Have you had the saying, Without Rules, orderliness can never be achieved? For any organization, or association to achieve its objectives and goals, there must be a standard system for maintaining rules and regulations. Just like in football, there are Football Officials that handle Matches or games to ensure orderliness and adherence to the rules guiding the game.
The question now is, How many football officials can handle a match?
I will tell you. Although the question seems like an easy and simple one, understanding of briefing about football, its objectives, and Football rules will help you understand their roles and how they help in the actualization of football objectives.
About Football
Football also is known as soccer is one of the oldest, well recognized, and most interesting games ever played in the world. The pinnacle of the international game comes in the form of the Football World Cup. Euro Championships, Copa America, and the African Cup of Nations are some of the tournaments played.
Domestically speaking, There is so many League but the strongest leagues come from the following countries:
England (English Premier League),
Spain (La Liga),
Italy (Serie A)
Germany (Bundesliga).
You can also check our post on some of these leagues and their impacts like The Impact Of English Premier League On Nigerian Youths
The objective of the game is to score more goals than your opponent in a 90-minute playing time frame. The match is split up into two halves of 45 minutes. After the first 45 minutes, players will take a 15-minute rest period called half time. The second 45 minutes will resume and any time deemed fit to be added on by the referee (injury time) will be accordingly.
To score the ball must go into your opponent’s goal. The whole ball needs to be over the line for it to be a legitimate goal. As a player, you can score a goal on any part of the body apart from the hand or arm up to the shoulder. The goal itself consists of a frame measuring 8 feet high and 8 yards wide.
Rules Guiding Football Game
Other Rules in football game include:
- Pitch must also be marked with a rectangular shape around the outside showing out of bounds. It must show also two six-yard boxes, two 18-yard boxes, and a center circle.
- A spot for a penalty placed 12 yards out of both goals and center circle must also be visible.
- The referee may consult the assistant referees at any time in the match regarding a decision.
- The assistant referee spot offside in the match, and throw-ins for either team. He also assists the referee in all decision-making processes where appropriate.
- For fouls committed a player could receive either a yellow or red card depending on the severity of the foul; this comes down to the referee’s discretion. The yellow is a warning and a red card is a dismissal of that player. Two yellow cards will equal one red.
- Moreso, A player cannot be replaced once he is sent off.
- The whole ball must cross the goal line for it to constitute a goal.
- 30 minutes extra is added in the form of two 15-minute halves after the allotted 90 minutes. That is if both teams were level in a match then
- It will be counted as a corner kick if it comes off a defending player
Note, No player is exempted from these Rules in the football game, except the player is not on the football pitch or field.
Read Also: Paralympic Games: Brief History, Committee, and Top Winners
List of Officials in Football
The best football games are run by four Important officials, usually dressed in black or light colors, designed to rival the shirts of both teams. However, All the officials in a football game have a separate but important role during the game and they all stay in touch with the other players.
The football officials ensure that the rules and regulation of the game are been adhered to. they control the checkmate they coaches, players, and fans. Without these rule-watchers monitoring the progress of a football match, the game may not progress with a defined structure.
Moreso, The Six Football officials on the field have specific roles and responsibilities that make it possible to correctly and consistently call games at football’s highest level. Proper training and positioning prepare officials to be in the right place to make the right call.
Read through to see their position, what they watch for on every play and what they do between plays to keep the action moving.
#1. The Referee
The Referee is more important than the other officers in the Game. He is the only one to whistle, and he uses it to signal the beginning and the dead body of the game. These include kickoff, part-time, full-time, goals, and locusts.
Responsibilities: The Referee is responsible for the following:
- Enforces the Laws of the Game.
- Controls the competition in cooperation with the other match officials in soccer matches.
- Acts as a timekeeper to keep a record of the match and provides the appropriate authorities with a match report.
- Records information on disciplinary action and any other incidents that occurred before, during, or after the match.
- Supervises or indicates the restart of play.
- indicating the restart of the match after it has been stopped;
- Watches the kicker and holder during kicking plays.
- Makes any announcements during the game like penalties or other clarifications.
Football Referee Gear: Belts. Caps. Cold Weather Accessories. Gloves. Jackets. Pants & Shorts. Shirts. Shirts – College & NCAA.
Note, The referee patrols the length of the field to cover the ground not covered by their two assistants. Generally, he runs in a diagonal pattern from the southeast quadrant of the field towards the northwest quadrant; hence the term “diagonal system of control”.
Some people do ask…
Can a Referee Change His Decision During a Football Match?
Emphatically yes. The rules in football only allow a change of decision in certain circumstances.
The referee may only change a decision on realising that it is incorrect or on the advice of another match official, provided play has not restarted or the referee has signalled the end of the first or second half (including extra time) and left the field of play or terminated the match.
The referee cannot change his mind during the half time interval or after the final whistle.
What happens if a referee becomes incapacitated?
Play may continue under the supervision of the other officials in a football game until the ball is next out of play.
Assistant Referee
The assistant referee is one of the officials in a football game that helps out with decisions. Decisions such as throw-ins and offsides sometimes will have a better view of incidents than the referee.
Moreso, His’ duties generally consist of judging when the ball has left the field of play. Other roles consist of the following:
Football Referee Compulsory Equipment
- Whistle(s)
- Watch(es)
- Red and Yellow Caution Cards
- Notebook (or other means of keeping a record of the match)
Other equipment that football referees may use include:
- Equipment for communicating with other soccer officials (e.g. buzzer/bleep flags, headsets).
- Electronic Performance and Tracking System (EPTS) or other fitness monitoring equipment.
Note: Football referees’ rules prohibit match officials from wearing jewelry or electronic equipment.
The Fourth Official
The fourth official can also be called a reserve referee or replacement referee. He plays a very important role in football matches. He was added recently to the officiating crew. Note, The fourth official is simply instructed to assist the referee at all times, and their duties are largely at the discretion of the referee.
Also, The fourth official typically sits at a short distance from the touchline between the two teams’ technical areas with a table in front. however, their positioning is not defined by the Laws of the Game.
In general, fourth officials are responsible for assisting the referee with:
- administrative functions before, during, and after the match
- He assists the referee in a variety of tasks and may be called upon to replace another match official.
- assessment of players’ equipment;
- managing substitutions, including using a numbered board or electronic display were supplied
- The fourth official indicated there should be a minimum of two minutes of injury-time played acting as the contact point between the match officiating crew and any outside agents (such as stadium managers, security personnel, and ball retrievers)
- He keeps an extra set of records and helps make sure the referee does not make a serious error such as cautioning the wrong player, giving two cautions to the same player, and forgetting to send off the player He also helps the referee to identify offenses.
Additional Assistant Referee
The additional assistant referee (AAR) is an official that assists the referee behind the goal line and assists the referee in observing any incident that may occur near the penalty area.
Recent trials, for example at the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League group stage, have been started to make place for an additional two assistant referees to be added to the game.
Also, positioned behind the goal lines, to “ensure that the Laws of the Game are upheld,
Informing the referee of incidents of any kind that they may otherwise have missed, particularly in key areas of the field like the penalty area and its surroundings.
Their positioning also gives a good view to assist the referee in “ghost goal”-type incidents. The trial was evaluated by IFAB technical experts.
This trial was later extended to the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League and qualifying games and the final tournament for the UEFA Euro 2012. Their reception has been mixed.
The use of additional assistant referees was approved by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in July 2012.
Additional assistant referees were used in the 2013 Scottish Cup Final, the first time they had been utilized in a domestic match in Scottish football.
The fifth official
The fifth official was an official meant to serve as a replacement for either of the assistant referees in the unlikely event of an injury or incident that would prevent the assistant from continuing the game.
For matches in the 2006 World Cup, FIFA assigned five officials. The roles of the fifth official include:
In the current Laws of the Game, the role of the fifth official has been reduced to that of the reserve assistant referee (RAR, also known as the reserve official). They have no duties other than to replace an assistant referee or fourth official who is unable to continue.
The video assistant referee (VAR)
This one of the football officials in a game his major role is to review the decisions made by the Head Referee using video footage and a headset.
However, Following extensive trialing in a number of major competitions, Video assistant referees (VARs) were first written into the Laws of the Game by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in 2018.
Apart from his major role, he performs other duties which help in improving the game. These roles include:
- The VAR recommends to the referee that a decision/incident should be reviewed.
- He decides to review the video footage on the side of the field of play before taking the appropriate action/decision, or the referee accepts the information from the VAR and takes the appropriate action/decision.
- And also, He ensures that no clearly wrong decisions are made in conjunction with sending off or not sending off a player.
- The referee cautions or sends off the wrong player, or is unsure which player should be sanctioned. The VAR will inform the referee so that the correct player can be disciplined.
- Furthermore, He also assists the referee to determine whether there was an infringement that means a goal should not be awarded.
Note, these official rules help in maintaining Rules in football games. The VAR system seeks to provide a way for “clear and obvious errors” and “serious missed incidents” to be corrected.
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