This article was featured in a past edition of the USSF's  "Fair Play Magazine".

Offside

     The pregame will begin with Offside.  When you see an offside, there will be a difference between offside and offside position.  I do not want you to signal offside position, only offside.  That means signal when the player interferes with play, interferes with another player, or gains an advantage by being in the offside position. As soon as you see that, and it's your call entirely - I can't make that call - you should put your flag straight up. When I blow the whistle, I want to see the signal for where the infraction occurred. If it's across the field, I want the signal up at 45 degree angle. If it's in the middle, give the signal straight across the field.  If it's closer to your side of the field, point the flag down at 45 degree angle. That will let me and the players know where to spot the ball for the restart. Now it's very important that if I miss your offside signal, you stand still and hold the flag. Don't run the line if I don't see your flag.

     There will be occasions when I can see a bigger picture than you and I will look over at you and wave for you to put the flag down.  I may look at you and see the flag up, but the ball is going to the goalkeeper and there is no danger that the offside attacker is going to get the ball. The goalkeeper punting the ball out is an advantage to the defending team and it keeps the game flowing. I wnat you to hold the flag up until the keeper successfully clears the ball, then I'll wave it down. That let's the players know that I saw the offside.  Also, if the keeper fumbles the ball and the offside attacker kicks the ball in the goal, I can blow the whistle for offside because you still had the flag up.

Fouls

      Now let's talk about fouls.  If the fouls are closer to you than they are to me, that's when I'm going to need your help.  If the foul is closer to you, it's my call.  If it's in the center of the field, it's my call.  But if it's closer to you and you see a foul, before you flag it, look at where I am on the field.  If you see I'm too far away or my view is blocked by other players, then it's entirely your call.  To signal a foul, put the flag straight up, agitate the flag, and when I blow the whistle, signal the direction, just as you would on a throw-in.  The only time you agitate the flag is when I look over at you. That will let me know that it's different from an offside.

     If I miss a foul and I miss your flag, it's not the same as an offside.  I don't necessarily want you to stand there and wave the flag. If I don't see it an play goes on, put the flag down and resume your position.  There will also be times that I signal an advantage. You are watching a very small part of the field. Say that a player is kicked in the back of the legs but he was able to get the ball off to one of his attacking players and the ball was going toward the goal, then I'm going to indicate play-on advantage even though you made the right call.

     You also cover my back, watching for fouls that I don't see.  You watch all the players that are behind me and make sure that they don't do anything. Now you're also a Referee, so if a minor foul happens behind my back, I want you to talk to the players. Just yell out to the players "Okay, that's enough, guys. Cut it out; I'm watching you." That will let them know that you see them without interrupting play.

     But if it happens to be a bad enough foul that you think that the player should be cautioned or sent off, then you have to get my attention. You're going to raise the flag again.  It will be behind my back so I won't see but the linesman on the other side will do what's called a mirror.  He will put the flag up when he sees you put your flag up.  When I see his flag, he'll agitate it and point across the field to you.  I'll want you to be able to tell me the teams and uniform numbers of the players you want me to caution or send-off.  I don't want you to call me back just to talk to them. You can do that. If it requires a card, I have to do that and you'll have to call me back for that.

Penalty Kicks

     If I whistle a direct-kick foul, and it's close to the penalty area, I need to know if the fouled player was in or out of the penalty area. To signal,  put the flag between your legs.  That lets me know that it's inside the penalty area.  If it's outside, just stand with the flag to your side.

     If there is a penalty kick, as soon as I point to the penalty spot, you come around to the endline and be the goal judge. Be just off the field so you don't get hit with the ball. If the goal is properly scored, then I want you to go around the corner flag and up 15 yards like you were signaling a regular goal. If there was a problem behind my back (like encroachment), and the encroaching player gets the rebound and puts the ball in the goal, I want you to just stand there and make me come talk to you. I'll take care of watching the keeper's movements.

     If you see a foul in the penalty area that I didn't see, such as a handball facing you, put the flag straight up and agitate it, as you would for a regular foul.  But after I blow the whistle, instead of indicating direction, put the flag at your side and run down to the corner flag. That tells me that you think it's a penalty kick situation.

Corner Kicks, Goal Kicks

   I want you to follow every single ball to the endline. That's going to be tough because the players run at a very fast pace. Every time the ball goes toward the goal you have to either be with the second last defender to call the offside, or you have to be with the ball. If the ball is played toward the goal line, follow it all the way because the most critical things happen right at the goal line. If the ball goes out of play, I want to make sure that you know whether it's going to be a goal kick or a corner kick.

     To signal a goal kick, point the flag straight across the field. It will be one of your jobs to make sure that the ball comes completely out of the penalty area, so be in a position to be able to tell. If the ball does not come out completely before another player touches it, your flag goes straight up and I'll know we need to retake the kick.

     If the ball is kicked out by a defender over the goal line, then I want you to signal by pointing the flag down at a 45 degree angle toward the corner flag. Your position for the corner kick is behind the flag looking down the goal line because you job is to be the goal judge. You're going to make sure that the ball goes completely in the goal or that the ball has not gone across the line on the kick. Stay far enough back so that you're not in the way of the player.

     On the free kicks close to the goal, I'm going to have you take offside. I'll go down and be the goal judge as soon as I set the ball. If I have a problem with the wall and want to stand by it, I'll wave you down to be the goal judge.

     If the ball hits the crossbar, bounces into the goal and back out, I want you to be there on the line to tell me if the whole ball crossed the entire goal line. If the ball did enter the goal and bounce back out, put your flag straight up. When I've blown the whistle to stop play, I want you to run up the field about 15 yards and make eye contact with me, indicating that the goal was scored.

Touchline violations

     If the ball goes out-of-bounds on the touchline, and it's on your side of the field, just indicate direction with your flag. If you are watching for offside and you see the ball go out but you don't know who kicked it out, just put the flag straight up to let me know the ball is out of play. I'll make the call and you put your flag in the same direction that I'm pointing with my hand. It makes look like a team.

     If the ball goes out on the touchline on my diagonal, which is on the half of the field you're not covering, I still want a signal from you. But I want the signal to be a flag straight up instead of a direction. Hopefully, I'll be closer to the ball, but I can't tell exactly where the line is and when the ball is completely out, so I'll look to you for that indication. If I look back at you a second time, then I need your help for direction. If the ball goes out of play and I don't see you, just keep standing there with the flag up, because once the ball goes out of play we have to restart with a throw-in.

Keeping time

     One of the things I want you to do is keep time with me. I just want you to keep running time, so you never stop your watch. If I need some assistance because I had a watch failure or I didn't restart my watch after I stopped it for some reason, I'm going to my watch and when I can get close to you, I'll expect that you'll tell me how many minutes are left in the game. The other linesman will stop and restart his watch when I do, so we never get out of synch with what's going on.

Recording goals

     After a goal is scored, it's very important that the lead linesman, the one who is down by the goal, keeps his eyes on the goal area because some of the biggest fights start there right after a goal is scored. I want that linesman to have his eyes on that area at all times.

     The trail linesman should write down who scored the goal and at what time the goal was scored. Once the player are ready to take the kick-off, then I'm going to write, and after that I'll look at you and you can record the information. I won't restart the game until  after the lead linesman is done writing. The same writing procedure is used to record cautions and send-offs.

Fights

     If there is a fight on the field that is closest to me and it's only between two players, the first thing I want you to do, if the ball is on your end of the field, is remember how we are going to restart the game.  I want you to know where the ball was when I blew the whistle. If it's just two players fighting, I'll deal with it. If the fight escalates, and you are on the bench side, I want you to go towards the middle of the field along the touchline but between the two benches and make sure no players leave the bench to come into the brawl. I don't want you to physically stop them but I want you to warn them that  it's an automatic send-off if they enter the field to fight. You other job is to write down the numbers of players leaving the bench. You're also going to write down the numbers of all team A players involved in the fray on the field. The other linesman is going to record all the team B players. There will be times when I would want you to come assist me.  If I'm separating two guys and you see some other guys starting to get into it, you may want to come onto the field and make sure all those players know that we're watching them.

Substitutions

     Since you are the linesman on the bench side, it's your job to handle substitutions. After a team has indicated to you that they want a sub, at the next substitution opportunity, you put your flag up and over your head holding the stick horizontal to the ground. You can even yell "Ref, we need a substitute!" Once I acknowledge the substitution, I don't want the player to enter the field until the other player has completely gone off the field.  You can lower your flag once I acknowledge your signal. Once the substitution is over and you're satisfied that everything is fine, just nod your head and tell me everything is okay and we'll go on with the game.

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