BEST PRACTICE  FOR APPOINTING REFEREE’S

 

Club Appointed Referees
The League cannot allocate a referee to all games. Where this is not possible or clubs have access to independent referees, then the following must apply and fall in line with good practice.

The appointed referee, if taking a fee, MUST be qualified and MUST be registered with a County FA for the current season.This is important as it is the only way that you can be sure that the referee has current CRB / DBS clearance. Ask the referees to prove their registration.

Some referees assume that by passing the course and doing the initial CRB / DBS clearance then they don’t have to register for any future seasons, they do!!

Clubs must do all they can to protect the referee from being perceived as potentially biased.

You must NOT do the following:-

  • Appoint a Brother/Sister to referee a game in which a sibling is playing.
  • Appoint a son/daughter/brother/sister to referee a game where a Parent or close relation is managing the Team.
  • Appoint a U14-U18 regularly to the same team to avoid familiarity creeping in, partiality is important for the referee.
  • If appointing qualified referees is a problem, then please follow the process as outlined in the rules of the Surrey Youth League

Club Appointed Assistants
We expect competent adults to be appointed to run the lines as assistant referees.

In addition this year with roll on & roll off substitutes, it is no longer permissible to ask a substitute to act as the linesmen with full authority. Previously this was a dubious practice at U16/U18 football.

Referees need to brief assistants on what aspects of the game they require assistants to act
upon, in particular offside. This is easy to do at the start of a game with an assigned non player, however regular changing of assistants will adversely delay the game.

If a club presents a player as the assistant, then the referees have been instructed to ONLY take Ball in and Out of Play decisions from that assistant. The Referee will become the sole judge of all other decisions regarding Free Kicks, including Offside. It is therefore incumbent on clubs to find assistants who are not substitutes.