COACHES and PARENTS: If you aspire to participate in post-season play (Area and State tournaments), please read the following carefully.

In order to provide the optimal soccer experience for the children, AYSO Region 498 is committed to providing trained, qualified referees for every U10-U19 game, and for as many U6 and U8 games as possible. Given the size of our region, our existing referee corps is not large enough to provide a center referee and two assistant referees for every game. To encourage the number of referees necessary to insure a FUN, FAIR, and SAFE experience for the children, the Region 498 Board has adopted the Referee Points System for this year.

To put the task in perspective: Each Saturday of the regular season Region 498 will play 40-45 U10 through U19 matches. These matches require a 3 person referee crew. That means a total of 120-135 individual referee assignments for U10 and above. Additionally, we have another 12-18 U6 and U8 matches going on at the same time.  At the very least, we endeavor to have a qualified center referee on these matches. So, on a heavy weekend, we will need to fill a total of  ≈155-190 referee slots over an 8 hour period.

How the Referee Points system works: For each game worked as a referee or assistant referee during our regular season and regional tournament, points are earned.  Points are awarded as follows.

Adult, center referee: 3 points per completed assignment Adult, assistant referee: 1 point per completed assignment Youth, center referee: 6 points per completed assignment Youth, assistant referee: 2 points per completed assignment
Points may be earned for any game, U6-U19, but are only counted for trained, certified referees.  Untrained "club" linesmen cannot earn points. Referee points are associated with an individual referee, and also with one or more teams.  At the beginning of the season, each ref will identify one or more teams which will be the recipient of his/her points.  As was the case last year, we expect to have several referees who did not have children in the program at all. These referees may give their points to any team who does not have the requisite referees affiliated with their team. Coaches who cannot get referee volunteers from the parents of his/her team should contact the Referee Administrator for assistance and contact information for unaffiliated referees.

The referee’s points options are essentially three-fold:

• The referee gives all points to one team, or

• The referee splits all points evenly between 2 teams, or

• The referee splits all points evenly between 3 teams

While Madison AYSO is committed to providing a quality soccer experience for our participants, as far as the season goes we can only guarantee that every team will play its regular season games, including Regional Tournament games. For players in the U10-U19 divisions, the privilege to represent Madison AYSO in post-season play must be earned through contribution to the program.  Eligibility for playing in the Area 5C and State tournaments is based on two criteria: performance in the Region 498 tournament, and accumulation of the minimum number of referee points.

To be eligible to play in the Area tournament, U10 and U12 teams must accrue 20 referee points over the course of the season and during Region 498 tournaments. For U14, U16, and U19 teams, 25 referee points must be earned to qualify for post-season play. (The points requirement for U14, U16, and U19 is higher because players at these ages are old enough to become Regional Referees and center matches.)

There are many ways in which a team may accumulate referee points.  Our volunteer referees are not forced into situations they are not comfortable with.  If a referee does not want to center games, he/she can accumulate points as an assistant referee.  Referees representing a team in a particular division don't have to work games in that division.  For instance, a youth referee on a U14 team can get points working U8 and U10 games.

Getting the required number of points is relatively easy, especially if your team has one or more youth referees representing it.  A single youth referee who centers five U8 games over the course of the season will earn 30 points, easily enough to qualify his/her team for postseason play.

The Regional Referee Administrator is responsible to track referee points for each individual referee and each U10-U19 team, and the point totals for teams will be made available via email or via the Region's web site. Coaches are not required to do any record keeping; in fact, the only thing we ask of coaches is a little assistance in recruiting volunteers.  If a coach would like to have a referee present at a parents' meeting, I'd be happy to attend to explain the program and answer questions.  While coaches are welcome in the refereeing ranks, they are already devoting a great deal of time to our soccer program; therefore, we don't encourage coaches to be the referee representative for their teams.

To recognize our volunteers, the individual youth and adult referees who accumulate the most referee points over the course of the season will be awarded a prize.