Last night saw the second Assistant Referees Workshop arranged for Hertfordshire Referees at The Herts Sports Village, Hatfield.
The 3G pitch and facilities were an ideal central location to hold the training event two weeks on from the initial pilot workshop.
Thirty-eight referees from level 4’s to trainee level 9 referee’s were in attendance to participate in an outdoor practical sessions lead by County Referee Development Officer and FIFA Assistant Referee, Phil Sharp
Attendees were divided into four group’s dependent on their refereeing levels and experience and overseen by Gary Evetts – Football League Assistant Referee, Roy Williams – County Training Officer, Mark Mellor and Jake Hillier both level 3 Referees along with numerous members of The County Instructors panel and Referees Committee.
After some initial ‘warm up’ practical sessions, which required the participants to focus on their running movement’s (recreating directional movement’s along the touchline as in a match situation, forwards, backwards and sideways) and to think about which hand to hold the flag in, when running in these different directions?
After a short feedback session, where the exercises were discussed and analysed to why they were important the attendees were then shown that ‘what you see’ isn’t always what you think!
An exercise involving a number of footballs statically positioned along the touchline and goal line.
From a distance some of the footballs ‘appeared to be’ out of play but from closer inspection or from a different angle, they were not!
This highlighted the fact, that ‘guessing’ a decision will probably not be a correct decision and that your angle of view and correct positioning on the touchline will make for more credible decision making.
The main practical exercise of the evening was to combine all aspects that had been learnt from the preceding exercises that would require the participants to think about what they were doing. It is not simply a case of ‘running down the line’ letting the referee know when the ball has gone out of play but actually to ‘assist’ the referee, with your involvement to come to the correct decision and how as an Assistant Referee you would indicate that?
The task was for each candidate, one at a time to run forward down the touchline then at a given point continue their run sideways until the instructor called out a decision for the Assistant to indicate their decision.
The instructor would discuss with the individual the decision made and how it was indicated whilst the rest of the group discussed it with a second instructor, this way everyone learned from one another.
The feedback from each of the four groups varied, from the newly qualified referees who were learning aspects of being an Assistant for the first time (apart from the basic course training) to the level 4’s who were fine tuning their skills in preparation to the season ahead where Assistants are assessed on the Leagues they officiate on.
It was noticeable that all attendees were picking up some of the skills required to be an efficient Assistant Referee, especially in their thought process and decision making whilst on the move.
The final exercise of the evening was to see how difficult it is to judge correctly an offside decision if the Assistant Referee is not positioned ‘in line’ with the second rearmost defender!
One yard or more behind the correct position, makes an attacking player in an offside position look ‘onside’ and if the Assistant is one yard nearer the goal line than the second rear most defender, makes an onside attacking player look ‘offside’.
The evening was concluding with a Q and A session, with various questions on what Assistants should do in given situations and it was also mentioned that on occasions, some Assistants act as ‘ball boys’ and go and collect the ball when it goes out of play in matches that they officiate in, this is something that Assistant Referees should not do.
Chairman of the Hertfordshire FA’s Referees Committee, Ken Coniam closed the workshop by thanking everyone who attended either as a participant or as an Instructor and mentioned that Hertfordshire had always maintained a high standard in lining and continually produced Assistant Referees of a high calibre and workshops designed specifically for the training and development of such skills was a positive step forward for the development of match officials in The County.