Question Number: 23515

League Specific 6/20/2010

RE: Under 15

Lesley Osmundsen of hicksville, NY usa asks...

At what age do the teams start with sideline ref's?

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

That depends entirely upon your local league's needs, budget and referee pool. A referee can start as an assistant referee as soon as they complete their certification training.

Some leagues prefer single referees for younger games, and put three man crews only on older or more skilled games. There is no right or wrong answer on this one.

Answer provided by Referee Gene Nagy

Lesley, the proper name is: Assistant Referees or ARs. It used to be called Linesman but in the mid nineties it was changed.
It is not age that determines if ARs are used but rather the caliber of the competition and availability of ARs. The higher level of competition, the more likely ARs are used.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Many U-little rules do away with offside. At those games assistant referees are seldom needed, and if used they would be very bored.

It is difficult, but not impossible, for a lone center referee to call offside correctly. For this reason it is best to use assistant referees at that age/game level.

But in many areas there are not enough referees to go around. Some leagues have trouble finding enough bodies to cover the centers in all games, even at the adult levels.

The biggest reason for lack of referees is the lack of respect given to the position. When referees' decisions are regularly dissented and the referees are even abused, there is little incentive to continue. And most newer referees come from the youth leagues. The problems with dissent and abuse are even worse when it is a youth referee, because teenagers take everything more personally.

If every team had one person associated with it who was a referee, and that person did as little as 2 games per week, there would be more than enough referees to cover every game with a full crew of 3. But if that person is abused and quits, it becomes very difficult to recruit another person to take the referee course. At the very least, there is a lag of at least a season for the new person to become a referee, because most training is done in the off-season. The referee instructors are referees themselves who do games.

Another problem with referees being abused and quitting is that the referees do not develop and then there is a shortage of experienced referees for the upper-level games and age groups. Then newer referees are thown into games that are too advanced for them, and they again become disheartened as they make incorrect calls and miss things. If referees are allowed to develop while doing younger age games, there will be a good cadre of experienced referees to do the older games with more experienced (and more conniving) players.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

That depends on the league and state association. Also, what type of game it is..competitive or recreational.