The second J.League Referee Refresher Course was held in three cities, as the course took place in Tokyo and Fukuoka on Sunday 7 July, followed by Tokyo and Osaka on Sunday 14 and Monday 15 July.

The main topics of the course were as follows.

1. Regarding the regulation changes for 2019/2020
2. Group discussion on “making supportive efforts to call offsides”
3. Reviewing the first half of the season

Instructor’s Comment

KAMIKAWA Toru, Class-S Referee Instructor
This was our second J.League Referee Refresher Course of the season. With the course being held in the weekend, where league matches are also conducted, we held the course six times in three different cities to allow everyone to attend the course at their most convenient time and location. Each venue attracted about 30 referees per course and compared to our past courses where we had more participants attend in a single venue, we saw more active discussions held to provide a productive time for the participants. The refresher course mainly emphasised on the regulation change that will be implemented this August, while we also reviewed the first half of the season. By watching game films, we spent a good amount of time to go over in details on how to make our decisions on hand-balls. We also went over cases where the match will restart with a drop-ball. The course lasted nearly half a day, and we hope that this course will help the participants showcase great performances in the second half of the season.

Participants’ Comments

TANIMOTO Ryo, Class-1 Referee (Osaka)
In this course, we went over the regulation changes, discussions on how to make supporting efforts to call offsides, and reviewed the first half of the season. There are many changes that will be implemented into the new regulation, so the participants asked many questions as the instructors gave lectures on the changes. As for the J.League, the new regulations will be enforced in early August, which is during the midst of the season, so each referee must acknowledge the changes and get themselves prepared ahead of time. In our discussion on how to make supporting efforts to call offsides, we spent our time discussing about situations where it is difficult for the assistant referee to make the decision on their own. I learned that the referee and the assistant referee will each be looking for a different piece of information in those situations, and we must be careful of how we pass on the information, because some phrases can be misleading to one another. With the completion of the first half of the league, we will now enter a tough summer season, but we will continue to enter each match with a strong sense of responsibility as a J.League referee and give our utmost efforts for the players, staffs, and the fans.

TSUKAKOSHI Yuki, Class-1 Referee (Ibaraki)
This J.League Referee Refresher Course covered the new regulations, importance of having support between the referee and the assistant referee, and how to enhance the perception of the matches. When we discussed the new regulations, we spent a great deal of time to share our understandings on the changes on the hand-balls. Through our discussions, we went over how the referees should communicate with each other to convey accurate information, so that we can ultimately make the correct call. I hope to implement what I’ve learned in this course to make accurate calls in the second half of the season. I will continue to serve with the responsibility as a J.League referee and give my best efforts to become the best referee I can possibly be.

HANAKAWA Yuichi, Class-1 Referee (Wakayama)
The course started with Chairman OGAWA Yoshimi giving a speech, followed by a lecture given by Mr. Kamikawa on the new regulations. We are seeing many changes applied to the regulations, and with the J.League scheduled to implement the new regulations in early August, we went over each change in details so that we can make the correct decisions on the field. We then watched films to discuss the importance to have the referee and the assistant referees communicating in the match. During the discussion, we realised that the referee and the assistant referee may not always be looking for the same piece of information. That is why it is important that we need to make ourselves clear on what information we are trying to retrieve or convey. I will prepare myself well so that I can implement what I’ve learned in this course to the upcoming matches of the season.