Sprints

It is impressive when a referee can use explosive movement or sprints effectively. Some mentors may praise a referee for their use of sprints. But it's always important to ask if all the sprints were actually needed. When we sprint, our heart rate goes up. When we run fast, our vision is not as good. A raised heart rate and a compromised view both contribute to lowered accuracy of our decisions. Therefore, although a ref that can run fast may impress us, a ref who does not rely on unnecessarily sprints are actually more impressive.

In the video below, the referee makes a good sprint. But what could have done to avoid having to run so fast? Watch where he was when the attack started. He was on the defensive half of the field. As a result, he was far from the next phase of attack and he had to sprint. If he had positioned himself ahead of play, he would not have had to sprint at all, or at least sprint as fast or as far.

Anticipation

Good positioning and movement aided by good anticipation is critical when the referee has to make an important decision after a quick attack. It is easy for the referee to be delayed with a quick attack and loses good proximity or angle because of it. 

In the video below, the situation may look very common. But notice how the referee did not realize there was big space in front of the attacking team with a numerical advantage. Because he was slightly delayed, by the time he started moving, the attacking team had speed. 

Although the challenge inside the penalty area between an attacker and the goalkeeper was not a foul, the referee did not have good proximity (and possible angle, either). Consider space and numerical advantage. Try to position closer to the attacking area because challenges in the attacking area are generally more impactful on the game outcome than those in the midfield.

Get the angle

Have you ever caught yourself misreading the next play and ending up far from the next challenge? Think of a counterattack. You didn't think there would be one but there ends up being one. Now you're 50 yards away. What do you do?

Sprint as fast as you can? It is an option. But your first priority is to get the right angle. Imagine there is a wall in front of you. What's behind the wall? You cannot see. You won't be able to see any better even if you got closer to the wall. But what if you could see the wall from the side? Then you would be able to see behind the wall, even if you were far away from it.

Of course, we want to be close (proximity). But proximity does not necessarily mean we will see a challenge. It is better to see a challenge correctly and have players complain that you were far away than to miss a challenge completely and have players complain you missed a foul even though you were standing right next to it.

Watch the video below. The referee got caught. But he was quick to gain an optimal angle. Don't just sprint. Get the right angle.

Team officials

When the IFAB LOTG started allowing the referee to show a yellow card or a red card, it was not new in Michigan. Especially because team officials' negative behavior is anecdotally connected, at least partially, to the referee shortage and referee attrition, it is important that when we, as referees, see problematic behavior, we must address it appropriately.

The LOTG has three levels of misconduct for team officials: warn, caution, and send off. The days of "ask, tell, remove/dismiss" are gone. Now it is "warn, caution, and send off." Law 12 has a lot of details about what behaviors warrant what sanction.

Below, you will see the referee taking an appropriate action against a team official who dissented by both word and action. This was not just a minor disagreement with the referee about a call. Therefore, the yellow card was the correct decision by the referee. It is also important to note that the AR raised his flag to get the referee's attention. This was great teamwork.

Escape route

When a play gets close to you and you are afraid that you would be in the way of the players, what do you do? We simple back step to move away. While this may work from time to time, have you had a situation where the play also followed you and you remained in the way?

We oftentimes think of backpedaling as the one and only way to stay out of an active play area. But we must use our anticipation skills and agility to remain out of the way. Sometimes, moving to the side can be a much better option.

In the video clip below, you will see a referee correctly recognizing that he would be in the way. He decides to move backwards. But the play follows him. As a result, he almost got hit with the ball. But see how much space he had to his left. Had he moved to his left, he would have maintained an equally good view of the play without being in the way of the players.

SPA

We have talked about SPA and how we can use S+S+O as a set of considerations to determine if an offence you observe should be cautioned for a SPA (link). Let's review it again with another video.

Below, you will see a fast attack developing from a goal kick into the opponent's half of the field. Speed is high. There is a lot of space. There are some options for the attacker. A twist to the story is that the AR is involved in this decision making. She flags for an offence, but fails short of letting the referee know that a yellow card should be given. 

What would you do if you were this AR? Your referee calls a foul. You know it is a SPA. Would you call her over?

Explosive movement

Sometimes even when we make a correct decision, players (and coaches, parents, and spectators) disagree. But if we are close to the incident, we can better "sell" our decisions.

Below, you see an example of a referee using his explosive movement and sprint speed in a very smart way so that he was very close to the next phase of play. When he calls offside, he was very close to the ball and nobody questioned his or his AR's decision.

As soon as you recognize that you might be away from the play, increase your speed. Use your explosive movement and sprint to stay close to play.

Positioning

In order to see a challenge, we must position ourselves to see between players. If you are looking at me from the front, you won't know if anyone is pushing my back. If you are looking at me from the back, you won't know if I am pushing someone in front of me. So you have to see between two people in order to correctly assess pushing, holding, and similar fouls.

When a GK is about to punt a kick, we need to anticipate where the ball will land. Oftentimes players will gather around the landing area to challenge for the ball. In the process, there may be some offences. Please watch the video below as an opportunity to learn how to position yourself better. As a general rule of thumb, you want the play to be between your lead AR and yourself. You also want to position yourself so you can see between players.

Offside (gaining advantage)

Making a correct offside (gaining advantage) decision can be tricky. As referees, we may forget the fact that a player who receives a ball was in an offside position first. But we may believe they were on just because they were onside when a deflection or a save happened. 

If a defender makes a deliberate play on the ball, offside is reset. But when there is a deflection or a save, it is not reset. Please see the video below. At the moment of the first shot, there was an offside player. The ball is deflected and saved before the offside player scores. This goal cannot stand. Because the defender did not deliberately play the ball (there only were a deflection and a save), the player who seemingly scored the goal must be penalized for offside (gaining advantage).

Wall management

Let's talk a bit more about FK wall management. When there is a wall and the attacking team has 2 or more players ready to take the kick, our awareness needs to go up. This is because the defensive wall often moves closer to the ball as soon as the first kicker is about to take the free kick. If the first kicker does not take the kick and the second player ends up taking the kick, the wall may be much closer to the kick than 10 yards.

Watch the example below. The referee, in general, did a good job setting the wall 10 yards away from the free kick location (this was an IFK inside the penalty area). But as soon as the first attacker pretends that she would take a kick, the wall encroaches. As a result, by the time the kick was actually taken, the wall was not even 5 yards away from the kick.

In this situation, the referee should have awarded another indirect freekick. Unless the offence is repeated or is tactical in nature according to the referee, a caution is not needed.

DOGSO or SPA

Sometimes the difference between DOGSO and SPA is small. In some situations, three out of four criteria for DOGSO are met, but not all four. In that case, a red card cannot be given. DOGSO requires all four criteria to be met. 

Below, you will find a video in which three out of four criteria were met. The distance to the goal, the number of defenders, and the direction of play were all checked for DOGSO. However, the likelihood of gaining or keeping control of the ball was lacking. Therefore, the referee's decision to give a yellow card for SPA was correct.

Wall Management

Imagine a freekick about 10 yards outside the penalty area. The attacking team may take a shot directly at the goal. Or they may pass to another player. AR is watching for offside. Referee is watching for possible fouls inside the penalty area. There are often 12-18 players in such a tight space in front of the goal. But when there is a wall, the FK may hit the wall. There is always a possibility that a player in the wall commits a handball offence.

If you set the wall by the penalty area line, it becomes very difficult for anyone to see if a handball offence was inside or outside the penalty area. Unless you are aligned perfectly to see where the offence happened, you, as the referee, will never know. Did the offence happen a few inches inside the penalty area? Was it on the line (considered inside)? Or was it just outside? This creates an added layer of difficulty.

To avoid the unnecessary confusion, many experienced referees would position a wall well inside or well outside the penalty area. This way, if there is handball, the location of the offence would be very clear. During the pregame pitch inspection, these referees would figure out where 10 yards from the top of the penalty area might be. Is there a tree that works as a marker? Is there an advertisement board? Having a marker allows the referee to know when an offence happened 10 yards outside the penalty area and to be smart about how to manage the restart.

Offside decisions

As ARs, we sometimes make over 20 onside/offside decisions per match. In order to make a correct decision, not only do we have to be aligned with the offside line but also we must be fully focused. When our focus level goes down even for a quarter of a second, it can lead to a mistake.

Furthermore, some offside decisions are match critical. There are times when our onside decision allows an obvious goal scoring opportunity to happen, or our offside decision denies an OGSO. When a player denies an OGSO, they are sent off (or cautions in some instances) because for soccer, such an offence is extremely serious. This is to say that when an assistant referee makes a mistake and allows an OGSO to happen or denied an OGSO, it is a major mistake.

Watch the video below. The attacker was onside by a yard. The attacker continues to take a shot on the goal in a 1 v 1 situation with the goal keeper. The AR flag, however, goes up erroneously. Stay focused and avoid these critical mistakes.