Refereeing

[the programmer]

First of all let me start off by saying that I referee soccer myself and know how tough refereeing can be and that I have a lot of respect for referees. So how can we help referees who are obviously trying to do a good job do it. Here are my suggestions:

1. Give the referees an "Advice to Referees Page" which not only describes the rules but their appropriate interpretations, applications, and proper positioning and mechanics.
2. Standardize their procedures between regionals.
3. Have new referees spend a year as field reset to understand the flow of matches and how things work on the field.
4. Create a test that's available to both referees and teams.

To put in some perspective, here is the training that grade 8 (competitive youth games) referees have to go through in Wisconsin soccer:

1. Attend a 16 hour entry level clinic their first year.
2. Attend a 5 hour recertification clinic every year.
3. Score a 75% or higher on a written test.
4. Referee at least 8 games a year.
5. Be at least 14 years old.

The recourses that they have are:

1. The Laws of the Game
2. USSF Advice to Referees
3. USSF Guide to Procedures
4. USSF directives
5. USSF Week in Recview (something that talks about issues in refereeing and how a referee can work through them)
6. FIFA teaching materials

My intent in this thread is not to praise or chastise referees but to find ways to make them better as both the teams and the referees would benefit.