Law 18 - Common Sense

Being successful in the Football (Soccer) Refereeing exam is the easy bit. Refereeing is a life-long on-the-job training course, with constantly changing Laws, interpretations and man-management techniques to learn and utilise. The perfect Referee has yet to be found. Law 18 - Common sense is the framework that holds all of the other Laws together. It allows both the Referee and Football (Soccer), to retain their human characteristics. The unwritten Law 18 is the most important of all the Laws; it overrides, modifies and controls all the others. Referees, interpret and apply the Laws to ensure that the decisions they make, do not override the 'spirit of the game'. Law 18 - Common sense, and the 'spirit of the game' are an integral part of the football, without them Football would not be the game that it is.

To be a good Referee, you must be able to isolate yourself from the crowd and the constant moaning players when you make a decision. If you cannot do this, then you will struggle as a Referee. Each situation that a Referee judges, must be made as if it is the first decision that he has made in the match. Referees must not carry any baggage from the past.

"Every Referee should have good eyes and bad ears!"
(Dutch FIFA Referee Jan Wegereef)

The uncertainty of the game-action and interpretation of incidents, is a key part of making football the exciting game that it is - and long may it remain so. Over the past 10 years, football authorities have endeavoured to make the game safer for players and more enjoyable for spectators. Referees have a greater responsibility to make every decision as correct as humanly possible. The commercialism that has inevitably crept into the game, has left the poor Referee in an unenviable position - a decision made in a split-second could have a most devastating effect on the finances of a professional football club; or even a Sunday morning team fighting for promotion or fighting against relegation. Common sense used fairly, honestly and correctly, is the greatest difference between a good Referee and a bad Referee. It is a quality, which thankfully most of us have naturally.

Common sense used during a Refereeing career is built up from experience gained within football, (whether it is by watching or participating), and by experience picked up during actual games Refereed. In general, a Referee will have the support of colleagues and Referees' Societies during his initial baptism of fire. If he is lucky, the new Referee will have an experienced Referee mentor to guide him through his early years. A great deal of experience will be gleaned from experienced officials, and the new Referee will gain a great deal more experience, as the number of games he officiates increases. It is virtually impossible to provide a definitive guide for Law -18 Common sense, and you will not find any official Law information covering this subject. The advice expressed on these pages are a personal view, that I hope will go some way to help the newcomer understand that an individual's personality and style, is just as important as learning the Laws inside out. The advice on this page is aimed at (what I would call) the 'normal' Referee. In other words, the 99 per cent of us who officiate at the lower levels - the ones that do not have the luxury of paid hotel rooms and free transport and experienced mentors to guide us etc..... Referees at the very top level have almost been sanitised, by being asked to act less subjectively. They have been monitored, trained, cajoled, moulded, and turned into efficient (almost robotic) machines controlled by their FA mentors. All done to minimise and remove (or lessen) the potential for making wrong decisions. This is obviously driven by the importance of commercialism in football at the top level. Don't get me wrong, I have full admiration for the top officials, they are under extreme pressure; and they have all been through the treadmill of officiating at the lower levels - but the element of common-sense has been lessened by the demands of business. Professional Referees are now entering the game. Albeit that this will increase the efficiency of the top Referees, it will widen the gap to the rest of us.  It is a shame in a way, that most football is now played for gain rather than pleasure. It's important that Referees apply Law 18 Common sense, conscientiously and consistently, if not always as a group.