The Most Difficult Part About Refereeing
by: Jerry Gilesposted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 at 03:12 PM
Many people who go to watch a soccer game, be it youth, adult, or professional level wonder why a lot of physical contact between players is not punished by the referee. If they are new to the game, they may be puzzled by the apparent lack of understanding (or eyesight)
by the official. If they’ve been around the game a bit, or if their little darling is playing and perhaps gets knocked over, they may become irate at the irresponsibility of the referee. And, of course, if this person has the authority that comes with a coach’s jacket or hat, they
not only become irate, but they may even take it upon themselves to let the offi cial know exactly what they think. After all, everyone knows that officials are supposed to call fouls
and other infringements of the laws. That is their job. And if they don’t do that everytime ,
t h e officiating crew must be incompetent, right?
Well, actually, no! By allowing some infractions to go unpunished, the referee may in fact be doing his job just the way that the laws of the game tell him to. I’ll Pause here to wait for all the muttering. Oh, I can hear it now, “What is this idiot talking about? He says that a referee can miss calls and yet is still doing his job well? He lets fouls go unpunished and we’re supposed to compliment him for doing things right?” And those comments are the mild ones, edited for a family magazine . . .
Being involved with soccer offi ciating since 1964, with thousands of games refereed, watched, and assessed, coupled with countless officiating classes instructed, I have to say that the most difficult aspect of refereeing is knowing what infractions to call and what ones to let go. The reason for the difficulty is simple: for more than one hundred years, the laws of the game have instructed referees NOT to call everything and to call only the infractions that
affect the game adversely. Most players and fans do not know this. The art of refereeing is
the art of penalizing only those breaches of the law that affect the game.
The problem with this statement is that at each level of the game, from little wobbly kids to U-8s, U-10s, U-12s, through the early teenagers up to full youth competitions, into the adult games, to the top amateur level into the semiprofessionals and full professionals, then into international club competitions all the way to full “A” class internationals and on to the World Cup, the infractions that affect the game are different.
Say a youth player and her parents go to a professional match or watch one on television
together. Over the course of the game, they see many plays that make them wonder about
the competence of the offi ciating crew. They
see ferocious slide tackles and seemingly endless player comments to the referee without a whistle blown. They see players with their hands all over their opponent, tugging at jerseys and arms. They wince as a player who is challenged hard goes down in a flying heap
with his challenger and the ref only shouts “play on.”. They see a blatant offside, and the
referee allows the play to continue. It seems so obviously unfair, all these fouls left uncalled - unless of course, you are the referee and know what is going on.
Experienced referees are able to change their decision-making to suit the game they are refereeing. For example, a simple push in a U-12 game can throw a player off balance and, at this age, most times should be penalized. That same push in an adult game might be meaningless, while in a professional match might be taken merely as a gesture of affection between two players. A clear offside, when the assistant referee’s flag goes up and even the whole of the audience in the stands can see the attacking player clearly in an offside position, should not be called if it is clear that the goalkeeper or defender is going to safely regain possession or clear the ball. In both cases, the infraction has become meaningless and will not affect the outcome of the game and thus should not be called. Until the recent rewriting of the Laws of the Game, this philosophy of refereeing was written as sixty four words in the International Board Decision number 8 of Law 5:
“The Laws of the Game are intended to provide that games should be played with as little interference as possible, and in this view it is the duty of Referees to penalize only deliberate breaches of the Law. Constant whistling for trifling and doubtful breaches produces bad feeling and loss of temper on the part of the players and spoils the pleasure of spectators.”
That’s the art of refereeing. So, the next time you go to a game and see fouls going unpunished, take a look at the players and listen to what they are saying. If they are not complaining and are just getting on with the game, then they are obviously happy with the way the game is being called. In which case, so should you. But, if you go to a match and hear players saying, “For heaven’s sake, ref! Let us play!” or worse, then you know that the players want more freedom to play. These players don’t want the referee to call every miniscule infraction, thereby choking the game to death.
This is a difficult art to master and a fi ne line to walk for all referees, but one that good officials must do throughout every game at every age level.
by the official. If they’ve been around the game a bit, or if their little darling is playing and perhaps gets knocked over, they may become irate at the irresponsibility of the referee. And, of course, if this person has the authority that comes with a coach’s jacket or hat, they
not only become irate, but they may even take it upon themselves to let the offi cial know exactly what they think. After all, everyone knows that officials are supposed to call fouls
and other infringements of the laws. That is their job. And if they don’t do that everytime ,
t h e officiating crew must be incompetent, right?
Well, actually, no! By allowing some infractions to go unpunished, the referee may in fact be doing his job just the way that the laws of the game tell him to. I’ll Pause here to wait for all the muttering. Oh, I can hear it now, “What is this idiot talking about? He says that a referee can miss calls and yet is still doing his job well? He lets fouls go unpunished and we’re supposed to compliment him for doing things right?” And those comments are the mild ones, edited for a family magazine . . .
Being involved with soccer offi ciating since 1964, with thousands of games refereed, watched, and assessed, coupled with countless officiating classes instructed, I have to say that the most difficult aspect of refereeing is knowing what infractions to call and what ones to let go. The reason for the difficulty is simple: for more than one hundred years, the laws of the game have instructed referees NOT to call everything and to call only the infractions that
affect the game adversely. Most players and fans do not know this. The art of refereeing is
the art of penalizing only those breaches of the law that affect the game.
The problem with this statement is that at each level of the game, from little wobbly kids to U-8s, U-10s, U-12s, through the early teenagers up to full youth competitions, into the adult games, to the top amateur level into the semiprofessionals and full professionals, then into international club competitions all the way to full “A” class internationals and on to the World Cup, the infractions that affect the game are different.
Say a youth player and her parents go to a professional match or watch one on television
together. Over the course of the game, they see many plays that make them wonder about
the competence of the offi ciating crew. They
see ferocious slide tackles and seemingly endless player comments to the referee without a whistle blown. They see players with their hands all over their opponent, tugging at jerseys and arms. They wince as a player who is challenged hard goes down in a flying heap
with his challenger and the ref only shouts “play on.”. They see a blatant offside, and the
referee allows the play to continue. It seems so obviously unfair, all these fouls left uncalled - unless of course, you are the referee and know what is going on.
Experienced referees are able to change their decision-making to suit the game they are refereeing. For example, a simple push in a U-12 game can throw a player off balance and, at this age, most times should be penalized. That same push in an adult game might be meaningless, while in a professional match might be taken merely as a gesture of affection between two players. A clear offside, when the assistant referee’s flag goes up and even the whole of the audience in the stands can see the attacking player clearly in an offside position, should not be called if it is clear that the goalkeeper or defender is going to safely regain possession or clear the ball. In both cases, the infraction has become meaningless and will not affect the outcome of the game and thus should not be called. Until the recent rewriting of the Laws of the Game, this philosophy of refereeing was written as sixty four words in the International Board Decision number 8 of Law 5:
“The Laws of the Game are intended to provide that games should be played with as little interference as possible, and in this view it is the duty of Referees to penalize only deliberate breaches of the Law. Constant whistling for trifling and doubtful breaches produces bad feeling and loss of temper on the part of the players and spoils the pleasure of spectators.”
That’s the art of refereeing. So, the next time you go to a game and see fouls going unpunished, take a look at the players and listen to what they are saying. If they are not complaining and are just getting on with the game, then they are obviously happy with the way the game is being called. In which case, so should you. But, if you go to a match and hear players saying, “For heaven’s sake, ref! Let us play!” or worse, then you know that the players want more freedom to play. These players don’t want the referee to call every miniscule infraction, thereby choking the game to death.
This is a difficult art to master and a fi ne line to walk for all referees, but one that good officials must do throughout every game at every age level.
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