This past weekend, I had my first of three assessments for my 6 upgrade. It was hot, humid and on turf during an early afternoon game. It was a decent game between 2 teams from the area and it was demanding because the players tried to make it a more than just soccer for a little bit. Fortunately, we had a good crew and they bailed me out on one call each.
The first call was a foul or offside call that I had to go over to my AR1 for. Ball is played through to a player in an offside position, but the player is fouled on the follow through. There is no good signal and there was a little mis-communication between my AR and myself. I saw that he kind of wanted to have me call the foul but felt it was my call and so he half gave me an offside and half pointed with his left hand at the spot of the foul. Just to be sure, I went over to discuss that he saw what I saw, a foul prior to the offside call. He said yes, and the assessor said that coming over and confirming was the right thing to do.
The next one was a play where I am right behind a streaking attacker, he goes to the ground with a tackle that I was not sure was really much of anything. The team was down 2-0 at that point and they were pushing hard, so there was that as well to consider. The attacker fell on the ball and grabbed it with his hands, so I had to make a choice of either giving the foul or handling coming out. I look over to my AR2 and give him a look as to if he thought it was a foul and point to one direction or another, he points towards the attacking side, indicating he saw enough of a foul from his angle. Assessor praised the AR because he did the right thing, quick, communicative and no need for a conference.
All in all, my foul recognition was spot on as well as my advantages and what I thought was trifling. What I have to work on is to get a better read on the tempo of the match. There was a moment when things were heating up and I did not react quickly enough. Also, speak with my whistle more. Small tweet vs a longer one for more emphatic fouls. Finally, the other thing mentioned was that when presenting a card for a foul that is one you want to curtail, I can't be so casual about it. Pop the card, hold it up for a second or two instead of flashing it. Look at the pros, my assignor said, when they present a card, it is up there for the world to see if it is one of those fouls that need to be showing a "hard yellow". Interesting how so much can be said and can be read with actions aside from what is mandated by the laws of the game.
Now onto another center and one AR, then my physical and a recert clinic and if all goes well, I will be a 6 in 2016. In the upgrade clinic, I was essentially told that due to my age, that is the highest I can go. In another life, I want to be a referee earlier in the process.
