ATTN: Area Referee Adminisators (ARA's)
The EXTRA season starts TBD, so I wanted to confirm that we are all on the same page on referee assigning and misconduct reporting for EXTRA games.
Most of this is material that has not changed since last year and that should already be familiar to you. Please let me know right away if this doesn’t agree with your understanding or if there are errors or missing information.
Referee assigning:
1. As was true years past, each Area has the responsibility of staffing EXTRA games played within that Area. Please encourage your more-experienced referees to officiate these more advanced and more challenging games!
2. Areas can choose to use the Section 11 EXTRA website for signups to the games under their responsibility, or they can choose to make these assignments at an Area or Regional level.
3. Right now, it is my understanding that Area Q will be using the Section EXTRA website for their referee signups and assignments.
4. Right now, it is my understanding that Areas Z, K, E, and L will be assigning referees at their own Area sites or within the individual Regions. Please let me know if this is not correct! Also, I would appreciate being informed at what sites you WILL be assigning referees, especially if it is not at your own Area website.
Referee fulfillment:
5. Because the volunteer referees associated with any one EXTRA team may not have the experience and training needed for optimal officiating of these games, we have adjusted the team requirements for this fall. We ask that every EXTRA team supply at least three certified referees who will officiate a number of games at least equivalent to the number of home games their team will play. These games may be in the home Region or Area’s core program, not necessarily in the EXTRA program.
6. For each of their EXTRA teams, each Region is responsible for supplying three referees to officiate a number of EXTRA games at least equivalent to the number of home games the EXTRA team will play. These referees will not necessarily be drawn from the EXTRA team volunteer staff, and they should be among the more experienced and qualified referees in the Region.
Game day procedures
7. Please encourage all trained and certified AYSO referees who are attending an EXTRA match to bring their referee uniforms and equipment and to be prepared to act as Assistant Referees (AR) if asked to do so. Under these circumstances, we encourage these certified referees IN FULL UNIFORM to act as neutral officials (including flagging for offside infractions and for fouls), as always at the direction and discretion of the referee.
8. At each match, referees are to check to see that each player and coach has a laminated AYSO ID card bearing that individual’s photograph. No card, no play! Driver’s licenses and other non-AYSO identification are NOT acceptable.
9. If there is no coach with a valid AYSO ID card present for one or both teams, the game is not to be played and a report is to be submitted via the misconduct system. This requirement currently is in place starting the first day of EXTRA competition.
10. Referees are NOT to check the official team roster forms at matches.
11. Referees SHOULD receive the usual AYSO match cards in numerical order from each team completely filled out with the first and last names and of each player. This information is particularly important for any misconduct reports that may be filed.
12. As in any AYSO match, referees are to check the field and the players for safety issues before each match. Post-game issues – reports, misconduct, injuries.
13. Any disciplinary issues, serious injuries, or other events that the referee deems significant shall be reported within 24 hours after the match using the Area 11L misconduct reporting system.
14. The report form may be reached from the Referee page of the Area 11L website (http://www.ayso11l.org/referee.htm). Click on “Misconduct Reporting,” then on “File a Match Report.” Alternatively, the report form may be reached directly at http://mcc2.com/~matchrep/reportmisconduct.php.
15. It is VERY IMPORTANT that referees choose the correct competition name in the pull-down menu in the misconduct report form. The competition for all EXTRA games will be “EXTRA 20__ Fall Season.” This competition is not yet available on the match report system, but it will be available by the start of the season.
16. Misconduct reports will be distributed automatically to Section EXTRA staff and to the appropriate Area staff of the teams involved.
17. In addition, I will distribute to the Section and Area staffs weekly summary misconduct reports and lists of mandatory suspensions to be served in the following week.
18. Our goal is to be sure that those who need to know misconduct information receive it on a timely basis while avoiding the disclosure of this information to those without a legitimate reason to receive it.
19. Complaints and disciplinary issues are to be handled by the Areas involved. Misconduct involving players, coaches, or spectators will be addressed by the Area from which they come using the established disciplinary procedures for the Area, which should already be in place.
20. Following the resolution of the Area misconduct process, the ARA should notify the Section Misconduct Administrator (me) of any additional sanctions applied. This will allow me to notify in a timely manner the Regions in which those sanctions (for example, suspensions) are to be served.
21. Issues involving referees should be referred to the ARA of the Area from which the officials in question come. The ARA will then deal with these issues, much as he or she would do so if an issue arose in Area play in his or her own Area.