Most of the attention in sports is focused on the players and occasionally the coaches, but there’s another party that plays a contrasting and underappreciated yet undeniably necessary role. 

 

While the players drive the action and the coaches help to guide them, the very fabric of the game would unravel without the pattern being maintained by the dedication and attentiveness of the often-forgotten and rarely respected referees.

As the presiding law and order of the world of competitive sports, referees are crucial to any sport with established rules.

There’s rules and there’s guidelines

“The referee’s job is to ensure that the game is played by the rules and that the game is played safe and [with good] sportsmanship,” says Wolfgang Dieterich, who is currently a referee for soccer games in Arizona for the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) and at Prescott High School. He has been refereeing for eight years and played soccer in Germany for many years when he was younger.

“The center referee has absolute, unquestioned authority,” Dieterich says. “There is no other authority on the field,” he says, so the referee’s decision is what goes.

While enforcing rules is important, Dieterich says that there is a lot more to being a referee than just that. “What’s very important as far as the rules are concerned is [that] the rules are guidelines,” he explains. Referees have to make calls “in the spirit of the game,” which “takes many years of experience and practice.”

“It’s relatively easy to learn the rules of the game,” says Dieterich, “but to apply those rules in the spirit of the game is a whole other story.”

The benefits of experience

An example he gives of the benefits of experience is with the advantage clause, which according to 123exp-soccer.com is a clause “that gives a referee the discretion to not call a foul if stopping the game would give an advantage to the team that committed the foul.” Dieterich says it is not often applied, especially by newer referees, since it takes a few seconds to see whether a foul should be called. “Most inexperienced referees would just blow the whistle,” he says, which unfortunately “makes for a very choppy, often interrupted game.”

The rules themselves are often misunderstood as well, according to Dieterich, which makes refereeing more difficult. He uses the expression “a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing,” to illustrate this, explaining that some spectators and coaches think they know the rules without really understanding certain intricacies.

“Referees in all sports…[are] the lightning rods for the emotion of the spectators.”

“Not everything is as clear cut as it seems on the surface,” he says. A common misconception, which he says he hears often, is the rule regarding handling. He says people are always yelling “handball” whenever they see any contact, when the actual rule, called “handling,” is significantly more refined than just basic contact. It is only “handling” if a player deliberately touches the ball with his/her arm or hand. 

“The rule book is full of those kind of things,” Dieterich says. He says knowing and being able to implement all the rules effectively “takes many, many, many years and the rules are actually the easiest part.”

The art of staying neutral

The hardest part, according to him, includes two things. The first is that a referee always needs to stay focused and not let his attention wander. “You cannot miss a split-second,” he says.

Next, it’s essential “to stay neutral” and “to call the game as neutrally as humanly possible.” He says it’s really easy for a referee to throw a game, so they can’t be influenced by anger from players, coaches or spectators, which is “very hard if you get haggled and screamed and yelled at.”

“Referees in all sports…  [are] the lightning rods for the emotion of the spectators,” says Dieterich. While there are rules for dealing with unruly coaches or players and they can be carded or ejected, there’s nothing to stop the spectators. In the last few years Dieterich says he has actually been attacked on the field by players and once in the parking lot by a spectator.

Abusive spectators

“Unfortunately, it’s becoming a more and more dangerous endeavor,” he says, which “makes it very hard to find young players to step in and become referees…they’re not willing to deal with the abuse.”

“You gotta have thick skin,” says Ken Carlson, who has been refereeing basketball for 25 years and softball for 12 and is currently a referee for Yavapai College games in both sports. He says the key is “[not to] let ‘em get into your head.”

Soccer referees are also in charge of inspecting the field, insuring the safety of the field condition, making decisions related to the weather, dealing with coaches and spectators and various other things. “The duty of the referee is not just to enforce the immediate rules,” explains Dieterich. “That means during the game, you have to be much more expansive than just watching the ball.”

Dieterich says he is not paid for refereeing in the recreation leagues (like AYSO) and gets a small fee for the Prescott High School games. However, he says money isn’t an issue for him or any of the referees he knows, since they do it because they love the game and it’s a great way to get exercise “for a purpose.”

“It’s not about the money,” he says, “it’s about loving the game and providing a safe environment.”
 

To finish, Dieterich gives a seemingly obvious word of advice to spectators everywhere: “As much as we try to stay neutral,” he says, “it really does not help your team to scream at the referees.”