Marking Guide

Referee Marking Guide

This season the FA has decided that all clubs must mark a referee out of 100 and not 10 as in previous seasons.

The mark awarded by a club must be based on the referee’s overall performance.

It is most important that the mark is awarded fairly and not based upon isolated incidents or previous games. The referee’s performance should be determined by the list below, which should act as a guide for the overall mark, which should fall within the mark range for each standard performance.

Mark Range	Comment
91—100	The referee was extremely accurate in decision-making & very success fully controlled the game using management & communication skills to create an environment of fair play, adding real value to the game
81-90	The referee was very accurate in decision-making & very successfully controlled the game using management & communication skills to create an environment of fair play.
71-80	The referee was accurate in decision-making & controlled the game well, communicating with the players, making a positive contribution towards fair play
61-70	The referee was reasonably accurate in decision-making & controlled the game quite well, communicated with the players, establishing a reason able degree of fair play.
51-60	The referee had some shortcomings in the level of accuracy of decision- making & control, with only limited success in communicating with the players resulting in variable fair play
50 and below	The referee had significant shortcomings in the level of accuracy of decision-making & control with poor communication with the players, which resulted in low levels of fair play

Notes:

Using a scale of up to 100 allows greater flexibility for clubs to distinguish between different refereeing performances more accurately.

A mark within each mark range can be given to reflect the referee’s performance, e.g. a mark of 79 indicates a somewhat better performance than a mark of 71.

A mark between 71 and 80 represents the standard of refereeing expected

When a mark of 50 or less is awarded, an explanation must be provided to the League or Competition BY LETTER signed by the Chairman & Secretary of the club accompanied by the marking form. It must include comments which could help improve the referee’s future performances. Even where a referee has significant shortcomings there will have been some positive aspects, which should be given credit, extremely low marks (below 20) should be very rare.

How to decide on the Referee’s Mark

The following questions focus on the key areas of a referee’s performance. They are intended as an “Aide memoire”, not necessarily comprehensive and need not be answered individually. It is, however, worth considering them before committing yourself to a mark for the referee.

CONTROL AND DECISION MAKING

How well did the referee control the game?

Were the players’ actions recognised correctly?

Were the Laws applied correctly?

Were all incidents dealt with efficiently/effectively?

Were all the appropriate sanctions applied correctly?

Was the referee always within reasonable distance of incidents?

Was the referee well positioned to make critical decisions, especially in and around the penalty area?

Did the referee understand the players’ positional intentions and keep out of the way accordingly?

Did the referee demonstrate alertness and concentration throughout the game?

Did the referee apply the use of the advantage to suit the mood and temperature of the game?

Was the referee aware of the players’ attitude to advantage?

Did the referee use the assistants effectively?

Did the officials work as a team, and did the referee lead and manage them to the benefit of the game?

COMMUNICATION AND PLAYER MANAGEMENT

How well did the referee communicate with the players during the game?

Did the referee’s level of involvement/profile suit this particular game?

Did the referee understand the players’ problems on the day - e.g. difficult ground/weather conditions

Did the referee respond to the changing pattern of play/mood of players?

Did the referee demonstrate empathy for the game, allowing it to develop in accordance with the tempo of the game?

Was the referee pro-active in controlling of the game?

Was the referee’s authority asserted firmly without being officious?

Was the referee confident and quick thinking?

Did the referee appear unflustered and unhurried when making critical decisions?

Did the referee permit undue questioning of decisions?

Did the referee deal effectively with players crowding around after decisions/incidents?

Was effective player management in evidence?

Was the referee’s body language confident and open at all times?

Did the pace of the game, the crowd or player pressure affect the referee negatively?

Final Thoughts

Always try to be objective when marking. You may not obtain the most objective view by marking immediately after the game.

Judge the performance over the whole game. Don’t be too influenced by one particular incident.

Don’t mark the referee down unfairly because your team was unlucky and lost the game or some disciplinary action was taken against your players.

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