Question Number: 15472

Character, Attitude and Control 5/13/2007

L. Borges of Toronto, Ontario Canada asks...

Your site is very good. I learn from it a lot.

I have a question with respect to the duties of the assistant referee and a comment about refereeing.

I am a relatively young referee, and I started to referee about two years ago. I was the AR for a recent game. The main referee arrived late due to traffic and the other AR as well, so we did not have pre-game talk, and during half time we had a very short break. The referee had done this for many years and he is in the age range of my father.

During the game (which was challenging) an infraction occurred in my opinion. The infraction occurred in a place between the two of us, and I thought that he had not seen it because of the angle of his line of sight. I raised my flag to alert him. He said play on. The players complained and some said him: "are you blind, even your linesman thinks that it was a foul."

He seemed upset with me after this incident and started to over-rule several of my off-side calls.

After the game, he approached me and told me that I was trying to overtake the game and started to give me a very condescending lecture with at least two players witnessing it. He told me that I should not call a foul unless he gives me a gesture telling me that he needs my input. He hinted that he will tell the person that assigns games that I am not capable/suited of doing this job.

Was I really out of line with this?

My comment is the following. I do not mind the abuse and derogatory comments from coaches, parents, and players. However, I am finding very demoralizing the condescending attitude of several older referees. It seems as if they are trying to discourage you from refereeing. Most of them are great and teach and mentor you a lot, but some are truly rude and they know that they can get away with it given their conections and influence in the referee circles. Perhaps thing are different in the US, but I am truly thinking of quitting here, as I dread having to work with some of these guys.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

The Laws of the Game state that the assistant referee shall call fouls whenever he is closer to play than the referee or has a better view. In this case, you clearly had both and in your opinion, calling a foul would benefit that game at that time. If this referee wants to over rule you, then he needs to give you some sort of signal. Overruling an AR on an offside call is about as bogus as it gets. I will never over rule an AR if I am referee unless the AR has proven himself incapable in which case I probably would have dismissed that AR anyway. Bottom line is that this referee seemed to have an ego problem and if your information is correct should probably be disciplined for his lack of respect to his fellow referees and over abusing his authority towards you. Hopefully your assignor will understand and if you tell the assignor what you told us, he should take care of it for you.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Shame on this referee for NOT having a pregame and shame on him for berating you in public. Live and learn. Your duty as an AR is to assist the referee which you did by calling a foul you believed he missed. He decided to wave you down, at that point you lower the flag and get on with your duties. Offside, unless you are out of position or clearly incompetent, is your call. SOunds like an ego problem here but we only have your side.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Mr. Borges,
it is a sad condition in some communities or associations there lies a power base of those who enjoy the power and control they exercise over others. No referee should berate another in front of others we are to support our fellow colleagues provided we do not sacrifice the laws to do so!

The fact a referee arrives late with no pregame is not a good start. Yes traffic, work can conspire to make arriving on time difficult but as an older referee myself I find working with inexperienced ARs can be frustrating only if they do not TRY to do the job.
We can forgive a mistake, overlook the over eager too quick flag and wave down a few flags as unneeded but we always respect our ARs and try to allow them to do their job.

I find the fact it was in the second half where things unraveled to be a bit disheartening since we must assume the first half was not an issue? One would think you had a pretty fair idea of how that referee was calling fouls and to what degree he was allowing the trivia or doubtful aspects to unfold. It is often true when a referee is tight to play they often prefer no flag by an AR unless the incident is so blatant it cannot be overlooked. It really comes down to the trust one has in the other and the amount of eye contact and communication preceding any event!

If you flag for a foul the flag is raised and waved! You do not signal direction until after eye contact with the referee and he has not waved the flag off

A referee is ill advised to wave off such a flag but to call out, "Play on!", is wrong for several reasons. First of it is confusing as it is part of the advantage signal often used to indicate there is in fact a foul but we are waiting to see if that foul has actually done what it tried to do which is stop the attack or shot.
It could be interpreted that ok there was a foul but we are not stopping just yet.

Here it appears the one team felt the AR saw a foul and the referee did not setting the stage for conflict! The referee admission at the match end that your are not to call fouls unless he signals for help are partly to blame here. Play on here has indicated that the referee is choosing to disregard the assist from the AR. As to this imaginary signal of I need help I will ask for it again shows how this experienced referee is out of touch with reality since no pregame was ever done to discuss this special technique.

To overrule offside flags the referee has effectively written off the AR input and the players by now will be attuned to this fact. While it is not unreasonable for young ARs to get a few offside calls incorrect. A referee should indicate to the AR just when and how he will take over this duty in the pregame and discuss at the break why such action was required! As offside is the primary duty of an AR I expect that AR to be properly positioned and have a necessary understanding of when to raise or not to raise the flag by the pregame . No matter the years of experience, the laws taught are the SAME! After two years and assuming the referee course explaining them was taught properly you should be calling offside correctly. If there is a problem then your training and mentoring at the community level are likely non existent!

It could be that this level of play is beyond you in terms of speed of play or understanding or the referee is an over officious oaf and too full of himself to effectively teach or mentor properly.
I suggest you associate with the other guys, "Most of them are great and teach and mentor you a lot!"

If a referee truly undercuts you simply hand him his flag, avoid telling him where to put it and record and report why to the league. If they choose to side with the referee and ignore you, find another league or look for other ways to enjoy the game. Refereeing or Aring is not without some discomfort but without any enjoyment it is not to be tolerated!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

Keep up the good work. This Referee was out of line and you should continue to call fouls that you see, unless the referee tells you otherwise in the pre game, which he was late to so he could not give a pre game. That is a shame and I'm sorry you had to put up with that.

I would urge you not to quit if you feel you can deal with these people, because we need more young, quality officials who understand the game. From your description of things, it sounds as though you understand your role well and we could really stand to keep refs like you around.