Referee FAQ
Q: My team has no referees. What should I do?
A: Jack London Soccer League currently requires that each team have at least one affiliated referee. EBUSC and Jack London are volunteer organizations. In order to provide referees for all games, all teams must contribute volunteers, including referees to cover games in which their children are not playing.
Your team should find a parent, sibling, or friend to take a class and get a referee license. If you are a manager or coach, you should not allow parents to accept any volunteer positions on the team until someone agrees to take a referee class or the team has located a referee in some other way. If you are a parent, you should consider taking a referee class.
If you cannot provide a referee, contact your EBUSC referee coordinators at [email protected] and they will attempt to assist you. If a team fails to provide referees or to fulfill its requirements, the league, the club, or both, may impose fines and other penalties.
Q: How can I take a referee class?
A: Look for a class and contact the administrator directly. Many clubs in the area individually sponsor these classes.
Here are some web sites that have information about the currently offered classes:
http://www.jlysl.org/referee-licensing.html
http://www.area4referees.org/classes-and-clinics.html
Q: What type of referee class should I take?
A: For the purposes of most Jack London Parents, there are two types of referee: Grade 9 and Grade 8.
The lowest level of referee is a Grade 9 referee, who may only officiate recreational games U-14 and under. This is referred to by CNRA as a “recreational referee,” and requires 9 hours of instruction and passing the test.
The next level up is a Grade 8 referee, who can officiate games at U-18 class I and under, assuming the referee has sufficient experience. This license requires completion of 18 hours of instruction and passing the test.
The next level up is a Grade 7 referee, who may officiate adult amateur games for which the official has sufficient experience. To reach this level, the referee must have been a grade 8 referee for at least six months, complete another 18 hours of instruction and pass the test.
Q: What is a Referee Coordinator?
A: The Referee Coordinator(s) (RC) for each club are resposible for monitoring the referee assignments so that referees are not assigned to games for which they do not have sufficient experience. In Jack London Soccer League, referees log into a web site that hosts all scheduled games. Any referee may request any game, but the request does not take effect until formaly assigned by a RC. In some instances the RC might proactively assign certain games. RC can also retroactively assign games when a referee steps in to fill an empty referee or AR position.
Q: I am a licensed referee, but I was not wearing my uniform when I ran the sidelines for my child's came. Can I still get credit & payment for this effort?
A: No, but thank you for contributing!
Credit can only be given when the referee has a current license, of sufficient level to officate the game, and is in uniform. Official assigment can be made after the game.
Next time bring your kit!
Q: I can't see "request it" for many of the games I would like to referee. Why not?
A: In Jack London, games are assigned to referees after they have requested them. Games should not be assigned to referees that do not have sufficient experience for a particular game. Therefore referees are not generally able to request games for which they have not been approved. EBU and Jack London have a referee training program and referee mentoring program to enable referees to advance in experience to do higher-level games. For more information, go to WWW.JLYSL.ORG or email [email protected].
Q: My team's game does not have a referee or referee crew assigned. Should I panic?
A: There is no need to panic if your team has three licensed referees. However, you should first contact the EBU RC and see if they can help you - preferably on Wednesday. If you still don't have a referee by Thursday, contact the manager for the other team, and offer to have them provide a referee, or tell them you can provide parent referees. If the visiting team brings a referee or crew with full gear there, s/he would have first right of refusal, as long as the person has full gear, badge and registration card - so be sure to bring your registration card and badge. If they do not, your parent referee(s), in uniform with badge & registration, (card or copy on phone), can do the game. Report your service to the RC so they can assign the game.
If they refuse your service and do not have a substitute, they forfeit. E.G. you would put on your uniform, take the field, blow the whistle for captains, the home team's captain comes on the field. You blow the whistle again, if the visitor's captain does not take the field, you give them 5 minutes, then you leave the field and tell your coach that the game is disbanded because the visitor's captain would not take the field. In any instance, include a brief description of the events in your game report in case a protest is filed.
