Referee

Why Be A Referee?

Bill Hinds in his cartoon of 26 Aug 09, Cleats, says it well:

The names, email address and postal address for the Area K Region Referee Administrators are:

Region 5 Referee Administrator		9222 Glenridge Ave Westminster 92683
Region 55 Referee Administrator		208 Piedmont Irvine 92620
Region 56 Referee Administrator		P.O. Box 8205 H.B. Ca. 92615
Region 117 Referee Administrator		PO Box 20197 Fountain Valley 92728-0197
Region 143 Referee Administrator		16471 Harbour Ln. Huntington Beach 92649
Region 177 Referee Administrator		2109 Ocana Ave. Long Beach 90815
Region 517 Referee Administrator
Region 1335 Referee Administrator

The names, email address and postal address for the Area K Referee People are:

Area Referee Administrator
Area Director of Instruction
Area Director of Assessment		7692 Lehigh Pl. Westminster, 92683
Area Director of Youth Referees

"Writers and critics are constantly demanding 'uniform interpretation of the Laws by referees'. If we expect ever to get a uniform APPLICATION of the Laws of the game, we are deluding ourselves - this does not depend only on a knowledge of the Laws and of 'official decisions' but it depends on character and temperament. And character and temperament, and moral course, all of which are at the core of the problem, differ in human beings." "Referees are basically honest and impartial, but they do react differently to situations."

Sir Stanley was the reorganizer of the LOTG in 1938 to its current ordering; then FIFA president.

Thanks to Ferenc & Sandy Korompai (korompai*no*spam*@MSN.COM) for the quote.

Rodney Dangerfield's classic line was : "I don't get no respect." Here is a site with t-shirts, sweatshirts, caps and other stuff printed with ref-centered sayings to counter the 3 blind mice image. I hope you'll check it out. If referees wore such shirts expressing pride or attitude, maybe we'd get a bit more respect.

Thanks to Jim Gordon for the link.

In many communications in the referee community various acronyms are used. The meaning is not always known. Here is a list of some acronyms:

AIG:	Additional Instructions and Guidelines
AR:	Assistant Referee
ATR:	Advice To Referees
CK:	Corner Kick
CRE:	Careless, Reckless, or with Excessive force
DB:	Dropped Ball
DFK:	Direct Free Kick
DFUMG:	Don't Foul Up My Game
DOGSO:	Deny Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity
DP:	Disciplinary Panel, Dangerous Play
DRE:	Delaying Restart
ELC:	Entry Level Clinic
FIFA:	Federation Internationale de Football Association
FK:	Free Kick (also IFK and DFK; indirect and direct)
FOP:	Field Of Play
FRD:	Failure to Respect Distance
FT:	Full Time
GK:	Goal Keeper, Goal Kick
GTP:	Guide to Procedures
HT:	Half Time
IFK:	Indirect Free Kick
INDFK:	Indirect Free Kick
ITOOTR:	In The Opinion Of The Referee
KFTM:	Kicks From The Mark
KO:	Kick Off
LOAF:	Laws Of Association Football
LOTG:	Laws Of The Game
NFHS:	National Federation of State High School Associations
OFFINABUS:	Offensive, Insulting, or Abusive Language
OGSO:	Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity
OIAL:	Offensive, Insulting or Abusive Language
PA:	Penalty Area
PI:	Persistent Infringement
PIADM:	Playing In A Dangerous Manner
PK:	Penalty Kick
RC:	Red Card
SA:	Situational Awareness
SAR:	Senior Assistant Referee
SFP:	Serious Foul Play
SOTG:	Spirit Of The Game
SOTL:	Spirit Of The Law
TI:	Throw In
TRIAR:	The Referee Is Always Right
USB:	Unsporting Behavior
USSF:	United States Soccer Federation
WISL:	World Indoor Soccer League
YC:	Yellow Card
YHTBT:	You Had To Be There
YMMV:	Your Milage May Vary
YSL:	Youth Soccer League
UB:	Unsporting Behavior
USB:	Unsporting Behavior
WIR:	Week In Review (US Soccer)

The Referee Classes in Area K are shown on the Referee Classes page.

The United States Soccer Federation has published its latest Instruction To Referees.

USSF has published a Revised Procedure (pdf, 78 kB) for flag signals concering penalties occuring in the Penalty area.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) held its 122th Annual General Meeting in Scotland on 8 March 2008. The results of this meeting are available in the referee reference library. Note that these changes do not go into effect until the beginning of the fall season.

The methods to enforce the required distance on free kicks has changed. See the new interpretation in the referee reference library.

21 Mar 09. Caution drop down list is consistant.

The attached Microsoft Word template (78 kB) is the AYSO misconduct report. Right click the link to download it. Put it in where ever your word templates live (on a windows machine C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates, or search for normal.dot and put it where normal.dot lives). To use the template, open a new word document by clicking on File and choosing New (clicking the new document icon on the toolbar does not present the template choice step) and select this template. Email the form to the appropriate referee administrator. See above for Area K referee administrator email addresses.

If you do not have Microsoft Word, a pdf version is available (22 kB). Right click to download it. Print it and fill it out. Mail the form to the appropriate referee administrator. See above for Area K referee administrator postal mail addresses.

Area K has established, in 2008 - 2009, some rules for sent off players and, although not written, for the referee of the next game. See section 14.10 of the Area 11 K Rules and Regulations. What you as the referee must do is report the presentation of the suspended player to the Area Referee Administrator. Include the player's name, jersey number and team information (age, gender, region, coach name).

FIFA has requested more information on game reports when a sendoff is involved. USSF has published a memo (pdf, 65k) on this topic. Every referee should read this memo. Game reports, especially those involving sendoffs, must contain sufficient information to justify the sendoff.

It is possible, under very limited circumstances, to recind a card given for misconduct. Read the USSF publications, one published in 2003 (pdf, 82k) and one published in 2008 (pdf, 27k) for more information.

Need an idea of what to cover in Pre-game instructions to the Asistant Referees?. Gil Weber's Pre-game is available.

Many forms are needed in the referee upgrade process. You will find them all here. All of the forms are in Adobe pdf.

The principle form is Referee Upgrade Application. (70 kB)

For assessments the candidate should read these tip sheets:

• Preparing for your Assessment (59 kB)
• National Assessments Keys To Success (22 kB)
• Referee Assessment Process (13 kB)
• Referee Assessment 10 Important Items (19 kB)
• National Referee Candidate Criteria (27 kB)
• National Assistant Referee Candidate Criteria (25 kB)
• Referee Pregame Instructions and Duties (5kB)

The assessor will need the following forms, and it is the candidate's duty to supply these forms to the assessor:

• Referee Assessment Checklist (40 kB)
• Referee Pregame Checklist (13 kB)
• Assessment Field Worksheet (34 kB)
• Assessment Verification (50 kB)
• Assessment Feedback (35 kB)
• Assistant Referee Checklist (33 kB)

The physical test requirements are listed here (14 kB).

The mentor checklist is provided (66 kB).

Assessors will need to provide the following to their mentor: Assessor Upgrade Aplication (19 kB).

The assessor requirements are given here (22 kB)

Many documents needed by referees may be found in the reference library.

To view recent answers to questions on the Laws of the game, or to ask a question yourself, visit Ask A Referee

From the Ask A Referee site:
"All questions, published or not, will be answered privately. Some questions and answers will be posted to this website. As of February 23, 2000, all replies to technical questions posted in this column will have been coordinated with and approved by the U. S. Soccer Federation’s National Program for Referee Development. Questions that require an opinion, rather than or in addition to a technical answer, will bear a caveat pointing out that the answer may not have official status and should not be quoted in various fora as an “official” answer. If you wish more personal service, please direct your question to your State Director of Referee Instruction in writing (names and mailing addresses supplied upon request)."

A Referee mail list is available for those of you who wish to obtain a wide varity of opinions on a wide array of referee topics. There is no cost. There are 30 to 50 messages a day; more on days with something significant to the referee community. This is not the official voice of FIFA, USSF nor AYSO. The list is populated mostly by United States referees but there are contributors from Canada, the Bahamas, Australia and New Zealand. There are some very good referees on the list that offer considered and well formed opinions. The list can sometimes be brutal to the referee who offers and maintains an incorrect position. The newby to the list is advised to lurk for a month.

To subscribe to the Soccer Referees list, send email with the body of the mail containing
SUBSCRIBE SOCREF-L <your name>
to

Alternatively, you can go to the web site to do everything.

Once you are a member of the Soccer Referee list, order a user manual by sending email with the body containing the text:
INFO SOCREF-L

AYSO has changed the badge levels in summer 2003. There are still five referee badges:

1. U8 Referee (new)
2. Referee (same as before)
3. Intermediate Referee (used to be Area)
4. Advanced Referee (used to be Section)
5. National (combined N2 and N1)

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