"This is why referees need to know all laws, no matter how obscure they are"
Knowing and applying 90% of the LOTG is fairly straight-forward. The other 10%? Not so much...
Check out this clip!
Something like this is extremely unlikely to happen in one of my games.
But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
I was chatting about this play with a few other referees here and an admin @RustyRef said:
“This is why referees need to know all laws, no matter how obscure they are. That situation will probably never happen to all of us, and this referee probably thought the same, but it has happened and he got to the right outcome. Whether that was from his knowledge or that of a colleague isn't really here nor there, they got it right and the ramifications of getting it wrong could have been huge.”
So I have to work to be ready to get calls right that I’ve never seen before! That means continuing to know the LOTG better.
Why this discussion hit home
I did have an incident recently that I was lucky to get right because I didn’t know the Laws Of The Game well enough…
I recently worked a youth game in which there was a double touch by the same player during a FK. I gave a FK the other way but forgot it was supposed to be an IFK, not a DFK.
I only remember when the coach asked me before the kick, "Is this direct or indirect?"
I correctly gave the IFK but wouldn't have if I hadn't gotten lucky with the coach reminding me with his question.
Just one of those things I'd never actually experienced before in a real game but now that I have, I'll know it next time.
Next step is to make sure I'm getting all these edge cases right the first time I see them. Time to get my nose back in the books! And more video study sessions!
P.S. The right outcome for the video clip above is a caution & DFK from where the 2 balls touched.
Know a soccer ref? Feel free to share this with them 💙