Welcome to the World Cup 2018 Refereeing board. Purpose To discuss matters related to officials and officiating at the World Cup 2018 tournament. This board is a news & analysis forum. We've successfully run a board like this, dedicated to the officiating in a major tournament, six times now. The hope is that this forum will be a place where referees and WC18 fans intermingle to discuss and debate officiating. Moderation This board will be heavily moderated. There will likely be several controversies at the tournament and discussions surrounding such issues will be allowed to naturally run their course as posters express their points of view. But posters who continuously promote positions regarding the Laws that are not true will be considered trolls in this forum. Plus, conspiracy theories or allegations against officials without evidence will be dealt with harshly without warning. Finally, if your purpose is to generally bitch about referees, this is not the forum for you; you can complain on your team forum and don't need to come here to do it. To make this as clear as possible, if you do any of the following things, you will face a forum ban (with one possible warning, depending on severity): A) Bitch about your team getting screwed, without any analysis or willingness to discuss the possibility the referee was right B) Allege corruption without any evidence C) Persistently promote a position that is contrary to the Laws of the Game Match Threads The majority of threads in this forum will probably be match threads. The moderators will try to set them all up, but if we are delinquent, please use the following format: Title = "MATCH#: HOME CODE : AWAY CODE - REFEREE (REFEREE CODE) [e.g., Match 1: RUS : KSA - PITANA (ARG)] The first post should contain the kickoff date, time and location and then list all eight named officials as follows: Referee, Assistant Referee 1, Assistant Referee 2, Fourth Official, Video Assistant Referee, Assistant Video Assistant Referee, Video Assistant Referee 2, Video Assistant Referee 3 Match threads will be for pre-match, play-by-play and post-match discussion. Spoilers Given the nature of this forum, the [R] tag is not necessary for match threads. It is implied and understood that all match threads will eventually reveal results. Other threads must follow the spoiler rules if they reveal results, however. Non-Match Threads Other threads should naturally spring up here. There might be histories about individual referees, appointment announcements, or even questions about specific rules and regulations. So long as the topics have to do with the tournament and/or tournament referees, they are welcome. However, if you want to referee issues that fall outside the scope of the World Cup, please use the regular Referee forum, found here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=44 Referee Jargon As there will be a mixture of referee and non-referee posters, there will inevitably be some referee jargon used that might not be familiar to non-referee posters. This will be expanded as necessary, but for now here are some common acronyms used by referees: LOTG = The Laws of the Game DOGSO = Denial of an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity; this is the official standard for a "last man" red card. SFP = Serious Foul Play; this is the standard for an on-the-ball challenge that results in a red card, such as tackle that endangers the safety of an opponent. VC = Violent Conduct; this is the standard for an off-the-ball challenge that results in a red card, such as an elbow. UB = Unsporting Behavior; this is the classification for the vast majority of yellow cards and covers a wide array of offences. SPA = Stopping a Promising Attack (a type of UB Yellow Card, commonly known as a "tactical foul") PI = Persistent Infringement; this is a classification for a yellow card. CR = Center Referee AR = Assistant Referee AAR = Additional Assistant Referee (not used at this World Cup) VAR = Video Assistant Referee AVAR = Assistant Video Referee, who is helping the VAR on the overall process and watching live match video while the VAR is otherwise engaged AVAR2 = Assistant Video Assistant Referee 2, , who is a dedicated assistant referee to help the VAR with offside decisions AVAR3 = Assistant Video Assistant Referee 3 who at the World Cup will act mostly as a reserve CMI or KMI = Critical Match Incident or Key Match Incident