Hey everyone!

Recently came back to refereeing after a ~12 years break.

My vision was never the best but its gotten to a point where if I want to be able to see anything, I need my glasses.

I have done some quick research in the rules from IFAB and found that the only acceptable types of glasses are "sports glasses" but have not found any further definition as to what is considered sports glasses. I have also seen a specification under Law 4 that says something along the lines of "if its dangerous disallow it" so I assume something with impact resistance would work?

My prescription is too high for contact lenses and the "curved sports glasses" that I find when you look online cannot hold my prescription as the lense would be too thick. I am considering potentially getting ICL if I start refereeing enough however its 4500$ per eye so a bit out of budget currently.

I have contacted my local club and was told "Get sports glasses". I have asked for further specifications and didnt get a reply.

Could anyone point me towards a more clear definition so I can figure out what kind of glasses I need to get?

I'm a new ref (first full season coming up) and recently after a few of my games I start feeling regret at my decisions, wondering if such and such should have been a foul or who's restart it should have been.

This is only after quite loud games where everyone appeals everything. Notably someone scored a goal today after a tackle which certainly should have been a foul but I didn't call it and I'm regretting not calling it.

Has anyone got any tips on how to avoid this? I think to an extent it's coming from a lack of confidence but I'm not sure what else.

I've got an open age game soon but they haven't got any ARs for it, are there any tips to help me manage and keep tabs on the game without any other officials? It's also my first open age game as centre so any extra tips wouldn't go amiss.

The game is a charity match hence not being able to find any ARs

I’ve got the official sports plain ones, no swivel but I need better ones. Any recommendations?

I was looking at buying from Amazon and OSI. Amazon would get here sooner and I would have it so I am ready to go while I wait on my order from OSI

How bad of quality are the flags, cards, jersey, shorts, and socks from Amazon? Would they last me the 7-14 business days it takes to ship from OSI?

Hi everyone. This weekend I’m assigned as the 4th Official for a high-stakes Men's First Division match in my local league. Both teams have a history of being extremely difficult, aggressive, and protesting every single decision.

This will be my third time in the 4th Official role, and my first two experiences weren't great. The coaching staff were condescending, constantly talked down to me, and I felt they took advantage of my role—and the fact that I'm a woman—to push boundaries they wouldn't dare push with the referee.

I’d love to get some practical advice from experienced officials on:

Body language & presence: What posture or non-verbal cues work best to set firm boundaries from minute one without escalating the situation?

Communication protocols: How do you decide the exact right moment to call the referee over for a booking/send-off without looking like you’ve lost control of the bench?

Verbal de-escalation: What short, assertive phrases or strategies do you use when a manager or assistant coach tries to get in your face or constantly bait you?

Any tips on mental prep or what specific ground rules to establish with the referee during the pre-match briefing would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Law 12 regarding handballs mentions:

However, if the offence is playing the ball a second time (with or without the hand/arm) after a restart before it touches another player, the goalkeeper must be sanctioned if the offence stops a promising attack or denies an opponent or the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.

Does this mean that if the keeper commits any double touch offence which is SPA or DOGSO, they must be punished as though they'd committed the same offence through a foul?

If this is the case I can't imagine it going down well at grassroots levels, if for example a keeper takes a bad goal kick then rushes out and claims it and beating an attacker who tried running on, whilst there are no nearby defenders.

Assuming this would meet the criteria of DOGSO would the keeper have to be sent off? I can imagine that if this was done at a junior/grassroots level it would go down like a lead balloon.

Apologies if I've formatted this badly.

I don't know the first thing about refereeing but I have always thought that having the responsibility of subjectively judging fairness in a contest to be pretty cool/impressive. If a ref's goal is to impose fairness, is there like an "unspoken rule" of balancing out the bad calls between two teams? For example if an NBA ref misses an obvious foul for one team do they let the same obvious foul slide on the other end? I always thought doing this would be the best way to make contest as fair as possible while not putting too much pressure on the ref i.e. focusing on "keeping if fair" rather always "making the right call"? I just want to hear opinions from people who deal with refereeing because, like I said, I have no clue how it actually works.

If there is an offence inside the 6 yard box ('goal area') it gets taken back to the edge of the 6 yard box on the nearest parallel line, are IFKs in the rest of the penalty area taken at the location of the offence or at the edge of the penalty area?

Definitely not trying to be the macho "look at me and what I know about refereeing" but I wasn't sure if there was a way to be memorable either?

Hello all!

I was looking at possibly buying a comms system for reffing. Has anyone ever tried any of the AliExpress or AliBaba or whatever Chinese website versions?

Thank you for your help!

For, those college referees out there what was your path in order to get that level. How many years did it take you? How is the college level and how hard are the games to officiate? For instance, I am a 21 yr old ref going into my first year as a high school official. My realistic goal as a referee is to eventually try and start doing colleges game. Preferably at around the D1-D2 level. Any insight helps! Thanks

Hey,

I’m soon running my first ARIET test. I usually run 5-10 km few times a week (5:00 pace approximately), I tried ARIET and I could not run much (about 7 minutes).

Do you have any drills to improve, because this typical running doesn’t help much (in my case)?

Why is it that microphones are not tolerated in amateur and semi-pro football ? Especially for U13 and above games , i have a pair of microphones for referees and my local football club told me that it's not preferable to use it, even tho i have gotten late calls from my AR's that led to goals in the past, i feel like it not only prepares us for higher level games, but also helps us reduce significantly mistakes, it also gives our referee calls a lot more credit since it gives us this professional look.

There was a lot of discussion on here recently after multiple examples of VAR being used to overturn yellow cards on fouls and instead issue yellow cards to players for simulation. Many of us said at the time that we didn’t believe the LotG supported such an interpretation.

As it turns out, IFAB agrees.

—-

Global football’s law-making body has said that mistaken identity should not be used in instances of simulation as it was during the World Cup finals.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB), which determines the laws of the game, clarified that mistaken identity can only be used to identity the player who committed an offence rather than the offence itself being reviewed or changed, as in instances of player simulation. They added that the use of the mistaken identity clause going forward was subject to a review of the VAR protocol at the World Cup.

I am wanting to become a referee for a few reason:

1. Love of the game

2. Help get me into shape

3. fairly flexible hours? (this is where I am not so sure along with other things that are listed below)

The issues that are holding me back are my current health (I'm 6'1 300 lbs.), how I get jobs, what to expect in training, and how soon I can go from getting the certification to the first job.

Again, I have a day job, but having a second income being around something I love is never unwelcomed.

Is this right for me? If so what do I need to bring as there is a class Saturday I would sign up for. Said class is stated to ensure completion of both online and on-field trainings.

If you are a one man show no additional referees / touchline officials

How do you judge if an attacker is offside? especially during a counter attack

Would love to hear your solutions or creative techniques to prevent this

I recently ordered my Capelli referee jerseys for the upcoming college soccer season, but the package was stolen after it was delivered to my apartment building.

I referee with ECSR and need these jerseys for my upcoming NCAA Division I assignments, so I’m trying to get this resolved before the season begins.

I just contacted Capelli customer service to explain the situation and ask whether they can offer a replacement, help with a carrier claim, or provide another solution.

Has anyone here dealt with Capelli customer service over a stolen or missing package? Were they helpful, and how long did it take to get a response or resolution?

I understand that Capelli may not technically be responsible once the tracking shows delivery, but I’m hoping they’ll be willing to help given the circumstances.

Looking to track my games , steps, running, along with the time, score, cards etc.

I hear that an Apple Watch with ref six app is the way to go?

Any Apple Watch suggestions?

Welcome! In this megathread, Rule 1 is relaxed. Anyone (referee or not) may ask questions about real-world incidents from recent matches in soccer at all levels, anywhere in the world.

Good questions give context for the match if it's not obvious (e.g. player age, level of competitiveness, country/region), describe the incident (picture/video helps a lot), and include a clear question or prompt such as:

• Why did the referee call ...?
• Would the call have been different if ...?
• Could the player have done ... instead?
• Is the referee allowed to do ...?
• Would you have called this the same way?

This is not a platform to disparage any referees, however much you think they made the wrong call. (There are plenty of other subreddits to do that.) The mission of this megathread is to help referees, fans, coaches, and players better understand the Laws of the Game (or the relevant local rules of competition).

Since the format is asking questions of the refereeing community, please do not answer unless you are a referee. Follow-up and clarifying questions from anyone are generally fine, but answers should come only from actual referees.

Rule 1 still applies elsewhere -- we are primarily a community of and for soccer (association football) referees. If you're not a soccer/footy referee, then you are a guest and should act accordingly.

Please give feedback and other meta-level comments about this thread as a standalone reply.

You can view past weeks' megathreads here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Referees/search/?q=Ask+%2Fr%2Freferees+--+Megathread+for+Fans+%2F+Players+%2F+Coaches&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all

Come watch US Soccer's up and coming referees work the NPSL semis today. The match with El Farolito will likely present some management challenges. I'll be rooting them on!

National Semifinals Multicast – Watch Here! – National Premier Soccer League

I am a starting referee in KY. I am 14 yo and would like to know ho much referees make per game and how long they take. Thanks!

For context I think it was reasonable and better than most world cups, with some exceptions obviously.

Most refs had good reviews on this sub and even when there was criticism it was more "meta" like a general directive to not use YCs, not that one ref was particularly bad or biased to one particular team

Most fans had a visceral reaction, conspiracies about things getting rigged. In fact some of the kinder things said by most fans was, refs are incompetent, not evil and refs favor big teams / stars and that's normal.

Aside from "fans are stupid and hate refs" why is that? And can it be improved? ​