The Best Pre-Match Warm Up For Football and Soccer Referees
As a Referee, I have always done a warm-up.
Now that statement might sound a bit obvious - especially now that I am a Semi-Professional Referee and warming up really is a minimum requirement.
But even when I used to be on my own, on the Brentwood Sunday League at 10:30 am on a wet, rainy and very cold Sunday morning in the depths of Essex, England I would head out and warm up. I would do a few laps of the field. A few shuttle runs. Some jumps and some dynamic stretching.
All on my own.
Players just stood around and kicked the ball at the goal as their warm-up…and there I was…taking it seriously and showing that I wanted to do a great job. We all started somewhere as referees, and what we do at that starting point lays the foundation for what you may or may not do in your overall career.
I firmly believe the warm-up serves a much bigger purpose than just getting you physically ready for your game, and hopefully, if you start implementing it into every game you do, not only will you feel better physically, but your match control, your decision making and player management will all improve immensely too.
And that’s never going to be a bad thing on the pitch, is it?
This is also a topic that we cover quite regularly on my Podcast: Red or Yellow.
Listeners are always getting in touch with questions about fitness, warm-ups, and how best to manage themselves physically on and off the pitch.
Red Or Yellow is the fastest growing and biggest refereeing podcast there is, so if you want to be a part of our amazing community please feel free to listen to it at your leisure.
Table of Contents For The Best Pre-Match Warm-Up For Football and Soccer Referees:
Benefits of a Pre-Match Warm-Up
Problem-Solving Your Pre-Match Warm Up
The Best Pre-Match Warm Up For Football Referees
Pre-Match Warm Up Best Practice
Benefits of a Pre-Match Warm-Up
As I mentioned previously, the warm-up is a very key component of your overall match-day experience. It goes far further than just getting yourself ready physically.
I personally see the warm-up as such a useful space for a referee, and I think it wholly benefits your game.
A Warm Up Creates an Awesome First Impression:
What is a first impression?
It takes about 7 seconds for a first impression to be made, a harsh truth, but one nonetheless, and to then change that first impression you need to meet the same person at least 7 more times thereafter.
Where do you think the saying “you’re growing on me” comes from?
In football, you are likely to meet everyone more than seven times in a manner of speaking
When you first arrive to the ground
When you go to the boardroom
When you do your pitch walk
When you head to the field of play to warm up
The walkout
Kick Off
During the game
Now if you miss number four, then you are going to have to work a lot harder elsewhere - and during a warm-up, because the field is large and you are moving around a lot, you could meet people more than once.
A first impression is made up of:
Your body language
Your appearance
Your demeanour
Your mannerisms
How you are dressed
You want to impress the players, managers, coaches, match day coaches and even the spectators before you have even blown your whistle. By making a good first impression you might just get the grace you need on a tight decision because a player may be more willing to work with you as opposed to against you.
How to create a better first impression other than warming up…
Dress professionally. These days if I was still in the UK I would have to wear a suit to a game. Here in Queensland, I have to wear a black polo shirt, black trousers and dress shoes, and crucially dark-coloured socks (nothing is worse than when you are doing a pitch walk and a flash of white socks is between black trousers and black shoes). However, when I was coming through the ranks in Essex, I would still dress in a refereeing tracksuit. I would have plain black jogging bottoms, clean trainers and a black Nike T-shirt with the FA logo on it. I would never go to a game in my kit (this would be acceptable for child safety reasons if you are Under 18 or a female official where there isn’t a dedicated Female changing room).
Don’t be late to the game.
Make eye contact with players, coaches, and spectators and smile at them as well. Look relaxed and like you want to be there.
Introduce yourself appropriately to the correct people.
Don’t walk onto the field of play halfway through a conversation on your phone. Just finish your phone call in your car before you walk into your venue.
Don’t sit on your phone pitch side. There is nothing worse than seeing a referee sit on the touchline when the teams are warming up, and you’re doom-scrolling when you could be warming up too.
Don’t have a dirty kit. Make sure your clothes are clean and professional.
Get ahead of problems like whether or not the balls are flat, the goals aren’t attached to the goal posts properly and getting the team sheets in on time.
Have all the tools you need in your kit bag to do your job properly. There is nothing worse than not having your AR flags with you and having to get your Club ARs run the line with a subs bib in their hand - trust me, you only make this mistake once (I speak from experience).
Chat with the players and the coaches. Ask them how their season has been going, how they played last week, and hunt for other information that might help you in the game about the way the teams play, or any players you need to look out for that may be trouble. Keep it lighthearted, warm and welcoming. It is really important to not pre-judge any players, as they can tell when you do that.
A Warm-Up Saves You Time:
There is nothing worse than being completely rushed for kick-off. We’ve all been there, stood in the centre circle still waiting for a confirmed time sheet and the away team seems to want to take 15 minutes to find someone to run your line for you. Or they are trying to delay because their “star striker” is on his way due to being hungover from a stag do the night before.
Before you know it, you should have kicked off 10 minutes ago and are now looking at a 30-second halftime just to keep on schedule, because there are another 2 games on after yours.
Well, this is where doing a warm-up can save you time and help keep you on schedule.
You see when I am running around the field going through my drills (more on these later) then that is a unique opportunity to make sure the teams are on top of these issues before you have even thought about guzzling your pre-match Lucozade (other isotonic drinks are available).
By going over to the teams, as you are warming up helping to cement that first impression, and getting ahead of problems that you are aware of but the teams might not be until you want to start the game, then it will keep you on the schedule you need to be on.
A Warm-Up Allows You To Show Off:
Soccer is a game of physical prowess. One thing I notice when warming up is that players are watching. They want to get a read on you as much as you do them, and therefore if they see you warming up professionally then they may just be impressed.
As I am getting older, I enjoy the challenge in my warm-up of showing that I can keep up with my much younger assistants when we are doing our laps and final sprints. Nothing makes me feel happier before a game than if I have out-sprinted a 22-year-old AR - and if it is making me happy, chances are it is making the players take notice that you are up to the task.
If you’re fit, take pride in it, and enjoy the fact that you can outrun players. Coaches, spectators and Match Day Referee Coaches are always watching.
A Warm-Up Helps Build Teamwork:
Refereeing is a funny task sometimes, especially when you have Assistants who you have never met. You have to present yourself as if you are a team that has spent a whole season together perfecting your game - just like the players you are refereeing - when in reality you have likely never met your ARs before, and aren’t likely to work with them again any time soon.
This is if you are lucky enough to have Assistant Referees.
Gelling quickly, getting on the same page and gaining trust for each other isn’t an easy task and the warm-up is a crucial tool in being able to do this. Obviously, you have your pre-match brief as well, but life is very different when you are all under physical and mental pressure to get decisions right.
My favourite warm-up drill to do with Assistants is the following:
Get your team and take them to a marked-out corner on the field. This. can be at the halfway line, on the edge of the penalty area or actually at the corner markings. The referee starts in the middle, and the two assistants line up on a line facing the referee. Now, wherever the referee runs to, both Assistants must stay in line with the referee on their axis. Therefore if the referee runs into the corner, then both ARs will have to move at the same speed towards the corner. If the referee decides to run up one line, then one AR will remain level on their axis, whilst the other AR has to side-step or sprint to keep up with the referee.
Once you get the hang of it, you can vary the speeds, intensities, and directions of each run toward and away from your respective Assistants. Give each person about 90 seconds to 2 minutes pretending to be the referee.
It is a fun game and builds rapport between the team nice and quick.
A Warm-Up Helps The Participants Trust You:
As I have already mentioned, eyes are on you from the second you enter the field/ground. Getting participants to trust you is a very useful tool and the warm-up can help you with this. It shows everyone that you are there to take the game as seriously as the players are taking it, and that you care that you do a professional job. If you can get the players to buy into this as well, it will make your whole game a lot easier to manage.
In sales people often talk about how long it can take someone to buy something from you. There is a process for this called, know, trust and like.
Once you have mastered all three of them, then a potential client transitions to an actual client.
As a referee, you must work on this as well, because I promise you that you will need to sell a decision at some point in your game, and if the participants already know, trust and like you then it might just make that moment a little easier to navigate.
Problem-Solving Your Pre-Match Warm-Up
There are many factors that might affect your ability to Warm Up - so let’s try and find some solutions for them:
I am running late
We all have slight mishaps with time. However, the higher up the football pyramid you go, the less you can afford to allow this to happen. So don’t make it a habit. Hopefully, if you do run late on game day, you have already done some Match Day movement in the morning as preparation for your game. This could be a walk with the Dog, some morning mobility work, or a gentle swim. During the season you should try and keep your body ready for the demands of refereeing throughout so that when you do run late to a game, you can truncate your warm-up and still give a great performance.
Another useful tool here is to invest in some compression tights. For games, I often have to drive anywhere from 90 minutes to 3 hours and in that time I can get stiff. I have found compression tights really useful in stopping any stiffness in my legs, meaning that I am more ready to perform.
My Assistants Are running late
I am assuming here that you have already messaged them before the game to arrange what time they need to be at the ground to make sure you can get everything prepped for the game. If you haven’t done that, then your ARs aren’t running late. If they didn’t know what time you needed them, then they are well within their rights to do what they please. However, if they are running, I would suggest just preparing as normal, and allowing them to slot into your pre-match preparations when they arrive. This may mean having to hold off your pre-match briefing so as not to repeat yourself.
I’m Carrying an Injury and don’t want to make it worse before the game
This is something I struggle with these days. Due to my injuries, I very much have to save myself physically for my game. This has meant that I have had to completely change the way I warm up, to still get the benefits of the warm-up, but also to not impact my on-field performance.
I therefore now just work around the injury, not through it. You should never work through an injury. My injury is in my feet, so I have to prepare my body with as little impact on the feet as possible. This involves a lot more mobility work, much slower-paced running and more walking compared to shuttles and sprints. The physical warm-up you do is to make sure you are ready for your game in the best way possible given your current context.
There is No Space to Warm Up
Luckily where I referee, we often have the whole field to warm up on, or a designated warm-up area, but sometimes there may be back-to-back games and you can’t get onto the field to do sprints and laps. This is where knowing your body and what your physical outcomes for the warm-up can come in real handy, and then you can adapt to the space you do have. A referee needs to be able to change direction, sprint, work at a high intensity and have a good cardio baseline. The higher likelihood of injury in a game will come from the sprinting and the changes of direction required. Therefore you need to prepare your body for these eventualities.
You will be able to find a space, where you can still prepare. This could be your dressing room for example. If that was the case, I would focus on your mobility for the lower back, mid-back and hips in the form of dynamic stretching. I would then put in some hopping, vertical jumping, lateral jumping and lunges with some pause squats. This way you would engage all the mobility you need, as well as prepare your body to activate the fast twitch muscles you will need when sprinting.
Finally; The Best Pre-Match Warm Up For Football Referees
The best pre-match warm-up for referees is one that prepares you in the best way for your game.
It should incorporate everything you are going to have to cover in the game. According to the AFC these are the demands put on a referee:
The total distance equals 11-12km per game
High-intensity activity for 4-18% of the total distance
Sprinting 1-8% of the total distance
Changes of direction >500 mostly 30-60 degrees
Average Heart Rate is 85% of your MaxHR
To make sure you tick all of these boxes a warm-up should look like the following:
1: LIGHT JOG
Cover one and a half to two laps of the football field just running lightly to shake off any stiffness and tightness you may have. Think of it as an active massage for your body. Work out anything that doesn’t feel right and just get to the point where you can keep a conversation whilst running.
2. DYNAMIC STRETCHING
This is a personal thing for you, but I do believe you should cover the hips, groin, lumbar spine and thoracic spine. Therefore I would do 3 Sets x 10 Reps of any of these exercises that takes you about 10 minutes to complete.
2. SHUTTLES
Next, you are going to want to do some dynamic shuttle work. Here I would normally line up on the touchline and perform a shuttle exercise until I am in line with the penalty area and then jog back. These shuttles are designed to cover mobility whilst moving:
Open The Gate (Outward Hip Rotation)
Close The Gate (Inward Hip Rotation)
High Knees
Bum Kicks
High Kicks
Side Step One Way
Side Step Opposite Way
Two to the Left, Two to the Right forwards and backwards
Grapevine
Backwards Jog
Hamstring Walks
3. DYNAMIC HIGH-INTENSITY MOVEMENT
Next, you will want to add in some zig-zag jumps up and down the touchline combined with running and jumping, some very short sprints, quick stops and some changes of direction.
Only spend a few minutes on this.
4. PROGRESSIVE RUNS
This is my favourite part of the whole warm-up when I am not injured.
Essentially it’s a gradual sprint that covers half of the field.
Start on the goal line, and start your run at 50% of max speed, as you exit the penalty area, increase to 70%, then when you are halfway between the halfway line and goal line, keep accelerating until you cross the halfway line at 100% speed.
Make sure you don’t stop straight away, and that you then decelerate over 10-20 meters, walk through to the other goal line and repeat.
Do this 2-3 times.
Referee Pre-Match Warm-Up Best Practice
So here is a little round-up, and some aspects of your pre-match warm-up that I haven’t yet touched on.
Use the warm-up to help keep you relaxed. It can be a really useful space for you to work away those pre-match nerves and get comfortable in your environment.
Smile as much as you can. Remember when you’re warming up, you are on show to Match Day Coaches, Spectators, Managers and Players. Use it as an opportunity to impress people and show that you want to be there.
Build rapport - use the warm-up to build rapport with your refereeing team, and the teams you are about to referee.
Don’t over-exert yourself, but more use the warm-up to prepare your body for the demands of the game ahead.
Work around your injuries, not through them.
Stay out of the way of the teams warming up. They need to do a warm up as much as you do.
At all times stick together with your team. Don’t leave one AR behind. You want to look united, together; a team.
Try to make sure you and your team are all wearing the same clothes for your warm-up. Don’t ever warm up in your referee kit.
The Warm Up is there for you to prepare yourself. Don’t refuse to do what’s best for you, to appease others.
Have fun. Like with all things refereeing, the more fun you make it the easier it is.
That’s All Folks…
Thank you so much for reading my Blog. If you want to find out anything more about fitness for referees then I do have other articles throughout this Blog.
A Practical Fitness Plan for Soccer and Football Referees
As mentioned above, it would be great to get you on board listening to Red or Yellow. My co-host and I are very passionate about helping grassroots referees in giving them advice, recapping the Laws of the Game as well as having brilliant interviews with guests.
Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast right here:
You can also stay in touch with me, and get more helpful fitness content by sending me a freidn request below…