Quick tips

• Consider how your body language affects the arguer or the players, coaches and other observers.  Crossing your arms may appear too aggressive.  Hand on hips with your chest thrust out also does this.  Stand tall and strong with your hands behind your back.  It doesn’t show confrontation, yet shows you are in control.

• Man in the Middle is a book published in 2004 by David Elleray, a former English premier league referee.  It shares his dedication for refereeing, and tells the story of a man who lived those pressures.  It retails for around $13 and can be found on Amazon.

• Are you skipping your pregames? Halftime talks?  Postgames?  Those are the best opportunities to make certain you’re prepared for your game, that you’re correcting in-game situations and communicating issues at half, and for analyzing what you all did well and/or could do better.  Don’t waste those times on idle talk.

• Nearing the end of a game, teams employ various tactics to waste time, legally and illegally.  The losing team often complains, “C’mon, ref, add time,” or “Watch the time.”  If you sense delaying tactics, such as over-substituting, in NFHS, just stop the clock.  In USSF, just let the players know that you are adding time and that you will not allow these tactics to determine the outcome of the game.    Also, use common sense.  While you are usually waiting for the player to completely leave the field when substituted, there is no requirement to have a player leave anywhere other the closest point on the field.  You can also restart the play before the sub has completely gotten into position,  If the team refuses, treat it as misconduct or delaying the restart.

• Don’t get in the habit of saying, “If you do that again it’s a foul.”  What if another player on the team does it or the opposing team does it.  What if it was potentially dangerous and it does happen again and a player is injured?  If it’s a foul call it.  A warning of a foul is foolish and unsafe.

• In today’s climate, it’s not enough to BE impartial, must you must also APPEAR impartial.  Careless conversations and inappropriate gestures can give onlookers the wrong impression.  Keep your conversations similar with both teams and coaches.  Refer to them as coach.  Don’t carry on personal conversation with one team and not the other.  If you spend 5 minutes with coach A, spend 5 minutes with coach B.  Don’t talk to fans in the home stands, even if you know them well.

• If a player is seriously injured during the course of a game it’s important to write down the events in your game report.  Who, what, when, where, why.  Send a copy to the club or local association and keep a copy for yourself.

• Don’t let thirst be your guide to see if you are dehydrated.  If you are thirsty, it’s already too late, especially if you are also irritable, have a headache, cramps, dizziness, etc.  Stay properly hydrated by drinking before, during and after your games. 

• In dealing with unruly spectators, enlist the help of the coach.  Under some rules, it is the coach’s responsibility to control spectators.  He may not want to, but they must step up to help handle it.

• Tactical misconduct.  Sometimes a foul call is not adequate.  A caution raises the stakes so that the likelihood that the foul will be repeated is reduced.  Goal prevention is in the serious category, but there is also free kick misconduct, time wasting misconduct, a foul to score a goal and territorial advantage misconducts.  These include:

1. Using a hand to score a goal, , stepping on a goalkeepers foot, holding a GK’s shirt, arms or shorts, and laying on top of him. Cautioning will discourage retaliation.

2. Defenders delay the free kick either through moving the ball or placing their body in front of it, tying there shoe, etc.  Since the free kick was awarded because the team improperly hindered the opportunity to score a goal, this behavior doubles the bad behavior and deserves a caution.  A team does not have the right to organize a defense.

3. Holding an offensive player’s shirt when he clearly had an advantage at midfield or beyond, but not a goal scoring opportunity.  Same with a handball on a situation that would have likely been a good scoring opportunity for the offense.

Determining when a foul takes away a sufficient tactical advantage to deserve a card is an art, not a science.  If there were many yards of open space behind a defender who committed a foul, it probably deserves a caution.  The player knows why he was fouled and expects more than a free kick.  Same with a change of possession foul.  The team may be positioned well for the offense, but not for the defense.  The foul may have been committed by a defender who was not in position, but his teammates may not have been.  Or he is out of position on an attack and left a hole where he should be.

For some fouls a free kick is not adequate punishment.  Sometimes it’s because of the level of the foul and sometimes it’s because it takes a way a large advantage.  The team knows what it has lost.

• Talking with players is a good management technique.  The many stoppages in play allow for easy interaction between officials and players.  Only in extreme situations should an official stop play to talk to a player.  And talking to the player can be brief and discreet so no one even knows it occurred.  That conversation can help players calm down, or you can use the moment to warn them about possible illegal play.
• Don’t play doctor.  Take injuries seriously, but don’t treat them.  Make sure others give appropriate care, but lawsuits can arise even if you are trying to help.  If you’re concerned about a players’ health and no medical personnel are available, don’t let an injured player play.
• A defender’s placing his hands on the back of an opponent is not always committing a foul.  Watch to make sure they are not just placing their hand on the back in order to be more aware of where the attacker it going.  If he is truly pushing the player, especially with two hands, a quick shout of “hands down” might take care of the problem.  However, even the slightest push in the back of an attacker going up for a head ball must be called as it may be deemed dangerous, or it only takes a few inches for the player going up for the head ball to be unable to direct the ball as he had intended.  Taking care of both these problems early in a match will serve to let the players know this will not be tolerated and they’ll know where you’ve drawn your “line.”
• Playing the ball on the ground is not, in and of itself, dangerous play.  There must be someone near the ball who either could have been injured, in your opinion, and/or stopped playing for fear of the injury.  Make sure you don’t whistle a foul just because a player played the ball from the on-the-ground position.