AFC Beyond The Field - Life as a Football Referee | Episode 3 - Moments on the Field

My name is Abdurrahman Al-Jasim. I am FIFA referee from Qatar. Our FC, the referee department, they did a great job. They are keeping connection with us these days, this month. For a month, they follow us physically. We make many several sections online. It's difficult to make many camps, but we always do training online, by simulator, to see past videos, to learn from them. And they follow us very well. I am very happy to start before the Asian Cup 2023, one week before. It's like a warm-up. Finally, we are one team in Asia. The referee, we don't say Abdurrahman Al-Jasim from Qatar or Alireza from Iran. We have to be like a small camp before the Asian Cup. I think we are ready. We make many practices in these days. And I think we want to show the results for our preparation in the Asian Cup soon. So when they arrived here in Doha, the first thing we did was to give them a fitness check. To see whether they are ready for this very important competition. And to our expectation, every of the referees fulfilled this expectation. They did well. The referees who did the yo-yo, as well as the assistant referee who did the aerial. So both set of referees did very well in the fitness checks. And we were quite pleased with the results. So moving forward, what we want to do is to tailor the program a little bit more, which can actually make them even more fresher during the games, which we have done. And further to that, we have given them the massage. The relevant sports massage is needed. And when I say massage, it means it includes the ice bath. And also those guys have tight muscles, the treatment which they needed. And to make sure that every day when they come for the training, they feel very fresh. So this is important for us because we want the referees to recover as soon as possible in every training day so that when we impose a training program, they are very well aware of it and they can fulfill the training program without any injuries. This is very important to us. So you know, Asian Cup has been called World Cup of Asia. I have experience of appreciating the enemy in many important games before, in the FIFA level and also in our confederation. Our team knew that the expectation was high. As I said, everybody was looking how will the tournament start. And we were going to start in the tournament and show everybody that the referees team also are well prepared to start the tournament. And we are here to just let the game be in the best of luck region and also protect the image of the AFC and also football. The opening game is one of the important match of the tournament. And we were honored that we have been appointed for such a great game in the tournament. So the expectation was high. And you have to set a standard for all the teams, all the players, coaches and also for our colleagues. According to our preparation, we tried to do in the best of our ability. And the most important for us was make the game more excitement for the people who are watching this important game. The timing is very important. You cannot waste the time and explain every decision. That's why you have to do prevention. And the way you are going to just prepare them to take the free kicks, set pieces. Then during just do the schedule, you have to talk to them and just ask them follow you. And one message to one player would be a good warning and like do a good prevention for all players. And it will let them know that they have to just follow you. It doesn't need to explain them. But sometimes, as I said, according to the expectation of player, they need to talk to someone. I follow the ball. We control the ball. Which point of contact? Something like this. And then I stop, not with delay. But I mean I will follow the ball for the next step. You check the next luck. Just delay. You know, always this criticism, criticize, make us to look for a solution to improve our ability in all aspects. But there is a border for players and coaches. If they just come and talk, they need some information or explanation. According to just limitation, we give some information. But otherwise, there is like yellow and red card to just make them follow the referee's decision. We are managing inside the game, the field players, force official controlling the bench. That's also another important responsibility of the force official to control the bench, to control the match official. And all related to the personality and authority of the match official. How they behave with the teams and how they just put the border for them that let them know this is the border. You shouldn't pass this border. Even for the head coach or other match official or the substitute on the bench. Actually, we have a preparatory course. We have a lot of information. And also we have a tactical meeting. And also we have pre-match meeting with my teams. So we experience all the important information about the two teams. About the way, how we manage the situations, how we deal with the confrontation. And also with the benches. Team officials outside, inside. How we deal with the player injured. We share this information with my teams. My assistants, our force official also with VR. They are also experienced and we share together all information about the match. To be ready means to be ready for difficult situations and difficult moments during the match. How? With your experience, with your confidence and your gestures is very important. To show the people and also the spectators and the people behind the TV. And that you are confident enough and you are able to officiate these big games. So it comes from yourself, from your experience, from the knowledge from the preparatory course. These all tools give you a clue how to use it during the difficult moments. Especially if there is protesting. You have to show your authority from using body language or verbal warning. And if not, why not cards, yellow or red. Depends on the situation. We have enough experience to deal with this kind of difficult moments. Our target is to have no big issue. For example, for big decisions. So if not, we usually stop the match and wait for the confirmation from the VR. So if we have a doubt, usually I stop the match and wait for the answer from the VR. So this is very important. Usually we have three kinds of delay. Delay the flag, delay the restart and also delay the whistle. Especially if there are any situations close to the penalty area or inside the penalty area. So I don't hesitate if there is any mistake happened, if I have doubt. Sure I will ask my VR to take final correct decision. Either from the field or from the VR. According to the rules of the game, we have spirit. How to use it depends on the temperature of the match. Depends on the result of the match sometimes. How you make the balance. Because sometimes if you give clear foul here, for the opposite team you don't give same foul, so they will think that you are not fair enough. So this is very important point. How to be fair with this kind of foul or this kind of decisions. Especially if it's penalty or goal, no goal, clear red card. But also we have very very important tools. It's VR technology and also we have semi-ultimate offside technology. This is very helpful now. It's really good thing that help us. It's not happened before. But I always talk to my team. Today I want success to the match with you. With your support. I cannot alone. Football is three teams. Home team, away team and referee team. This is my thinking. All the matches were very tough. I realized that our referees did a very good job. Especially in the management of the players on the field. And also they allow a lot of the game flow. So that they make it more entertaining. You must have a very good preparation. And during the game a very good balance to decide when you run, when you stop. And also sometimes speak with the players. Because if you don't speak, they will ask you too many times for something. But if you don't listen to him, it means he will come, come. You can't stop by one word, two words. So if you speak about mentality, if you speak about physical, too many things inside the field. From your experience, you must now use your experience to manage this situation. Sometimes you have a decision. Maybe wrong, maybe right. If you still think about this decision, it means you make your mentality busy. And then you will be tired also. Because if you run and you think about other things, you will lose another decision also. Normally, with your personality inside the field, you must speak with the players in a respectful way. To give him a chance to understand you, why you make these decisions. Sometimes, if you respect your job and respect the football, sometimes the players inside the field don't understand why you make this decision. So to answer this question for them, you should sometimes have a quick explanation for them. Because the feeling, for example, I was a player. Sometimes I don't understand why the referee gave this decision. So if I ask him, I want an answer. If it's a quick answer from you as the referee, it means I respect you, I can explain for you. Very quick, because also we have time in the field. I cannot explain for you two or three minutes. But I can give you a short idea why we give this decision from an assistant, from a fourth official, from any officials in the game. We don't have too many yellow cards for protesting. We don't have many also, neither for the players or the coaches. We have a few things. And we always advise our referees to manage the situation, to be patient when they are dealing with this kind of incident. But at the end of the day, they have to apply the law correctly. Referees, team officials, they have to respect the referees and they have to respect their decision. We will respect them always. We, as referees, we always respect the players, respect the team officials, and at the same time, we expect they will respect us. The referee is a human. He will take his decision in a split of a second. At the end of the day, he may be correct and he may be wrong. At the end of the day, we need them, we encourage them to respect the referee's decision. And in these days, the important decision, if it's wrong, will be corrected by the referee. So there is nothing to do with protesting. They will never change the decision by protest or dissent. I take the responsibility quite seriously and how I, I guess, approach it is to ensure that I'm holding myself to a high standard and to account if I make mistakes. You know, I don't, I guess, get angry. You know, I'm going to have that emotional response, but I think it's my responsibility to find the solution or find the better outcome. And taking every, I guess, mistake and turning it into a learning opportunity so I can become better. And I hope that is seen to be how our younger referees can respond to their own mistakes or adversity. And it's just, it's always trying to be better. We're not always going to have the right answers every single time. But when we do have an answer, we can always find another answer in the future. We are playing a game where more, I would say, ethics, humanity, responsibility, too many, I would say, big terms that we are using in football. As we always say that football unites the world. So it's very important to have a fair and a decent game so everybody can enjoy it. Not only spectators, not only players, even referees can enjoy the game. Of course, as I am part of the referees, I always feel proud of the referees. I know how much pressure they face on the matches. But so far, they did a good job. The most important thing, there is no team lose because of the referees and no team win because of the referees. Yes, for sure, I feel so proud with them. Because the group stage is really interesting. They have a different style of football. The mentalities of players are different. But our referees, they show something really fantastic. They follow with our direction. They understand well what we already prepared them during the preparatory course. And I can say most of what we expect, they already do correctly. Well, I just want to say, guys, thank you very much for cooperating with us and putting up a good show. However, let's put up a better show in the round of 16 and all the knockout stages. And I'm sure you guys can do it. How we can make a difference, men and women, we cannot. I started refereeing because I love football. One of the biggest challenges I've faced personally is, I guess, the expectation to do both men and women programs. The experiences that we gain from both the men's and women's programs are really valuable. I think they are really about our performance because this is the first time in the Asian competition. So I'm also really worried. But after the match, their faces are also really happy. They must have the same opportunity. If technically and physically they are at the same level. I believe they are ready. I'm not worried about their performance.