Communicating with Participants & Coaches

An important part of refereeing is good communication. The referee’s communication with participants and others is undertaken in a range of ways. For further information regarding this article please click on the link below:

Communicating with Participants & Coaches

Keeping your mind on the job

A unique article by Michael Lloyd (Performance Psychologist) on how to deal with internal and external distractions when refereeing a game.

Please click on the following link for the full article:

Keeping your mind on the job

Directions to NWPL Referees

1. When a player is now ejected for Misconduct or Brutality they are shown a red card – this is new and not happened before so confusion may occur early. It needs to be clear that this is separate to the normal issuing of a red card. Perhaps on the form indicate that the red card offence detailed therein is for a coach/official or bench player transgression only. As in all red card offences the player/official must remove their cap if applicable and leave the pool deck.
2. If a team persistently (and that’s not 1 or 2 times but continuously) commits simulation fouls then that team is warned by the referee by the issuing a yellow card to the team. It needs to be clear (to the team and on the scorecard) that this is not for the coach or a specific person but for the whole team. If after the issuing of the yellow card any player then commits a simulated foul (regardless of whether they have before or not) then they are dismissed for the game and shown a red card. 

Referee Tips

Referee decisions must be consistent for the length of the game.

What is a foul at one end of the pool is a foul at the other end.

What is a foul in the first minute of the game is a foul in the last minute.

Physical contact will exist between players as they compete for position and the ball this is acceptable.

Use the concept of “play the ball and not the player” as a guideline.