This page was last changed Thu 19-May-2011 12:19
One way to successfully referee a soccer game is agreeing on how to work with peers and the best way is to discuss responsibilities beforehand. This tactic while not new, most times is often ignored by referees, assistant referees and fourth officials for many reasons. These include lack of time or the familiarity of the referee team. However, a good technical talk ensures good performance of referees.
Other important points
The information on what to do in critical situations, such as being "surrounded" by players, player altercations, aggression and fighting and temporary suspension of play caused by external factors and how to act and implement the procedures for dealing with them should be discussed. The importance at all times of maintaining good eye contact, adding extra minutes to the match, responsibility for checking uniforms and numbers of the players must also be included.
Right place
Find a place free from interruptions and decide on a convenient time for the pre-game talk. Some referees choose the hotel and others select the best location in the clubhouse. The first thing is to instill confidence in one<s colleagues. Second, coordinate signals for throw-ins, goal kicks or corner kicks and how to decide when any referee team member is in doubt.
Coordination of work
The second point is to agree to penalize and not overlook serious fouls and misbehavior. Discuss what to do in cases of fouls on the line or just inside the penalty area along with appropriate signals. The importance of respecting the areas of responsibility is another key. Fouls on the opposite side of the assistant referees and handballs should also be discussed. For penalty kicks go over the procedure for positioning and goal keeper movement as well as other violations. It should also be noted that they need only punish significant fouls or faults without compromising match control.
Outside the field of vision
An additional point includes how to report on serious matters such as whether the action occurred outside the referee's view, even if its on the opposite side of the field. The referee will need to consider the players and circumstances, i.e. if the ball was in play or not which is essential to determine the violation and how to do the restart. The control of match duration is also important and should be discussed including signaling for injury or added time.
The offside
On how to proceed in cases of refusal to move back for offside calls is the fourth point to consider. This highlights the importance of the assistant pausing before raising the flag and working with the referee to observe and punish accordingly players who violate Law 11. Also the assistant must lower the flag if signaled to do so by the referee. Finally, explain clearly in what situations decisions will be delegated and signaling when interference with an opponent is occurring.
The technique of wait and see
To succeed in judging offside there is a technique which has existed for years in officiating and has helped referees make the right decisions with respect to Law 11. It works just as well now as there has been no replacement to judge what may be the fastest occurring play. It continues to provide the best guarantee for accuracy. We are referring to "wait and see," so we need know what it is.
Working properly
Correctly judging offside is a continual challenge for all assistant referees, especially as the distance increases between them and the ball and attacking and defending players. At the same time, in these cases the probability of success decreases. To be successful in most situations, it is better to wait a little and be right, than to be quick and wrong.
Mental picture
Few referees apply this technique which leads to mistakes and wrongly penalizes players with wrong offside calls. This is the case especially when players score from a distance because the assistant referees do not keep in mind the player's initial position, at the moment the ball is kicked toward the goal. They instead are focusing on the ball’s trajectory and then look back to see if a single player is involved. To counter this they should "see" the second to last defender and "decide at that time, when the ball was kicked, whether or not someone was offside, and retain that mental image."
Wait, see and judge
To apply the technique of wait and see and not to keep the flag up, the assistant referee initially must keep in mind the position of the attacker and then assess their involvement in active play. What should be first considered here is ball movement and the direction it takes because if any defender crosses its path an offside violation would be unnecessary.
Other considerations
The distance the attacking player has the ball before they play it is another aspect to consider because if it goes too far forward and the attacker does not reach it, signaling is unnecessary. Finally it is to be expected if the ball goes to a player in an offside position, at the time it is played it is deflected by a defender or attacker this would change the decision because the player receiving in the first case (deflected by a defender) would still be offside and in the second case (deflected or touch by an attacker) would be offside.
LONDON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Judging by the outraged roar in any sports bar when a footballer is deemed to have faked a fall in order to win a penalty, the average soccer fan can distinguish between a genuine foul and play-acting.
The vexed subject of diving has been highlighted in the early part of the British season after Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva won an appeal against a two-match ban imposed by UEFA for diving in a Champions League qualifier against Celtic.
Eduardo was initially banned after winning a penalty when he tumbled to the ground despite no apparent contact with goalkeeper Artur Boruc.
According to research conducted by Paul Morris, a psychologist with the University of Portsmouth in England, the average fan usually gets it right.
In a telephone interview, Morris said a group of respondents were shown film of tackles from professional matches.
"We did it from games that weren’t particularly famous, games that were in black and white, and we didn’t show people who were particularly famous," Morris said.
"We showed people lots of tackles and we asked people in which one was there an intentional dive, people attempting to deceive the referee and ones in which there was no intention to deceive them.
What we found was that people were remarkably consistent, everybody agreed which ones were dives, which ones were honest and also which ones they weren’t sure about."
ARCHER’S BOW
However, Morris said that although the study showed consistent responses it did not prove that the interviewees were necessarily right.
So a second study was set up in which footballers were instructed to fall honestly after a tackle or to dive.
"What we found was there was a perfect correspondence between the instructions to the diving or the non-diving player and the perceiver. So taking those two studies together we could show there was consistency and also there was accuracy," he said.
Morris has identified four factors which indicate that a player may have dived, notably the ’Archer’s Bow’.
"We had to call it something, so we called it the Archer’s Bow because people are bowed back like in a bow and arrow," Morris said.
"And what is so unusual about this particular behavior is that it’s not a variation on a theme that you see in an honest tackle.
The tackled player will put their arms back, often they will put them back behind their head, the legs will go up behind their bodies, their chest is stuck out and often their head will go back.
What is interesting about that particular behavior is that you don’t witness that in actual natural falls. If you are losing your balance you put your hands on either side to try to regain your balance.
What you don’t do is stick both hands over your head. One hand might go up, often if you are falling to one side, one hand might go down to the ground and the other hand goes up but what you don’t do is stick both hands above your head.
Biomechanically people don’t stick their hands above them in the air when they are falling over. This just doesn’t happen."
DIFFICULT JOB
Morris said the other three factors were variations on behavior which could occur during honest tackles: clutching a part of the body which had not been hit, taking an extra roll when hitting the ground and taking fully controlled strides after being tackled before falling.
"What makes them dishonest is that there is something about the organization and timing of the behavior that is observed that is wrong," he said.
Morris is careful not to make exaggerated claims for his research and is full of praise for professional referees.
"The words we would use is there is probably a nice indication or pretty clear indication that simulation behavior is engaged upon," he said.
"Referees actually have a very difficult job and they do it pretty damn well. So each time that you see both arms go back that’s probably a pretty clear indication that simulation may be taking place.
But I wouldn’t like to say that reliably every single time you could make this distinction. It is an aid but not a solution.
I have tremendous sympathy for the officials, they may not even see the crucial bit of action, a player may be running in front of them at the crucial time."
The other thing is that the referee isn’t making a single decision, ’Is this a dive or is it not a dive?’, he’s also making a decision ’Was it a foul tackle?’
"You can have a foul tackle without a dive, you can also have a non-foul tackle with a dive. Also what our research does show is that people do agree that people are not sure.
The problem for a referee is that he’s not allowed that luxury. He’s got to make a decision."
Verbal teaching is a 50-50 proposition. The person doing the instructing has to deliver the lesson in a way that is clear and designed to keep the student interested. But even the best message will be lost if you have any resistance to the information being delivered, if you don't respect the presenter, if you feel you have very little to learn or if you enter the lesson with a cynical attitude.
Don't interrupt the speaker, don’t ask questions that don't pertain to the material being presented and don't bombard the speaker with a series of once-in-a-million what-if situations.
As the old saying goes, you were given one mouth and two ears for a reason. Listen before you engage your mouth.
There are some things you can't control; you just have to live with them and keep officiating. One thing you have no control over is the rules knowledge of the fans and the coaches. Most of their rules knowledge comes from television. Exposure to college and the pro rules is more widespread. When a high school official is questioned and the rule interpretation is based upon a pro or college rule, all you can do is explain the high school rule and get on with the game.