Straight Red Cards

Uh-oh, Tinky Winky was naaaaaughty.

The first straight red card I remember giving was at the first East Midlands Cup. A fresher had just substituted on as a beater (with the only instruction being to 'get that bludger!') and promptly performed the most outrageous tackle I had ever seen. Two arms, around the neck, from behind, and with a flying leap. Right in front of me. Obviously I blew my whistle to stop play straight away, and called my assistant referees to me - Jesus, Cory, and Dave (before he became the superstar referee he is now). That day I was undergoing my IRDP field test, so this was a fairly important thing to get correct as a call. My team could tell me nothing new, so I was left with the decision: give him a yellow card and a strong warning, or a straight red?

There were several points of contention in my mind. I'd read the rulebook a bunch of times, so I knew the remits for giving a red card. But did this person deserve it? Really? There hadn't been any malice in his actions, he was just a little overenthusiastic. But he had been reckless and endangered the person he had tackled. So on those grounds I reached for my cards and handed out my first straight red. It was the correct call - and evidently I scraped through my field test by the end of that day - but it still wasn't a very pleasant feeling.

That was probably the most obvious red card I've ever given, in hindsight. I've threatened many a back-chatting player with a send off, to great effect, but rarely are straight red cards given in quidditch. I think this is partly because everyone is friends, at the end of the day; no-one wants to tell a friend to get off the pitch, get out of the player area, and stand on their own as they watch their team spend two minutes a player down. And mostly I don't think that referees are too lenient on their red card calls - a lot of them in the rulebook are for behaviour violations and they are thankfully vanishingly uncommon in the UK. With the changes (and clarifications) to the ruling on helpless receivers too, it brings down the number of reds given in active play.

Excessive force is probably the one most differently-refereed rules in the game, but my thoughts on that can probably wait for another day...

When going into a game of quidditch, you won't be expecting to give out a straight red card. I hope that won't change. But if it has to happen, well, so be it. Be confident in your decision, decisive in your action, and remember that at the end of the day, you probably won't be given any grief over it after the event. And if anyone does, tell me and I'll hit the perpetrator with a big stick.

Positioning, or 'How do I see everything when I'm so short?'

I am short. Not exceptionally short, but I'm definitely below average in height. As shown in this picture, compared to most other referees, I am a head and shoulders below. This follows through to quidditch players, particularly the biggest drivers and tacklers on a team. As such, the general positioning of a head referee in the UK - basically just going up and down one side - doesn't work for me. I can't see above enough of the players to follow the quaffle adequately.

As a head referee, I'm much more in the middle of the action than a lot of other head refs. I will be running alongside the main quaffle carrier, and I'm quite often between them and their passing option - I'm short enough that they can make a straight pass over my head without even having to duck. This means I can see a lot more of the incoming contact on both players than being on the outside. It does mean that I can get rather close to some of the plays, but I have improved a lot in my get-out-of-the-way skills which includes running backwards and jumping over bludgers. I'm also fairly amenable to players running very close by me, or even moving me out of the way (gently). I've yet to have feedback that this has negatively impacted someone's game, and as I generally get a better position out of doing this I'm going to carry on until I hear otherwise.

Most of my positioning skills have been learnt as a highly defensive beater - it's all about seeing where the player/pass is going to go and covering that space in the least time and distance possible. I have little legs as well as being just generally slow, so this is very important for me to be good at. Generally speaking, I try to be slightly ahead of the quaffle carrier so I'm nearer to whoever they pass to and so I also have a decent angle on whatever contact happens. You're never going to have the perfect angle on a tackle, so it's better to just maximise your chances of seeing the key aspects - navel position, whether or not the shoulder is dropped, and where their other arm is.

The worst thing is when someone makes a long, loopy pass and then you have to leg it down the pitch to try and see what is happening behind the hoops. I don't think it's controversial to say that plays made behind the hoops are the most poorly refereed ones in all of quidditch - even the fastest referees often can't get there fast enough and it's bad practice to regularly be behind the hoops. So the best thing to do in this situation (at least in my opinion) is to create an angle where you can see the most. Being directly behind the person with the quaffle is going to make judging contact very difficult. So if the person with the quaffle is behind the left hoop, you want to be at least as far right as the right hoop if not further.

As much as head referees move a lot more than assistant referees, I still don't think we move enough. I think a lot of HRs - myself included - get too complacent with the position they are in at that moment, and don't move closer. We should be constantly on the move, myself even more so to compensate for my height and lack of speed. There will be lulls in play from time to time, and I try to use these to position myself better - for example running from a pile up behind the hoops to in front of the advancing keeper who is only walking. Then you have a step up when they make a fast break.

Too slow, Zoe. Too slow. Ajantha Abey Photography

One thing referees have to be aware of is not getting in the way of play. However, at some point you have to accept that you are on pitch, and you are going to be in someone's way wherever you are. You are only one person - you can get surprisingly close to what is going on without being in the way of someone being able to throw a tackle, and there are very few circumstances where you're going to be obstructing beater play in a way which impacts the way the game goes.

That brings me on to an important point - general awareness of where the beaters are when you are the head referee. I have a massive tendency to get quaffle-vision, which is excellent for not being distracted by the beater and seeker games but not so good for accidentally running into people when you're so focused on the chasers/keepers that you honestly just did not register their presence. So it's important to know where all the other people on pitch are. Humans generally have pretty good peripheral vision, so I find it helpful to utilise this every once in a while - also a quick glance to each side means I have yet to be taken out too spectacularly whilst refereeing. Though of course the main thing is running backwards, which isn't advisable over great distances unless you particularly like falling on your butt. (All of this applies to off-quaffle chasers and such too, though to a lesser degree.)

From beaters to bludgers. It's important to remember that as a referee, you can interact with bludgers in a way which gives a team an unfair advantage, and you have to correct that should it occur. Of course, the easiest way to do this is to not interact with them in the first place. Leaps over low-flying bludgers and ducks under higher ones have been effective for me in the past, as a relatively small target. These are the ones which are usually slower moving because you can see and avoid them, but if you do catch them with a limb then make sure you loudly instruct which beater should have the bludger. However sometimes there are fast-moving bludgers that whack into you ('beat, ref') and really there's nothing you can do about one that hits your face or your back. You get to decide whether you think you have given one team an unfair advantage with your positioning or interaction, and it isn't always necessary to make a call.

Finally, we have a whole referee team on pitch for a reason - you aren't infallible, and no-one expects you to be, so there are lots of other pairs of eyes watching various things. Goal referees are there to constantly watch the hoops, with hopefully a more consistent and thus better angle for seeing if it is good or no good, so the head referee can focus on the players and not the quaffle. However, it's not uncommon for goal referees to be lacking in confidence or just not paying attention, and then ask you. This can lead to some tricky calls if you didn't see, so it's probably best to always try and see if it went in or not. Or just shout at the goal referees until they become competent (no don't). Sometimes the nearest assistant referee will see it. It's always good to clock in with your assistants regularly, to make sure they are moving and not getting stuck in certain parts of the pitch, or watching the same things as each other. Don't be afraid use your top authority on pitch, but make sure to stay respectful.

This has spiralled from how to position yourself as a short person to just tips in general - take all with a grain of salt. You'll find your own style of refereeing which will grow as you do more games and take on advice from all sorts of sources. Obviously I feel what I do would be a good start for anyone, but so would the notes from other top head referees! You'll work it out. I still am, to a certain extent.

Captains' Meetings

I am bad at captains meetings.

Ajantha Abey Photography

I am always unprepared, usually tongue-tied, and if I don't forget something major I generally consider it a miracle. So this post is definitely as much for my own reference as for everyone else. I'm sure all captains will appreciate meetings that have more than 'please do good quidditch and rules things' in them, with some wavey hand gestures. This will be a list of things that should happen in captains meetings.

1. Coin flip
This is not a requirement, however you should always ask both captains if they have a preference for which way they want to attack. If one has a preference, then you need to do a toss - or equivalent if, like me, you are bad at coin flips - for sides. The rulebook says something about USQ rankings which obviously we don't have, so I personally go with seeds if there are any, or distance travelled (longest wins). Well, I guess which one is further away from the location. When in doubt, it was probably Falmouth. It's harder for merc tournaments, so just have something in your head that you're always going to go with - I use the home team of the captain, which sucks if you're an Oxford captain at Valentines but now you know, I suppose.

2. Introduction of ref team
I always forget this! Introduce your assistant refs - so teams know whether you have two or three or whatever - and your snitch ref, and it's probably a good idea to say whether your snitch ref will be assistant reffing for the first seventeen minutes. I won't say it's definitely a good plan because I can't honestly say I've done it enough times to know. I think this would probably be a good idea so that any issues teams have with the referees can be addressed before the game starts, and so they don't ignore someone who is on your team because they don't recognise them as a ref. Also introduce the snitch, especially if they've run off to the bathroom which is a surprisingly common occurrence.

3. Overview of specific rules being watched for this tournament
This can be anything from a clarification of the fact that 'kicking near hands' is not a foul in the rulebook to a reminder that turnovers will be called probably more regularly than either team is used to. It can be hard to remember everything that has been brought up, but if you're refereeing a lot you'll know which ones are actually important to state. Anything you say to the captains you can assume will be passed on to the players, so anything you state as a warning in that meeting will apply to everyone who will enter the pitch - use that as you will.

4. Identification of players' genders'
You should always double check this, unless you've already refereed both teams that day. Remember to pass the information on to your assistants, too, so you don't have unnecessary delayed penalties called for the gender rule.

5. Identification of speaking captain/translator as necessary
Coaches are entitled to be present at captains meetings as well as team captains, and a team may appoint who they like as a speaking captain. Make sure you clarify who this is to the other team too, so that you don't have to waste time explaining why you are speaking to someone during a game who the other team didn't realise was nominated. And if refereeing in Europe, check that the speaking captain either speaks the language you do, or get a translator. Saves loads of time. Trust.

6. Identification of players with specific disability requirements
This was a particular issue at BQC - a number of players were red/green colour blind and couldn't see the pitch markings. Evidently it would be mean to award penalties to the other team over this, so I made sure I knew which players to redirect if they were running in a random incorrect direction. This also applies to players who are hard of hearing. It's always better to spend a couple of extra moments getting to know any potential issues before the game so you can do something about it - moving to be on the good hearing side of someone, or making sure you explain a foul from a place where someone can see your lips.

7. Any specific hazards wrt the field
As much as we'd like for it not to be the case, most quidditch pitches are far from perfect. Make sure to alert captains to particularly bad dips, or if the hard boundary is right on the edge of something like a road. A muddy pitch also warrants a warning, and probably a reiteration of rules on sliding.

8. Chance for captains to raise any issues before the game starts
Including if you've forgotten any of the above points.

9. Call for an equipment check
Every team should have an equipment check on both days of a tournament, and it's easiest to get captains to have everyone line up for you. Boots, jewelry, headbands, additional equipment - it shouldn't take you too long, and you can get an assistant ref to help too!

I'm also bad at conclusions.

Assistant Refereeing 102

This post is a follow up to Assistant Refereeing 101.

As a pretty prolific referee, I have worked with a great number of assistant referees over the past two and a half years. These are the most common niggles I've come across, from both a head and fellow assistant referee's perspective. Also, I have probably been guilty of these at some point in my career, so don't feel bad if you recognise these as things you do! This is all about improvement.

photo from EMC 2014

1. Don't call beaters beat until the bludger is made dead.
This is a hard one to get right, because there is a lot of pressure when you're assistant refereeing to make the beat call as quickly as possible so no team gets an advantage. However, beaters are not technically beat until the bludger is dead - that is, it hits the ground or is back in the possession of the beater who threw it. Until that point they are just struck, and can try and catch the bludger to negate the knockout effect. So it's fairly important not to call them beat until that point, in case you distract them (though in most cases beaters are pretty good at ignoring early beat calls, even if they shouldn't). Obviously if the bludger hits them and rebounds off several miles through the air it's safe to assume that they won't catch it, and in that case you're okay calling it.

2. Don't be a backseat head referee.
One of the most annoying things as a head referee is having an assistant - or several - only watching the quaffle, and essentially just making all of your calls for you. Assistant referees are there to watch the things the head referee can't see. What is the point in having two sets of eyes on one scenario at the expense of another being seen? As I said in AR101, it's important to be aware of what the other referees on the pitch are watching, so you don't miss something because everyone is focused on the same spot. The same applies to assistant referees and head referees - if as an assistant you're watching the quaffle game, you're doing it wrong. Even if you think the head referee isn't doing a good job, you still have a responsibility to do your job and not theirs. There may be situations where a head referee asks you if you saw something, but they aren't expecting you to have an answer. The only time an assistant referee should be watching the quaffle is if the head referee explicitly asks them to, if they are new or not so confident and want one specific person to check everything is going well. Obviously head-qualified referees are most prone to this (a surprising number of good head referees make terrible assistants for this reason) especially when it comes to making judgement calls, something I'll get to later on.

3. Make sure you stick by the guidelines your head referee gives.
In the pre-game meeting, the head referee should give you some guidelines as to how they referee, and how they would like you to referee as part of their team. It's important to stick by these so that the game runs smoothly - I'll run through a couple of examples. If your head referee is one who is particularly strict on players talking to referees (only captains, no backchat etc) then as an assistant referee you should make sure you are only accepting the same level. It's no good for your sanity if someone is venting all of their frustrations at you instead of the head referee! Also it's not great for the head referee to try and have a 'quiet' match if their assistants are chatting to all of the players. If your head referee wants you to indicate advantage when calling a delayed penalty, make sure you know which way they want you to point - towards or away from the fouling team. Not all head referees are the same and have the same requirements, and as assistants it's an important skill to be able to adapt to these.

4. Be confident in your delayed penalty calls.
Firstly, if you're calling a delayed penalty, sending the offending player back to hoops. This is the bit which a lot of referees forget to do. Then obviously raise your fist to get the attention of the head referee - make sure it is clear what you are doing, and if you're short it's especially important to have it straight up and not half-heartedly resting on your head because then they have a better chance of seeing it (if you see another assistant referee calling a delayed penalty, also raise your fist so the head referee has a greater chance of seeing it quickly). Depending on what your head referee wants, indicate which team has an advantage - personally I prefer my assistants to point towards the hoops of the team which fouled, so I know to let the advantage play towards those hoops. When brooms down is called, run over to the head referee and inform them of who made the foul, and what they did. It's important to know exactly which player you're talking about - sending them back to hoops using their name and number might help the information stick in your head. The most concisely you convey the information, the quicker the foul can be adjudicated and play resumed, which is what everyone wants. Long referee conferences because assistant referees are unsure about what they saw are frustrating for tournament directors, players, and observers.

5. Pay attention.
Refereeing is not really something made for those with a short attention span. Up to fourteen players on pitch, plus four balls. But there are some things which you have to work extra hard to pay attention to, which many people forget about. One of the key things is knowing where players and balls were when brooms down was called, so make sure players don't cheat and edge closer to the bludger etc. whilst the referees are discussing any calls to be made. It's also important to move players that run on after the double whistle blow and balls that roll away and create an advantage that didn't exist before. Another thing is to pay attention when brooms up is called, to avoid being out of position and missing anything that occurs right as play resumes - often beater battles are mid-flow at stoppage and need to be watched carefully! But the most important thing is to keep focus during play, and not get caught up with conversations with the crowd or worse, other assistant referees. You're there to do a job, and everyone will like you much better if they see you trying.

6. Have respect for all the other referees on the pitch.
There are a couple of facets to this point. Firstly, when you are acting in the capacity of an assistant referee, you are the equal of all the other assistant referees on the pitch. It doesn't really matter who has been refereeing for longer, who got a better mark on their tests - on the pitch you are equals. When making calls, by the rulebook what matters most is who is nearer. Don't try and overrule someone just because you feel you are a better referee, and equally don't be afraid to speak up if you were nearer to an incident and saw it better, but are saying something different to someone who has more experience. You are trying to make the right call, and it doesn't matter who saw it. Secondly, don't undermine the authority of the head referee. There have been many times when I have been an assistant referee for a head referee that I have vastly more experience than, but that absolutely does not give me the right to bully or cajole them into changing their mind on a discretion based call. By all means correct them on an actual rule, but if they feel something deserves a yellow card over a red or vice versa, then you listen to them. They are the head referee, you are not. Taking a step back is an important part of being an assistant referee, and not doing so is rude and disrespectful to the person with the cards. Finally, leave all preconceptions about the other referees on your team at the side of the pitch when you start. If you don't like the head referee, or the snitch referee, that is not something to take out on the teams playing by doing a bad job. Do your best, always.

7. Ask for feedback.
Not enough referees ask for feedback directly after a game. Often when I'm head refereeing, I'll do so much that I can't remember specifics about a certain assistant referee the next day let alone any longer than that, so if someone wants feedback and tips for improvement it's best to get it straight away, with the game fresh in everyone's mind so you know where you can apply those pointers. Different head referees will pick up on different things, and remember that you can always improve - sometimes I get stuck in a small spot on the pitch and don't move enough, or other days I might just be too slow at calling beats and back to hoops. So those are the things I try and work on especially and pay extra attention to during games. There's no shame in asking for feedback!

So that's fourteen long-winded points I've written now about assistant refereeing - I don't know if/when I'll have some more, but if you have anything in particular about assistant refereeing you'd like me to write about, please get in touch!

Turning off ref-brain

I know I am not the only referee out there who is guilty of this: heavily judging the referees on the pitch when I am in the subs box/playing. Every call they make is wrong, everything is against your team, and obviously if you were refereeing this then you wouldn't have missed that horrific back tackle on your poor chaser over there!

Let me let you in on a secret: you probably would have. And if you didn't, then you'd probably call a good hoop as beat before release or something.

Amy Maidment

No referee is perfect in the moment. As a referee, I know this - as a player I forget this. There are not enough eyes to keep on twelve/fourteen people at once, and certainly not in exactly the perfect angles to see everything as you do from the comfort of your subs box. They say that hindsight is 20/20, well, so is 'you're not actually refereeing this match so your brain isn't thinking 100000 things at once'-sight.

It can be hard to get the balance right when you're playing between what you know as a referee, and respecting the authority of the actual referees on pitch. There's a lot of talk in the UK about head referees being some of the worst people to actually ref when they're playing, and I really don't think that should have to be the case - we should know better. We know it sucks when someone argues with your call, or shouts out random fouls that they think have been committed (I'm very guilty of this, my mouth is just a loose cannon calling beats and back to hoops whether I'm a referee, player, or spectator). Talking back to referees is something which has improved, though I think that's mainly because we're putting up with less and giving more cards for backchat. It can be infuriating if you're watching someone get a card - or not get a card - for a foul which doesn't warrant one, but quidditch is only a game. Life will go on.

Little tips and tricks for getting out of referee brain:
- If you like having gloves when you're reffing, have a different pair to your playing gloves. The motion of changing them might help your mindset.
- Direct all of your commentary towards someone else on pitch/in the subs box. As a referee, you're probably used to just shouting things, not holding a conversation, so the difference in tone and style of language could keep you from yelling 'BEAT!' really loudly at someone who was maybe grazed with a bludger at the other end of the pitch.
- Turn around and face the other way. If you really disagree with something, turn away. Change your focus, take a couple of deep breaths, and then come back to it.
- Have someone prod you with a broom every time you're being a dick, you'll soon learn.

So I'm personally trying to work on containing my judgey, grumpy self when I'm playing out of respect for the referees on pitch. They're trying their hardest, after all, and wouldn't you like the same respect paid to you?