Movement

When the ball is coming toward you, you are tempted to back peddal so you would not get hit with the ball. But sometimes, because you moved backwards, you get hit. 

Watch this example. In this instance, the attacking team continues to possess the ball. But they are retreating because there are so many defenders inside and around the penalty area. In this case, it can be easily anticipated  that there would be another attack. Rather the moving backwards, adjust your body orientation to observe the play.

Movement and Counter Attack

When there is a counter attack, the referee needs to sprint to keep up with the play. Sometimes the play may slow down for a second or two, but in most cases, the attack continues. So the referee cannot afford to slow down just because the play slowed down temporarily.

Watch the clip below. The referee had a good reaction to the start of the counter attack. However, because he slowed down with the play for a second, he ended up being over 25 meters away from the contact between the attacker and the GK.

Dropped ball

When you have a dropped ball, the ball is only in play after it is dropped and hits the ground. In other words, a player cannot kick the ball that has not hit the ground. Similarly, you cannot just hand the ball over to the GK. The GK, when they are the player to receive a dropped ball, is most likely going to pick up the ball anyway. But it does not mean you can just hand it over to them and call it a dropped ball.

Positioning around the penalty area

When a defender commits a direct free kick foul around their penalty area, we must know if it happened inside or outside. If it was inside, the restart will be a PK. If it was outside, then the restart will be a FK. The difference is immense. 

Oftentimes, when the inside or outside decision is in relation to the top of the penalty area (the line parallel to the goal line), then the lead AR may be able to help the referee (of course, the AR may be too busy with an imminent offside decision). But if the question is about one of the vertical penalty area lines, the decision is 100% on the referee.

So if you suspect that there may be a challenge by a vertical penalty area line, adjust your positioning. Otherwise your inside/outside decision may not be correct.

Restart Management

Between the referee blowing their whistle for a foul and the FK being taken, there are numerous steps to take. For example,

- Is there an injury?

- Is there misconduct (i.e. cards)?

- Is there a sub ready?

In addition, the referee needs to quickly identify if the attacking team will take a quick free kick (QFK). If not, then the restart is ceremonial. With a ceremonial free kick, traditionally, the referee ensures that the ball is properly placed, the defenders are at least 10 yards away, etc. 

Unfortuantely, from time to time, the referee fails to pay attention to the defenders and the FK-taker has to remind the referee that the wall is too close. As a good practice, we recommend that if the restart is clearly a ceremonial free kick where everything has stopped, the referee checks the wall before taking their restart position. In other words, it is far from ideal for the attacking team to remind the referee of the wall after the referee has moved away from the restart location and is waiting for the ball to be kicked.

Don't rush. Having to go back to the ball and belatedly set the wall wastes more time than taking care of the wall earlier.

Advantage signal

When you give an advantage, when should you give the signal? Is it while you are thinking about giving an advantage? Or is it while you are waiting and seeing if it materializes? Or is it after it actually materializes?

The best practice is to give a signal when an advantage actually materializes. This will prevent an awkward sequence of the referee giving a signal only to call the original foul. Instead, keep observing and asking yourself if an advantage is a better option than a free kick without giving a signal. Once an advantage materializes, then give a signal.

Gesture

Do you know what the LOTG say about body language? One may think body language is used to explain a decision. But if you look at the Practical Guidelines, you will see otherwise. However, you can use body language to help control the game or show authority.

In the video below, the referee gives a yellow card for persistent offences. He points at several locations on the field where the player has committed fouls. The referee's gesture was not just to tell people what the reason of the card was. But he was able to show everyone on and around the field that he was in charge. He was keeping track of fouls. Nothing would go unnoticed.

So this may be a small gesture but is a meaningful one to help maintain control of the game.

DOGSO

In this video, you can refresh your memory about what makes a DOGSO. In 70 seconds, you will be a DOGSO expert!

Holding and DOGSO/SPA

When a holding offence is the reason for a DOGSO/SPA decision, when we take our snap shot becomes very important. If it is a kicking offence, the foul is just a moment. But with a holding offence, the foul can continue for a second or even more. By the time the attacker is on the ground, they have been slowed down significantly by the hold. 

As a result, if we take our mental snap shot as the attacker is going down, then the defenders around the attacker may appear a lot closer than they were when the holding offence actually happened. This means that if the referee's mental snap shot of the tactical offence is even a split scond too late, then the situation may look like a SPA. If the referee's mental snap shot of the tactical offence is at the actual moment of the foul, then the situation may look like a DOGSO.

Especially when the referee faces a counterattack, they are too focused on catching up with play or on the ball and its vicinity. They fail to scan the field to understand where the defenders are when the foul actually occurs. 

Undercut

Sometimes it can be difficult to know the difference between a player jumping at an opponent and a player being undercut. 

One of the ways to tell the difference includes observing who initiates contact. If it is a jumping-at offence, the player in the air is moving toward the opponent. If it is an undercut, you will notice that the player who is on the bottom moving their body to the opponent.

In this video below, you will see a defender slighly moves his body to the lower half of the attacker's body. The force is relatively small. But when a body is in the air, it does not take much force for it to lose balance. This is an example of an undercut offence.

Don't let your guard down

Sometimes we are so focused while the ball is in play. As soon as the ball is out of play, we let our guard down. But bad things can happen even when the ball is out of play.

Watch the clip below. The game is 0-2 with about 20 minutes left. The white team that is down by 2 goals will score. Now they are only a goal behind. What do you think will happen? An eager attacker will try to put the ball back in play quickly. He would go grab the ball out of the goal. We have all seen it. The eager attacker and a frustrated GK isn't a good combination. Keep your eyes on this priority area.

To be fair, on this game, there was an injured player who was ready to come back to the game waiting by the AR2 touchline. But what do you think is the priority? The game was already stopped. 

Alignment

Some offside decision are tight. Some are not. Regardless, if you are not properly aligned with the offside line, you may incorrectly give or not give offside.

In the video below, the attacker was onside by 1.2 meters (about 4 feet). The AR was misaligned by 1.0 meter (about 3 feet). But because the AR was ahead of the offside line, it looks like the attacker was offside. Consequently, the AR raised his flag and the referee called offside. Had the flag stayed down, the attacker would have had a 1v1 situation against the GK.

Remain focused. Use your agility, speed, and anticipation to remain in line with the offside line.

Who initiated contact?

When we talk about considerations, we often do so to discuss if an offence deserved a red card or a yellow card. We seldom talk about considerations to determine if a foul has occured? We sometimes take it for granted that we know what a foul is. But do we really?

Also, when a player is hurt after they fouled an opponent, we are sometimes misled to believe that the player who is hurt received a foul. We cannot use "who is more hurt?" as a consideration to determine who fouled.

In the video below, a player who is hurt more actually initiated contact. The black team defender fairly plays the ball and receives contact from the white attacker. The referee, unfortunately, gave a free kick for the white attacking team. 

"Who initiated contact?" is an important consideration for us to use to determine who fouled.