All throughout my time as a youth soccer coach I had always kept a friendly, if distant relationship with referees. As they are the be-all-end-all to the rules of the game, I usually had to stifle many of my worst impulses. The referees wield a lot of power to determine how the game ebbs and flows and when it’s best to stop the madness altogether. With great power comes the inevitable ire and ill will of everybody else involved in the game. They must wear that target on their back and grow the thickest of skin. On a best of days, they may have to face a few groans and eye-rolls. On the very worst end of things, their very lives could be at risk. The direst incidents, while rare, have resulted in harassment, death threats, and murder. For the most part, the life of a referee is one based on trust of their team of assistants and their own instincts.

Some soccer fans would argue that refs don’t know anything and are often blind to the fact that their favorite player clearly got fouled in a bad run of play. But that is par for the course, and a referee’s training goes deep as they must work through stages of qualification and eventually attain licenses based on their proficiency in knowing the rules, calling games, and defusing whatever conflicts may arise in the heat of competition. Soccer, like most sports, is one where emotions can run high and some people will have shorter fuses than others. What I’d like to illustrate is what a referee must do to rise through the ranks, keep track of infractions, and coordinate with their assistants. This article is a general introduction to how they work and what they look for during a match. There’s so much more to write about, and I’ll be sure to break down the rules further in future articles. For now, take a look at what I wrote about the “offside rule,” which is usually the first question on every soccer outsider’s mind.

Some Historical Background

Referees in soccer became a standard around the 19th century when it was decided that sometimes gentlemen couldn’t always be gentlemen in the heat of battle. What started as teams deciding two of these representatives to sort out disputes became a full-time position for an impartial party to the competition. So referees became an integral part of the game and over the years they have established licensing, rules for handling disputes, and training courses for new referees.

All around the world professional referees are licensed by professional associations that maintain training and ethics standards. For instance, in the USA, there are organizations that conduct training and issue licenses through the United States Soccer Federation. And these organizations will provide training to referees at various levels of competition from little league soccer to professional leagues. As a referee feeds their mind with valuable information, so must they feed their body with solid doses of a healthy diet and physical training. Referees have to be ready to run anywhere from 3-5 miles cumulatively throughout a game so it takes a keen eye, mind, and body to get the job done.

It’s All About Trust and Teamwork

The match official commands a certain authority on the field. His decisions are swift and final. They are tasked with dictating the flow of play throughout the match. Often times, a referee will spot a foul, but they won’t call the foul on the spot. This situation is called “advantage play,” which happens when the fouled player is able to continue their moves as they advance up the pitch. But overall, the head referee will issue penalty kicks, free kicks, and warnings to the players. But the head referee cannot do the job alone. Alongside are two assistant referees who guide the head’s decision making on offside, out of bounds, goal kicks, and corner kicks.

The head referee will run along the entirety of the field from goal box to goal box in a diagonal pattern. This allows the referee to spot fouls from different angles and helps them avoid the players as they move up and down the field. The two assistant referees will flank the field on each side and will only cover half of their respective side. This is important as these assistants must make sure that they are in line with defenders to make sure that they call offside correctly.

The Encroachment of Technology

The modern game of soccer is advancing with the on-field action by supplementing the work referees do with an additional team of spotters that work as Video Assistant Referees or VAR for short. The introduction of VAR in high level leagues has caused headaches as the referees and the fans work through the growing pains. To some fans, there’s a purity to the game that’s lost when video reviews are available to scrutinize every little infraction on the field. I’ll be writing more about VAR, because it dos warrant its own article, but it’s another wrinkle that adds to the drama of each game.

It’s important to remember that the game of soccer is a game of many moving parts that are in constant motion. Referees are there to maintain order and make sure that underhanded tactics are stamped out and unruly contenders are kept in line. I’ve had my own frustrating experiences as a fan and as a youth coach. But at the end of the day, Referees play an important role on the field. As much as it sounds cheesy to write, I have a ton of respect for referees. They help the game move along and make sure there’s as little stoppage in the action as possible. And I can’t be mad at that. Thank you so much for reading. As always, be well and watch more soccer.