The wisest referee I know is now retired, but I still call him often to draw on his experience and insight. A few years ago, he taught me about the Moment Of Truth. Basically, the Moment Of Truth (MOT) is an incident - usually a hard foul, physical play, etc - where how you handle it will set the tone for how the match will be called that day. It’s a moment where your your decision to penalize or not to penalize will establish the boundries for the players. It tells them how far you’re willing to let them go. While I can’t predict when the MOT will come in my match, I want it as early as possible. That way, as early as possible, the players know how I will call the match that day. Then it’s on me to call the same behavior the same way for the rest of the match. The smart players will adjust, and there are mechanisms in place to deal with those who don’t.
But if I’m having problems with match control, I can often look back at my MOT and how I handled it. Or mishandled it, as it were.
March 24th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Hi,
As a retired referee who reached grade 7 status was a Assessor for more years then I can remember, this topic is one I firmly believe in.
The MOT reconized by a referee is so very important to their game control they must take an action when this happens since if they ignore it katy bar the door - especially in the more mature players if you do not face this moment and take action you are in trouble. Over my years as an assessor and as a referee, I stressed this to every referee i came in contact with. It worked out well for many of them as after we discussed this unique aspect of the game and i was able to observe them in later matches i could see they listened and remembered the must face their MOT.