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ASSESSOR DE-BRIEF

Developing Excellence

Some 10 minutes or so after each game played in The FA Premier League, The Football League and The Panel Leagues, the assessor is required to debrief the members of the refereeing team in the dressing room.  This is arguably the most difficult task for an assessor as he has to gather his thoughts quickly by referring to the notes made during the match and ensure that he alludes to each of the following matters:

• Accuracy of Law application by all four match officials

• ‘Big’ decisions – goals, penalty kicks, cautions and sendings-off

• The manner in which the officials managed situations that influenced match control

• Acknowledging good practice and offering quality advice to move it towards best practice

• Recognising poor practice and offering sound practical advice to solutions to improve future performance

The Guidelines used by assessors include competencies that set the standards for referees and assistants and the assessor has to be aware of these when preparing and delivering his de-brief.  The broad headings that are considered for referees are:

• Technical Performance• Player Management

A referee’s Technical Performance will be judged against various competencies in the following areas:

• Overall level of fitness• Positioning in open play and at set play situations

• Eye contact and Teamwork

• Use of advantage

A referee’s ability to manage players and situations will also be judged against various competencies in the following areas:

• Dealing with confrontations to his authority

• Support for colleagues when their authority is challenged by players, coaches etc

• Matching his approaches to players to reflect the nature of their actions and the overall ‘temperature of the game’

• Management of defensive ‘walls’, injuries, corner kicks etc

Whenever a key incident occurs in a game [i.e. ‘big’ decision], the assessor has to check the match video / DVD to ensure that Law has been correctly applied by the referee and / or by an assistant referee.  He will request a copy from the Home club and look only at the relevant incident[s] before compiling his match reports. 

The assessor must remember to include in his reports only those matters mentioned in the de-brief so that there are no surprises for the match officials when they receive their written feedback.

 

Having covered hundreds of games and offered advice to match officials I can think of no one better to offer guidance in the art of a de-brief.

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