How to Referee Soccer and Apply Laws of the Game

New referees should know all the laws in general but should be quite familiar with Law 11 and Law 12 for offside and fouls. In most youth soccer matches, these are the two laws that are applied most frequently. But knowing the laws of soccer is not enough. It's important to know when to apply the laws of soccer and to be confident in your decision-making abilities despite yells from coaches, parents or players.

Common sense should prevail when applying the laws and the referee decision-making should take into account the level of ability on the field. Also, fouls are meant to penalize the team that committed the foul and offer an advantage to the team that was fouled.

Consider if your call will offer an advantage to the team that was fouled or will take away an advantage.

Soccer requires referees to use their judgment in making decisions related to fouls.

There are obvious decisions:
An attacker is dribblig the ball upfield and a defender kicks the attacker in the shins and never touches the ball. It's a foul and the attacking team should be awarded a direct kick.

Here is a less obvious foul situation.
An attacking player is dribbling upfield and passes off to a teammate.
A defender then kicks the attacking player on the shoe right after the pass is made. Do you all a foul? Yes, no, maybe?

I think the answer is maybe.

Here are my reasons:

Decision #1 No foul call is needed if the defender rushes up and tries to play the ball and kicks the attacker on the shoe (or anywhere else) if little to no force is used and the pass is clean and the attacking team takes possession.

Decision #2 Call a foul if the defender rushes up and kicks with force - especially if the defending team intercepts the pass.

Here's another situation on the same type of play.
The attacker passes the ball then a moment later you see the defender lightly kick the attacker on the shoe. There is no force used. What do you do?

It's deliberate and if the match is closely contested a little action like that could make the game spiral out of control.

Decision #1: tell the defender that you saw the kick and next time you will give a caution (or yellow card).

Decision #2: if the defender is a player who has a hot temper and seems to be getting out of control in a competitive match then respectfully tell the player that what happened was a lack of sportsmanship and it was unnecessary. Then pull a yellow card from the pocket even if it was a light tap on the opponent's shoe.

You as a referee are sending a message that provocations on either side won't be tolerated and the game is less likely to get out of control. This is when you also have to act and not worry about protests from the fans or coaches.

For young players at age 14 or under, it may be wise to tell the player to ease up and then tell the coach during a break what you saw.

Finally, stay in the game as a referee and pay attention to the style of play and the overall attitude of the players. Then you can adequately judge styles of play and feel confident if you do or do not decide to call fouls.