Could it ever happen at Pilrig?

interesting article. Is it worth our local associations considering this as an option?

Author: The Whistle Blower
 
Who could be against the ‘Respect’ agenda for referees at any level of football?  No-one I’ve ever met. 
 
The better question for individuals as well as grass roots leagues is “what do you actually do to nourish respect?”
 
I don’t mean the occasional public statement at the start of each season about the need to respect refs.
 
For the rest of the season as far as I have been able to observe the clubs and coaches on the one side and referees and refereeing on the other travel along parallel lines.  There’s not enough regular contact between them to provide a basis of respect. 
 
Toleration isn’t the same as tolerance.  Toleration is done under instruction or legal requirement but has no heart. It certainly doesn’t imply respect.
 
Tolerance implies an understanding not only of each other’s needs and ambitions but also of the inevitability of frailty on either side – that we are actually members of the same human race and are all doing our best to be the best we can. 
 
I refereed for ten years in London and Oxford. I haven’t refereed in Scotland but have seen how match days are conducted  in the part of Scotland where two of my sons have played over the last 15 years or more.  It could be different in other parts of Scotland.  Forgive me if the suggestions I am about to make are already well established where you are.
 
What I have seen in Scotland is the low expectations that the leagues have of their member clubs in assisting the referee.  My observation in other fields as well as sport is that most of us tend to live down to low expectations.  It is harder but more exciting to try and live up to high expectations.
 
In the leagues I refereed in London I’d get details of my fixtures usually two weeks in advance.  The club would get the same notification. They would also get a sheet on which they would mark the referee out of 10 and which they would have to return within three days of the match itself. 
 
It was difficult to get less than four out of ten as long as you actually showed up. There were marks for remembering your uniform and arriving on time as well as for match control. The marks were important for a referee seeking promotion because they would be taken into account along with several matches independently assessed by a member of the association’s referee’s panel. You’d need an average of at least 8 over the season from all your leagues before you had a chance of going from Class 3 to 2 and Class 2 to 1.
 
However, the referee also got a sheet on which he would mark the club. They got marks for the basics including contacting the referee to confirm the fixture in time and giving directions to the ground. And they’d be marked for paying the match fee without delay or mishap after the match.
 
But there were also marks for the performance of the club linesman. The what? Club linesman.
 
It was a condition of membership of each league that every club had to provide a named linesman/woman each match day.  They would be fined if they failed to do so and expelled if they failed more than three times in a season though I never knew of that happening.
 
But the threat of fines could only guarantee toleration. The reality was much better than that.
 
Half an hour before kick off I’d meet and shake hands with the club linesman and I’d give them my instructions. It was an opportunity for me to demonstrate my respect for them by explaining how much I’d value their contribution to the successful control of the coming game. 
 
I’d also find out how much I could expect from them according to their maturity and experience.  It was just the three of us and I had an opportunity to convey to them that we were going to be a team for the day.
 
I won’t pretend that they were all enthusiastic. If they had just been named substitute when they expected to play they might not be wild about the task. But, as I recall, many clubs a regular individual who wasn’t a player and who took the job very seriously. 
 
I’d explain what help I needed from them – ball in and out of play for throw ins, corner kicks and goal kicks. I’d make a judgement on whether they seemed up to flagging for offside.  Mostly I’d tell them to leave offside to me. In all cases I’d explain that I was grateful for their help but all decisions would have to be mine. If I agreed with their flag I’d give them a wave or thumbs up. If I disagreed I’d acknowledge their flag and signal to put it down and move the game on.
 
I’d give them a flag each. According to the conditions and position of the sun I’d tell them which side of the pitch I wanted them on  - the left or right of their own defence.
 
What was clear was that that was their job for the game and no other.  It was demanded of them that they would keep up with play and do their level best to give me quick and correct decisions. In passing I would say it is easier to be a ref than a linesman and tiresome to hear pundits say, “how could he not see whose throw in it is when it was so close to them.” The closer it is the harder it is especially if you are also trying to position yourself also to pick up offside at the same time.  I’d love to give a flag to some of them for a half and see how well they do!
 
Of course it wasn’t always a joyful shared experience on a muddy swamp on Hackney Marshes or Roehampton Common. There were certainly matches where it got tense if I disagreed with too many flags. I understood that could be frustrating and would always try and gee the linesman up if I got a chance. As often the linesman could be a lightning conductor when he and I were in agreement but the coaches didn’t. It could be the making of a linesman. 
 
I’d say there were remarkably few deliberately one-eyed decisions in favour of his own side.
 
Returning to the club marking sheet that I had to complete, the club linesman would be named and given a mark.  At the end of the season awards there was a trophy for the club linesman of the season.  For some leagues there was a small cheque to go with it.  It wasn’t just fines for non- compliance. There were rewards for doing it well.
 
I would say that quite a few club linesmen were sufficiently motivated to go along to referee classes and get a basic grade 3 qualification if only so they could mention it pointedly  to the referee before the game. I knew of one or two who went on to concentrate on refereeing rather than playing so it represented a potential recruitment route that doesn’t appear to exist in Scotland where the clubs and officials continue down their parallel tracks.
 
In Scotland I have seen referees give a flag to a coach who might hang on to it but never move from their position on the halfway line and who never had any intention of putting the challenge of assisting the referee ahead of their role as coach. I’ve seen referees put the flag down on the ground close to the coaches and subs where it lay until full time.  The referees have had no expectation and have got what they expected.
 
In my opinion, the key to raising those mutual expectations is for the leagues at youth level to work with their referee association to demand more of each other in pursuit of the respect agenda.  Club linesmen (or referee assistants now) create obligations for both in pursuit of better control of every game.  Fines and awards, carrots and sticks are the mechanism by which clubs can be obliged to fulfil their obligations to respect.  But the eye contact, the dialogue and the handshakes between individuals are the human touches that shift toleration to tolerance. My goodness, we need it.