Effective Communication by Match Officials

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Effective Communication by Match Officials

• Prepared by James Keast, Chief Assessor
• 2006 Refresher Module
• Presented to the Halifax Dartmouth Referees
  Association Refresher module on May 4th, 2006

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Communication

• Who do we need to communicate with?
• What do we communicate?
• When does this communication need to take place?
• How should we communicate?
• Communication and Game Management

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Who do we communicate with?
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Who do we communicate with?

• Assistant Referees and the 4th Official
• Coaches and other team staff
• Players
• Facility management
• Spectators?

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Assistant Referees 4th Official
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Assistant Referees 4th Official

• Arrival at the game
• Pre-game instructions
• During the game
• At stoppages
• During active play
• At half time
• After the game

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Arrival at Game

• Arrive in plenty of time to do all your duties
  and to meet with the other officials
• Its appropriate for there to be a social
  atmosphere with your fellow officials, be
  friendly and take the time to talk to each other
• At some point the referee must make the
  transition to game time and this is best done
  with pre-game instructions

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Pre-Game Instructions
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Pre-Game Instructions

• Some level of pre-game instructions should be
  done for every game
• Cover the fundamental expectations around
  offside, ball out of play, substitutions, fouls,
  misconduct
• We know everyone knows this but repetition helps
  and this sets the tone for the game.

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pre-game instructions

• Cover any special substitution rules
• Cover any special competition rules (does there
  need to be a winner?)
• Discuss any expectations about the importance of
  the game, the key players etc.
• Be sure to ask the ARs if they have questions
• Remember to remind them to have fun

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During Game Communication With ARs and 4th
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During Game Communication With ARs and 4th

• Standard flag signals
• Eye contact at every stoppage
• Eye contact during active play
• Especially during tense moments
• Subtle signals from the AR to the Referee
• Communicating things the Referee has not seen
• Verbal communication when necessary

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Half Time Communication With ARs and 4th
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Half Time Communication With ARs and 4th

• Take time at half time to check with your
  assistants about
• How the game is going
• Anything you need them to do differently
• Anything you might have missed
• Any problems in the game so far

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Full Time Communication With ARs and 4th
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Full Time Communication With ARs and 4th

• Take time after the game to talk about
• How the game went
• Any flash points
• Be sure to ask if they have any suggestions about
  how you can improve
• As an Assistant be sure to provide good
  constructive advice

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Coaches and Team Staff
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Coaches and Team Staff

• Before the game
• During the game
• After the game

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Coaches and Team Staff

• Before the game
• Introduce yourself and the assistants when you
  pick up the game sheets
• Polite, friendly, brief (same for both teams)
• Politely remind them where the technical area is
• Remind them of any special rules

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Coaches and Team Staff

• During the game
• Shouldnt be necessary, but if there are
  problems, politely warn the bench staff, remind
  them they can give tactical instructions to their
  players but must behave responsibly
• If you warn the bench, you must follow through if
  the behaviour continues or worsens

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Coaches and Team Staff

• After the game
• Return game sheets, game balls etc to the teams.
• If the situation allows there is nothing wrong
  with answering polite legitimate questions about
  what you called this is up to you
• Officials should depart as a team

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Players
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Players

• Before the game
• During the game
• After the game

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Players

• Before the game
• Be friendly during pre-game checks
• Introduce yourself and ARs to captain
• During the game
• Talk to players to facilitate game management
  (more later)
• After the game

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Spectators
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Spectators

• Generally avoid interacting with spectators.
• Any spectators who are impacting game control
  (interacting with players etc.) or causing you a
  major problem, have the home team remove them.
• This is especially the case in youth games.

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Communication and Game Management
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Communication and Game Management

• Communication is critical to game control
• Use your voice to calm players down when they are
  getting excited
• easy, keep the hands down, no..
• Use your voice and arm signals for advantage

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Communication and Game Management

• If there is a major challenge but no foul
  sometimes it is appropriate to use your voice to
  indicate there was no foul
• nothing there, fair challenge
• Tell them you saw a ball off the chest not arm
• Dont over-use this

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Communication and Game Management

• Sometimes the players really dont know what the
  foul was use or voice or some small gesture to
  tell them
• you need to go straight up
• Indicate hand-ball if it is not obvious
• Dont over-use this

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Never
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Never

• Be emotional (appearing emotional is different)
• shout at players or coaches
• threaten players or coaches next time.
• shake your finger at players or coaches or wave
  them away dismissively
• embarrass players or coaches
• When giving cards it is not necessary for them to
  come to you

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Communicating without saying anything
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Communicating without saying anything

• When walking, walk with purpose, upright and
  confident
• When running, run like a Referee not a player
  head up and in control
• Give 100 effort communicates that you care
• Smile when its appropriate
• It is ok for you to have fun
• Use humour with the players and coaches, carefully