For Referees
Becoming a Referee
The certification path from zero to your first assignment
Anyone fourteen or older can become a certified soccer referee. The path is short: complete the online entry-level course through the state referee program, attend an in-person field session, and pass the background requirement if you are eighteen or older. From decision to first whistle is usually two to three weeks.The association reimburses your certification fee after you work five…
Game Day Procedure
What to do from arrival to final report
Arrive thirty minutes before kickoff. Being early is the easiest way to look competent before you have made a single decision.Before the MatchWalk the field and check it: goal anchoring, net condition, corner flags, holes, sprinkler heads, standing water, debris. Inspect player equipment — shin guards under socks, no jewelry, no hard casts without approved padding. Check both rosters and…
Fee Schedule and Getting Paid
What each assignment pays and when payment arrives
Referees are paid by the association, never by teams and never by parents. If anyone hands you cash at a field, decline it and tell the assignor.Game fees scale by age group and by role. Small-sided youth matches with a single official pay the least; full-sided older divisions with a three-person crew pay the most, with the center official receiving…
How Assignments Work
Availability, turnbacks, and how to get more games
Submit your availability to the assignor by Wednesday for the following weekend using the referee availability form. Assignments are posted Thursday evening. If you do not submit availability, you do not get games — the assignor is not going to guess.Accept or decline promptly. A declined assignment on Thursday is a minor inconvenience; a turnback on Saturday morning leaves a…
Handling Coach and Spectator Conduct
You are not expected to absorb abuse
The association's position is unambiguous: officiating a youth match does not include being yelled at by adults. If you are new, believe that now rather than learning it after a bad Saturday.CoachesPersistent dissent from a coach gets a warning, then a caution, then dismissal from the technical area. You do not have to debate a call and you should not…
Common Law Misapplications at Youth Level
The calls new officials most often get wrong
These are the errors the mentors see most in a new official's first season. None of them are shameful; all of them are fixable with a little attention.OffsidePosition at the moment the ball is played, not the moment it is received. Being in an offside position is not an offense by itself — the player must be involved in active…
Five Thousand to One
Leicester City were quoted at 5000-1 to win the Premier League at the start of the 2015-16 season. They won it. For comparison, bookmakers offered shorter odds on the Loch Ness Monster being found.
A Volunteer Runs Every Game
Every match played in this association takes a coach, a referee and at least one parent volunteer. Across a season that is thousands of donated hours — which is why registration fees stay as low as they do.