I'm sure you know from experience, they are getting ready to make any kind of call they want. I'm one of the old guys, but I try to avoid staying pinned to the sideline. I can't come as deep into the other end as I'd like, but my walker only moves so fast.
Last season I did a below average GV dual with a ref brand new to them. Not mind you a new ref, just someone doing HS for the first time. Ball deep on his end and I am down on roughly the pointy ball 30 inside the hash marks. Play wanders across goal to my side still deep and I both widen and get deeper with it and drop my jaw when I see him wander over trailing the ball. He literally walked across the front of the goal and was at the top edge of the goal area on my side. Fortunately nothing bad happened. After the game we had a discussion about positioning.
In my area of NYS, we switch touchlines at halftime during duals. You stay near the same goal line but in one half, you are on the team side and the next half you are on the spectator side. At a field without a stadium clock, the referee closest to the team side would be the official time so that switches each half as well. At one point about ten years ago, we were told that we could switch touchlines halfway through each half. That didn't last more then a season.
Yeah...my experience was that those "old guys" that never cross the halfway line rarely crossed it when they were young guys. YMMV!
I have guys that are younger and fitter than me (which is most of them these days) do this to me. My (slightly passive-aggressive) approach to it is "Hey I'm not as mobile as I used to be. If you see me caught way down in your half, help me out on the transition, OK? I'll try to do the same for you." Sometimes I have to get a little more direct. "Hey I'm not as mobile as I used to be. I need you to cheat down further into my half when you can ... OK?" But then I also get the young strapping gung-ho guys who take one look at me warming up and say "Hey don't worry about getting down into my half - I got it covered."
People think this is funny but I leave the game passes (when I’m not a 4th with binder and clipboard) in my runners that I wear from the car to the field. That way when I take off my shoes after a match and get ready to leave the passes are in the shoes as I Get ready to put them on.
Ha....I think I might have reffed a team from one of your matches. The coach was holding his nose as he handed them to me!
In the dual, For GV, I’m playing like a CR when I’m the trail. BV, I’m usually inside the touchline within a few feet of the 2LD when lead, and at least 10-20 yards over the halfway line as trail. Anticipating the counter is the most important thing.
Haha. It’s like this one adult team that I referee. They’re manager is a player as well and she is a GK. I always cringe when she takes her gloves off to grab her teams player cards in her bag
Yah I wouldn't be real happy if I saw you taking my player passes out of your stinky shoes. That's a health issue.
So not one person has voted that the double dual is a good system of refereeing, yet at least two states use it as primary method of refereeing varsity soccer. I can't wait to see what the "locals" say about it.
In the current issue of Referee Magazine, there is a box in the soccer section that says a legendary soccer coach in upstate New York has proposed going to the double dual in order to “allow the officials to keep up with the speed of the game.” Yikes!
I went looking but couldn't find an online link to the article, do they put them up the following month?
I have been using the double-dual for a few seasons now. In the beginning, there was a lot of worry that there would be referee control issues, and lots of worse case scenarios with new and experienced refs. I have found that overall the system isn't really much different than a standard Ref-AR system. If you have an experienced crew, I find it actually is an advantage. If you trust your ARs and will whistle for their flags, why not just give them the whistle? In general, the center can keep eyes on the play rather than looking up for an AR flag (close offside, ball out of play, sub request, etc). Hard tackles near an SR (side ref) can be diffused quicker with the SR getting to the play quicker. And with the SR getting closer to play with a whistle and card, players seem a little less likely to try and get away with something. When working with a crew I am not familiar with, I emphasize a slow whistle along with verbal and visual communication. If you see a definite foul near me, wait to see if I whistle or give advantage or yell "no foul" or "nothing there" or "all ball". If no whistle or communication, then go ahead and call the foul. I'm doing the same with the SRs with simple fouls. If there is a definite foul near them, go ahead and whistle. If I see a foul, I'll wait to see what they do/say, and then make the call if I get nothing. On hard fouls, I'll blow quicker, and when two of us are blowing for a foul at the same time, it can help add to the control of the game.