Letter from the Director of Referees
Dear coaches,
First of all, let me thank you for your valuable contribution to our club. You are all volunteers and we are well aware and appreciative of this fact. Also, rest assured that your concerns and opinions are well heard and represented at our board of executives, the majority of which are coaches - including myself. Being the Head Referee, it is my job to make sure that you get qualified officials for your games, which are able to serve the game well and in a fair manner. All of our refs are members of OSA, have attended annual mandatory educational clinics, and are there to enforce the rules of the games. So, let me emphasize: as referees, we don’t make the rules, we only enforce them. It is not the most popular task; however someone’s got to do it. Some of you are referees yourselves, so you know the feeling. The bottom line is that the final decision rests with the ref, and therefore, you must respect that. Also, when you are on the field, please act according to the Code of Conduct for the coaches that you will find in your schedule book. By following that Code you will do a great service to the game, to your players and to the officials. Here are some of the things I want to point out:
- We are here for the game, for the players. It is fun to win but it shouldn’t be the only purpose for playing. Please, don’t run up the score against the opposition.
- There are policies in place to discipline coaches who lack self-control, control of their players and parents. Rest assured that our club will follow up with any incident on and off the field. It will be dealt with immediately by the ref and/or the executive at a later time.
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If you have any complaints about the official, please
don’t confront them on the field. If you have a question, feel free to ask (although
remember that it doesn’t grant you an answer from the referee). However, do not
argue with them. Wait till you get home, when you are more relaxed and calm,
and put it in writing. Make sure to provide only the facts, not your opinions.
Just because you feel strongly about an issue, doesn’t make you right. You can
mail or email your complaints to the club. Mailing address is: P.O.
- My phone number on the schedule book is for referees only. Please, do not call this number to complain but rather follow the instructions above. We discourage people from calling with complaints because you may say things that you don’t mean to in the heat of the moments, and also there are no records of that complaint which doesn’t make it official. The only time when you should feel free to contact this number is only if you don’t have a ref on the field and I will deal with the issue immediately. Last year we had only one no show-up.
- Please make sure you read and understand the rules of the game and the rules of our club. Some aspects where people are confused are listed below:
1- Calling up player. Each coach who can not field a full team, even though they have the required minimum number of players, can call up a player who is a member of the club from one age division lower, e.g., if you are U18, you can call up only U14 players. You must notify the convener before you call up a player. Once you have your full team you can not field this player anymore, not even as a substitute player. During the playoffs there will be no call up players.
2- Trading players. If you can not come up with the minimum number of players you will lose the game to other team. In order to avoid this, in sign of sportsmanship, in order to let the kids play and in order to have an official game, you are allowed to trade players with the opposition. Remember: this is not mandatory and can not be enforced by the ref. It is done only with the consent of the two coaches. If the opponent doesn’t want to trade players, then there is very little you or the ref can do. If the game is defaulted, you can still hang around the park for a practice or for a fun game. However, the ref doesn’t have to. The ref is required to stay only if the game is still official (and this was the purpose of introducing the calling up player and the trading player rule). However, if the game is defaulted, the ref may choose not to stay for a just-for-fun game, due to liability issues and based on the guidelines from the OSA, since the refs are insured only if the game is official.
3- Grace time is only 10 minutes from the kick off time. So, if your game is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m., but by 6:40 p.m. you still don’t have the minimum number of players on the field for your age division, and you fail to provide a call up player, and you can not convince the other coach to trade players, the ref will “call” the game. You will lose by default if the other coach has the minimum number of players on the field. If you are able to have the minimum number of players before the grace time is over, then you will be allowed to play. However, the ref’s watch has started at 6:30, no matter what.
4- Game sheets. It is in the best interest of the game, the official and yours that everyone knows who is on the field. This has become even more important with the calling up player and trading player rule. The referees have been advised by ECOSA and OSA not to accept incomplete game sheets.Therefore, it is in your best interest to provide the ref with a game sheet before the game starts. It is very simple: Just make a template at the beginning of the season and hand in the print out to the ref at the beginning of each game. You just cross out the players that are not there and make sure to add - after you point it out to the ref, - the names and the jersey numbers of the call up players or the traded players. If you don’t have a list, be prepared that the ref may provide you with a blank game sheet and he/she will expect you to fill it out before or during the game.
5- Last, but not least, check our website regularly to keep up to date. Our website address is: www.pysc.on.ca.
Thank you,
Yours in soccer,
Fevri Pazari- Club Head Referee