Your First Games

Four things to settle before kickoff weekend actually arrives. None of them take long, and doing them tonight beats finding out about a problem in the parking lot.

Open RefTown and make sure the game shows as accepted, not just offered. Check “Unaccepted Games” on the home page, or go to Schedules → Games → Unaccepted — if it’s sitting there, click “Yes” to accept it. Check with whoever is driving you that they have the field, the time, and know you need to be there thirty minutes before kickoff — not at kickoff. Find the rule modifications for the age group you’re working. Younger games are often smaller-sided and play with different ball sizes or build-out rules than the full Laws of the Game. If you don’t know where your league posts them, ask your assignor. Pack your bag: uniform, whistle, cards, watch, flags if you’re assigned AR, and something to write on.

A full equipment list, including what to buy and where, is on Equipment and where to get it. Arrival time and what happens when you get to the field is covered in Arriving at the field.

If something comes up tonight that means you genuinely can’t make the game, that’s a turnback, not a no-show — see When you can’t work a game for what counts and what to do. Otherwise: confirm the ride, double-check you’re actually free, and only claim or accept games you can commit to fully.

Arrive 30 minutes before kickoff, dressed and ready to work. Not 30 minutes before you start getting dressed — 30 minutes with your uniform on, boots tied, bag on your shoulder.

That number isn’t arbitrary politeness. If you’re on a field with games scheduled back to back and you’re late, you don’t just delay your own kickoff — you push every game behind yours late too. Thirty minutes is what it takes to check in, walk the field, inspect players, and still start on time.

Find whoever else is working the game

If you have an assistant referee or a second official, find them and say hello. Confirm who’s doing what — this matters most if you’re new and were asked to work as an AR, since the center referee runs the pre-game and you’re there to support them. If you’re the only official, you’re doing everything below yourself.

Check the field

Walk it before players arrive if you can. You’re looking for:

• Anything dangerous on the playing surface — glass, rocks, holes, branches
• Goals that aren’t anchored to the ground
• Nets, corner flags, and field markings that are actually there

If something is unsafe and can’t be fixed before kickoff, that’s a delay worth taking. Player safety comes before starting on time.

Check the players

Get the roster and player passes from each team’s coach or manager, and look over both before you wave anyone onto the field. Two things to check for:

• Unsafe equipment — jewelry of any kind (earrings included), and gear that doesn’t belong: jersey, shorts, socks, shin guards, footwear.
• Eligibility markers on the roster. A player crossed out with a red “R” is serving a suspension and cannot play. Some leagues also flag a player ineligible after a head injury. Either one means that player sits, no exceptions from you.

Everything here is the short version for a first game. Your league’s own rule modifications may add to it, and your assignor is the right person to ask what your specific league expects at check-in.

Every referee who worked the game files a game report — the center and both ARs, not just the crew chief. File it within 24 hours of the final whistle, through RefTown.

A game report also lets your assignor confirm the game happened as scheduled, and gives the league the score for standings. Submit it as soon as you reasonably can after the game — don’t wait for the 24-hour mark if you don’t have to.

Missing the deadline has a direct cost: a $10 fee for the center referee and $5 for each AR who doesn’t file. Assignors track this, and repeated missed reports affect whether you keep getting offered games.

If you showed a yellow or red card, the game report isn’t enough on its own — you also need a separate misconduct report, and there’s a phone call required for a send-off. See When you show a card for what that involves.

For how the money itself actually reaches you, and the other thing besides a missing report that can stop it, see Getting paid.

A yellow or red card is not the end of your paperwork — it’s the start of a second document. Any card requires its own misconduct report, separate from the game report you file for every match.

If you send a player off (a straight red, or a second yellow in the same game), call the Game Day Hotline immediately after the game, before you even get home. That call is a league requirement for send-offs specifically — it doesn’t apply to a single yellow card. Ask your assignor for the hotline number if you don’t have it before kickoff; it’s worth saving before you ever need it.

What goes in the report

Keep it accurate, brief, and clear — describe what happened, not your opinion of the player. A useful report includes:

• Game details: date, time, field, and both teams
• The player’s name and number, and their team
• What the misconduct was, and when it happened (the minute, if you can)
• Where on the field it happened, and how close you were to it
• Anything physical: what body part was involved, and whether anyone needed medical attention

Write it in the third person, using names rather than “he” or “she” — it reads more clearly later, to someone who wasn’t there.

If anything else unusual happened in the game — an injury, a long delay, a dog on the field, a goal that wasn’t set up right — that goes in the supplemental notes on your game report, not the misconduct report. See Filing your game report.

If this is your first misconduct report, ask your assignor for help writing it. That is normal, not a failure — every referee’s first one gets checked over by someone with more experience, and assignors expect the question.

RefTown pays you — not the club, not your assignor directly. Two things have to be true for the money to actually reach you: your payment method is on file, and you filed a game report for that game.

Set up how you get paid before your first game. In RefTown, click your name in the top right, go to Profile, then Direct Deposit Account Info — or set up PayPal/Venmo instead if you’d rather be paid that way. Do this once and it covers every league you work for through RefTown. Skip it, and the game still gets recorded as worked; the money just has nowhere to go until you fix it.

When a payment goes out, RefTown emails you the details — which game, how much. If a direct deposit fails (wrong routing or account number, or a closed account), RefTown deletes your saved account info to stop it happening again, and you’ll need to re-enter it before you can be paid.

Leagues generate invoices and pay out in batches, not game by game, so don’t expect money the morning after you referee. Nothing in the sources here gives a standard turnaround time, and it likely varies by league — ask your assignor what to expect.

Turning back a game means giving up an assignment you already accepted. It’s the right call if you’re sick, injured, or dealing with a family emergency. It is not the right call because something better came up — that’s what gets a referee a reputation with an assignor.

Check your RefTown schedule first. If a “Turnback” link shows under the game number, the league’s cutoff hasn’t passed and you can hand the game back right there. Most leagues turn that option off in the days before kickoff — often about a week out — so the closer you get to game day, the less likely it is to still be there.

Once the link is gone, or your league doesn’t use it, turning back means contacting your assignor directly:

Message your assignor as soon as you know you can’t work the game — don’t wait and hope it resolves itself. Call to confirm they actually received it. A message that sits unread doesn’t get the game covered. Give them your full name, the game ID number, the kickoff date and time, and the specific reason you can’t work it.

Do this even if it’s the morning of the game. An assignor scrambling for a replacement an hour before kickoff is a normal, solvable problem. One who finds out from a coach standing on an empty field is not.

The reason the window closes is practical, not punitive: the closer it gets to kickoff, the harder it is for anyone to find a replacement. Calling matters as much as messaging for the same reason — it’s the only way to know your assignor got the word while there’s still time to act on it.