“Position is everything for a ref, knowing the rules is so important…the main ones players know… it is the little ones that they don’t.”
—Gregg Deinhart, 7-time ASA National Champion (Open)
“Refs make decisions, but players decide the match”
—Peter Vahle, 2018 ASA Nationals organizer & Northern California S.C. Member
The ASA Referee Project is a guideline for becoming a better referee put together by ASA Board member Bryan Arnold. We’ll let him explain it below. You can download the guideline here.
Typical board games have rules that are rather fixed, declarative, and not especially prone to interpretation. Subbuteo (table football/soccer) seems more like a sport where the game’s value is enhanced by a third party like a referee making judgments on play on the basis of agreed-upon rules. Players can elevate the quality of their matches when they know the rules and accept the referee’s informed judgment.
My quest to learn as a referee was an effort to best function for the good of the competing players. But without a guide for how to referee competently, how could I learn to officiate properly? I could not find a program or written document for successfully using rules in a sports table soccer match. Therefore, I set out to gather information from players with years of refereeing experience who exemplified competency. In the process, I received many tips and advice from fellow players, as well as their encouragement along the way. The product of this work is this American Subbuteo Association Referee Project. It is primarily aimed at new referees who may lack experience and confidence (such as myself!). It also includes a few modules for learning and for brushing up on rules, including the pesky “little ones” mentioned by Gregg Deinhart above. Individual items in the modules have the official FISTF rule number when needed. For example: “Offsides Module,” definition of offsides (13.1.1).
Many ASA members and players contributed to this project. A big thank you to each of the players for their assistance, insights, and kind sentiments. I hope that reading this guide and learning the FISTF rules will make us all better referees and help continue to improve the quality of Subbuteo table soccer in the United States.
Bryan Arnold – ASA Executive Board and USA World Cup Team
