There are three teams at every soccer game. At this point in my soccer life I’m usually a member and a mentor on the third team. (There are the two teams of 11 players that line up against each other. The objective of the game of football is to kick, head, chest, roll the ball in the other teams goal. The third team consists of three officials to apply the laws of the game.) I always try to guide my team members to be their best game official possible on that day. I also realize that I need to be a coach at all times. I need to meet my teammates where they are on the day when I’m working with them. I need to make sure the teams are always playing in a safe manner and are not cheating the game. The key to being a good match official is understanding the laws but enforce them according to the spirit of the game.
Meeting your partners where they are, means understanding their challenges on a given match day.
CHALLEGE 1: CLIMATE
This was my 3rd outdoor match week of the 2025 outdoor season in western Pennsylvania. It was the most challenging climate. Two hours before match time it was 50 degrees and sunny. One hour before match time 30 mph winds and hail whipped across the lower Allegheny River valley. By kickoff the hail and rain had stopped. The kickoff temperature was now 40 degrees and the sun was hidden by heavy clouds.
CHALLENGE 2: FATIGUE
Today’s referee team was overworked and worn out by the changing weather conditions before our first whistle at 3pm kickoff.
My first AR, already had two game AR’s earlier in the day with 50 degree temps and lots of wind. Let’s guess approximately 2.5 miles per game, so 5 miles down, 3 hours on the pitch before 3pm.
My second AR was an under 18 player, who already played in their competitive game as a positional 10. Let’s estimate 6-7 miles in that one game playing of 80 minutes at around 50 degrees with wind. Instead of recovery time, this player now had to be AR2, for two more 70 minute games.
WHAT ARE MY 3RD TEAM EXPECTATIONS?
This is why doing a pregame is key. Even when you don’t have time to do a full pregame, a brief pregame is key. By listening to what my team did prior to our game I knew what to expect from their physical abilities. Do I expect perfect positioning knowing what I knew about their day? No. Did I plan to criticize their positioning or try to coach them on where they should be to make a proper call? No. Did I plan to give them grace? Yes. It was more important to have them doing their part to make sure we had a 3rd team? Yes.
Did I need to get the games completed to the best of our ability? Yes.
We are humans. We need to accept our capabilities on the day we work together.
CLOTHING MODIFICATIONS FOR COLD WEATHER:
- United Attire Windbreaker Long sleeve Officials Jersey
- Costco 32 Degree Black Sweat Shorts
- Nike Thermo Fit Gloves
- Lululemon Running Beanie
- Nike Pegasus Trail 4 GORE-TEX for infilled sports turf.
Game Day 2 this weekend was less challenging. No rain, no hail, no clouds, no wind, just 40 degrees and sun at game time. The referee team only had one game. The game intensity was higher level so we focused on performing our best for the full 90 minutes. There were two critical match decisions that our team nailed today. There was a PENALTY decision in minute 34 in front of AR2 that was skirted and whistled. In minute 43 with fouls at 6-5 we had a really hard slide tackle from behind. The tackle was a shit-eating tackle caution. Unfortunately High School Age boys sometimes think they need to react before the referees can issue the yellow card. Due to impulse reactions an additional player from each team was cautioned for unsporting behavior.
The weekend ended red card free. My referee teams had quick reflection moments both days We reviewed what we did well, what we didn’t have the energy for and what the game called for. We reviewed the critical match decisions that we as a team managed perfectly. We also discussed an offside where our natural reactions allowed us to manage it correctly without the need for video assistant review, which we didn’t have. There was one critical match decision which we initially completely mismanaged. We then slowed down all the steps and reviewed the process with a mental slow motion replay. Before we restarted the game, we corrected the initial errors and moved on.
Sometimes being a referee is black and white, other times it is subjective.
