Just received the following form the Fl SDI The use of technology has been part of the referees tool kit for years. Electronic watches, fitness trackers, electronic beeper flags and electronic communication devices (headsets). Training for using electronic communication devices comes when Grassroot Referees upgrade to Regional Referee. There have been numerous instances in youth and adult competitions where the use of electronic headsets has contributed to an incorrect decision on the field of play. Grassroot Referees are not permitted to use electronic headsets until they have received their Regional Referee License. If there is a split crew of Regional and Grassroot Referees, headsets are not to be used during a game. The only exception is if the Competition Authority allows the use of the communication devices during the competition duration. Ed note: This policy is in line with the use of “vanishing spray” except for competitions where its use is expressly allowed.
Surely there are a countless number of correct decisions that have been made because of headsets. I am likely to be a grassroots referee for at least 3 years because I'm now required to do 50 adult centers before I can upgrade. If I'm working an ecnl game or an npl game with high level players and I'm not supposed to wear headsets because I'm only a lowly grassroots referee? As Esse Baharmast said when he came and talked to our state referee clinic, "even I'm a grassroots referee now".
Here’s a link to the memo from US Soccer. http://flsrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/US-Soccer_Electronic-Communication-Headsets.pdf
That’s disappointing. Seems incredibly overreaching too. I’d love to know what calls were somehow made worse from headsets.
Odds on how this rule will be followed? Much like the ruled in HS where refs don't auto card for the 1st clothing violation....
This is where the states need to step up and say, “all competitions in the state are specifically authorized to use headsets”. Problem solved.
Who's going to know or care about this? Personally I have no interest in spending hundreds of dollars on headsets. And I don't think I've ever actually used them in a USSF game. But I have used them numerous times in HS games and they certainly can be a helpful tool. I digress way off-topic, but this is the silliest top-down edict since...well, since Traditionis Custodes came out last week.
I am at a loss on this one. Seems a bit overreaching, no. I use them all the time in HS and find them to be extremely useful. I have used them only a couple of times on USSF matches and they are helpful especially on older higher level matches on 120 by 75 fields. I have found it calms coaches down too. I am going to be a grassroots guy forever. So, I hope my state changes the stance.
I'm OK with this. I remember when this ruling started at the DA - because it was inconsistent as to who owned them and mechanics were sloppy. There wasn't really any useful training for radio communication so use was inconsistent and sloppy. I think for the top end of grassroots officials it's a bummer, sure. Especially for those of us who have purchased a set. So, I understand the reaction that everyone above is having. But, where it comes to the vast majority of younger refs they should learn how to referee without the assistance of radios. I actually stopped using mine on local matches because most of the inexperienced folks I worked with seemed to be distracted with the whole thing for a while in each game.
You make good points; makes sense there'd be distraction at first with a negative impact on officials' performance, and comms should be additive to skill/mechanics rather than a travestied crutch. I guess for me it would be nice to feel like Chicago took more steps to uplift the whole pyramid rather than yet again piss on and piss off the [large]% of that pyramid that do [large]% of the games in this country. In practical terms this doesn't directly impact me, and maybe my sense of miffed egalitarianism is misplaced. Just seems like a hell of a way to run a railroad.
I think a blank banning of comms is a mistake. Why not have a general education on the use of comms? How many GR refs are also NCAA or high school and can/have used cooms?
While I don’t use comms, I see this edict as just another piece of evidence showing the Grand Canyon sized gulf between Grassroots and Regional level certifications. They really need a distinction between a youth level referee and someone doing adult games and upper division competitive matches. Call it “State Referee” or something else clever and unique.
I genuinely can't remember if it was at a DA event or if it was at something like Amateur Regionals. And I also can't remember if it was Angelos Bratsis or Herb Silva. But in one of those settings, one of those individuals went on a rant about not using comms because not everyone there knew how to use them and now--at a major national/regional event--was not the time to learn. Fair enough, I thought. But if you don't learn there and now you aren't supposed to use them until you're a Regional Referee... where is the learning taking place? I think that's what is missing here. Comms are a tool for referees that officials need to learn as they move up the ladder. Otherwise they eventually land in a competition where they are expected to use them and, voila, they don't know how! It was admittedly a long time ago when the system was less prevalent but I think my first ever USSF use of comms was on a division 1 women's professional match, working with a FIFA in the middle... how was that good for anyone? I would think any comprehensive policy would work to avoid situations like that. Instead, this is just a blanket ban based on your badge, which seems stupid for many of the reasons that are already stated. This sentence, from the memo, just seems untrue to me: "Training for using electronic communication devices comes when Grassroot Referees upgrade to Regional Referee." First of all, I never experienced any formal training on use of comms from USSF. Has that actually changed? Second, if there is any training, I suspect it's at clinics for referees who might be working professional matches or at event-specific instruction. In other words, settings where rising "grassroots" officials are inter-mingled with regional referees. Are regional referee clinics really going to be the setting where USSF is first teaching officials how to use comms and, well, are they really going to do it? I find that hard to believe. I think their are much bigger priorities and I also think that the vast majority of people in such a room will have already used comms--on NCAA matches, if nothing else--so doing an "intro to comms" session at that point seems stupid. If that's where USSF is going with this, it seems like a lot of time and energy is going to get misplaced. And then there's the issue of inter-mingling with other referees. So if a grassroots official is a fourth on a competition that doesn't explictly use comms on all matches, the three regional referees on the field don't get to practice and hone their skills with the system? You are essentially setting up a system that leads to exactly what happened to me... if people follow this memo (which won't happen, but let's pretend) , everyone's first USSF experience with comms will be in a match where they are expected to know proper use of the sytem stone-cold. Instead, it will be a novelty. It's counter to the idea expressed in the first paragraph that a major event or match is not the setting to suddenly learn a new system that assists your refereeing. Look, I get everything @USSF REF says and I realize that's part of the motivation here. Referees need to learn the DSC, eye contact, mechanics, etc., etc., etc. Everyone needs to know how to referee without comms. But technology never reverts. Maybe it's several decades away, but we will reach the point where communications is part of every match, even at the grassroots level. I don't think this is an explicit effort to fight that progression, but it sort of has that result. You're telling people not to do something that will one day be inevitable. And you're hurting the ability to learn and train among your referees who are identified and tapped for progession. I just don't see the benefit here. A memo reminding people of best practices for mechanics and communications without comms coupled with a widely available training module for best practices with comms would have been far, far more useful and a positive contribution. Alas, it's not shocking that we get this instead.
There is an assignment in the Learning Center 2022 First Time Regional Referee curriculum called Communications System Training. That is what the position paper is referring to.
Indeed, this new "guidance" is stupid. I would rather see education on how to use comms be a part of recertification courses, because it is most often grassroots referees in the 2nd year and above will be assigned to games where comms use would be helpful. Limiting it to being part of the Regional course is stupid, because many experienced referees who use comms, and who could teach others to use them, are not Regionals, or cannot become Regionals due to the experience requirement. If people are using comms incorrectly, it would be up to the SRA, local mentors, and assignors to instruct them (and other officials) on comms use. This should not be the responsibility of USSF headquarters. Finally, I see no way for USSF to enforce this guidance in practice. Are they going to audit all games and ban Grassroots comms users from State Cup and similar competitions?
I'm buying comm's for HS duals because one or three times a game we really need them. I was also planning to use them occasionally on ussf youth games with newbs so I could be in their ear when needed for positioning, "call what you saw", etc. So, I see I'll now have to go to the local leagues to get a local rules mod so we don't run afoul of headquartera.... yeah, that's quite helpful.
Agree with what you and what others said. Especially on the need to develop referee fundamentals first. But, as a low-skilled, back-woods, POS referee, and honestly one who's most likely never ever goint to advance beyond a Grassroots referee for USSF and NFHS, I will say that their literal outlawing of comms for Grassroots referees reminds me of the many global IT decisions I encounter by corporate HQ nitwits that have never actually been responsible for real-world operations on the shop-floor of a global manufacturing facility... stating best practices, etc. vs. absolute "thou shalt not" crapola are two very different directives... I mean, now my HS colleagues and I are literally not allowed to use comms when we do 5+ ussf youth rec league games together all day on a Saturday? Really? Pardon my french, but WTF?!? Sorry for the double-post on the same topic, but i'm starting to steam on what I see as an over-reaching declaration... (that's to put it in slightly more PC terms than @LampLighter )
But the USSF stance is just so pointless. It's a power play just to say they can do it. Yes, I get that there are some referees that will start to abandon mechanics because of headsets. But for those of us that know how to use them and can instruct our crews on how to use them, it takes away a very useful tool from our tool box. I routinely email my key pregame points to my ARs a couple of days ahead of time when we know assignments. My first bullet point about headsets (when we use them) is "Headsets ARE NOT a substitute for our regular referee mechanics. We will still maintain eye contact, make correct flag signals, etc. The headsets add to our communication. They DO NOT replace anything we are supposed to be doing." I usually don't use headsets in the vast majority of USSF games I do. However, in games where I was working with high-potential young ARs and the results of the match didn't really count (like league play), we would use them to give the ARs a chance to experience it. It's far, far better to let the referees make the decision about whether to use headsets. Most of us are smart about when to use and not use them.
This goes to my overall point. There is going to be a pretty big missed opportunity to have less experienced referees learn how to use headsets. Here's a personal example - This fall, I'll referee a lot in Iowa's Club Development League because my son will be playing in one of the clubs in that league. It's a league with a number of "more professionally run" clubs in it. I'll referee plenty of matches when he's not playing, and I'll work with a number of higher-potential young officials. I'd say I work at least half of my high school matches and 75-80% of my college matches with comms. I'm very comfortable using them, and I should be able to use them with my crews so they can learn. If CDL follows this guideline to the letter, I lose that opportunity to develop some ability of young referees to use headsets. Since many of us in Iowa who do college and upper-level matches already have comms, I'm hoping our referee committee allows us the freedom to use them when we feel it will be beneficial. I really would like to work, say, a U16 boys match with two good teams where I'll probably have two good young ARs who would benefit from using headsets for the future.
I wish I could've used a headset this past weekend just to tell an AR where to stand on a corner kick.
Even if banning headsets at lower levels seems like throwing the baby out with the bath water, it's clear to me that lots of aspiring referees are learning bad habits at lower levels because their first few uses of headsets is with people who have never been trained on using headsets or are clearly not up to date with best practices. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but a lot of these examples are not what headsets are good for. If you have an AR who doesn't know where to stand on a corner kick, shouting in his ear is no more helpful than stopping the corner kick, telling him where to stand, then resuming. If the gave is that competitive, then why on earth was that AR assigned to that match? Lots of people on his forum will go and seek out training and get better with headsets. Maybe most of the people here are smart when to use them, but most people can easily buy $100 headsets off of amazon now. At this point most of the people who are buying headsets at lower levels are going to develop terrible habits and then jump on a higher level game with referees who know what they're doing and get told to shut up because they're talking too much, at inappropriate times, and not communicating effectively.