It is rare to give an advanatge on a DOGSO or even on any red-card sitution. But it happens. Below is a clip of a DOGSO situation where the referee gives an advantage and a goal is scored soon after. This was a great decision by the referee.
Just remember that because an advantage was given, the referee needs to give a caution before the kickoff.
If you suspect a serious injury, just stop the game. You may also consider the location of the injury. If you have an injured player lying motionless on the ground in front of the goal, you have even more reasons to stop the game right away.
In the video below, you will see two players from the same team ending up on the ground for suspected head injuries. They are in front of the goal inside the penalty area. If the attack continues, it will be very dangerous. These injured players are on the ground and they could easily be stepped on, etc. causing additional injuries. If the ball possession changes and the defending team becomes the attacking team, you are allowing them to take advantage of suspected serious injuries in order to create a numerical advantage.
This means beyond the fact that we need to attend to serious injuries, there is nothing to be gained by the referee crew by allowing the play to continue.
Who makes an offside decision? Is it the AR? Or is it the Referee? Or is it both?
The AR is the one that raises their flag so you may think offside is on ARs. You may have also heard a pre-game discussion in which the referee says, "Leave PK decisions to me and I will leave offside decisions to you."
But in order to get any decision correctly, we need good teamwork. Below, you will see a video in which a defender clearly kicks the ball to an attacker who is in an offside position. It is not impossible for the AR to see it but it is still quite difficult because the AR is paying attention to the offside line and the last play is far from him. Furthermore, there was also an attacking teammate near the ball. But the referee had a good view of the entire sequence. Therefore, the referee is expected to know who played the ball last.
If the crew have comms, the referee needs to annouce to their AR that the ball was last played by the defender so that the AR would not raise their flag. If they don't have comms, it is completely understandable that the AR raises their flag but the referee is expected to wave them down.
When you have both an injury and misconduct happen at the same time, which do you take care of first? If you take care of the injury first, you may allow mass confrontation to happen. But if you take care of the midconduct happen, you are leaving the injured player unattended.
What is the best course of action? Watch the video below to review some of the considerations to decide your priority.
When a team has low pressure tactics, they allow the opposing team defenders and midfielders to possess the ball and pass it around. When a team has high pressure tactics, they try to retrieve the ball even near the attacking third. Depending on these tactics, referees need to adjust their positioning.
With low pressure tactics, referees can observe the ball being passed around from a distance. The likelihood of the ball possession being turned over is low. But if a team has high pressure tactics, there is always a chance that the possession changes, and there will be an immediate goal opportunity.
Watch the video clip below. This is an example of a high pressure tactic team that successfully retrieved the ball inside the opponent's penalty area. Unfortunately, the referee did not adjust their positioning. So you will see the referee over 33 meters away when a challenge happened, leading them to give an incorrect free kick and cancel a good goal.
Just like the last time, this is about injury.
We will repeat. If you suspect a serious injury, just stop the game. Even if a team is about to score, a suspected serious injury is of higher importance and priority. Err on the side of caution. If the player turns out to be not seriously injured, it is good news. We would rather you stop a game for being careful than the other way round.
When a player is injured, quickly check on them to see if they are seriously injured. Law 5 states that if a player is seriously injured, the referee will stop the game. How do you know when a player is seriously injured?
Usually head and abdominal injuries can be serious. You may not see any blood but if a player is not moving at all on the ground, you should suspect a serious injury. A player who rolls on the ground 6 times while looking at you and asking you to blow your whistle may make the scene look dramatic but does not mean they are seriously injured.
Take a look at the video below. A blue attacker falls onto the ground after colliding with two opponents. The referee continued the game for 12 seconds, until the ball went out of touch. The referee MUST stop the game in this situation. Even if a team was about to score, just stop the game. Err on the side of caution.
A soccer game is 90 minutes in length. But so-called effective playing time (how many minutes the ball was actually in play) may be as low as 60 minutes or even far less. This is why as referees, we must prevent time wasting by players. But sometimes we contribute to time wasting.
Look at the video below. The referee correctly calls a foul (although he misses the tactical nature of the offence and fails to issue a card) and brings the ball back to where the restart should be. Even though the wall is clearly too close, he moves away. A few second later, he comes back to move the wall back. This resulted in about 30 seconds of time lost.
In this situation, there was no quick free kick to be taken. It was going to be a ceremonial restart. The referee should have moved the wall back once the ball was set.
The Laws of the Game provides standard and approved signals for both the referee and assistant referees. Not using these signals can be confusing to players, spectators, and even members of the referee team.
For example, what is the approved signal for offside for the referee? On TV, you may see a top-level referee drawing an imaginary line with the finger as if to trace the offside line. But it is not the approved signal. The referee should instead blow their whistle and raise their hand to indicate that the restart is an indirect free kick.
Watch the video below. Ask yourself. Do you use these non-standard signals? Do you have these bad habits?
We often talk about how important angle is. In this video below, the referee makes what appears to be a correct PK decision. But notice how his view of the incident was blocked by a player. What if there was an embellishment by the attacker? What if there was more than just a trip to escalate the contact to be reckless? Just because you made a correct decision does not mean your positioning was correct. If you did not have a clear view of the challenge, your correct decision can easily be considered a luck.
Keep adjusting your positioning. Keep your feet moving.
Have you ever been hit with the ball? Have you gotten in the way of players and heard any complaints from them? Oftentimes we know just a second or two in advance when we are about to be hit with the ball or when we are about to get in the way. But we still get hit or get in the way. Why is that?
Sometimes it is because we just try to backpedal to escape. But in many cases, the best escape route is go toward the ball. It may sound counterintuitive. But if the ball is coming toward you, go toward the ball. Within a second, you have gone past the ball and all you have to do is make a 180-degree turn. Now you have given space to players. You are close enough to the play but not too close.
Watch the video below. The referee gets very close to the ball. But it was avoidable if he had realized that the best escape route was in front of him, not behind him.
Our job is not done after we call a foul. Yes, it is true that we talk a lot about foul recognition. But even after we call a foul, a lot can happen. Sometimes, what happens after a foul is more match critical than the foul. So keep your focus. Don't let your guard down.
Below, you will see a referee making a correct pushing foul decision. But his focus remained near the foul location. He was not paying attention to the ball or other players.
How often have you heard that teamwork and eye contact were important? Eye contact allows the whole referee crew to be on the same page.
In the video below, a seemingly easy goal kick or corner kick decision is being made. The ball gets crossed from the AR side an goes out on the referee side. Two players, one from each team, challenges for the ball, making it unclear for the AR who touched the ball last. The referee takes initiative and signals. But just in case his AR has different information, he briefly looks at his AR.
This is all you need. A quick look at your AR will help you make sure that your AR is following your signal or your AR has the same information with you. Otherwise what would happen if your AR has information you did not know about? It can easily lead to two people signaling for two different restarts.
