An incident with misconduct occurs; the referee sees part of it (enough to know that some infringement occurred, but is screened from the rest); the AR sees a different part (also enough to know that an infringement occurred). Before the AR raises his flag, the referee blows his whistle. But the referee does not know what, if anything, that the AR saw and the AR does not know what the referee saw. The two officials must consult to get all the facts together. Without communication, the referee will take some action inconsistent with what the AR saw. This ought to have been discussed in their pre-game, but for whatever reason (good or bad) it was not. What/when should each of the officials do to initiate the needed communication? This kind of problem can also arise when there are two separate (and nearly simultaneous) incidents where each official saw a different incident.
Something very similar to this happened to me this past fall in a high school game. I was the AR and there was an incident fairly close to me. Simultaneously with me raising my flag, the CR blows his whistle. I knew based upon his position and reaction that he didn't see the same thing that I saw. So while he was in the process of getting out his book, I kept my flag up and TWICE when he looked over at me, I motioned for him to come over. He figured he had it covered and after the second time, he waived me down. I even called his name twice to get his attention. After the game I told him what he missed -- a red card offense. He cautioned a retaliation to a red card offense.
Kev, an excellent example of what we don't want to happen. A good point to review in pregame whether you're a CR or and AR.
I knew this CR through our association, but had never worked with him before. He gave a pretty standard pregame including the "make the calls you see" type of statement. After the pregame, the other AR who had worked with this CR a number of times told me not to expect him to use me much. His comment was "He'll go with you on offside, the rest of the time, he'll go according to what he sees." So having been given that piece of information before the game, I wasn't surprised at how things worked out.
Tame Lion, I assume you're talking about a situation where the AR sees an infraction by a player from team A while the CR sees a separate but nearly simultaneous infraction by a player from team B, so the call will also affect the restart. (If the additional information won't affect the restart and doesn't involve an issue of misconduct, the AR shouldn't sweat the small stuff.) Let's assume the AR saw a foul by an offensive player, the CR saw a foul by the defensive player, and the CR is running a left-diagonal. The CR hits the whistle and signals a DFK for the offense. If the AR quickly raises his flag in his left hand the CR should know that the AR is indicating a foul by the offense. Now the CR will have to make a quick decision as to whether the situation would justify a very brief discussion to determine which infraction occurred first. It is doubtful that anyone other than the officials will pick up on the fact that the AR raised his flag in the left hand, rather than the right to match the restart direction that the CR just signalled. Therefore, the CR will still be able to go with his initial decision if he so chooses, without the headache of everyone knowing that the AR disagreed. Of course, if the AR simply raises the flag in his right hand because it is his dominant hand, that aspect of crew communication is completely lost and the AR blows his opportunity for input to assist the CR in making the correct call.
Exactly right! But if it is not covered in pregame for whatever reason (good or bad), what should the official (probably the AR) who senses something important was missed do? And when? I firmly believe that red card misconduct should never be allowed to pass. I think that yellow card misconduct or something that unjustly changes a scoring opportunityshould probably be attended to. But what about the direction of a FK at midfield?
That is one possibility, but what Kev mentions is more to my concern. Another possibility is a player performs a "high kick" near an opponent's face and the referee calls dangerous play. But the AR sees that the culprit's foot actually struck the victim's face. That is now [probable] misconduct. And a DFK/PK instead.
As noted in other posts, it would obviously have been better if this had been covered in pre-game. But it's not clear with this guy in the middle that anything else could have been done to push this issue and insist that the CR talk with you (the AR). I'm mindful of the notion that the AR is supposed to assist and not show up the CR, but would anyone have handled the situation differently? Would anyone have refused to take down their flag until the CR came over to hear what you have to say? If not in these circumstances, in any others? Or, is there consensus that your duty as an AR is done when waived off? I mean if the CR wants to overrule the AR because he saw it differently, that's one thing. But does anyone think there is some duty in this kind of situation (or others you can think of) to make sure that the CR is at least advised of what was seen?
What is there that you really can do? You try to get the CR's attention using standard signals, such as putting the flag across your chest. You don't stand there with the flag straight up as that signals the game needs to be stopped and will only confuse him. It also draws too much attention to yourself. If that doesn't work then yell out his name -- "Hey Tim, we need to talk!" There's nothing that says you can't yell at the ref to get his attention if he has no clue what you're signalling to him. So you just do the best you can to alert his attention to the situation. If it works, great. If not there isn't a whole lot else you can do. Move on and hope the rest of the game goes smoothly knowing you did what you could to no avail. Then you can tell the ref what happened after the game and hope he learns to communicate with his ARs better in the future.
QUESTION FOR OUR SENIOR MEMBERS: In recert this year the instructor said that the AR should raise thier flag and if waved down RAISE IT AGAIN if they were sure the center didnt see what they say....Is this being passed down anywhere else? Is this from the USSF hierarchy or a technique that the instructors I have are teaching on their own?