CONTROL OF THE GAME
Fundamentals
A referee’s success at controlling a football match depends
on one thing and one thing only: his/her credibility.
With it the referee can do a lot or do a little as the
players will not question a single whistle. Without it,
he/she might as well of stayed at home as the players will
not pay any attention to the referee or any decision made.
In earlier articles I mentioned that a referee starts
establishing his/her credibility in the first encounter
with players/coaches. I made some suggestions in earlier
articles that you can use before you even start the game.
What else can be done? How is the referee’s credibility
affected as play goes on?
I hope to answer these questions in a short series of
articles about ‘Control Of The Game’.
Credibility
and how to get it
The
first thing a referee needs to do is to make sure that
he/she knows the laws of the game inside-out, back to
front, upside down and right way up. If a referee makes a
mistake regarding law, he/she has no defence. To the
players mistakes like such are inexcusable and everything a
referee does from that moment on is brought into question.
You can become an expert in the language of the laws of the
game by studying them, by exchanging questions and answers
with refereeing colleagues and by attending referee society
meetings with more experienced referees. When you first
start out as a referee this may seem like hard and boring
work but believe me it will most certainly pay dividends
later on.
How
is your attitude?
After
you have learned all the laws, when you know all about
positioning during play, you can recognise fouls and you
know when and when not to give offside then you are ready
to go out and referee a football match.
I mentioned previously about how to set the right
atmosphere before a game, by being reasonable, friendly and
approachable, not over bearing, and not fussy and
dictorial. Please do not put on an ‘act’ only to drop the
pretence once you start the game. Sustain the reasonable
approach to the players throughout the entire game and they
will respond to you, even when you make the tough
decisions. You have power and the players know it. You can
ruin their game, or you can make it a pleasant experience
for them. How many times have you heard “Who have we got
this week?” and quickly following the answer “Oh no not him
again”. The first job you have to do when you arrive at the
ground is to convert this resentment into at least grudging
respect and maybe even have a good rapport with the
players.
One method could be to get to know the player’s names. If
you have seen the teams before try to remember who their
key players are. If they are new to you, make a point of
listening to the player’s calls to each other in the first
few minutes and put names with the faces and shirt numbers.
Then you can talk to them in a more personable manner when
you have occasion to. It is much better to say “Alright
Paul, no more tackles like that today please” than to say
“Number 9” or “Hey you, I saw that”.
I feel that when you address the players by name, they are
both pleased and confused. Pleased because you seem to be
friendly and want to know them and confused they are
thinking “Eh, this referee knows my name, perhaps he has
been watching me, I better be careful”. It can also have a
very good effect on other players who hear what was said.
“This referee has taken the trouble to learn our names, he
must be very keen. Perhaps he is not that bad after all”.
Above all this is a personable approach in which players
become more than numbers. Most players respond to a human
approach,
and as they do the credibility of the referee rises. On
some ‘rare’ occasions you may meet players who prefer to
remain detached from interactions with the referee and they
will ask you not to use their name. When they do, honour
their request. Don’t talk them at all, or of you have to
refer to their shirt number. Do whatever makes the players
feel comfortable and vary your ‘style’ to their requests.
Till
The Next Time
Happy Whistling!!!!
Malcolm L
(The Refwatcher)
-
Next Time ‘Control Of The Game’
“The Five Steps In A Degeneration Of A Game”
“Where Do Games Go Wrong?”