A soccer referee is an integral part of the game and in teaching players the rules of the game.
Every soccer game needs a good referee to ensure the rules of the game are upheld. The game has many rules like offside, throwing fouls and handballs, which need to be called by an objective source. Players, parents and coaches do not make successful refs because of their tendency to play favorites. Refereeing is often an antagonistic position, but someone has to do it.
Instructions
Calling the Game
1. Dress in the required refereeing inform from your league and arrive early for the match to get game ready.
2. Introduce yourself to the coaches of both teams and shake hands. This is a good time to tell the home coach to have a game-ball ready and to prepare a game sheet with all the players listed if it's needed.
3. Inspect and complete a walk-over of the field. You want to make sure all the lines are visible, there are no large pot-holes and there are no dangerous objects on the field.
4. Give one line flag to the home team and one to the away team. Tell the coaches to designate a lines person to wave the flag if the ball goes out. Make sure to explain for the ball to be out of bounds it must completely cross the line. No part of the ball should be touching the line for it to be called out.
5. Blow the whistle and call the team captains to center field. Ask the players to shake hands. Ask the players to remove any jewelry. Explain if the ball goes out of bounds and it is unclear which team owns possession, you will be using the honor system.
6. Flip a coin, asking the home team to call it to determine who gets first choice of side of field. The team who did not choose sides get first ball. Wish the teams "good luck" and tell them to play clean.
7. Set your watch for 45 minutes and count the players on the field to make sure there are 11 on each team.
8. Blow the whistle to begin the game and watch as the play progresses for rule infractions such as physical fouls and hand balls. If there is a severe rule infraction, such as dangerous play, you may hand out a yellow card as a warning to the player or a red card for an ejection. Use the FIFA rule book as a reference if you are unsure or have your calls questioned.
9. Record any goals scored in your ref's notebook. Take down the time and number of the player who scored the goal.
10. Blow the whistle at half-time, giving the teams approximately 10 minutes of break time. Blow the whistle again when half-time is over, making sure both team switch sides and make sure teams notify you of any goal-tending changes.
11. Call to the goalkeepers to ensure they are ready and blow the whistle to begin play.
12. Add time at the end of 45 minutes if you stopped play for an injury or to switch balls. It's up to the ref to estimate how much time is lost in a stoppage of play, so make an educated guess as to how much stop-time should be added.
13. Blow the whistle sharply three times to end the game. Shake hands with the players and coaches before collecting your equipment and the game sheet.
Tags: Blow whistle, ball goes, game sheet, home team, make sure