By L.E. Eisenmenger -- It often has been said that at any given moment and with his eyes shut, Cuauhtemoc Blanco can describe the positioning of every player on the field as well as the fourth official.
Why the fourth official? As one of the league’s trickiest players and most frequently fouled, Blanco knows that the fourth official can make critical calls. That includes relaying yellow and red card instructions to the referee via headset if the ref is screened or caught up in another situation. So Blanco usually knows what he can and can’t get away with.
One of the fourth official’s primary responsibilities is to maintain order of the technical area and benches. This year this job took on a larger role because of a league directive mandating zero tolerance of infractions from the bench. Consequently, several coaches and staff were ejected by the fourth official this season.
Other responsibilities include managing substitutions in an orderly fashion and supervising the procedures for injured players.
Fourth officials are paid approximately one-third of the referee’s rate and ranked according to the number of games they have refereed. Still, the fourth official participates in the officiating crew’s match preparation during the week leading up to the game, spends the day before the game with the inspector, referee, and assistant referees, and is fully involved in the debriefing and post-game analysis with the inspector and crew.
L.E. Eisenmenger writes for a variety of outlets including covering Boston soccer for The Examiner. Contact her at eisenmenger@soccerlens.com.
