Question Number: 15148

Fitness 4/9/2007

RE: Select Under 15

Alex King of Kalamazoo, Michigan USA asks...

How many games do you usally take on in one season? Also do you think that doing about three games in one day at different sites sounds crazy?

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

The referee is expected to arrive not later than 30 minutes before the starting time of the match to which he is assigned. I would not like a spectator or player see me speeding to a match and then try to enforce the Laws of the Game.

As to how many? Simple: on your last match of the day, in the 89th minute, are you capable of being 10-15 yards from play in one penalty area and then the same distance away at the other end of the field, 15 seconds later, when necessary. If you can't be there you don't belong on the field and if that's your first match guess what?

There was a time that doing 300 matches a year was no problem and that's based on the above requirements.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

I would say 200 is my limit. I would estimate 50 - 70 USSF outdoor games. 30 - 50 college / high school. And the rest are some form of tournament (shortened games) outdoors or some form of local indoor league when the weather is too cold to play outside.

Three games in a day, at different sites? I wouldn't suggest this as a way to provide a quality product. Of course, if you're doing 3 under-10 matches (50 minutes), and you're very fit then of course, this isn't a big deal, so long as you can make it to the matches with 30 minutes to do all your pre-game tasks.

However, even if you're Carl Lewis I might suggest doing 3 adult matches (90 minutes) in a day is too much. The mental fatigue alone is enough to make your decisions questionable over the course of the day. Remember refereeing is part physical and part mental - when one of those aspects is shot, you're no good to the teams.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

I used to referee around 300 games a year. Now a lot of those games were shortended tournament games. Now, I have to limit what I do as I have other obligations. As far as going from site to site...when I was in college I traveled from sites 2 hours away from each other. I would often times work a tournament and then drive 2 hours to do a U23 game. I was crazy!