FourOaksBookworm
New member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2019
- Messages
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- Current Referee grade:
- Level 10
I referee a lot at schools and unversity level, U14 upwards. I'm increasingly struck by the lack of ability of captains to fulfil the important role of the liaison between their team and me as the official. It's often the case that the captain is just picked on the day, or at the very best is chosen because he/she is the loudest/bossiest/best player in the group. But I really feel that it's a gap in the coaching lexicon, that captains often don't know how to talk to me (or indeed that they are allowed to have an intelligent conversation with me about a particular decision or area of the game). I talk to my son's club regularly about 'how to work with the ref', and it's reduced their penalty count massively, but I'm afraid they are in a minority
As an example, in an U18 game today I had two contrasts. One captain spoke to me respectfully, asked me to clarify decisions, kept his players in order and worked with me all the way. The other was mouthy, didn't have his players on board, called 'bullsh*t' to his players about one of my decisions, complained directly to me that I'd got 5 or 6 decisions wrong in a row, and consequently his team went to pieces and lost heavily. I don't think it was his fault necessarily (he was obviously the wrong choice, his 9 was, unusually , much more level-headed) but was a result of a lack of training as to how to work with referees. Some top level pros have it (e.g Warburton, Read), others are more confrontational (Biggar, Sexton), but there's no consistency in how it's 'taught' at junior level
What does everyone think?
As an example, in an U18 game today I had two contrasts. One captain spoke to me respectfully, asked me to clarify decisions, kept his players in order and worked with me all the way. The other was mouthy, didn't have his players on board, called 'bullsh*t' to his players about one of my decisions, complained directly to me that I'd got 5 or 6 decisions wrong in a row, and consequently his team went to pieces and lost heavily. I don't think it was his fault necessarily (he was obviously the wrong choice, his 9 was, unusually , much more level-headed) but was a result of a lack of training as to how to work with referees. Some top level pros have it (e.g Warburton, Read), others are more confrontational (Biggar, Sexton), but there's no consistency in how it's 'taught' at junior level
What does everyone think?