3. REPORT WRITING The Plan Suggestions to Report Writing When/Why New Forms for 2012 3 C’s of Report Writing Clear, Concise & Correct Analyze sample reports Report writing exercise

4. Discipline Reports – Why/When Mandated by the Laws of the Game Law 5 (p24, LOTG): -provides the appropriate authorities with a match report, which includes information on any disciplinary action taken against players and/or team officials and any other incidents that occurred before, during or after the match. Every time a Red Card is shown, a Discipline Report must be written In the case of multiple ejections, each ejection must have its own report and must stand on its own GOAL: TO PROVIDE A COMPLETE AND USEFUL REPORT TO THE PROPER AUTHORITIES.

5. Report Writing BEFORE WRITING THE DISCIPLINARY REPORT: Write down rough details of the incident as soon as possible (half time/after game/at home). Ask details from your refereeing crew if available. Write a draft copy of the report Focus on the facts Provide a mental picture for the reader

6. Report Writing New Forms in 2012 Dismissal & Special Incident Reports now on separate forms Two Pages Page 1 - Information

7. Report Writing New Forms in 2012 Page 2 Description of Incident Information regarding further misconduct

8. Report Writing WRITING THE DISCIPLINARY REPORT: Completely fill in relevant info in the discipline form: Section 1 Components: - Competition & Division -Location, Date/Time - Home/Visiting Teams - Final Score - Player’s (or Team Official’s) Name and Jersey Number (if player) - Time of Ejection - Score at the time of the Ejection

9. Report Writing WRITING THE DISCIPLINARY REPORT: Why was the dismissal issued? - Indicate the reason for the Ejection - If a Team Official, indicate Team Official - #8 as allowed by Law 5 -Indicate who the Offensive Language was directed against if choosing #7

10. Report Writing WRITING THE DISCIPLINARY REPORT: Brief description of the incident Example of Brief Description of events: In the 29th minute, a Montreal Impact player was running with the ball and was on a breakaway. Islanders player # 21 carelessly tackled the Montreal Impact player from behind only making contact with the player. The foul occurred outside the Penalty area. I then ejected Islanders player # 21 for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick according to Law 12, p35 of the Laws of the Game.

11. Report Writing – 5 Ws WRITING THE DISCIPLINARY REPORT: Make sure to include the 5 Ws of fact in the brief description of the incident Who – Who are the player(s) involved? What – was the offence (and the resulting sanction) Where – Where did the offence occur (on the field of play, off the field of play, inside the penalty area, etc)? When – When did the offence take place Why – Why did it occur. prevent an obvious goal- scoring opportunity, etc

12. Report Writing WRITING THE DISCIPLINARY REPORT: Further Misconduct Indicate if the player left the field of play immediately (if no, provide details) Indicate if player continued misconduct after being shown the red card (if yes, provide details)

13. The 3 C’s C = Clear C = Concise C = Correct

14. C = Clear The report must be Clear The report must be written so that anyone reading it knows exactly what happened Example of incorrect report: The guy tripped the player and he didn’t score. Who were the players involved? Where did it happen? Why was the player ejected?

15. C = Concise The report must be to the point The report should contain only the facts related to the ejection The report must not include ambiguous language The report should have the appropriate detail

16. The report should not include phrases such as: - “I think….” - “The player was mean…” - “In my opinion…” (when interpreting a player’s motives) The report should not include recommended sanctions: e.g. “This player should get at least 5 games for this” Example of incorrect report: One of the players did this thing where he sort held him, but it wasn’t a bad holding. Just minor. But he still made the player miss his shot and because he didn’t score I had to kick him out. C = Concise

17. C = Correct The report should be correctly filled out (ALL sections!) Spell and Grammar Check, Proofread Proper terminology must be used Example of incorrect terminology: “The goalie took the player down outside the 18 box” Example of correct terminology: “The goalkeeper tripped the player outside the penalty area as the player was going towards the goal” Refer to the Laws of the Game

18. Report Writing WRITING THE DISCIPLINARY REPORT: Include the reports of Assistant Referees or 4th official in the cases of an action behind the Referee’s back. Use additional sheet if space provided is insufficient Don’t be lazy and try to fit in all the information in the few lines on the form. SEND IT WITH ID CARD, WITHIN 48 HRS.

19. Report Writing New Forms in 2012 Same method of attaining and keeping information as dismissal form Check the appropriate boxes and complete the entire form.

20. Report Writing New Forms in 2012 Get witness. Assistants, 4 th, spectators etc. When writing stick to facts. Use definitive words such as “He kicked, punched, tackled.”

21. THE NOT SO GOOD……

24. THE GOOD….