Home team referees

[To Mati]

Almost on a weekly basis, there are complaints on here about cheating refs.

This is a constant issue in the SAASL. You can provide all the training in the world to a home club referee, however it doesn't prevent them from blatant cheating. While the majority seem to do a fantastic job, there are a few that simply cheat when given the power to do so.

Is it time the SAASL took another approach? Do we need an online grading system where all clubs can provide some basic feedback on their experience with the home team referee. Surely with this approach a pattern would quickly develop and a club which has a cheating referee can be fined or similar.

Either way the current system is not working quite like it should. If the policy on home club refereeing continues to be the same, then we can keep expecting to see the same complaints over and over again.

[arsenalfan59]

There's a new initiative this year by the SAASRA. They've got their official refs to 'inspect' club referees in Div 1 and 2 games. They fill out a form and a copy goes to the League. Div 3 and below isn't done because many of the official refs are fairly new. However these club refs are looked at by the official SAASRA Inspectors on those occassions when they come to assess an official ref. It's only the second half that is done but it's usually enough to see if club refs are trying the best they can.
It doesn't stop a club putting in a written complaint in to the League. If enough clubs did that, then it would build up a picture and the League can do something about it.

[English]

Polonia would be shiraz then!

[Chade]

I actually think club referees are better than they used to be. Cheating refs? No. Blokes that aren't quite sure of the rules? Reasonably often.

[Steve Bruce]

won't be long until the saassra provide official A-Grade refs and B-Grade refs in all 5 x divisions , both sat and sunday . As well as providing official linesmen for every A-Grade game in every division .......then we will see which div 2 , div 3 , div 4 and div 5 clubs complain to the league , because they cannot afford the match day fees .

[billabongbob]

Home referees??? Some are quite good and do a very important and impartial job... Mostly players are the issue when it comes to home refereess, either critisising every desicion (away team) or demanding decisions (home team - based on close relationship with referee!) and this is where problems can occur... Can you make an unbiased decision when put into a stressful scenario of having to punish your home club (psychologists this is where you come in!) and then have to be part of that club whilst the players, coaches, club officials discuss(!) your decisons for the rest of the afternoon/week. It isn't like you can move away from the situation as with official referees as you are part of the club community. It therefore makes it very difficult if you have a relationship of some sort with 11 players on the park and you have to give a penalty or red card. This may have been the case with one particular Sat club that we played early on in in the season in which 7 away team players were booked to none from the home team (no players from that away team have been booked since even with qualified referees in control so go figure!). I hate to say that club referees are biased or cheating but on this occasion he was either over zealous in booking players from one team only and/or wasn't being entirely honest in his decisions to not follow up similar challenges from the home team players.

[pernunz]

I referee some of our games on occasion (Sat Div 4B and Sunday Womens Collegiate League).

I take the role of refereeing seriously, and do not want to be seen to be biased towards my own team in any way. If anything, this makes me favor the away team slightly, and not giving some calls to the home (my) team.

Of course I try to get every decision correct, but we all know that it is not possible. I call things as I see them, with the best of intentions to referee fairly. When we play away, and get a poor referee who seems to be favoring the home side, someone will often pipe up with, "We need to be as biased as them when they come to our ground," and I argue with them, saying that we should strive to have fair referees at our games, and not give in to such tactics.

Even on the weekend just gone, we had an official ref for our game, and he made some mistakes. Occasionally I complained because I genuinely believed he made the wrong decision, but I shook his hand at the end of the game because I knew he was doing his best, and refereeing is a thankless job.

[BarkingMad]

Polonia would be shiraz then!

shiraz Lol. The bloke that Ref's the Reserves game (home Ref) for Polonia should cease his duties or be shot. Deliberating and conversing with spectators & arguing with opposition players while game is in play is not acceptable.

[BarkingMad]

refereeing is a thankless job.

Incorrect. They get paid for their 90 mins.

[Paleon Patros Germanos]

I like the fact the senior referees give you some feedback as well.

Couple of weeks ago my team was complaining, the way team was complaining. Craggs came up to me and said I did a good job. Dont know if I should take anything out of that though...

[Delete Your Account]

refereeing is a thankless job.

Incorrect. They get paid for their 90 mins.

Payment isn't thanks from the 22 on the pitch though.

[BarkingMad]

refereeing is a thankless job.

Incorrect. They get paid for their 90 mins.

Payment isn't thanks from the 22 on the pitch though.

Pffft. Not only is it from the 22 on the pitch but also from the respective Clubs the 22 represent. Without a Ref there wouldn't be a game now would there.

[Mr X]

A linesman won his team a point yesterday also.

[blackout]

I've got an idea, we can start a referee register, then we can all blacklist any ref who slights our great clubs by making bad decisions against them. Then we can round up those with the lowest scores on a monday. We can meet near a big tree, somewhere central, like pinky flat on monday evening.

I'll bring the rope and i thing there are some torches in my back yard. Pitchforks can be hard to find lying around nowadays, but you may get a discount at bunnings if you buy in bulk.

[Statto11]

A linesman won his team a point yesterday also.

So you can tell from up a hill and behind a goal instead of side on whether a ball has crossed a line. Mr X proving once again that you are are

[Car Park Keeper]

A linesman won his team a point yesterday also.

So you can tell from up a hill and behind a goal instead of side on whether a ball has crossed a line. Mr X proving once again that you are are

Sometimes you can when the ball is well before the line. Even confirmed by a well respected Easties former player after the game who saw it. Things happen, worry about next game.

[Statto11]

A linesman won his team a point yesterday also.

So you can tell from up a hill and behind a goal instead of side on whether a ball has crossed a line. Mr X proving once again that you are are

Sometimes you can when the ball is well before the line. Even confirmed by a well respected Easties former player after the game who saw it. Things happen, worry about next game.

I would have thought you would have had just as good a view from down the bottom of the hill.

I asked the linesman and he was genuine in the way he called it. For Mr X to say that he was cheating is not on when he doesnt know the guy at all.

[Robbo]

A linesman won his team a point yesterday also.

So you can tell from up a hill and behind a goal instead of side on whether a ball has crossed a line. Mr X proving once again that you are are

I was on the hill about 10 metres away in that Reserves incident, I don't normally whinge about stuff like this as errors do happen, and certainly supporting Mr X makes me wanna chuck, but seeing you trying to justify that incident on here is making me angry.

The ball in question was easily a foot inside the line (it was no where near out.) Now i can understand if a mistake was made if the ball was on the line, or even close to the line or something like that, and I know it is hard to find linesman blah blah blah but when the ball is at least a foot inside the line, and he flags it out for a goalkick, well that to me is blatant cheating from your linesman.

That ball was no where near the by-line when it was crossed in. Your linesman flagged it out because Farm were about to score their third goal in 5 minutes and win the game, your linesman flagged it out to "stop the rot." It was blatant cheating and you needn't bother defending it as there was at least 20 or 30 of us that all saw it. It was a clear goal all the way.

We could also mention the two that were cleared off the line in the final 10 minutes (the second one did look over) but that would be unfair because they were dubious, I could definately give the linesman the benefit of the doubt on those ones, but not that clear goal.

[Statto11]

Robbo i stated before i asked the linesman and he genuinely thought he had called it correctly. Im not saying he was right or wrong, there was no way i could tell from where i was stood if it was over the line or not. But i can assure you he did not try to blatantly cheat.

Its the assumption that if a decision is made that might be incorrect then straight away the person in question must be cheating. Im sure my opinion isnt going to change your mind or the other 20 or 30 people who agree with you but i beleive our linesman called it as he saw it.

He wouldnt be running the line again for us if i did think he had cheated because like your club and many others we dont want that sort of reputation.

[Mr X]

Didnt write he was a cheat, however I did write that his clearly incorrect call earnt his team a point, which is 100% Correct.

Just to add I wasnt standing on the Hill, I was on the sideline probably 50 meters closer than the linesman to the incident.

[Statto11]

Didnt write he was a cheat, however I did write that his clearly incorrect call earnt his team a point, which is 100% Correct.

Just to add I wasnt standing on the Hill, I was on the sideline probably 50 meters closer than the linesman to the incident.

That is a much better way of putting your argument across. Your previous comment insinuated that you thought he was cheating.

[Clever Trevor]

I referee some of our games on occasion (Sat Div 4B and Sunday Womens Collegiate League).

I take the role of refereeing seriously, and do not want to be seen to be biased towards my own team in any way. If anything, this makes me favor the away team slightly, and not giving some calls to the home (my) team.

Of course I try to get every decision correct, but we all know that it is not possible. I call things as I see them, with the best of intentions to referee fairly. When we play away, and get a poor referee who seems to be favoring the home side, someone will often pipe up with, "We need to be as biased as them when they come to our ground," and I argue with them, saying that we should strive to have fair referees at our games, and not give in to such tactics.

Even on the weekend just gone, we had an official ref for our game, and he made some mistakes. Occasionally I complained because I genuinely believed he made the wrong decision, but I shook his hand at the end of the game because I knew he was doing his best, and refereeing is a thankless job.

This sums up the attitude that club referees need to have. Just because you got screwed over away, don't mean you should screw the team when you play at home.

It seems like everyone is going to have a whinge about referees, whether they are club or league appointed. There just seems more room for negativity when a club referee is concerned as often this person plays in the A team. I can't see why the League appointed referee cannot do the reserves game as well as the A team?

Blacklisting referees is not the answer. How about a competition to vote for the best club referees in the amateur league? If the league took this initiative then these officials could have something to strive towards. Perhaps the prize could be $$ for their club?

[God is an Englishman]

Even on the weekend just gone, we had an official ref for our game,

Sounds like the league is sorting itself out with refs now then if a E grade game is getting an official ref.

[Statto11]

I can't see why the League appointed referee cannot do the reserves game as well as the A team?

Because reffing one game is hard enough, physically as well as the demands on concentration levels. You are asking for a ref to be fresher officiating a reserve fixture and then after that go on to do a first team match directly afterwards.

Im sure the standard of reffing would be affected during the second and more important game if this was to happen. Which in turn would mean more errors and more frustration from the players & spectators.

[Clever Trevor]

I can't see why the League appointed referee cannot do the reserves game as well as the A team?

Because reffing one game is hard enough, physically as well as the demands on concentration levels. You are asking for a ref to be fresher officiating a reserve fixture and then after that go on to do a first team match directly afterwards.

Im sure the standard of reffing would be affected during the second and more important game if this was to happen. Which in turn would mean more errors and more frustration from the players & spectators.

That is a fair comment, especially considering the average age of the match officials. Some are not even fit enough to run out one first team game.

With the first team being of more importance, what say we move that game to a 1pm kickoff so the referee can maximize his/her concentration for the main game? (plus, the light is much better than at 4.45...)

[bapa]

I can't see why the League appointed referee cannot do the reserves game as well as the A team?

Because reffing one game is hard enough, physically as well as the demands on concentration levels. You are asking for a ref to be fresher officiating a reserve fixture and then after that go on to do a first team match directly afterwards.

Im sure the standard of reffing would be affected during the second and more important game if this was to happen. Which in turn would mean more errors and more frustration from the players & spectators.

the over 35's comp on sunday morning run by the FFSA - usually sees the ref officiate the 2nd division game followed by the 1st divion game and vice versa

however, the teams arent related in the sense that its not a B team followed by an A team, therefore less chance for an official to not show favouritsm to home team

[Steve#4]

Even on the weekend just gone, we had an official ref for our game,

Sounds like the league is sorting itself out with refs now then if a E grade game is getting an official ref.

I would like to know who get's notified from SAASL when this happens.

We had a official ref show up for our Div 5 match (2 x "c" sides playing) and we had organised for our club ref to be there for
that game.

[Delete Your Account]

Even on the weekend just gone, we had an official ref for our game,

Sounds like the league is sorting itself out with refs now then if a E grade game is getting an official ref.

Sounded more like MA Hawks had asked him to come out... why they had him for Div 6, and not for Div 1B was a bit weird.

[pernunz]

Even on the weekend just gone, we had an official ref for our game,

Sounds like the league is sorting itself out with refs now then if a E grade game is getting an official ref.

Sounded more like MA Hawks had asked him to come out... why they had him for Div 5, and not for Div 1B was a bit weird.

Correct. An official referee (I believe) was appointed for the 1B game, and was meant to run the line for the 1A's. Instead, there was a player who played in the Div 5 game, refereed the Div 1B game, and ran the line for the Div 1A game. He looked exhausted by the end of it.