Question Number: 27531

Mechanics 6/17/2013

Dave Rose of Cedar City, Utah USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 25040

Similar situation for me happened last day of a tournament. I am trailing AR at midline. Play is heavy in front of goal, maybe a dozen players in the six, with ball on lead AR side. CR is behind all these players, in the middle of the PA> A player on right shoots at goal, hits his near post and it rebounds off keeper to the left of the scrum. I have an unobstructed view of the farthest outside offensive player, still inside the goal area, intentionally lift his folded right arm straight out to direct the medium speed rib high ball with the elbow down to his feet and short hop a shot on goal. It miraculously bounces off the keeper still on the ground from the previous shot, but deflects to another player who taps home the ball. The other two refs surely did not see the handling, but I surely did.

The CR and other AR are older and much more experienced than me; in fact this is my first tournament. I know traditional protocol would be for me not to say anything because 'I'm too far away' but this was one of those things where it made no difference if I was 5 yards away or fifty - it was obvious. I was stunned that the CR credited the goal (as was the crowd behind me) and began walking to center. I had to assume neither one saw the action; it was just too blatant to ignore.

Assuming it is proper to assist, not insist, even as the trailing AR, I raised my flag until Cr beckoned me on. His first question was not 'What's up' or 'Did you see something?' but 'What position are you?'. I told I am the assistant. He said, yes, but for the other side of the field. I told him about what I observed, but he flat dismissed me by insisted it was not my area of responsibility. I asked him if he saw the handling and he refused to answer yea or nay and said thank you and please get back to your side.

After the game, he and the other AR insisted that I committed a mortal sin by interrupted the game and exceeding my area of assistance. I countered that an AR certainly has a responsibility to his half o the field, especially the near corner, but an AR also helps with the entire touchline, both halves, and something important like a goal or foul in the box might be important enough to get the trailing AR's input, if the lead AR did not have a good view. They both instructed me that in the spirit of making us look and behave like a team, we should not contest or argue and basically just let the CR initiate any help requests. I feel somewhat the opposite in this case, because it would be rare and exceptional that I would offer input on a similar play, and half of the people watching the game saw the same thing I saw. Precisely because I am part of a referee team I felt it necessary to give the CR input on an incident that I am 99.9% sure he did not see.

We ended the talk on good terms, I felt, as I acquiesced to their mentorship, but I still feel a bit condescended over this. I am sure other incidents will come up in my refereeing career, and so I will learn from it; I am pretty sure I would have handled it differently if I was the CR in a similar situation. What do you guys think would have been a better way to handle things, and what else can I learn from this?

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Dave,

Sounds like a difficult scenario, and by your description perhaps one that wasn't handled well by your colleagues.

As you say, the AR's job is to assist. That means, he's the one to call a foul if he believes he has a better view than the referee. Generally speaking, the closer it is to the AR, the more likely it is that the referee will want him to intervene. Along the line a few yards in front and some referees will often wait for the AR's opinion. Middle of the field and the AR will really want to ensure the referee is unsighted before 'assisting'. Anything further than that and it becomes very rare for the AR to intervene. Rare, but not impossible.

You'd want to be absolutely, undeniable, bet-your-left-arm certain on 2 things:
1)That the referee didn't see it. Not that he might have seen it and he got it wrong - that he didn't see it.
2)That what you think you saw actually happened. The further away you are the more likely it is that you're in a bad position which has made a situation look different to what happened.

That's not to say it can never happen, but it's rare. As an AR I've never called a foul at the other end of the field - and the number of times I've called a foul along the far line in front of me I could count on one hand.

I remember one incident in the Australian national league where both the referee and near AR missed a blatant deliberate handling in the penalty area. The far AR, however, informed the referee of what he saw - but for whatever reason, after discussion the referee did not award the penalty.

But if he was certain he saw it, then he did the right thing. As are you.

It always puts the referee into an awkward position, and it's a matter of trust. As a relatively inexperienced official, referees may resist trusting you in these major, and unusual decisions - which I can understand. I've had plenty of AR's (experienced and not!) call fouls that were definitely wrong.

What should never happen is that the AR is placed into a situation where he is completely prevented from assisting outside of an imaginary box in front of him. That's not teamwork.

For better or worse, a number of referees place 'appearing as a team' above getting the decision right. You'll see this as you referee on more games, and those are the referees that simply don't want to know if you have information that contradicts with their decision. As you officiate you'll develop your own views on this (my reply is already too long), and you'll learn how to work with officials who may have a different view to yours.

In my books, as long as you're 100% certain of what you saw (bearing in mind it does become a lot more difficult to accurately spot handling from so far away), then you did the right thing. But, that's my personal approach to refereeing there.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Dave
It all depends on the instructions given by the CR in the pre match discussion. Most if not all referees will not want the trail assistant referee to get 'involved' in the active penalty area except for violent conduct and they will restrict the AR to calls in their vicinity which is 10/15 yards. If the CR and AR has missed something obvious in their vicinity such as a foul or deliberate handling then unless they seek assistance I would not be getting involved.
If I were to get involved I would want to be 200% sure that the CR would want the intervention of the trail AR based on his instructions. Indeed even the teams will not expect the trail AR to get involved and it does bring into question the credibility of such a call.
I was AR in a high level game recently and contact happened between two players inside the penalty area on the far away side of the penalty area. The CR, I later found out, was slightly unsighted as I was and he knew I was just too far away to make the call so he waved the penalty call away without even looking at me. The trail AR did not see it clearly but probably had a better view than me as he was closer probably by some 5/10 yards. Anyway I took the brunt of the 'abuse' from the technical area and players even though it was not in my vicinity, the CR was 15 yards from it and trail AR was closer to it than me. No-one and I mean no one expected the trail AR to get involved.
I would also point out that eye contact is important and unless the referee looks for assistance then I would be leaving calls of opinion to him such as deliberate handling.
Also don't feel sore about this. There is not an AR who has a flag waved down or advice declined. I had a flag declined recently on a game where I was 110% certain it was a foul. I simply put the flag down and I later told the CR that as far as I was concerned it was a foul.
Finally have a look at the incident on this video at around 44.30 in the 88th minute. The referee Howard Webb initially awards a corner kick but later changes his mind to correctly send off the defender for a DOGSO and awards a penalty. At no times does Referee Webb seek assistance from the trail AR and in his report he stated that the decision was made with help from the lead AR. Egypt protested the call based on the fact that they believed that the 4th official saw it on a monitor and that it was he who informed the referee. The match report made no mention of the trail AR and his involvement would not have been expected even though IMO he probably had a better view of it than the lead AR. If it were missed HW would not expect the trail AR to be flagging here whatever about speaking to him on the communication headset

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Ill have to disagree somewhat with my fellow panel members. If in the pregame the CR said 'don't even look at the other half field' then I would follow his foolish instructions. My pregame always included to both AR If you see something you think I need to know about, especially if it will negate a goal, get my attention however you have to before I restart play'. You saw what, to you, was an obvious handling infraction which also probably was misconduct. I would feel obligated to get the CR attention. After you relay the information your job is done as you do assist not insist. The important thing isn't to appear to be united. It's to do what you can as a team to get it right.
I hope when you are in the middle you utilize both your ARs to their fullest. And remember, just because a referee has more experience does not mean he or she is right and you are wrong.
Why your center values a united front over getting itright only he can answer