Question Number: 17498

Law 5 - The Referee 10/24/2007

RE: Rec Other

Chris Riffenburg of Redford, MI USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 17458

Sorry to all to make it seem like I don't appreciate what you do but all I did was ask a follow up question. If there was or is not a definate answer or procedure that the referee's are taught (pertaining to my original question) that's all you had to say from the beginning. The question in my mind now to the answers I've recieved is. Are kids in youth soccer required to anticipate multiple procedures from different referee's? Could it be that is why there seems to be more problems with players/coaches/parents from youth soccer than most other sports. I love the game, watch as much as possible but cringe when I hear something bad happened at a youth soccer game. Basically what I'm asking again, but I'll ask the question in a different way now. With how referee's are certified (youth level) they can actually be refing a game and blow the whistle to start play for a free kick and then use a different signal the next time for the same? It just seems to me that there are specific laws of the game that are to be followed but the officials/referee's don't have specific procedures that would be universal (as the laws of the game) that would be known by all even before or during a game. And I'm sure it makes it quite confusing for youth parents/players and coaches not knowing what to expect.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Chris, in the original answer, Ref Dawson gave you a list of situations for which a whistle would be used, and another list where the whistle didn't need to be used. If you are looking for an answer to the question, "Does the referee always have to restart play with a whistle?", that answer is emphatically NO. Instead, there is an abiding principle - the whistle is to be used when it is needed to be used. The whistle is to get someone's attention to some fact. If that fact is already known by anyone who has been paying the least amount of attention, there is no need for a whistle. We use the whistle when needed, so we don't end up like the Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Smart coaches teach their players to play the whistle. And players who are smart watch the referee and/or the ball at a restart to know when they can move and where. While I understand your question, I disagree with your premise - that any discrepancy in the type of signal is confusing to the point of being unable to anticipate what will happen next. If anything, young referees blow the whistle too often, so I don't see this as an issue? I'm glad you are enjoying the game, and I do wish you would take a referee class. We always need questioning minds and eager learners to take up the whistle.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Hi Chris. You hit the nail on the head. As with baseball umpires strike zones, soccer referees will vary in not only what they call but in how they signal it. I would say it's poor technique for a referee to signal in different ways for the same thing during a single game. Any referee should strive for consistency. In answer to your question, yes a referee may signal for a direct free kick with his whistle one time and a hand signal the next. Poor technique but allowed. The reason Americans have so many problems with soccer is that in all our other sports the officials are given no leeway on violations. If they occur they must be called. Soccer referees have great latitude in what they consider foul play. If a "foul" doesn't impact the game and the fouled team doesn't think anything has happened, why blow the whistle? Also, the referee is empowered to consider advanatge. If it is advantageoues for the team that got fouled not to whistle for a foul then the soccer referee does not have to. This makes no sense to most of us that didn't grow up with soccer and are used to minor infractions in sports like football have huge impacts in that they are always called. A wide receiver far on the other side of the play will start a split second before the ball is snapped and a touchdown is called back. Additionally, soccer is the only sport in this country where the players are taught how to play without being taught the rules. This leads to confusion.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

US Soccer publishes a book called Guide to Procedures for Referees, Assistant Referees and Fourth Officials. In that document are listed what each match official is required to do in specific situations. From the Foreword of that document:

The United States Soccer Federation adopts the procedures outlined in this pamphlet in order to standardize officiating techniques, signals and mechanics at all levels of play. They have been recommended by a panel of senior referees and instructors and have been thoroughly tested at international, professional, amateur and youth levels of competition.

Alternate signals, procedures and methods of communication among referees, assistant referees and fourth officials are not authorized for games under the jurisdiction of the United States Soccer Federation using the diagonal system of control. Other signals or methods of communication intended to supplement those described here are permitted only if they do not conflict with established procedures and only if they do not intrude on the game, are not distracting, are limited in number and purpose and are carefully described by the referee prior to the commencement of a match.

Further on:

Referees are reminded that the whistle is a tool of communication and not merely a convenient signaling device. Whistles should be selected carefully for the match conditions, age of players and other factors. It is neither required nor expected that the whistle be used for all stoppages and restarts of play.

A whistle demands attention and should be blown when such attention is needed. Uncontested stoppages (as when a ball clearly leaves the field) should not be whistled ? a voice and/or hand signal by the referee or a flag by the assistant referee will normally be sufficient.

Referees should also be alert to the need for variations in the length,
force and tone of their use of a whistle to indicate different types of
stoppages or different degrees of concern for the event that has just occurred.

This is the guidance offered by the folks that license us. Most of us follow that advice. Now, where there is no specific directive on how we should do something our personalities demand us do whatever it is we do. In that, every referee will be different in those areas not dictated. It is interesting to me, a referee who uses personality and body language along with my whistle to manage a match, that no matter where I have been assigned the privileges as match referee I have not had any trouble with the players misunderstanding what I communicate to them. And that is no matter what language they speak!

Football, yes that is what it is called, referees enforce the Laws that players are expected to adhere to. When players infringe the Laws they usually know exactly what they have done. When the referee pulls them up for an infraction they usually just retire the required distance. Once the free kick is at the point of the restart and a direction of the free kick is established the team awarded the free kick is, guess what, free to restart play at their pleasure. After all it is a free kick. The match referee will only intervene and demand they wait for a signal from him if he needs to administer discipline or the opponents who have been caught out giving foul play further harm their the aggrieved side by failing to retire the required distance or delay the restart in any other way OR if the aggrieved side asks the referee to intervene on their behalf. This is true world wide.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

For a supposedly yes or no there is a lot of maybe going on here.
LOL ;o) cheers