling him a cheat probably is, though.

I have to laugh at this thread (not at the situation of your friend which is unfortunate)

"We need to get more people in to refereeing so the players wont abuse the referee, but I wont do it, because there is too much abuse"

That statement there is exactly why there is too little volume of referees. People talk about needing more referees at the lower lever because the lower levels get none and abuse the volunteers but then no one wants to volunteer to be a referee because they get abused at the lower level where they start!

Everyone gives the referee crap regardless what level its at. You see it on TV from the players, from the fans, at the kids level, Central League, park league across all sports (with probably netball the one exception I have seen). There is no solution to this. Its said every day 'the referees need more respect' but its never an action.

It IS worse at lower levels though. I doubt that would be different even if the referee was neutral. In fact,it isn't. I've even seen players go mental at referees that they've supplied. 

Had an interesting discussion with a referee assessor a while ago. He suggested that perhaps players who have been suspended for being sent off or accumulation of cards could be compelled to ref a game for a lower division. Perhaps if they did this they could have their suspension reduced and or fine waived.

It would be an interesting concept and one that is not without merit. I think a lot of ref abuse comes about through people simply not realising just how tough a job it is, especially trying to do so with out Lino's.  It would also provide some of the lower divisions with a neutral referee. 

Any thoughts?

I'd rather not have referees,than have one who doesn't know what they're doing (especially if they're abusing refs). Nice idea,except for those who have to put up with an idiot who gets suspended refereeing their game. 

That also kinda ties into the problem off ref abuse at lower levels anyway - if you abuse an official ref there is stuff he can do (cards, match report) which actually has consequences. Abuse a non-official ref and nothing happens to you... even if you are sent off you don't get suspended (as far as I'm aware) because the ref isn't official. Not that that would really matter cos no one checks teamsheets etc so you could just play under another name the next week but its part of the problem IMO.

If a volunteer ref, as we describe above, , at any level,  sends in a report to CF about a booking or sending off they will act. 

  I think lower grades might be a bit cleaner if players were given sanctions for running their mouth.

 One question I got after volunteering to ref a game on Saturday was whether or not lower grade volunteer referees can issue yellow or red cards, eg send someone off for being a twat.

 I suggested that anyone acting as referee could do so, from my understanding at least. They said it would be overstepping the mark unless you were a properly qualified ref. Then I asked them what happens if someone starts a fight, and you can't send people off.

 Anyone from Capital Football able to confirm what the deal is in that situation?

 I am not advocating issuing yellow cards for mouthing off, there would be nobody left to play football.

Yes, referees VOLUNTEERING at these grades can issue both red and yellows.  From memory this was mentioned in a thread quite some time back. There are several on here who have done just that.

Time to share your experiences people! - Did you send a note to CF after issuing them?

Ard Righ, what are you advocating issuing yellows for?  

I've seen players sent off in Cap10 game from Volunteer Ref.
More enforced sub than down 1 player.

 I have seen some rather late/dangerous tackles with people charging/sliding for the ball. You can see just looking at it that someone will get hurt.

 And the odd occasion where people decide to continue on with it afterwards.

The solution is in our own hands. (Not that I am playing anymore.) I think it was touched in in another thread, that I can't find, that we have to create levels of acceptability within our own teams.  We all benefit.

Tegal's comment of "I've even seen players go mental at referees that they've supplied."  

is fascinating.  Those players, perhaps, have issues they are working out through football?

sthn.jeff's comment on suspended players reminds me of a guy we played  with mid 80s. He was just out of order. So one week we told him that he would referee and not play. Excellent. Our guess is that his refereeing debut lasted less than ten minutes. He threw the whistle down and stormed off. For the rest of the season he behaved whilst playing  Just an anecdote...not suggesting that everyone would react the same.

as a player-ref it isnt that realistic to send someone off from the other team, so the 'forced sub' is (I think) the only real option.  I have done that once when a player 1st threatened me after awarding a penalty, and then later rugby tackled one of our players.

I have also seen a 'sin bin' of 2 players who got into a scuffle. strictly not within the rules but it worked a charm and both players calmed down.  But it takes a confident person to make a call like that - which many players are not.  everyone would rather be playing so you have to rotate including the players who arent as confident blowing the whistle or who dont know the rules that well (its not rocket science though is it).

in 95% (maybe 100%?) of close games with a player ref, the away team will go away feeling the ref screwed them, as there will generally be at least a few calls or non calls that a team feels swung the game.

I think confidence is the key to keep games under control but I also think a lot of people aren't confident with reffing because of the attitude players give them, so its a circular problem like the problem of no one wanting to ref in the first place. Some players also pick up on ref's lack of confidence and pressure them into making late calls and so on.