Moving Solo AR

[jacathcart]

Situation: GU-15 District game. I am CR with one AR. With 5 minutes on the clock (and another 2 minutes of stoppage time I had decided to add) left, Black pulls its keeper up into the attack, down 1-0. This leaves the Blue team (and their fans) completely befuddled as they apparently believe that when the keeper comes upfield there is no more offside. Fortunately I had a very good 17 y/o AR who knows the laws and he began to whip his flag up virtually every time the Blue tries to mount an attack for the O/S violations.

Fortunately I had done my usual complete pre-game so he knew to signal me when two dads had to be moved far up into the stands out of hearing, but things got interesting.

My question - I was just fortunate that that blue was attacking the end the AR was on. This would have been very difficult if the situation would have been reversed. I am in good condition but I am also 61 and I would not be able to stay so far forward as to be able to be confident of making good O/S calls myself without taking myself out of position for virtually anything else. What would the sages of this list say about moving the AR to the other end if the situation had been reversed?

My gut reaction is negative, but on the other hand the end where the keeper had been pulled and all the O/S was taking place was where I needed the help. Thoughts?

Jim

[HoldenMan]

I don't really think you can tell the AR to move during the half...

In that situation, if you trust your AR to call fouls then just hang up the other end of the field. I find that's actually fairly common practice amongst referees with one AR, who they trust (in my area nobody uses club AR) - the referee will just hang a little back towards the non-AR end.

If not, then simply keep in position and do the best you can!

[vabeacher]

Was your AR experienced enough to go to a two-man referee system? Similar to what some high schools use.

[BentwoodBlue]

Was your AR experienced enough to go to a two-man referee system? Similar to what some high schools use.
Assuming this is a USSF match this is not permitted.

[Ref Flunkie]

I don't really think you can tell the AR to move during the half...

In that situation, if you trust your AR to call fouls then just hang up the other end of the field. I find that's actually fairly common practice amongst referees with one AR, who they trust (in my area nobody uses club AR) - the referee will just hang a little back towards the non-AR end.

If not, then simply keep in position and do the best you can!

I agree, if you can trust your AR enough, hang back to try and get a good view of offside and let the AR control much of his quadrant of the field. If you have an inexperienced AR, you are pretty much screwed.

[whipple]

Maybe an equally relevant question is why you did not have a club linesman. With a single certified AR and a club linesman to call ball out of play, as well as provide a visual cue to the second last defender, you can usually cheat both to the center and pretty far back.

Sherman

[Ref Flunkie]

Maybe an equally relevant question is why you did not have a club linesman. With a single certified AR and a club linesman to call ball out of play, as well as provide a visual cue to the second last defender, you can usually cheat both to the center and pretty far back.

Sherman

I'm not sure how this would help as I never have (nor would I trust) a club to keep up with the 2nd to last defender.

[refmike]

I don't really think you can tell the AR to move during the half...

You can move the AR to the other side, not the other end, of the field if you choose to run a reverse diagional. That would have not helped this problem.

It would be unfair to move the AR to the other end because that would invalidate the reason for the teams to switch ends at the half. They must get a balance of the field and ARs (and specators and anything else that could affect the fairness of the playing conditions).

[cdin]

My gut reaction is negative, but on the other hand the end where the keeper had been pulled and all the O/S was taking place was where I needed the help. Thoughts?

Jim

You cannot switch an AR to the other side of the field during the game. If you did this it would provide one team with an unfair advantage. The same level of scrutiny should be afforded to both teams in all situations. If you switched you would be hard on one offside the entire game and soft on the other offside for the entire game.

Ultimately, when you are down an AR or two, you have to use your best judgment. I usually run an L in this situation and favor the non AR side and have the AR cover their quadrant and a little of mine too.

You will probably miss a call or two and people will complain, but it isn't your fault that the game doesn't have a full staff of referees. If they are persistent have them complain to the assignor in your area.

[IASocFan]

...It would be unfair to move the AR to the other end because that would invalidate the reason for the teams to switch ends at the half. They must get a balance of the field and ARs (and specators and anything else that could affect the fairness of the playing conditions).

I disagree, at least with the part of why the teams switch ends. They switch end, because of the wind, sun, and other non-official reasons. The referee team (the CR with assistance from the ARs) decides the best way to officiate the game. I agree there are factors of fairness involved, but the objective is to get the most important calls correct. If you don't have someone at the 2nd last defender, it's extremely difficult to call offside. Calling it wrong or not calling it wrong effects the credibility of the officiating team.

If it takes moving the competent AR to a different side of the field, I would do it. I would also try to get a club linesman to help on the other side - at least for out of play. On rec games, I frequently have one competent and one weak uncertified AR, so I cheat to the side of the weaker AR.

I also like the 2-man, but as Bentwood Blue pointed out, that systems is not USSF blessed.

[jacathcart]

You can move the AR to the other side, not the other end, of the field if you choose to run a reverse diagional. That would have not helped this problem.

It would be unfair to move the AR to the other end because that would invalidate the reason for the teams to switch ends at the half. They must get a balance of the field and ARs (and specators and anything else that could affect the fairness of the playing conditions).


I think that this was my basic reaction to the (after-game) thought as well. I have read Iowa's post and I think that I agree that the officials are part of the "field" and the teams should have equal exposure to them.

Another poster asked why I didn't have a club linesman. This field is a wonderful Field Turf field with permanently painted lines that you can see easily. Therefore I didn't have to subject myself to the additional uncertanties that come up with clubbies - like the one a few weeks ago that was coaching the girls while he ran up and down the line!

And as another responder said, since OS was the issue and the clubbie could not call OS, it would not have helped much.

On further review, I guess I think I did the right thing. OS was very important since if a Blue player got an unfair break with no keeper in the net it was a 90% goal (after all this WAS a district GU-15 game and there were a number of players capable of missing an open net from 5 yards).

But the absence of an AR at that end is one of the things the coach has to take into consideration when pulling the keeper.

Jim

PS - a number of times after games without CR and 2 x AR parents have "commented" on calls that may have been missed. I give them my standard speech "Where do you think that the men and women come from who ref for your kids games on weekends? Do you think that there is a special set of people without the family commitments, work commitments, and other conflicts who come out here because there is nothing else to do? Or do we simply make the game and the kids a high enough priority that we show up even though we have those commitments as well? If you will give me your address or email address I will make sure that you are provided a list of certification clinics in the area so that you can qualify to referee and then you can help make sure that there are enough officials for the games rather than just complaining."

[Jeff from Michigan]

Nothing in the rules prevents you, as the CR, from deploying your lone AR in any manner you deem appropriate. The critical thing is to get the calls right, if you can...not to adhere to any rigid practice, simply for the sake of symmetry.

If one team is aggressively pushing forward or trapping, and the other team is hanging back, it makes more sense to place your lone AR in the half with the team that's trapping...for BOTH halves. In this instance, if you feel that you needed your one AR in one team's half of the field, nothing prevents it...no matter how loudly they squawk along the sidelines.

BTW: At the risk of being accused of heresy, I wouldn't recommend trying to "keep up" with the offside line in your situation. Unless you're doing a two-man (or its USSF functional equivalent...the "use your flag like a whistle" semi-diagonal), you'd probably be better off not trying to maintain the uncovered OS line: If I'm working solo, I find that I can judge it more accurately if I'm more or less perpendicular to the OS line, rather than off to one side or the other; it allows me a quicker scan of the entire line...without the risk of failing to note the defender behind me who's putting the entire attacking line onside. And as long as I'm reasonably close to the play, I'm usually better at detecting an OS player through depth perception than I am by calculating angles of perception, when I'm not exactly level with the next-to-last defender (which, when I'm working alone, I rarely am). This usually brings me closer to the middle of the field than I'd like...and often prevents me from going as wide as I prefer in same instances, since I'm trying to anticipate the next phase of play and don't want to be caught too far out of position when it changes...but life is always full of compromises.

[blech]

You cannot switch an AR to the other side of the field during the game. If you did this it would provide one team with an unfair advantage. The same level of scrutiny should be afforded to both teams in all situations. If you switched you would be hard on one offside the entire game and soft on the other offside for the entire game.


as others have noted, there actually is nothing that prevents this, and as a ref i would certainly keep in mind this option.

that said, it is not a good practice in my opinion, as it is likely to raise questions with coaches and/or players as to why there is unequal treatment. i saw it once in a game where there were two ARs, but one was quite senior and one was truly a beginner. the ref wanted the senior AR to help him with the offside and fouls on a defense that had a reputation for being physical and playing an aggressive trap. needless to say, neither side was particularly happy with the decision, asking the reasonable question of: "why is our team being penalized like this? there are calls at the other end of the field, too."

seeing the reaction of everyone in this game, i am sympathetic to the argument that the fact that more of the action might be on one end is rational reason for doing it, but that doesn't mean there won't be calls at the other end, so proceed with caution, as appearing neutral can be even more important than what you actually call.


ps - in reading the thread and thinking about the competing issues, it seems that the most disguised way to do it if you determine that you really need to would be to switch the diagonal. this would keep the ARs on the same side of the field, but have the impact of switching their offside assignment. if you can then add some plausible reason for the switch (an area of the field your trying to avoid, or the sun, etc), it actually might look less sinister....

[blackjack]

IMHO, Law 18 is in effect here. The circumstances warrant that you move your AR to the side where he would be most effective. If you get any complaints about it, you tell the parents/fans that you simply wanted to make sure you got the calls right, which is what they complain about most of the time anyway.

[HoldenMan]

I was just rereading this thread, and I can't figure out why you'd want to move your AR.

In the original scenario, why are the offside calls up one end more difficult than the other (even though the keeper was out of the box)? Still the same principle.

Then it occurred to me that some referees do this in one sided games - but that doesn't make sense either, even when getting thrashed 10-0 the losing team's goals are still as important as the other team's (arguably more so). No, I don't see any justification for moving the AR. When there is only 1 neutral AR the teams know that they have the benefit of the AR for half the match - how can you justify taking that away from that? That is an act which will clearly favour one side as it will ensure one side will benefit from more correct calls than the other. Sure, the benefit of this can go either way, but that's beside the point. Forgive me, but I fail to see the reasoning for this.

[Gary V]

Then it occurred to me that some referees do this in one sided games - but that doesn't make sense either, even when getting thrashed 10-0 the losing team's goals are still as important as the other team's (arguably more so).
I have done it once, in a rec game with a lopsided matchup. My reasoning was not about calling offside - there weren't that many calls to be made. My reasoning was that I wanted the AR to be involved in the game, rather than standing at the half line and viewing everything from long distance. And I only did it after consulting with the coach of the team that was ahead, beginning my talk with: "I'm want to do something really weird here ..." Even though I pointed out that his team could possibly be hurt by an extra offside call, he agreed it was much more important that we have two sets of eyes looking at play.

I'd be much less apt to make the change in a comp/select/travel/premier game.

[IASocFan]

I...In the original scenario, why are the offside calls up one end more difficult than the other (even though the keeper was out of the box)? Still the same principle.

...

The whole issue seems minor to me. But, sometimes you get stuck with one good AR. If one team is relying on an offside trap and the other team is keeping their sweeper well behing the attackers or those attackers aren't pushing up very hard, most of your offside calls and non-calls will be on one end. This may not happen in your neighborhood, but it sometimes happens here. Under these rare circumstances, I would consider moving an AR, and probably switching diagonals - to keep them on the same side of the field.

[ProfZodiac]

My question - I was just fortunate that that blue was attacking the end the AR was on. This would have been very difficult if the situation would have been reversed. I am in good condition but I am also 61 and I would not be able to stay so far forward as to be able to be confident of making good O/S calls myself without taking myself out of position for virtually anything else. What would the sages of this list say about moving the AR to the other end if the situation had been reversed?

My gut reaction is negative, but on the other hand the end where the keeper had been pulled and all the O/S was taking place was where I needed the help. Thoughts?

I more or less got chewed out for this once, as the AR. It was pretty ridiculous. I got moved at half so I could help with a tough offside trap, and the assignor (who was watching his team get the sh!t beat out of them, and who had called me to help with the game as I was leaving the field from an earlier match) absolutely tried to rip me a new one on the way out. Never mind that I was 1. doing it to help him, 2. doing it to help the ref, and 3. not doing it on my own accord - I'd been asked.

But I digress. If you had to move an AR, it could create an appearance of impropriety, which is a cardinal sin. You lucked out, but if you hadn't, you'd likely have been on your own.