Referee (association football)
In association football, the referee is the person responsible for interpreting and enforcing the Laws of the Game during a match.
[3] FIFA also mandate that referees pass tests to show sufficient physical fitness and knowledge of the Laws of the Game, as well as an annual medical.
At the 1994 World Cup finals, new shirts were introduced that gave officials a choice of burgundy, yellow or white, and at the same time the creation of the Premier League in England saw referees wear green jerseys: both changes were motivated by television considerations.
Since then, most referees have worn either yellow or black, but the colours and styles adopted by individual associations vary greatly.
The badge, which displays the referee's license level and year of validity, is often affixed to the left chest pocket.
All referees carry a whistle, a watch, penalty cards, a data wallet with pen and paper, and a coin for determining which team has the choice of ends or kick-off.
The whistles that were first adopted by referees were made by Joseph Hudson at Mills Munitions in Birmingham, England.
It is frequently stated the referee's whistle was first used in a game between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Norfolk in 1878; however the last such fixture known to have taken place between the two clubs was in 1874.
"[9] In 2007, when IFAB greatly expanded the Laws of the Game, an Additional Instructions section became available, which is a full page of advice on how and when the whistle should be used as a communication and control mechanism by the referee.
[12] In the early years of the codified sport it was assumed that disputes could be adequately settled by discussion between gentlemen players who would never deliberately commit a foul.
[13] The promotion of referees to the dominant position they occupy today, and the reformation of umpires into the linesmen role, occurred as part of a major restructuring of the laws in 1891.
The referee is the only official empowered with starting and stopping play, and meting out disciplinary actions such as cautions or send-offs.
The main idea is that the referee and assistants using the DSC should be able to position themselves quickly and easily to observe the important aspects of play (offside, ball in or out of play, goal-scoring opportunities, challenges for the ball) from multiple angles with multiple sets of eyes.
The chief reason for this alternation was to avoid linesmen wearing down the same part of the touchline during matches – this was important given the generally lower quality of pitches at the time.
From 2007–08 the left-wing diagonal has been mandatory in English professional football although some referees at lower levels still use the opposite approach.
[14] While the Laws of the Game mandate a single referee with assistants as described above, other systems are used experimentally or explicitly by some non-FIFA-affiliated governing organizations.
[16] Positioning in the dual system is similar to that used by officials in basketball: each referee is either termed the "lead" or the "trail", depending on the direction of the attack.
Both are responsible for calling fouls and misconduct and determining the restart when the ball goes out of play on one of their assigned boundary lines.
