Question Number: 27577

Law 5 - The Referee 7/4/2013

RE: rec Adult

alex of richmond hill, ontario canada asks...

Last game I practiced a trick taught to me by a senior ref. I told the captains to tell their players to stop complaining about fouls as I might be applying advantage. And I will revoke all disadvantage to their teams if their players complain. Guess what, a player did complain loudly that I am not giving his team a DFK on a foul while I was applying advantage. So I stop giving advantage to that team and eventually the team was upset and asked me to start applying advantage again. Is it wise to re applying advantage?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Alex
Not sure what you mean here as the referee should be clearly signalling and calling advantage when it happens so there should not be any 'might be' possibilities. So personally I don't think it is a very good tactic.
It is usually the other way around in that when the referee plays advantage that gets squandered the referee can get complaints about where was the advantage. When that happens I am generally slower to go with advantage but if it is there I will still apply it.
Also there will be very few times during a game when a team feels disadvantaged by the referee not playing advantage. I can recall two occasions last season when I was 'berated' by the fouled against team for not playing advantage. Both were late challenges and I had more of a focus on the foul than on what happened afterwards where the ball went to players in 'good' attacking positions.
Now there are times when the referee uses the tactic of calling every single foul not matter how trivial for match control purposes and teams do get frustrated with that. That though is entirely different from advantage calls and it is about calling trifling offences.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

IMO, when the referee tells players that if they do X, then you are going to do Y, two things happen. When X happens and the referee doesn't do Y, the players think the referee is a liar. When X happens and the referee does do Y, the players think the referee is a cheat. They know what the referee is supposed to do.

The better lesson from the senior referee is that when players complain about calling advantage, listen. It means they don't want to play through that. If you tell them, 'sorry, should have called the foul' you aren't promising what you will do the next time. But, you are indicating that you have heard them.
The 'trick' is next time, call the foul! The players will think the referee is wise.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

I can't imagine why any seasoned referee would tell you to enter into such a 'contract' with the players. You set yourself up anytime you tell players 'Listen, if you do 'this' then I will do 'that''. Further, why in the world would any referee tell players he would stop calling the game fairly (' And I will revoke all disadvantage to their teams if their players complain') if they complain. You basically told these two teams if they opened their mouths you wouldn't call fouls on the opponents. Surely you didn't mean to do this.

If you want to say anything about advantage to the captains before the game, you could briefly explain what advantage is and remind them that if you give the advantage signal that tells them you DID see a foul but are purposely NOT calling it as you believe it more advantageous not to. But don't threaten them with reprisals if they complain. That's what your cards are for.