Assistant Refereeing

It’s said that the best jokes have a chunk of truth to them. In refereeing circles, the joke is that it’s the job of the Assistant Referee (AR) to make the center referee look good. There’s much more to it, but it is the role of the AR to support the center ref in whatever capacity they need (and if the center hasn’t asked for it, great AR-ing is knowing when to give the un-asked for support).

USA Rugby Level 1 Assistant Referee Course

In 2024, USA Rugby released a certification course for Assistant Refereeing. It was developed alongside World Rugby and will be translated to other National Governing Bodies soon. This is a great introduction to the core concepts of the role. Certification is highly recommended. There is a fee for this course. You can find it on USA Rugby’s Learning Center.

AR responsiblities

The role of the Assistant Referee can be very far ranging, depending on the demands of the match in front of you. It’s important to understand the breadth of this role to help you understand how to most accurately, and constructively, impact that match.

Primary duties

These points are non-negotiable. These are the duties that you should accept responsibility of getting right. They are things that the center referee should have full faith and confidence in taking calls from you.

Using pizza as an metaphor, this is your cheese pizza. Before you start making a meat-lovers, you need to get the cheese pizza right.

An AR’s primary duties are:

Touch and Touch-in-goal
Quick Throw
Kicks at Goal

Touch and Touch-in-goal

Law 18 covers touch and touch-in-goal scenarios. This law can get complicated fast, so be sure to know it.

With regards to touch, when you set the line of touch, stay on the line of touch. You are the authority for setting that and it’s your responsibility to hold that line in the event it’s needed for sanction placement purposes (knock-on, not straight, etc).

Quick Throw

Quick throws are covered in 18.3-7. Quick throws must be quickly taken.

A good way to help communicate to the center ref if a quick throw is available is this flow:

When the ball goes into touch, your flag goes up
When the quick throw is not available for any reason in law, then your arm goes out to indicate throw

This flow visually tells the center referee when the quick throw is off without the need for comms.

Kicks at goal

In 15s, when you’re working with a partner AR, split responsibility of the posts. Your job is to make sure the ball did not go outside of your post. Make eye contact with the other AR, verbalize a “yes” or “no”, and only in the event of a successful kick should you make any motion with your flag. If it was successful, flags go up in unison (or as close as possible). In the case it is unsuccessful, make no movement with the flag and get back into position ASAP (especially if the ball is still live).

Foul Play

This is where the phrase Clear and Obvious Interpertation comes into play. If you’re going to come in with Foul Play call, you need to be 100% sure what you have seen and need to report is easy to perceive and understand.

Color. Number. Infringement. You need all three data points. It’s on you to work to get that info as fast as possible. If you don’t have all three, keep the call as a non-decision.

Other duties

These are the extra things that an AR can help with making the referee look good. This can be something as simple as calling in a clear and obvious knock-on, helping set the opposing hooker correctly at a lineout, or even managing substitutions so the referee doesn’t have to worry about that aspect of the match.

Typically, a center referee should brief you pre-match on what sorts of things they want help with and what they would prefer you leave alone.

Here’s an example of great verbal breakdown management by an AR to help prevent a situation where a sanction could apply:

That said, part of the “looking good” means not making the referee look bad. For example, if you’re working as an AR in a match without comms and you see a knock-on that you think the center missed, do not start flailing your arms in a giant knock-on signal. This creates a hostile dynamic between the crowd and the match official team and it puts undue pressure on the referee (which they may not even be aware of!).

As a spectator, if I see an AR signaling something to the center ref and they don’t act on it, I start to think the referee is not capable and I become hostile to what the referee is doing.

Further resources

This is an excellent primer on how to AR from Advantage Rugby Referees. It’s an easy watch at only about 25 minutes.

If you are looking for something to go above and beyond, spend an hour with this excellent deep dive on the topic.