Wide Diagonal

In your introductory referee class, you learned that the referee would run on a diagonal line so they can keep the play between themselves and an assistant referee. While this statement is true, the referee should not run on a diagonal "line." Their diagonal must be much wider than a line.

When a play goes to a referee quadrant, no assistant referee is close. Therefore, the referee needs to get closer to the play by going wider to their left on their diagonal line. When a play goes closer to the assistant referee, the referee still needs to increase their presence because the assistant referee frequently has to worry about offside or the ball in-and-out. This means that the referee must go wider to their right on their diagonal.

Furthermore, by having a wider diagonal, the referee is able to have a better view of an incident that could happen on the field. In the video below, the referee remains central on the field without width. As a result, when an offense occurs, he does not have good proximity. A few players are between the referee and the challenge. In addition, he is not in the best position to judge the direction of play, which is one of the criterial to decide if an offense is a denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity.

Sprinting after a foul

What do you do after you call a foul? Sometimes you want to move closer to the foul location slowly and let the players calm down themselves. If the foul is a minor one, all you have to do may be just blowing your whistle. Some other times, however, you want to sprint to the spot of the foul to show your presence and manage the players. Especially when there is a foul near a penalty area or a misconduct, you want to increase your presence.

In the video below, you will see a referee calling a foul about 12 yards away from the location. This is already good proximity. But he chooses to sprint even closer. The game was already heated. Even though the referee was making right decisions, players had complained. Therefore, his decision to move closer to the foul location was important for management. In addition, the challenge was reckless. For an important decision like this, you want to show to players that you were right there. You were so close that you missed nothing.

Watching between players

When two players challenge for the ball, as a referee, we must be able to observe the space between the players. This allows us to see if the challenge is fair. If one player pushes, trips, undercuts, or holds their opponent, we can observe it well. But if the space is blocked by one of the players, we are not able to properly observe the challenge.

In order to watch the space between two players, we must use not only our agility and stamina to keep moving but also anticipation and focus. Here is a good example of a well-focused referee anticipating the next play while using his agility and stamina.

Control of the ball

One of the four criteria for DOGSO is "likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball." While there is some subjectivity in determining if the attacker who is fouled is likely to keep or gain control of the ball, sometimes the attacker's last touch on the ball before the ball is too "heavy." Because the first O of DOGSO stands for "obvious," when there is a question about the likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball," then the red card for a DOGSO cannot be given.

Below is a video of the referee correctly judging that the last touch on the ball by the attacker was too heavy, negating the "obvious" goal scoring opportunity. Therefore, a yellow card for SPA, as the referee in this video gave, was the correct decision.

 

Gaining advantage

"Gaining advantage" is one of three ways in which a player can be penalized for being in an offside position. This happens, for example, when a player who was in an offside position plays the ball after the ball had deflected off from the goal post. Or the goal keeper may save the ball and the ball travels to the attacking player who was originally in an offside position.

Sometimes, the attacking player was not in an offside position when the ball was last touched by their teammate. But they may be in an offside position when the deflection or the save happened. This can lead to an error if the assistant referee forgets or does not recognize that the player was originally onside.

Both good focus and proper positioning are important to avoid such a mistake. In the video below, an attacking player who was clearly onside was penalized for offside. The assistant referee was not properly positioned. When the goal keeper saved the ball, the attacker is in an offside position. However, she was originally onside.