SURREY YOUTH LEAGUE

Pitch Marshall Responsibility

First of all thank you for volunteering to help the Children on a Sunday morning play in a friendly and sporting environment by being a Pitch Marshall. It is time that the adults on a Sunday morning took back control from the small mindless people that occasionally spoil the Childrens game.

Your Role as a Pitch Marshall is formed in five area’s or phases on the day:-

  1. Firstly to meet and greet the opposition and in particular the opposition Pitch Marshall
  2. To meet and greet the referee and ensure they are aware of the Surrey Youth League Pilot and your role as a Pitch Marshall.
  3. During the game you may be called upon by the referee to discuss a disrespect issue that he has and maybe take action with your own supporters or manager.
  4. For games where Linesmen are present ensure that people are requested to move so that they do not stand behind the opposition linesman, this may mean moving your teams parents at half time, if anyone refuses, play the game and report to the league.
  5. To hold a quick debrief with the Referee and opposition Pitch Marshall after the game to ensure anything that needs reporting is agreed and understood between all of you.

The primary focus of a Pitch Marshall.

To set your minds at ease you are not expected to act as a Football Ground Steward in dealing with confrontation. You may talk with opposition supporters, but it is NOT your role to manage confrontation with opposition supporters or manager. Your role is to only work with the referee, deal with your own supporters by conveying messages from the Referee and report issues on a simple web form on our Prawn Sandwich system.

Should you ever be threatened or confronted just walk away and report the issue to your Club Secretary and the League atmailto:

Match day Role.

  1. Firstly please wear the High Visibility Vest, the main reason for this is to enable the referee to identify you quickly during the game.
  1. 20 mins or so before the match start find the referee and talk to him, with your peer Pitch Marshall and exchange the following information:-
  2. Referees Name (Age if they look U18) and Your Name – perhaps you could pay the referee rather than the manager at this point
  3. Ensure that the referee is aware of the SYL Pilot, in that the referee is to not tolerate any level of abuse or persistent levels of questioning of his decisions. Should he deem that it is too much, then he is to stop the game and report to you that a manger, spectator or group of spectators will be reported.
  1. Next, if the match has linesmen, on understanding who is kicking in what direction, request parents move to an area where they are not standing behind the opposition linesman, if they refuse, play the game and report to the league.
  1. If the referee calls you onto the pitch, please find out why he has done so. If the referee is a Child referee U18, please ensure that they are OK and not in any way scared or feeling particularly vulnerable. From the description of the issue, if it is to do with your team, please go back to the manager and spectators and tell them what the referee has said, ask them to calm down, inform them that they will be reported by the referee for a Respect Breach. The referee will make a note in his notebook.
  1. Post Match debrief – at the end of the game, in 95% of cases, this will be a very simple chat – “Everything OK Ref, went well today, have you been paid, nothing to report” – Everyone goes on their way. If however there was an incident in the game then please ensure that any names are identified to the referee so that he can and yourself report the issue to the league. Please also ensure that the referee is not confronted by your own supporters or manager. The referee needs to be safe.
  1. After the match enter a match result card from the drop down menu on Prawn Sandwich– a very quick online course / briefing will be available shortly for the details needed. If nothing has happened, other than putting match and refs name in it will be a very quick tick the box – Nothing to Report.
  1. If the referee has not identified an issue, you can enter an issue into the online match report form, if you feel you need to do so – inappropriate behaviour of opposition managers or parents, we may not take action upon this one incident, but if a pattern appears with a certain team then we can use these reports to deal with repeated problems.
  1. If you need to report further issues, especially if you are ever confronted in an aggressive way or not communicated with in a courteous manner, then email the League Respect manager at the following address:- mailto:

Our hope and desire is that in the main you will have nothing to do, other than to just liaise with the referee at the start and end of game. We believe that the publicity that this campaign has had, and will continue to do so, will have a positive impact on all who attend Childrens matches.

We do not want the passion, the cheering to go away, the odd “Oh ref” is part of the game, we don’t want this removed, but lets make this wonderful league, that provides over 12,000 children with football on a Sunday morning, a beacon for all that’s good in children’s sport.

Once again a huge thank you for volunteering for this key role in making the Sunday Morning experience a positive one.

Graham Ekins

SYL Chairman