Referee Report Writing - A Brief Overview

By D. A. Victor

One of the duties of the referee is to submit a written report about the events of the match. A proper match report helps the referee discharged this duty. A poorly written one can subject the match officials to ridicule and raise questions about the competence of the officiating team. Match reports generally require the same information - match date, time, location, teams involve and the names of the officiating team.

Beyond this basic information, a referee must include information on disciplinary action taking during the game (cautions and expulsions), substitutions and goals. On several occasions, the referee must write a separate incident report if a game is not played or if there was misconduct. Such reports should be written with the characteristics of good information in mind.

Relevant

The relevant authorities do not need to know if the sun was shining brightly when reading a report. The details that a referee includes about an event should be relevant to the event - nothing more, nothing less.

Concise

A referee's report is neither a novel nor a linguistic adventure. Instead, it is a factual account of an incident or series of events that gives only sufficient detail, leaving a report that is short and sweet.

Accurate

The referee is the sole authority on events pertinent to the match, but should be careful to get the facts straight. Sometimes, the officiating team might have to report on mass confrontations or instances of violent conduct. It is important to properly identify the persons involved and match player numbers to player names properly. Part of writing an accurate report involves having proper source documents and checking the veracity of those documents before the match has started. An inaccurate report can result in justice not being served.

Timely

At the highest level of the sport, match reports are submitted within hours of the match's end. At lower levels, there is more leeway, but referees should not take more than 24 hours to compose an incident report.

In addition, any incident report in addition to the match report should be properly addressed, dated and signed by the referee. It is advisable that incidents that involve other members of the officiating team (directly or by their observations) should be shared with them before the report is submitted. Usually, a collaborative effort is preferable to an isolated report. Where possible, match officials should have similar details of events, which are not in direct contradiction.

And now, you can read more articles on soccer (with illustrations):

Offside law: [http://hubpages.com/hub/Soccer-offside-offences]http://hubpages.com/hub/Soccer-offside-offences.

Throw in: [http://hubpages.com/hub/Soccer-laws-and-rules-The-throw-in]http://hubpages.com/hub/Soccer-laws-and-rules-The-throw-in.

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