Rooball Referees

Dunsborough JSC have a great system of training and utilising our own Junior players (U14 to U17) to be referees for the home Rooball games. This has proved very successful for all involved. These Rooball referees are put through, and must pass, an officially recognised training course before they take the field.

Having these players refereeing the Rooball games has significantly strengthened their confidence levels and self esteem, as well as building on their club spirit. Hopefully it’s also taught them to appreciate the difficulties faced by official referees in their own games!!

The club would like to encourage more players to take up this activity and requests that all parents encourage these young people. Please remember at all times that they’re young, they’ll be nervous to start with, but that they’re entitled to respect for their commitment in helping your children. Maybe your children will be in the same position at some time in the future.

 

 

Football officials... the men on the field we all love to hate and complain about. But without these keepers of the rules, a football game could not progress with any sort of structure or sanity.

Officials play a very important role in the game, from keeping the game rolling along and calling penalties when a rule is broken, to making sure the athletes don't unnecessarily hurt each other. Officials are responsible for monitoring the game clock and play clock, enforcing the rules of the game, and recording all rule infractions.

You often hear them referred to by the general term of referee, but there is actually only one referee on the field during a game. Each official  has his own title and assigned responsibilities. Following are the responsibilities of each along with their positioning on the field:

Who does officiate a soccer match?

At it's most basic level there should always be a designated impartial referee to officiate a soccer match. Even at amateur league levels the relevant governing body or soccer association will appoint a referee who has the final say on how the game is ran and the rules interpreted for that particular game.

The referee is assisted by two assistant referees, one on each touchline and in professional matches, at a high standard, by a fourth official who can also be called as a substitute referee.

What powers does a referee have?

The referee is the ultimate power on a soccer pitch. They have the right to award free kicks, penalty kicks, corner kicks or throw ins to either side as they feel they deserve them as well as administering the laws of the game in regard to foul play and other situations that arise during the game.

To keep order on the field the referee uses a card system with a yellow card being issued for relatively minor offences and a red card for serious offences which results in expulsion from the game.

What do assistant referees do?

One assistant referee is assigned one half of the field and the other the opposite half and they run up and down their respective touchlines in line with the play where they will be responsible for making offside decisions, assisting the referee in deciding which way to give throw ins, corner kicks or free kicks and generally providing an extra pair of eyes to watch for off the ball incidents and alert the referee.

Does anyone else officiate after the match is over?

In high profile matches there may be disciplinary committees set up to investigate incidents of foul play or bad behaviour as reported by the match officials after the game.

Match officials can also be called to account if they make serious mistakes in judgement while officiating games and can lose their rights to referee or be an assistant at the higher level games.