Becoming a Referee
Contacts
Tovar's Referee Hut Website
Tovar's Referee Hut Website link For all your in depth Referee needs, information, and resources.
Referee Training
HOW TO GET STARTED:
- Requirement – you must be 13 or older
- Sign up for a GRASSROOTS COURSE (takes approximately 4-5 hours to complete. The first part of this course is done online (in the comfort of your home). Please complete this course within a 5 day (or less) period of time once you sign up. There will be a deadline when the course will closed. Once it is closed, you will not have access to it.
- Once you complete your grassroots online portion of the course, you will automatically be enrolled in the GRASSROOTS FIELD SESSION. This second part of the course is done IN PERSON. This session will be 3.5 hours.
Note: you must complete your grassroots online course a minimum of 48 hours before your grassroots session is scheduled to start. If you haven’t completed your grassroots online training 48 hours prior to the start of the field session, you will be removed from the field session. We will need everyone to have completed the training so they can focus on field training information.
Understand, that the Grassroots Referee course is a two-step process: GRASSROOTS COURSE (done online) GRASSROOTS FIELD SESSION – done in person at a specific venue. You must complete BOTH in order to be registered as a 2021 USSF Referee
You can find a list of available referee clinics on the North Texas Soccer webpage. You can attend any available class and still referee in Midlothian.
Working with MSA
Midlothian Soccer Association uses GameOfficials to schedule and pay referees. Game Officials is the website you used to register for the referee training class.
If you would like to referee for the Midlothian Soccer Association, after you have passed your referee test, you must follow these important steps:
1. Join the Midlothian Soccer Association Group on GameOfficials.net. To do this, log into your account. Click on the link to the left for "My Assignors". On the line that says "Join New Group" click the "show" button. Enter "1489" for both the Group Number and Group Access Code and click "join group"
Group Number/Access Code: 1489
Uniform and Equipment
You will need a yellow uniform shirt, black shorts (without any colored stripes), black referee socks, and black shoes.
Locally you can purchase these items from The Soccer Corner in Arlington. The address is 961 W. Interstate 20 OR Soccer City located at 3415 S. Cooper St., Arlington
Online you can purchase these items from:
http://soccer.epicsports.com/cat/18/p1/referee.html
Additional equipment is required. Partner with your Referee Assignor or the Referee Hut Website for additional equipment requirements.
Training & Resources
Laws of the Game
You do NOT know everything you need to know about the rules of the game. Referees that have been doing it for years still question calls or game time decisions!
It is important that you read through the Laws of the Game often to keep learning.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) establishes and publishes the official "Laws of the Game". These laws cover the game from youth all the way to adults. You can find the most current Laws of the Game here.
Association Rules
While this Association establishes the overall rules of the game, it is important to remember that they structure them so local associations are able to modify the Laws as necessary for their needs. Most of our modifications can be viewed in our Quick Game Summary. Click on the picture for a larger version or scroll to the bottom to download your own copy.
Small Sided Games
We implementied the final set of changes to move to the US Youth Soccer small-sided games rules in the Fall of 2017. Because these rules are still fairly new, they might not be reflected in all education/training documents.