My tips for young referees

The more you ref, the more confident you get. I guess I’ve refereed about 25 matches now, and I learn something every time – once I get to 100 matches, I will be much, much better than I am now (I hope).

But this makes it a bit difficult, in some ways, to give useful advice to new referees – ref lots of matches is hardly useful when you’re about to referee your first U12 match…

Based on my experience, and also my daughter’s here’s my top five tips:

1. Arrive in good time – ideally 30 minutes before the match, or at least 20. This makes a really good impression.
2. Go and say hello to the coaches – you can just say “Hi, I’m XX and I’m your referee today.” Some coaches might have a chat; many won’t as they’ll be focused on the match.
3. If, just before the match, there are some parents on the same side of the pitch as the coaches, then ask the coaches to ask them to move to the other side of the pitch. (I’d suggest asking the coaches to do this rather than asking the parents directly). Insist on this. (This nicely asserts your authority).
4. Know the toss-up law and procedure. It’s basically: call the captains in; ask the away captain to call heads or tails; ask whoever wins the toss if they want to take the kick-off or change ends; then if they choose to take the kick-off, ask the other captain if they want to change ends.
5. In the match, call a foul early. Only of course if you think it’s a foul. Look out for pushes (e.g. at throw-ins) for example. Calling a foul early gets you used to using the whistle, and sets the tone for the match.