Into The Book - Episode 9 - May, 2023
Three National Officials & NCSRA Referees participated in the Round of 32 Open Cup Match - Charlotte FC vs Orlando City SC
2023 Summer CRO Points of Emphasis
Coaching / Technical Area Behavior: We are two years into the Law changes that allow Referees to give formal misconduct to coaches. Warnings, Yellow Cards and Red Cards can all be given to coaches for behaviors listed in the Laws of the Game. We will give examples of some of these behaviors as well as ways in which referees can deal with those behaviors when they arise in your matches.
Updated Offside Interpretation: While the actual Law 11 has not changed a lot over the years the interpretation of Offside has evolved yet again. We will give more examples of how to judge deliberate vs deflection as an Assistant Referee and a Referee with the new interpretation.
Foul Recognition and differentiation: A big argument can be made that this is the most important part of our job as referees. We will spend some time talking about general foul recognition over the season, however, we will mainly focus on developing our ability to decide what type of foul occurred. Was it Careless or Reckless or did it involve excessive force? Could it be SPA or DOGSO? It is important for us a referees to not only be able to make a foul decision but also issue misconduct and protect players when necessary.
Into The Book - Episode 9
This is our second part of a two part series on Tactical Fouls - Stopping a Promising Attack (SPA) and Denial of an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO). In Episode 8 we discussed DOGSO Situations. If you missed that one click here to take a look! In this Episode we will take a look at the different types of SPA that you can encounter in a match. What are the considerations, review of our snapshot we take, and other important aspects of SPA.
Stopping a Promising Attack
Types of SPA
Misconduct Result
SPA Foul / Handball - Outside the Penalty Area
SPA Foul - Inside the Penalty Area with an attempt to play the ball
SPA Foul / Handball - inside the Penalty Area without an attempt to play the ball
Shot on Goal w/ Goal Keeper Behind the ball
SPA - Holding (cyclical holds)
Caution / Yellow Card
No Misconduct
Caution / Yellow Card
Caution / Yellow Card
Caution / Yellow Card
SPA Considerations - Speed of Attacker, Space that the attacker (AKA Number of defenders), Options that the attacker has, likelihood to control the ball, and Direction of play.
Scenario 1 - SPA Foul / Handball outside the Penalty Area
SPA Snap Shot
This first video shows a turnover won by Black #10. Once he wins the ball he controls it moving forward. He takes on Red #17 and is able to beat him. Red #17, after being beat on the dribble, goes to ground with a sliding challenge and trips Black #10.
This is the moment we talked a lot about in our last episode. The SNAP SHOT aka the moment the challenge happens. Let’s list out what our considerations are at this moment
Speed of the attacker - The attacker is moving quickly after he beats the defender
Space the attacker has - The attacker has plenty of space in front of him to dribble or space to pass
Options (aka Teammates) the attacker has - It will be 4 v 4 and he has three options to play with as he moves forward
Likelihood of control - He is taking an intentional touch passed Red #17 with space to control the bal
Direction of play - Moving towards his attacking goal with pace.
How can we make the decision easier than just decided in a single moment all of the considerations?
Scanning Ahead
WE SCAN THE FIELD AHEAD OF US! In the picture here you can see that the referee is not looking at the ball. Why? Because there is no danger of a challenge coming into the player at this moment. He is looking ahead to see what options #10 black has ahead of him. It is at this moment that the referee already knows that he has attacking options he can play with. He can see the attacker moving at speed toward his attacking goal. Now all he has to do at the moment the tripping foul actually happens is decide on space and control.
By scanning AND taking in this information the referee has decreased his number of decisions at the snap shot moment from five to two. Who would rather make two decisions than five at one time? Count us in on that one!
Scenario 2 - SPA Foul - Inside the Penalty Area with an attempt to play the ball
There are two important things to remember about this situation. The first is that referees must recognize that this is still SPA and the second is that we down grade the punishment from a Yellow Card to no Card Because we are awarding a Penalty Kick because the foul occurred inside the Penalty Area.
Why is it important to remember this is still SPA even without giving out a card? Player and game management! If the player committing the foul is on a card maybe they need a talking to so they know how close they were to being sent off. Is it a high temperature game and you need to show that you know this is more than “just a foul”. Lastly it is an understanding of the Laws of the Game and what foul you are calling.
Scenario 4 - Shot on Goal w/ Goal Keeper Behind the ball
Click here to see our Video for Scenario 4. It is important to know that any shot on goal that is stopped by a handball, with the goal keeper behind the ball, must result in a Caution for SPA.
If the shot is without a goalkeeper behind them then it would be a Send Off / Red Card for Denial of an Obvious Goal by Handling.
As we finish out the Spring Season and continue our Sprint into the Summer Seasons and Tournaments keep all your hard work up. Keep learning and growing as officials and remember to support each other. We are always cheering for you and look forward to seeing all the work you all do on the field every week and every day.