SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer 2 Man Referees VS 3 Man Referee System...

First off, this is in no way an attack on referees but lately this is becoming a growing concern. OTHER THEN THE FACT THAT MONEY IS TIGHT AND SCHOOLS CANT PAY 3 refs i feel the 2 man system is just not cutting it. too many times ive seen games being officiated and a ref who is on the total opposite side of the field and makes a call that he is in no position to make. i just feel that 3 man ref systems are much more efficient and help the game better.
what do you guys think?

It's a no-brainer.

Take finances and referee availability out of the equation and the 3-man system trumps the 2-man system.

I don't know any referees that "enjoy" or prefer the 2-man system over the 3-man system.

3 is better than the 6 man system. haha. I saw a scrimmage in NC other night and they were training refs. The center and ARs would literally swith during play. One ref runs off while another comes on. I know it was just a scrimmage but very strange I thought.

I think we need better referees in this state PERIOD. Or ref schools or something because the other day I saw a 2 man ref'd game and they did exceptionally well and I saw a three ref game and some off-side calls were getting past one of the refs... Of course the 3-man ref system will ALWAYS triumph the 2-man system but I think our problem really are the refs. They need to pay more attention or get better seeing refs.

there will be no improvement until the pay is better and fans/parents back off the ref bashing.

we're losing the young ones that know/have played the game and would improve the ref talent pool.

Coach:

Your response is understandable, but not a real "answer." Before you ADD to a pool of under-qualified, under-trained, unaccountable officials, you SHOULD identify, implement and uphold BASIC standards:

1) Fitness: Too many old/unfit officials, who work a game from the center circle, or can't keep up with play on the lines, REGARDLESS of the system.
2) Knowledge of rules: Amazingly inconsistent knowledge of offside and handball calls (to name just two).
3) Judgement: Inability to interpret those rules they know.
4) People skills: Amazingly little in the way of "man management" skills.

I watched 6 high school games, beginning to end this weekend. I would describe (perhaps) 2 as "adequately" officiated, 3 as "poorly" officiated, and 1 as horrendously officiated. When you have well-traveled kids and parents who know the rules better than the officials, you have a major problem. As a "Coach," you need to understand, just because we are "parents," does NOT mean we don't know the rules.

I saw a match effectively tipped by a phantom foul throw call; and another nearly decided by a missed offside call (while the AR in question had his back to play (talking to friends) on a restart. I don't care how much or little you're paid. Take pride in doing a great job, or even TRYING to do a great job.

If THAT basic minimum is achieved, it makes little difference whether 2 or 3 work a match.

I coach and referee high school and club. We all agree no one is perfect. We all agree that everyone who referees should know the laws of the game (for some reason, NFHS calls them rules.) If your school hires two officials, it is your school's fault if a referee is making a call 40-50 yards away from the action--whether or not it is a good or bad call, it puts the official in a horrible situation. Let's also be clear: it's the spectator who often don't know the advantage rule--thus they scream at an official when a "foul" occurred, but the referee allowed the play to continue. Many coaches and fans don't understand the "over and back" rule with respect to offside. When a referee has clearly missed which team kicked the ball out of bounds, I have yet to see a coach tell his own team to intentionally make a bad throw in order to allow the other team to take the throw-in from where they should have rightfully had the ball. I have yet to see a coach tell his team to intentionally miss a penalty kick when the referee clearly made a bad call in the penalty area.

Over the years I have witnessed--particularly young referees--get abused by angry parents and coaches (club and high school). Back off!! People are going to make mistakes. I'm sure there is some rogue referee somewhere that intentionally made calls against a particular team. There are a lot more coaches who intentionally try to "work the referee" in order to get calls in their favor.

I will repeat, with emphasis ...

1) MANY parents know the rules/laws as well as, if not better than, the officials (and even some coaches). You should not presume otherwise. Good coaches/officials coopt and empower parents on an individual (and ultimately collective) basis; they don't just dismiss them as a group.
2) When poor work rate and/or conditioning affect an official's performance, he/she should be called to task, REGARDLESS of age. That CLEARLY does not happen in our state.
3) Poor officiating doesn't just decide outcomes. It can lead to injuries/violent behavior/etc.

My solution: Stop "accepting." Start making constructive changes consistent with the spirit in which they are offered. As to the SCHSL and the 2-man or 3-man issue, participating schools should be required to hire/pay 3-person crews. The reason is simple: In the event of an unusual circumstance preventing a scheduled official from showing up, you can STILL go with a 2-person crew.

If/when an official fails to appear WITHOUT A DARN GOOD EXCUSE, he/she should be: 1) Warned; 2) Fined; 3) Suspended; 4) Removed from the rolls. If/when a school fails to pay for 3-person crews, it should be placed on probationary status until it corrects the problem.

One final thing: Poor officiating is a problem in ALL sports; not just ours. But that doesn't make it any more acceptable.

I don't care what system you run, just make sure that they are competent and this is what I mean.

Club match this weekend...last 2 minutes of the half the first score happened. Someone, who came late (a DOC), asked the AR on his side what the score was. She didn't know. That is incompetence.