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This article appeared
in the March 1999 issue of "CenterCircle", a referee newsletter published
by the Metro DC-Virginia State Referee Association (USA). This article
has really helped me become a better referee and I have often referred
to it. Whether you’re an old ref or a new ref, you will learn some
wonderful insights about the nature of officiating by reading this
article!
"Leave the
Shovel at Home", by An Old Referee
Early in my refereeing
career, somebody once told me, "Leave the shovel at home." It’s a lesson
we all need to learn and remember. Being a soccer referee is tough
enough without doing things that make it worse. And yet, how many
referees do you see who insist on bringing a shovel with them and
digging a big hole for themselves on the soccer field. How? By doing
stupid things that get us in trouble with players, coaches, and parents. Consider the following as friendly advice to stay out of trouble:
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The referee shows
up before the game and proceeds to have a long conversation with one
of the coaches or with one set of parents. No harm, right? After
all, the referee knows the coach and knows the parents. Wrong! The
referee has just dug a hole for himself or herself. Should any
controversial call go against the other team (and what game doesn’t
have one or more calls that are considered controversial by
somebody), immediately the referee is seen as biased. "After all,
didn’t you see how the referee was friendly with the other team
before the game." I attended my son’s state cup game last fall and
talked with the referees before the game. They had run out of water
and had no money so I loaned them $10 to buy enough water to get
through the game. Innocent and humanitarian action on my part. Help
a fellow referee. No harm, right? Wrong! Stupid me
and stupid referee! Just suppose one of the parents on the other team saw the
referee accepting money from a parent of the other team before the
game. How do you think that might look, especially when a close call
goes for my son’s team? Advice: Avoid chatting with parents and
coaches before the game. Introduce yourself to both coaches
(together if possible) and address them each as "coach" even if they
know you.
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Players are warming
up before the game and the referee lines them up to lecture them on
what will or will not be "tolerated" during the game. No harm,
right? Just trying to be helpful? Wrong! The players don’t want to
listen to the referee. They want to warm up and get ready to play. Worse, the referee has just put himself or herself in a hole. By
defining what will or will not be called, the referee has given away
the flexibility he or she needs to read the game and adjust the
lines between "flow" and "control". Nothing in the Laws of the Game,
Advice to Referees, or Procedures for Referees and Assistant
Referees tells the referee he has to say anything other than, "Call
heads or tails." Advice: Don’t talk to the players before the game. Talk to your referee team. Let the players get ready for their game. You get ready for your own game. The less said to the players, the
better!
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The ball goes into
touch and a player from the Red team gets the ball and starts to
throw it in. All the players on the Blue team retreat and prepare to
defend against the throw. The referee, however, thinks that Red
touched it last and stops play to demand that Blue take the throw. Good action on the part of the referee in properly enforcing the
Laws of the Game. Right? Wrong! The referee has just dug another
hole and invited unnecessary dissent. If all the players think it is
fair for Red to take the throw-in, why should the referee insist on
Blue? Advice: If you are not sure who should take the throw, don’t
signal. Wait. The teams may tell you. If they are happy, you are
happy. Go with them.
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One team shoots on
goal but before the ball enters the net, the referee signals the end
of the half. No goal. Excellent job on the part of the referee for
timing the half so precisely that he or she knew the time expired
before the ball entered the net. Right? Wrong! The referee has just
dug himself or herself a BIG hole. Law 7 clearly protects us from
doing something stupid. In the new law book it says, "Allowance is
made in either period for all time lost … the allowance for time
lost is at the discretion of the referee." It is quite clear. The
referee must add time for time lost but how much time the referee
adds is his or her discretion. Every half has some time lost due to
the ball going down the hill or in the bushes, substitutions,
injuries, etc. So the referee always has to add time. How much is
his or her discretion. Therefore, should the referee ever decide to
add an amount of time that ends the game just as the ball is about
to enter the net? No, never! Advice: Do not end the game when a shot
is on its way to the goal. In fact, do not end the game when one
team, particularly the team that is losing, is about to take a shot. End the game with the ball out of play, at midfield, or in control
of the defenders. A FIFA referee once said that the time always
seemed to expire in his games when the winning team had the ball!
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The ball
simultaneously goes off two players and into touch right in front of
one team’s bench. You decide to restart with a drop ball. Good call,
right? It’s fair. And it shows the players and coaches that you know
the laws. Wrong on a couple of counts! It is a wrong restart – it
needs to be a throw-in. The new Advice to Referees says to pick one
team. So OK, you give it to the other team just to show the coach
you won’t let him influence you. You’re in charge. Right? Still
wrong! You’ve just dug a hole by setting up an unnecessary
confrontation. Advice: When a simultaneously touched ball goes out
of play in front of a team’s bench, give the ball to that team. Why?
90% of the time it doesn’t matter who takes a throw-in near the
middle of the field. It is fair because you will award the ball to
the other team when a disputed ball goes out in front of their
bench. And you avoid unnecessary conflict.
The next two
happened to me during the last year. On one I forgot the warning,
took the shovel to the field, and dug myself a big hole. On the
other, I avoided the hole when my Assistant Referee was trying to
dig a BIG one for both of us:
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The ball was
rolling along the touchline about to go out in front of the player’s
bench. In her eagerness to take the throw-in, a player picked up the
ball before it completely crossed the touchline. Seeing a foul (many
fans probably believed it was the first I had seen all night!), I
immediately called a foul and awarded a direct free kick to the
other team. Good call, right? Well, I thought so at the time. After
all, she did touch the ball and this will teach her to wait. Of
course, the coach, standing two feet away, went ballistic and earned
a sending from the field and a report. Now I had the coach, plus the players and all their
fans on my case. I dug myself a big hole just to prove that I knew a
"handball" when I saw one. Could I have done something different?
How about going up to the player before she takes the throw-in and
calmly saying something like, "I’m not sure that ball was completely
out. This time I’ll give you benefit of the doubt but next time
you’d better wait a little longer." She undoubtedly will say
something like, "Gee, sorry ref. I’ll be more careful next time." Then you turn to the coach, wink, and say to yourself, "You owe me
one, coach". He’ll know. No hollering. No
sending from the technical area. Probably just as
fair as outcome. And rather than digging a big hole for myself I now
have both a player and a coach "owing" me the benefit of a doubt on
the next call they don’t like. Advice: Leave the shovel at home!
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And finally, during
a state cup game last fall, the game is tied. Intense match. We are
now in overtime. One team shoots on goal, the ball comes off the
goal post to a charging attacker who makes a professional diving
header for the goal. Twenty-one other players, two coaches, and all
the parents believe they have just seen a spectacular goal. The team
that scored runs up field. The defenders retrieve the ball and are
moving up for the kick-off. Up goes my Assistant Referee’s flag. I
jog over and he tells me the player who scored was offside. As I
standing next to him, not one player, parent, nor coach says
anything about, "Ya ref, the AR saw him. He was offside." Every
player on both teams, both coaches, and all the parents think it was
a goal, and spectacular, goal. I say, "Thanks Mr. AR", point to the
center circle and run up the field for the kick-off. One, and only
one, player asked me what the AR wanted. "Just checking time", I
said. "OK", he responded. Advice: If every player, coach, and parent
is happy, why not be happy with them? Why dig a hole and bring their
wrath down on top of you just to prove that you saw something none
of them did?
If you have read this
far and are thinking, "This old referee is saying we shouldn’t have the
courage to make the right call", then please ignore everything I have
said. Continue refereeing the way you always have, and believe that
everything that goes wrong with your game is the fault of the stupid
players, coaches, and parents! If, however, you are thinking, "Gee, I
wonder if I sometimes do things that get me in trouble?" then give the
advice some thought. Don’t apply it blindly. Think about things you
might be doing that get you in unnecessary trouble on the field. Law 5
is quite clear. Every referee needs two whistles, two pencils/pens, coin,
score pad, and cards. Nowhere does it say we need to take a shovel to
the field with us!
  
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