Blue Card Buzz: Inside Soccer's Latest Rule Change and the On Field New Referee Training

This week we'll be discussing ifabs announcement of the blue card . What does it mean for the game and the referee ? Additionally , I want to share my experience as a mentor for an on field new referee certification course what went well and what could be improved ? The blue card is coming . The blue card is coming . I think this is a positive change .

You have to have heard it about now . If you're on this planet and you are a referee , I think the implementation is going to be highly scrutinized , just like anything else . Unfortunately , unfortunately , it's going to make the referee the center of focus again . It's going to be all about them and their blue card . I don't think that's what anyone wants .

If you're not familiar with what the blue card is , it is in between a yellow card , which is a caution If you get two cautions , you're sent off and a red card . Which is boom , I throw a red card and that player , who I've shown it to , is dismissed from the match immediately . For the rest of the match you can't replace that player on the field .

You play a player down and they miss either the next match or there could be a multiple match suspension , depending on what the foul is .

A blue card if you show a blue card , a player will have to leave the field for 10 minutes , kind of similar to an American ice hockey penalty where it's either two minutes or five minutes , depending on a minor or major penalty . It's used in indoor soccer here in the US it's a thing In rugby it's used as well .

They have a 10 minute sending off for a yellow card . It's not that it's unheard of or it's not used in other sports , but for soccer in particular , or football , I would say it is brand new to football . There are going to be two scenarios where it is going to be used . Number one is stopping a promising attack . Talk about that .

The second , and then number two , is dissent . Okay , now I got to tell you both of those things . Both of those things are subjective . They are , they're subjective things . So to have such as a fear of punishment , the blue card for stopping a promising attack and we'll take that for example is going to cause a lot of confusion .

I challenge you , if you are a referee or a coach listening to this podcast , walk up to a player or walk up to a fan and tell them to define what is stopping a promising attack . Okay , give me the considerations for stopping a promising attack , please . Okay , I will tell you .

I had a game this past Monday night high school match and three minutes into the game I've got a player who beats his man on the wing and they are running , you know , in towards goal again . They beat him probably at halfway on the field .

They're at about the 35 yard line and a player comes from behind and kind of like dives out and kind of tackles this kid you know it was a cynical challenge . He took him out of the play . He just did . There's attackers in the center of the field .

There's two other defenders there so I don't have dogs , though , but I definitely have stopping a promising attack . And the coach , of course , is like what are you kidding me ? It's his first foul . And I look over and I go coach , it's stopping a promising attack and coach is like what are you talking about Stopping a promising attack ?

Okay , he has no idea what the hell is stopping a promising attack and why that is a yellow card offense . What are the categories for a yellow card offense ? He's never heard that , no one's ever explained that to him and he's I'm sure you know . I mean , he's a high school soccer coach , so should he know ?

Maybe I don't know , but he's never been a referee so he probably has never seen all the different types of yellow card offenses that are out there cautionable offenses and is he going to be able to tell me ? You know about the considerations ? I mean even me explaining it to him . Like , do I have the considerations for me ?

I could talk about speed , the players moving forward with pace in their attack . This is from our pro referees page here in the United States space . There should be green space in front of the player with the ball to dribble , pass or shoot . Green space in front of other attackers who would receive the ball Options .

Either the player with the ball has options to take on a defender or other teammates to which they could pass the ball . The key is that these considerations relate to a promising attack which has the possibility of becoming a goal scoring opportunity and not simply forward movement . Okay , who in the world is going to explain that in a match ?

Are the commentators going to break that down and explain that ? Or , as usual , the commentators are going to be like oh , I don't . I don't think it's a yellow card , you know , as they always do , without using the considerations . So I think it's a challenge .

Do I think it's a good idea to have a more severe penalty than a yellow card for stopping a promising attack ? Yes , I do , because it's cynical and it's , I think , it's against the game . For me , you know it's .

It's a low scoring game in general soccer , and so when someone is running through with an exciting attacking opportunity , I don't want people to take them down without their being severe penalty . Is kicking someone off the field for 10 minutes ? The right answer to that ?

Maybe , but I will just tell you it's going to have more confusion for fans , coaches , you know spectators , all of those people , because it's something they just don't understand and it's only going to get worse . All right , the next thing that a blue card will be used for is specifically for dissent on the pitch .

Now I know what I consider to be dissent and I have a personal tolerance for when I'm willing to give a talking to you first be like , hey , cut it out . You know I give people someone a verbal warning and if needed , and again , when I show a yellow card . I mean this again this past Monday night when I was roughing with a buddy of mine a kid .

Literally , he makes a call and it's relatively early in the game and a kid comes walking up and starts wagging his finger in the referee's face , going no , no , no , no , no , and he immediately pulled a yellow card on that kid . I mean like , absolutely , no doubt , like you kind of know in grassroots , like , hey , I can warn someone .

Like , if someone's like , are you kidding me , ref , you know , okay , hey , buddy , don't do that again . You know one referee you know , don't question my decision . I mean , if you have a general question , ask me , but if you yell it across the field , for me it's going to be a yellow card . We can do it .

But I think the challenge is what's going to be the threshold for a Premier League referee ? Because , like every single week , I see players using offensive , insulting and profane language , often a bus language , that should be red cards that do not even get a yellow card . I see players aggressively getting into referees faces that do not even get a yellow card .

So are you telling me now that when there's dissent as to fine , like dissent questioning the referee , okay , in a public , you know , persistent or personal manner , okay , not even using profanity , that that is going to be a blue card ? Really Okay , man ?

Then they are going to need to come out with some very significant guidance at senior levels , or really at all levels of the game , to help us better differentiate as to when they think this blue card or the Sin Ben , if you will , this 10 minutes sending off is going to be warranted .

Because I have to tell you , I mean , this is going to have to be a lot of change before ever going to see it at the elite level . And again , fifa put out a statement . They don't expect that this is going to be in the Premier League or League or anything in next year , but they you know there have been some rumors about being in the FA Cup .

I'm so curious about that . Again , I think , at a grassroots level , it's , it's if something , if it's communicated and everyone understands hey , listen , if you're guilty of dissent . Okay , you're going to be sent off for 10 minutes . I can manage that fine .

I think at the professional game they have to change orders of magnitude as to what they allow to be acceptable today and what it needs to be going forward . It's going to dramatically change the professional game . I mean , is it going to be raising your voice at the ref ? Is it going to be , you know , crowding the referee ?

If four people crowd the referee which we see that all the time the professional game are they all going to get a blue card ? What happens if it's the goalkeeper ? You know , do they get a blue card ? Do they get sent off ? Coaches , really , okay , you know it's going to be challenging .

I think at the grassroots level , you know we can manage and it has been managed in England already . They've been doing it in some Sunday leagues and youth leagues up in England and they've said it's very successful . I mean , amazingly , 77% of players consider it to be successful .

77% of players and it's like 84% of managers and like 87% of referees think it's been successful in its implementation , in decreasing dissent . I mean there's been like a 38% decrease in cards for dissent because now there's this more serious sanction . So I think that's a very positive thing .

I just wish they would mic up the referees , mic them up in the Premier League . Let's hear what those players are saying so that everyone understands why the blue card was given and it's not just another one . Oh well , that referee's got thick skin .

It's like well , that player you know said he's going to effing , effing , effing , you know kill him , or something like that . Or he's outrageously upset about some call and is like effing stupid or something like that . Like we need to be able to hear it and share that language with the world . All right , so it's going to be interesting .

Let me know your experience . I'd love . If you are a referee who has you send bins in the past , I'd love to hear your experience . Send me an email at refsneedlove2.com at Gmail , I'm sorry , refsneedlove2 at gmailcom , or you could just contact me at refsneedlove2.com and I'd love to hear your experience .

All right , next part of the pot , we're going into experience as a mentor . So that's right , guys . If you've been listening , you know I am working towards my mentor certification . I thought I was done , I thought I was going to be a certified mentor after doing this class , but I understand .

I think there's two more sessions now I have to actually do the on field individual mentor session , which I hope they give me an opportunity to do soon . I'd love to do that , love to do that . I feel like I do that just as my normal life as a as a you know experienced referee . So I'm excited to do that as a proper mentor .

But this was now my on field new referee certification course . That's right . So this is where we get about 40 , mostly kids . There was one adult there whose , whose son had gotten certified last year and he came out this year to get certified too , which I love . It was so wonderful to see him .

But , like 40 , 13 to 17 year old Kids I'm gonna call them kids , you know , for lack of a better term there who come to be certified , okay , to become referees . And I have to tell you this was a wonderful group . Anyone who like hates on teenagers , teenagers these days I mean come on , dude , these kids , they were fantastic .

We didn't have a single Discipline issue all day . No one's talking back . I mean , I , I firmly believe and the data proves it out like if you are attracted to becoming a referee , you're generally , you know , going to be followers of rules and appreciate order and structure . It's a thing I found everyone to be respectful and , for the most part , engaged .

Yeah , there's definitely one or two who you know I can't see following through and becoming a referee and and getting there . They're uniform . I just don't see it . I just personally .

Just you can kind of see a little bit of lack and engagement on their face or , you know , maybe they don't want to be that person in the middle of the pitch to have that responsibility . You could just kind of tell . But mostly everyone seemed genuinely enthusiastic about following the process and learning how to do a good job .

All right , so here was the agenda and I think this is really important . I'm gonna talk you through you know the experience . So again , you've got like introductions .

Then you go into , come right out to the field after we get everyone signed in and you know we talk about safety and enjoyment and equity and making sure that the you know the goal is set up properly and had a spectacle . She's like the very basic things in the field inspection . Then we did assistant ref mechanics .

Then we did assistant ref mechanics with movement . Then we worked on identifying offside . We took a little break , then we did basic referee mechanics , worked on some positioning static positioning and dynamic positioning and then we did , you know , the the check out in the badge presentation .

We also did some game management as well , which I wish we spent more time On that , but I understand there's only so much . You want Kids standing still and listening , so I get it , I get it All right . So let's go through this one more time the basic field inspection , inspecting the nets , aligning goals . I mean , it's an important thing , it is .

It is a big deal and it looks really impressive when you're a referee and you walk out to the pitch and you walk the field and you make sure the corner flags are correct and you make sure the goal is aligned , you make sure there's no big holes in the net , because that could be a key match decision . Key match decision .

One thing we didn't cover that when I do my Class and I'm the boss and I'm not just in training is definitely covering making sure parents are six feet back a full human adult body length from the AR2 and the AR1 .

It is a safety thing , but I love that it enables me , as the assistant referee , to focus on the game and not worry about tripping over Someone's legs or a dog or a toddler or whatever that might be . I make everyone stay back .

It's also gives a little bit more distance so that enough people like you know Again , if you're a young referee people are questioning their decision , like literally on top of them . So I think that's important . We then did the assistant referee mechanics so like a flag mechanics for throw-ins , fouls , goal kicks , corner kicks .

I tell you , man , it can , like I know these kids take geometry , but explaining what a 90 degree angle is versus a 45 degree angle , okay , it's like you have to explain it like 30 times and still they don't get it . I mean , I , I , you know , it's just it's like they don't , they don't see it , they don't see what it looks like in their head .

So , but we went through it . Then we went to actually the mechanics with movement , so they're side stepping , down the sideline , and then we like quiz them or take okay , throw in attacking team , throw in defending team , corner kick , you know , offside far side of the field , you know .

So they're having to like quickly go through this and to throw the mechanic While they're moving as well . So getting them used to side stepping , getting them used to running down the field and what Hand to float , hold the flag in . I mean it's crazy .

There is so much that you want to teach them to be able to look decent , but you're just trying to get them , you know , some feeling of confidence and and some Degree of credibility as they're running down the pitch . It's so important , so important . The next thing we did is then recognizing offside .

Oh man , I tell you , I mean , yes , pretty much every kid at that thing has played soccer before .

But a lot of these kids who are out there , who are recreational players , they're not playing at the highest levels of academy and so you know they may not necessarily have a full understanding of offside or all the situations are offside , or who the second to last defender is . But again , it is hard .

You know when you are the assistant referee and you've got players switching positions and moving in and out .

So we set up these cones where these attackers and defenders are walking back and forth and the second to last defender is consistently changing , and then we're playing a ball to a player who's in an offside position and trying to get them to recognize you know when is it offside , when do you throw that flag . It is hard , man , it is so hard , so hard .

I mean I'm just going to keep on saying that it's like these are simple things that as your when your referee 10 years come simple to you and easy to you . But if you were a 13 , 14 year old kid , you know , and in the scenarios where we're trying to demonstrate it out on this pitch , it is hard .

I mean I'm sure if we were actually watching a real game and on the sideline for a real game and running that sideline for the real game , it's like easier because you got real world scenarios . But in this kind of like quote unquote classroom environment out on a pitch , it is hard to get it .

People don't understand how complex offside is for a new referee , for anyone , for a parent , certainly a spectator , but new refs and how to recognize and flag it . It's tough , so simple . When you're watching it on television and you get like the lines drawn across the pitch . You know stuff like that . It's just it's really really hard , really hard .

The next things that we worked on later in the afternoon are basic referee mechanics . So again , this is and this is so much fun varying whistle tones . I'm telling you it's so much fun to give the kids the whistle and then let them blow it real loud . They never get to do that . You know it is fantastic .

You know looking for eye contact with their assistant referee . And then we went through that . Different hand signals Again what's a direct free kick hand signal ? What's an indirect free kick hand signal ? What hand signal would you get for offside ? What would you do for a goal kick ? What would you do for a corner kick ?

There's a lot of stuff here , but this was , I think , honestly the most fun the kids had all day . And the most fun I had all day is like okay , guys , here's what we're going to do . There's going to be a foul and we're going to call it direct free kicks . So we'd run over and we'd make the arm motion , you know , with the proper whistle , boom .

Okay guys , we've got a penalty kick . And this is honestly the most exciting thing is to see their eyes light up and be like all right , how are we going to sell this , guys ? You know , just running to the penalty area and pointing to the penalty spot with conviction , with that hard whistle . It was really a lot of fun .

I will say the next things we did I don't think were very effective . And , man , if someone has a better drill for this , I'd love to see it .

We were doing static positioning , like talking about where should you stand on a corner kick , where should you stand on a goal kick , and then dynamic positioning , kind of move , trying to move around with a like a three v three game . As a center referee , you know where should you be . If this is happening , that's happening .

It was so abstract , it was so hard for them to get anything good out of it , just the way it was in small pitch . Man , if someone has a better way of teaching that I'd love to hear . But I think it was . Really . We spent a lot of time on it and I don't think there was a lot of value for the kids at that first level , at the first training .

What was not on the agenda that we spent time on , that I loved because the weather was awful . It was like 40 degrees and like you know , like rainy and windy and windy out there was .

We came inside and we did breaking down descent , you know , like what's just feedback from the crowd , you know I call it outburst of emotion , descent and then sending off for off at a bus language , and we spent like 20 , 30 minutes . I think the kids were really into this . This is , for me , the most important thing that a kid needs to .

You know , as a referee , you know okay , maybe it's not the most important , but I think it's the the difference between someone sticking with being a referee and giving up after two games because they can't differentiate between the sounds that people say , you know , and as opposed to what is actually descent , that needs to be cautioned , or sending off .

And then what words to use , what words to use to actually , you know , talk to a coach and I don't think and again , I wasn't leading this portion of the class so I couldn't really interject because there was like three main mentors , two or three main mentors , and then there was like three of us helping and you know we had talked as a group .

You know we don't want people talking over each other and having five people talking I get that . So I didn't want to jump in with my own experience or thoughts there . But , my gosh , I think this piece of it you know to be able to . You know role play .

You know someone going oh , what you kidding Like , or like a parent yelling that one time , or if it's a coach , on every single you know call that you make , question your call like what , what do you do ? What language do you do ? What ? What words would you say to the referee ?

And I think you need to give a new referee very , very simple phrases and we should write them down . You know it should be something they receive , you know when they leave . You know , okay , here's examples of what you know common outburst of emotion are here's where it becomes descent , here's where it's sending off offense .

This is the language used for the ref . Again , I know I've said it on the podcast many times , but I keep my language very simple . I specifically call out what's happening and then I say what's going to happen pretty much , which is coach , you are engaged in public persistent descent . Please stop , or there will be consequences . And that's that's what I say .

That's it . I don't say , coach , can you please stop , stop what . I don't want them to stop talking at all . They can talk to their players , but I need them to not be criticizing every single call that I make .

Or if it's a player , I'll say to them hey , I don't mind you questioning a call , but when you yell out across the field at me that you disagree . You're engaging in public dissent . I show a yellow card . Cut it out or there will be consequences . And I think , demonstrating that for a kid that you can say it's your coach .

Or what if the spectators are a problem ? Because again , and it happened in the class , well , what if the spectator yelling at you ? What do you do ? And so we encourage them , you go to the coach , but we didn't give them the words to use to go to the coach . What should they say ? Again , they walk to the coach .

Coach , those parents over there , they are engaging in public dissent . That's where it is . It's not tell them to calm down because we want people to cheer . Right , if you tell people to calm down , like , do they calm down ? No , they get . Like , angrier , angrier , my gosh .

Okay , like you've got to use the correct words , coach , those parents over there are engaging in public dissent . Okay , it's affecting match control , Our ability to referee this match . Please address them , thank you , that's it . And if they don't address them , then we can go through . Okay , you can show a card and you can say the same thing again .

If they don't address them , you can abandon the match , whatever it might be , but give them the steps that they need to go through to be able to handle the situation .

I think we like this is so important and it wasn't on the agenda and we covered it just because the weather was awful , but again , so so important , so so important , okay , so I think that's kind of the main thing that the class covered . I mean it was wonderful giving them those badges at the end of class .

I wish there was a way that we could do like a class and then there would be another class after they do like like six matches , like can get them on a webinar at least , if you can't get them in person to like hear about their experience and let them ask questions . What do I do about this ? What do I do about this ?

Um , it is so painful to know that that's it , that they did their online , they did their in person class . They've gotten a badge and they're gone and they're thrown to the wolves and who's going to help them after that ? Who's going to help them after that Like , oh , I just feel for them so much .

I just feel for them so much that there's so much that you need to know to be able to be a good referee and forget about being a good referee , just a confident referee , that someone who feels like they're doing what they're supposed to be doing . I know , even myself and I had Jacob with me , my son , those first .

You know however many years we roughed together , many years , but there'd be so many times you're walking off the pitch being like did I do that right ? Was that right ?

Um , you know that I , that I didn't handle the , the game management correctly , the conversations with the players , especially the conversations with the coaches , and I didn't know what words to use or how to describe you know certain things .

When I was trying to explain things out there , I just , man , I really , really , really wish that I had some additional um coaching and guidance and those first that first year , especially after the certification um , because I know so many people drop out .

I mean , we know so many kids who have gotten their referee certification and they've done like four or five games and then they're done , they're gone and , man , they could have been great refs had they had a little bit more support and guidance . So , yeah , I wish them well .

I'm looking forward to completing my referee mentor certification and I hope I get some more chances soon to um , participate in those classes but also improve upon the process as well .

Okay , so , last things , guys , you know I always do a message from the mailbag and it's something that I've gotten really into and sharing because I think it is so , so , so important to to do um because it brings some reality into the room of what people are experiencing um out there .

I have one gentleman in particular who reached out to me , who is a 17 year old referee , who is roughing some , uh , recreational footsall this winter and he had to get a police escort to his car after an adult game uh , because he had to give out some reds for abusive language . And I mean he was getting threats .

The players were threatening his safety , they were telling him to watch his back . They were saying , man , you're lucky if I don't just jump you right now . This was the third year that this kid was roughing and he wrote to me . It's like it's the first time that he's ever been threatened this badly . It's been threatened but never this badly .

And also the first time that he questions why do I ref ? And he writes about it . He knows the answer is to do it for the game , to teach people about the game I love . But for the past hour he's second guessing himself as to why he's doing this and how to get through this , and I'll just tell you so we messaged back and forth a ton .

First off , I expressed extreme empathy . I also made sure that he wrote a report , which he certainly did , you know , write a report .

And then we just talked about again , you know , why people abuse referees , why people even feel comfortable doing something like that to someone that they just don't even know about a game , about a game like seriously , like what possesses someone to do that . I personally I feel bad for people who think it's okay to ref or to abuse referees .

Sincerely , I wonder if they are happy at home . I wonder if they have anything to lose . You know , maybe it's , you know , they do these things or they're aggressive because they have nothing to lose , because they have no love at home . Maybe they don't have a career or anything to protect , I don't know .

But I think they're going through some sadness and something's missing in their life for to do this to a referee . So I have , you know , a little bit of empathy , a little bit just to have . But I know that those people have no idea the impact that they have on the referee they're expressing that abuse to , because , again , all they see is a referee .

They don't see the whole human . They don't see the person who has to deal with those words that are threats to someone's safety . So it's a verbal assault . Okay , it's a verbal assault . You think you're about to be attacked . So you experience trauma and anxiety from that experience . It is severe . You know it can cause , you know , long-term anxiety .

You know PTSD . You know you can have , you know , lots and lots of sleepless nights but potentially lose something you love . I mean , I had a really crappy day of work last Monday , a really crappy day of work . I managed PR for my company , so there was crisis that I was dealing with .

I was experiencing pressure from a couple of different scenarios , you know , and it was a really crappy day of work . But , man , when I got out onto that pitch , just all falls away . It was wonderful . I am participating in the beautiful game , the game that I love , man , the game that I love , and it was so much fun .

And , yes , did I get a little dissent from a coach ? Yeah , okay , no big deal . It's cool because I am where I need to be , and I love it . I ran six miles in a junior varsity match 35 minute and a half six miles I covered . So I had an amazing physical aerobic workout . You know I had this amazing mental challenge .

You know I got to work with two referees who I admire and respect . It was wonderful . I get to participate in the game I love .

People don't understand that when they use you know this abusive language or threaten a referee that you could be taking away the thing that they love for their life , that all of their parents , this 17 year old kid , you think that this kid's parents want him to go back in referee after he's had to have a police escort to his car ? Are you kidding ?

Is he going to go back to his you know friends , family no way , and for what ? I mean ? It's just people have no idea the impact that it has on a referee . So this guy submitted a report the person who was the main agitator in one season suspension from the league and a fine .

So we threatened the safety of a 17 year old ref , used foul and abusive language and he got the one season suspension . Yeah , I mean , does it fit the crime ? Maybe , but you know , in my mind it really doesn't feel that it that the punishment meets the crime . It doesn't . I feel like it could have been a bit more severe .

When you start threatening someone's safety , it's not just a scent , you know it's just not , it's an assault . Even if you don't put your hands on them , you know it's an assault . Gosh , I tell you I feel so much for our young referees and I want to do everything I can to protect them and support them . I wish I could do more .

By the way , I don't know if you guys saw it , but they did hire a brand new VP of refereeing at US soccer . That woman looks amazing , like outrageously . You know it could not be more accomplished . You know has been working for FIFA . You know has done everything you know in the game that you can do as a referee . So excited for her .

But man want to help her develop our and protect our grassroots referees so much . I'm sure she's got a thousand things in front of her with gold cup coming and I'm sorry , not gold cup a Copa America and World Cup coming and everything else coming to US soccer over the next couple of years . But , man , I want to look out for our young referees .

Well , I hope you enjoyed today's podcast . I think the blue card could be a positive change , but it's going to have a massive impact on the game . So much left to work out and hopefully you benefited from my discussion of the mentor classes . If you have any improvements you can send me , I'd appreciate it .

Would love to do better in the future when I run my own classes . Again , you can contact me at refsneedlove2.com the contact us button or send me an email at refsneedlove2.com , or you can check me out at Instagram and TikTok . Please consider supporting my channel , purchasing some merch coins cards , a car magnet it's awesome .

It's like seven bucks it's awesome on the back of your car . Refsneedlove2 , everything gets plowed back in this channel to bring you better and more valuable content . I wish you all the best and may your next match be red card free .