Effective Communication For Referees

Welcome fellow referee.

Thank you for making the decision to improve your communication as a referee. If you implement the content of this book, you WILL become a more effective referee, I guarantee that.

This book is not about the Laws of the Game (of which there are 17, plus the extra unpublished Law 18, known as common sense). The focus of the content of this book, as the title suggests, is effective communication, what I like to refer to as ‘Law 19’.

If you are interested in learning more about the Laws of the Game and their practical application, read either ‘The Art of Refereeing’ (Robert Evans & Edward Bellion) or ‘Preventive Officiating’ (Randy Vogt).

Will the book help if you are a professional referee? Probably not, but read on and find out, there may still be a few things that help you! This book is mainly intended for referees outside of the minority of professionals.

Try to remember that communication is a two-way process; sending and receiving information is an important aspect of competitive sports and effective use of this process will make things much easier for you as a referee. Do not just be a sender.

I have intentionally kept the book relatively brief (16 pages) and not included waffling or dull content as ‘fillers’ like many books seem to. All of the advice and information is directly targeted at improving your communication.