Referee Quality

I think that the referee-player interactions in rugby are an area we can aspire to, and that is definitely a two-way street. There is a bit of a culture within football of "them and us" from both players and referees, which makes it much easier for some of the abuse that officials receive, and can lead to poor decisions being made by referees. Believe it or not referees do have a sense of humour, its just unfortunate most of the best jokes and chants in football are about us!

I'm getting well past it now.

Two games in a row reffing a half for 13 Grade night games and I'm cramping up both times.

These kids can kick the ball far and run like buggery.

First game I was absolute pants - hard to keep up and see who touched the ball last when it went out.  Missed a couple of offsides.

Last game was better - no stuff ups but so much running up and down the pitch.

I reffed my first game ever a couple weeks ago, Capital 5. Only gave offsides if they were blatantly obvious otherwise let them go, couldnt be arsed running so I just hovered around the middle of the pitch mostly

You've obviously had the training then...

Firstly I would like to say that I believe most refs do a great job under, sometimes, extreme pressure and I aplaud their dedication.

I play in Masters 5 myself and as such we do provide our own refs so it is always a real bonus when we get a real ref.

This rant though is about my 12 year old son's game (normal 13th grade not promo) where the other team brought along a real ref who was the father of one of their players. This was to be a good thing for the game, or so we thought. This ref started by enforcing throw ins very harshly which was good. Unfortunately the same could not be said for off sides when it was his sons team. The first 2 (both of which they scored from) could have been honest mistakes if he had left his glasses behind, but the 3rd one (and the goal counted) had the player standing next to our goalkeeper which Mr Magoo would have seen.

This sort of thing happens,but something I had never seen at this level blew us all away. Our 12 year old striker collided with one of their players near the start of the game and was spoken to and GIVEN A YELLOW CARD.

Later on in the game one of our players had beaten the defence and was one on one with the goal keeper just outside the box when he was hacked down from behind in the most obvious professional foul I have seen at any level. The ball was at least 1m in front of our player and so there was no way it was anything but deliberate. Was the player red carded, yellow carded, or even spoken to by this ref? Not on your life.

Most Children at this stage are still honest when they play and it is a shame that a trained adult could be so biased as to run a game this way.

That is a shocker and you hate to see that. Your right it should of been good for the kids to have a proper ref, but when they are going to act like that it is bad for the game and the kids learning.

The other team won't benefit from having a ref like that either (Well yes on the scoreline and offsides) but in the long run, it isn't good for them either.

I can remember two instances of bringing in proper refs for junior games i played in (13th/14th grade i think) due to the parents of a couple of teams being notoriously bad at reffing the first time we played them. I also remember both proper refs being incredibly biased both times as well, one said before the game that he wanted to send off their keeper because he didnt like him (which he did), and the other was our junior club coordinator who sent off one of the opposition parents because he offered to do the line, but our ref ignored his offside calls and awarded a couple of goals. He did his block and was sent off the park (the same guy from the first fixture who made us get a ref in).

So I will ask, did you guys piss off anyone earlier in the season by any chance?? Would explain why the ref was so biased towards the other team. Not that im condoning it or anything.

FYI, for non JPL/Promo 13 grade there are no yellow or red cards (in the Capital Football junior regs).

By way of contrast we had a very closely contested game in the weekend, but it was played in very good spirits and the kids were very honest about who touched the ball last when it went out and I missed it (and I was struggling to keep up with them or had the view partially obstructed).

I was told that there were no Yellow or Red cards by my friends 14 year old trainee ref the next day.

I have to say that the Striker was quite subdued after receiving the Yellow card. Pity we did not have the 14 year old as Ref.

There definitely needs to be a change of attitude towards referees, for the simple reason that we need them.

Just like with players, the bigger the available pool, the thicker the layer at the top where the quality ones are.

I've been one of the worst when it comes to being a sideline referee bully over the years. And I'm ashamed of it now.

We've all seen some awful players play, and never said the things to them from the sideline that we would say to referees. We've all seen poor refereeing. But how many of us have bought a referee a pint after a game? 

It's just a stupid double standard.and it needs to change if we're going to attract more people to refereeing, which we desperately need to do.

The Nighthawks are helping to nurture a new ref.

You available Saturday Patrick?

Yep, I'm free. 

I'm actually really enjoying reffing, I used to be quite critical of refs in general but having reffed a few games I have a new perspective on the job they do. 

The Nighthawks have been doing that for years.

I've felt as though the way to communicate my decisions to the players has been the hardest part of being a ref, much harder than actually making the decisions. While I know that a ref doesn't have to explain his decisions, but I've felt that if the ref can let the players know the reasoning behind some of the decisions means that the game is more enjoyable for both myself and the players. 

Thinking I'll do a Level One refs course at some stage to try to learn this stuff properly. 

the call I "love" is when players tell you to learn the rules when you've just blown for a foul. Classic example last week when a tackle comes from behind in the box and I blew a penalty - naturally defender claims to have got the ball - which he may have done, but in the process he cleared out the attacker - for mine clear penalty - but of course I'm the one who doesn't know the rules.

Penalty would be for tacking with excessive force no? Tackle from behind is not an offence anymore.

Edit: The Level One course is good BTW.

A tackle that is either careless, reckless, or using excessive force is a foul.

I was reading "tackling from behind" and "in the process cleared out the attacker".  So not really a trip.  Could be careless or reckless I suppose...

Here's a teaser which I mentioned 3 seasons ago:

Attacker is in the penalty box and is lining up a shot.  

Defender comes in from the front and slide tackles, winning the ball cleanly but just a split second before the attacker kicks the ball.

Attacker kicks the ball which now has the defender's full weight behind it and as a result goes sprawling forward.

Penalty or play on?

(nb there is no contact between players but the attacker takes a massive tumble)

Its great reading the posts and your experiences of refereeing. They are things that anyone learning to referee has been through. I wholeheartedly recommend doing a referees course because refereeing is one of the best sporting things I have ever done and you will look at the game from a completely different aspect after the fact. Exercising some caution, I have decided to post a one off and give some of you an insight from a referees mind-set of one specific match day I have just had and some of the things we go through in an effort to show you that some of the thoughts you have had, you are not alone.

I refereed a game at the weekend where I missed 2 key match incidents. 1 was a red card tackle and the other was an incident leading to a goal whereby the defender was taken out and I missed it. That goal cost the team the game in the end and I was advised at the end of the game of these by a referee mate watching confirming the players protests. I went to the losing coach and manager after the game and apologised profusely for missing the decision that cost the goal (having found out) and that coach said not to worry, thanked me and then praised me in the after match speech. The funny thing reading all the various NZ related football forum posts that are out there (and yes I do read the media feedback) no one has picked up on these decisions that I missed. Not one word.

Because no one else picked up on it, does that mean everything is ok? No. The hardest thing is going home and feeling absolutely rubbish about it and 4 days later, I am still angry at myself about it and it dwells on my mind when I am at work, when I am out training and when I am playing with my little boy. When you put a lot of pride in your performance, effort in preparation and as a referee, try to put as many aspects in your favour for a good performance, it just annoys the hell out of you to get those decisions wrong. We also don't forget these incidents and do our damndest to figure out what went wrong (in this case I have already done that) It also creates a bit of self-doubt because did you miss them because it was a once off? Was it a physical fitness or mental fitness issue? Was it being lazy? Was it endemic of other performances? Can you dispel those emotions before the next performance?

As much as we are 'that guy in black' we are also fathers, employees, friends, athletes and also referees. It’s a small part of what we do but it dominates such a large part of our lives and we take the role of a referee quite seriously. I think as referees, as much as we have times when we do well, and times when we don't do well, we do care and put in a lot of effort. All anyone wants after the game is 'Thank you'. That makes it all worthwhile.

Thank you?

Not on my watch son.

(note - joke poking stick at Mr. Kerr, not referees in general)

Well you read the laws of the game and it states and as El Grap says, the key words seem to be careless, reckless or excessive force and the other key phrases seem to be acted with complete disregard for the safety of opponent i.e. yellow and is in danger of injuring the opponent i.e. red.

When you describe a slide tackle, you can make a slide tackle in a perfectly fine manner and execute it with skill but I have seen a lot of slide tackles where the studs are showing, despite getting only ball, be judged as a foul. I have seen more than a few 'normal slide tackles' been whistled up.

Hence my question. You kinda need to see it before you can judge it.

I don't get the whole excessive force thing. If its a clean tackle and all ball then whats the problem? Is that actually in the rule book or some wuss rule that 8th grade sideline parents have dreamed up? Cant actually recall the last time I've seen 'excessive force' blown up by a ref, if ever.

More likely to see excessive force in adult games than junior.

Careless or reckless yes,

 Edit: Yes it is in the Laws of the Game :)