to quickly find valuable resources for the developing soccer referee. Trademarks remain with the respective organizations and are hereby acknowledged.
Soccer Referee Info
Geared at the developing soccer referee
[ Laws ]
[ Train & Equip ]
[ Ref Assoc ]
[ Leagues ] [ SW ]
[ Other ]
[ Forum ] [ Los Altos, CA ]
[ Randy Stuff ] [ About ]
- New 2008 FIFA LOTG is released (Jun 2008). Unofficial LOTG comparison document available (Jul 2008)
- New 2008 USSF ATR -- print only, no PDF (Aug 2008). Unofficial ATR comparison document available (Oct 2008)
- New 2008 USSF Memorandum Supplement and Presentation (Nov 2008)
Laws and Interpretations [ FIFA ] [ USSF ] [ AYSO ]
Many of the main sites (FIFA, USSF, etc.) have become better about making their documents accessible in central lists. Please make sure to check there for the latest and most correct information. The outdated document links and files are maintained for historical purposes to aid the referee who may have not kept up with the changes. Please let us know if a link has gone bad. Many of the docs below are available locally purely as a backup and safety net. Use the local copies only if the site is down or you find the link has changed. Under no circumstances should old documents be used other than for historical or educational purposes.
See Historical Archive of Laws and Interpretations for documents older than shown here.
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| Super-Y & Super-20 Referee Manual (rules page) | PDF: 2006, 05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| USFF | Keypoints (U16 and below youth modifications to FIFA Futsal rules) | PDF: 05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Non-FIFA/USSF affiliated groups below but important to most referees none the less: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| US Indoor MISL PASL |
Adult,
Youth (print only) 2004: pdf 2003: doc |
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Historical Archive
(5 years or older)
(5 years or older)
Old rules that have changed over time are useful for historical research or retrospective. If they have been collected or maintained by someone, we try and link to them here. The below is an archive available for historical analysis. As above, many of the docs below are available locally purely as a backup and safety net. Use local copies only if the site is down or you find the link has changed. Please let us know if a link has gone bad.
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| Historical Rules | PDF: | |||||||||||||
| USFF | Futsal Soccer Rules (USFF) | PDF: | ||||||||||||
| Non-FIFA/USSF affiliated groups below but important to most referees none the less: | ||||||||||||||
| High School Soccer Rules comparison (historical) | PDF: 02, 01 | |||||||||||||
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| US Indoor MISL PASL |
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Referee Training Materials & Equipment [ AYSO ] [ USSF ] [ OTHER ]
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| Training Material | New site! |
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USSF / USYSA / CYSA |
Courses Offerred | Entry Level Referee Class: D2RA Calendar, CNRA Calendar | |||||||||||||||
| Training Material |
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Templates |
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| Advice Sites, Forums |
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| Books | Randy's List (new entry for 2008!), AYSO Region 26 | ||||||||||||||||
| Uniforms & Equipment |
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| Misc |
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| Safety |
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Certifying Bodies, Referee Associations
(Note: these are the referee specific links. See the Leagues for general organization links.) These are the organizations you need to seek out for training, certification, and continual mentoring and networking.
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| Section 1 (S. CA) |
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| Section 2 (N.CA, OR, NV, WA, AK, HI) |
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(USYSA, USASA, USL/ Super-Y) |
Grades |
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| CNRA (N. CA) |
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| CFAN | Futsal; separate registration but strongly coherent with USSF/USYSA referee program | |||||
| Non-FIFA/USSF affiliated groups below but important to most referees none the less: | ||||||
| CIF Off | (High Schools) Santa Clara County, CA: Fermar | |||||
| WCISOA | (Intercollegiate) | |||||
| For MISL and PASL | ||||||
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League Play Organizations or "who to get game assignments from" [ Youth ] [ Adult ]
Youth leagues tend to be organized by school district (AYSO) or city area (USYSA). Above that, the youth organizations tend to follow their own structure with USYSA showing its close affiliation to USSF in organizing by county and state borders.
Every league everywhere is always short of referees. So why do we constantly here from referees that they are under utilized? Basically, it is a problem of understanding and communication. There is no central list or directory of referees with their experience and skills. So you as a referee must get to know who is assigning in each particular league and then make them aware of your availability, ability, and contact info.
The style and quality of assignors varies greatly. Some assignors simply want to fill the slots without regard to who they get to fill it. Others are looking to be cautious and only fill games with known entities that are more than qualified for the game level. The best assignors seem to be the most senior referees in the league they are assigning for. This varies greatly across the many types of leagues out there.
There are a few key things to know when dealing with assignors. Get to know the assignor and what their goals and needs are. Make assignors aware of what games you are experienced with. Do not ask or accept games that are above your skill level. When you want to move up to more skilled games, tell the assignor this and ask to be assigned with more senior officials for the first few games. And key to it all, do not back out of game assignments. Otherwise you will be dropped from their list. So only make yourself available to a few leagues at a time and be flexible and forthright about your availability. If you have not found a mentor as a referee yet, do so and let them lead you into your next level or league.
Youth Leagues
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| AYSO : Section 2 : |
Area A: Northern Santa Clara County |
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| Area J: San Jose and Southern Santa Clara County |
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| Area N: San Mateo County |
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| Pacific Coast Spring Soccer League PCSSL (formerly the AY/CY Spring League) | |||||
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| USYSA: Region IV: |
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| See here for a complete listing of CYSA-N District 2 Leagues | |||||
See here for a more complete listing of State associations. | |||||
| US Club Soccer: |
Region J: San Francisco Bay Area | San Andreas Youth Soccer Organization (SAYSO) |
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| USL |
Super-Y League |
Santa Clara Sporting Ruckus Generally requires USSF Grade 7 or higher. |
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| SAY Soccer | mostly Cincinnati, OH and surrounding area | ||||
| USSSA | Outside of Florida? Any real soccer teams? | ||||
| US Futsal Federation (USFF) | California North (CFAN) | Palo Alto, MACSA (San Jose) 5-a-side indoor on basketball court; under auspices of FIFA Strong parallel / association with USYSA state organizations. |
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| Non-FIFA/USSF affiliated groups below but important to most referees none the less: | |||||
| US Court Soccer Federation (USCSF) | Mostly Florida? The other Futsal, aligned with the international AMF organization instead of FIFA | ||||
| High School: NFHS |
California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) |
Central Coast Section (CCS) | |||
Adult Leagues
| National: Multi-state |
State: Region | County: City |
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| Adult (Amateur / Rec): USASA |
California Soccer Association "North" (CSAN); California International Soccer League (CISL) (Over 35 league) |
Peninsula Soccer League (PSL) Palo Alto Soccer Club (PASC) Bay Area Women's Soccer League (BAWSL) - Women recreational Palo Alto Adult Soccer league (PASL) - recreational South Bay Adult Soccer League (SBASL) Silicon Valley Soccer Association (SVSA) - Women recreational San Francisco Soccer Football League (SFSFL) |
| Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL) (indoor) | Off the Wall Soccer, Santa Clara (OTWSSC) Amateur association for MISL | |
| College: NCAA PAC-10 (non USSF/FIFA) |
West Coast Conference (WCC), Western Athletic Conference (WAC): |
Stanford Womens, Mens Santa Clara Womens, Mens |
| NPSL | Super-20 League (club teams for NCAA off-season players) |
San Jose Frogs (U20 team) |
Minors |
Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) | Sacramento Storm East Bay Power San Francisco Nighthawks |
| National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) (was Men's Premier Soccer League (MPSL) |
USSF Division III teams (most from USL 2nd Division and PDL): San Jose Frogs Redwood City Ruckus (another Tim Martin team: schedule, roster) |
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| United Soccer League (USL) aka USISL and many variations |
New USL Team Listings; Old Team Listings |
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Majors |
Womens United Soccer Association (WUSA) (Defunct) |
SJ CyberRays (defunct) |
| Major League Soccer MLS | SJ Earthquakes:
Referee Days! (defunct) Full game video: live and archive from Yahoo! Sports |
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| Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) | Part of US Indoor; Amateur / rec arm is PASL |
Scheduling and League Software & Services
- Lists: Google Team & League Management Software, Jim Gordon's
- Web Youth Soccer, MySoccerLeague, USOfficials, RefTek, The Arbiter, RefereeHQ
- Youth League USA, Sports Logic Technology, GoalLine, Sports Game Manager
- SportSchedules.net, Galactix, Ridgestar, Diamond Scheduler, AssignmentMaker, EZFacility, PHPScheduleIt, D4 Sports, eAYSO
- Officials Record Keeper, FlagBase, PHPRefManager, Ref Tracker
Other Useful Sites
- FIFA and USSF Publication sites.
- CNRA District 4 Information for Referees site
- Jim Gordon's Ref Link Page (the ultimate links page!)
- Google CONCACAF USA Officiating Directory
- Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Referee Training Ground
- Referee Start Page
- UK Football Jokes (Referee Specific) (if you can read in spite of the red flashing ad!)
- Ken Aston soccer referee site (Referee Specific)
- Non-USA Referee Associations: UK, Irish (Cork Branch)
- Soccer Clip Art (warning, there are 200 "pages" to click through to see them all!)
- Glenn Sogge's links page
- US Soccer Players Association
- Non-soccer specific: Officiating.com, Referee.com
- History of Football: wordIQ
Community Forum (Message Board, Listserver, Discussion Forum)
The database was mostly lost; part of the app is broken. Until the forum is fixed, it is relegated here.
Socref.net Community Forum: A moderated forum categorized by the
developing grades of experience.
Why here? Why now? -- read why
Los Altos, California Stuff
The site is growing in utility and usefulness for the general community. As a result, the Los Altos, CA and surrounding San Francisco Bay Area Referee material will eventually all be relegated to this section.
- Local Fields: N. Los Altos, Palo Alto, Mt View, S. Los Altos, Sunnyvale, Menlo Park, Peninsula, and PSL
- AYSO Area A Web Youth Soccer DB Login (for authorized users only)
Randy Generated Stuff:
Much of this stuff is being generated as the author learns the art and profession of soccer refereeing. Hopefully it is accurate and useful. But it may only reflect the current state of learning! Use at your own risk. If only PDF's are listed here, contact Randy Harr for original source files. The material should be interspersed in the main page above but is collected here as a reminder of files that the author sources and updates.
- High School Level Pre-game
- 2006 vs 2005 USSF Advice to the Referees (ATR) comparison and Guide to Procedures (GTP) comparison
- FIFA World Cup 2006 Match Reports (games 1-64; as collected together into once place from FIFA website)
- 2005 versus 2003 USSF Advice to the Referees (ATR) comparison
- 2005 versus 2004 USSF Guide to Procedures (GTP) comparison (including appendix on pre-game instructions)
- Season / Tournament (round-robin) Standings calculator spreadsheet, v1.2 (16 Nov 04)
- Randy's U8/Regional Course (based on USSF Grade 8 and AYSO Reg26 material)
- AYSO Lineup Card v1.0, updated AYSO Fouls for the Ages (pdf)
- Proposed FIFA LOTG simplification (2002; by Randy Harr and thousands others I hear)
- modified USSF training page, modified Advice Table 8.6, new (original) Law 12 Grid
- Soccer Shoe Safety (pdf), Flag for sleeve (for iron-on transfer)
- Region 43: Ref and Coach Recruitment pages, Referee FAQ and Training page, North Los Altos Fields Map (OK, really pretty much most of the site)
Items in red on this web page are local to and originate at this site.
About the Site:
The goal of this site is to provide a resource for the developing referee. From the brand new referee on up -- so each can more easily learn the steps toward becoming a competent soccer referee.
The site was started in September 2002 as a sub-page of eda.org (http://eda.org/~randyh/socref.html) and linked from the AYSO Region 43 and 45 web sites. This was during the founders first 6 months as a referee. The content just kept growing as he discovered many helpful documents in very disparate locations -- and no central list to find, categorize, and prioritize them. At the time, none of the expected local and national web sites for refereeing had links to the key documents they published. More and more fellow refs were discovered looking for the same resources as the founder was collecting. The pressure to make the site more formal came to a breaking point when he became an instructor during his second year.
So in the summer of 2003, the founder grabbed the name "socref.xxx", pushed the local (regional) material to the end, and continued to expand and organize the content. A few months later, hediscovered why socref.com was not available as one of the extensions. (The name is being parked on by a nameless domain name vendor). A search in the Internet Archives found that Athol M. Foden had previously supported a small page for the developing referee named socref.com from ~1997 until 2001. To the founders surprise, Athol was a former referee in our sister AYSO Region 45.
It was not until late 2004 that the founder discovered a very active email list with a similar looking name: socref-l. That list has since created a web-portal to their list archives at socref-l.org.
Work is progressing at restructuring the site to organize the information by degree of skill, organization, and category. Make it able to contain much more information but still be an easy to find and update resource for links. This will inevitably require a multi-page, PHP/SQL based service. Additionally, others are encouraged to become involved and help maintain the site. The more experts out looking and maintaining the information, the better for everyone.
Randy Harr, Los Altos, CA, Mar 2004 (updated Mar 2006)
Site created and maintained by a fellow developing referee, Randy Harr. Please email him at randyh@socref.net with any corrections or questions. Last updated November 19, 2008 . This collection and original material copyright (c) 2002-2008, Randolph E Harr.