TEAM REFEREE RESPONSIBILITIES

THE REFEREES JOB
The Referee is to keep the game safe for the players. The referee is responsible for inspecting field conditions, equipment safety, management of players and sideline. The Referee is officiating the game applying the IFAB Laws of the Game in spirit of Safe, Fair, and Fun and modified per the AYSO referee guidelines. They must keep games on time in the schedule.
AYSO referees are volunteers – like coaches, administrators, and everyone else who makes up the AYSO team. Most are parents of players who began when their children were playing in younger age groups and moved up with them. Every volunteer, including players themselves, are welcome to participate in this program. As they help with games, we ask that you respect them for volunteering to officiate your child's game, even when they make a mistake.

AYSO TEAM AND STEWARDS OF THE GAMES
The coaches and team parents together with the referees are the AYSO team. Working and helping each other so the players have fun playing soccer. Parents and coaches can help when they arrive at the field to do an inspection of the field and the nets to see if there are any dangerous objects, holes, equipment malfunction. Referees will often arrive later from previous games so there is little time to check the fields before start of the game.

ADULT TEAM-REFEREES
In Region 73 each team will be required to supply at least two adult referee volunteers for 10U and older divisions. For the 8U and under divisions we like to see an U8-Official. A Team Manager for the 8U and under can be trained for 8U official. Referee duties and responsibilities vary by age group and are described later in this document. Team-Referees contribute to the team's eligibility for post season invitational tournaments.They are part of the team volunteers group.

CGI REFEREE ASSIGNMENT SYSTEM
Referees must sign up on the CGI referee online assignment system where they can assign themselves with the referee administrator's approval for their games and keep track of referee points and their assignments..

YOUTH REFEREES
Any person 12 years or older can volunteer as a youth Referee. 19 and older are adults.
Youth referees are welcome. They will not be classified as team-referee which are adult referees.
IF they are a player we insist that they are not overloaded by playing and reffing. They cannot participate in tournaments as youth referees unless receive approval taking into account the training and play schedule..

EXPERIENCE
AYSO Referees range in experience from beginners to very experienced.
Every year we train new and returning referees to help the kids with their games. The 10U division referees must be trained at least with Regional Referee level certification. 8U and under we train with 8U Official certification.

HIGHER BADGE LEVELS.
For the 12U we prefer referees with Intermediate level training and for the 14U we prefer the Advanced level training. Above the 14U level we look for referees which are skilled and experienced and prefer the National level trained referees. However realistically everyone knows that referee careers are long and hard. Very few referees will receive the level above Intermediate. Support of the team and referee colleagues makes a big difference for referees if they are going to take the next step. 

MOVING UP
In AYSO we allow referees to try officiate games above their trained and certification level and promote that they will work on their next training level to get certified for the higher badge. For tournaments referees need to show good skills and competence with the IFAB LOTG so the players will be able to play a good and exciting game.

TOURNAMENT APPROVALS
The regional referee administrator will have to approve any referee which will participate and referee in a tournament.
We encourage any referee to have regular observations and keep up with the IFAB LOTG and take referee courses.
We offer refresher classes to returning referees to discuss difficulties, unusual scenarios and LOTG changes.

Team-Referees are always adults and contribute to the points a team is earning during the season.
The youth ref max earnings is 50% of points earned by the the one team-referee with lowest earnings.
These referee points and team's standings determine if the team is invited for the region playoffs or tournaments. 
Youth referees awards is independent of referee point earnings for the team and based on their total efforts.

INDEPENDENT REFEREES
These referees work for fun and support the region. NO association with any team and NO obligation to help any team to earn referee points. Providing they are competent enough they can travel to any tournament, providing the tournament director accepts them. They help officiate games when the Referee Administrator staff requires help.
Awards for referees are based on their efforts during he season regardless how many points a team received.