Week in Review 21

The latest Week in Review has been released. Read the full article by clicking here.

Most of the discussion was centered on AR Involvement which means when you should intervene and when you shouldn't. US Soccer already put out a great article on this subject which you should already be aware of. If not, read it.

To me this WIR comes down to two main points; participation by the AR is critical to get decisions correct and AR involvement must be at the right moment. Think about a time you were the referee and your AR gave you information that was vital. It made the whole situation work out better, right? Now think about a time when your AR insisted instead of assisted. Was the situation made better or worse?

Being the AR is often time seen as the easier job, the less important job or other negatives. Maybe you thought that you should be in the middle of that "big game" and are pouting about it. Or you just sit back and cruise through a game because you're just the AR. That's not the attitude to have at all. The AR position is a very important part of the crew and your involvement is vital for the success of the team.

Of course, your primary duty as an AR is offside decisions. From there you can expand your view to include assisting with in and out of touch decisions, fouls, misconduct and even player management. Look at the diagram and remind yourself of the area that you need to cover. When there is a game critical situation that's out of the view of the referee you can still make the call, even if its out of your area. But in those situations you need to make sure the referee didn't see it and that your call will help not hinder.



Take the job of being AR seriously and participate when you should. But also think about a time when your AR was over involved and remind yourself not to make the same mistake! Often times we are just providing information to the referee; its up to the referee to decide to call it or allow play to continue. Once you have provided the information let him or her make the final decision. If you still disagree the time to debate that is after the game when you can privately make a comment or two.