Referees

Referee of the year
It is with great pleasure that I would like to announce LHSA 2022 Young Male and Female Referee of the Year.  Each year we do evaluations on the field by assessors, take feed back from coaches, fans, and game forms.  We take into consideration field work of enforcing the Laws of The Game and teaching the game at times to the younger players.  Officials must show other areas of being a good student as well as work and volunteerism in the community.     We had numerous referees that fit into this category and they all did not know we were doing this. For the top honoree there will be a cash award of $100.

The LHSA Young Male Referee of the Year  for 2022 is:  Stephen Hill

The LHSA Young Female Referee of the Year for 2022 is: Emily Sweeny

Please congratulate them the next time you see them on the Pitch.

Referee Registration is now online
All LHSA referees (officials) must now be registered online to assist us in assigning games and keeping in contact. At this time the registration is free. Referees only need to register online once; do not register each season or year. If you need to update your contact information, call the office or update your profile online [details on how to update online will be provided later].

To register click here. On the online registration page, click on the "Umpire/Referee Registration," complete all required information and click continue at the bottom of the page. On the next screen please verify the information and then click "continue." On the next page click "ok" at the bottom to finish your registration as a Referee.

Risk Management Forms for Coaches, Managers, Referees and other Volunteers

LHSA and its parent organization, NTSSA, have required all coaches, managers, adult referees and other volunteers to fill-out the Volunteer Application form, commonly referred to as the Risk Management Form, which was used to check the background on our volunteers to protect the children from exposure to unsavory characters. We now have a better method of doing this with an ONLINE form---which makes it easier to use, avoids the existence of paper containing any confidential information which had to flow through the LHSA office, allows the clearance determination to be obtained immediately by the volunteer, and can be done well in advance of the coaches meeting (we will not be giving out Volunteer cards to anyone who has not been cleared through the new system). ALL COACHES, MANAGERS, ADULT REFEREES, AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS ARE REQUESTED TO IMMEDIATELY COMPLETE THIS FORM. Please click the Volunteer page on the left for more details on this confidential, easy to use system, and to find the link to the online site for completion of this form.

Instructions to Referees

 For Pre-Game, In-Game, and Post-Game Protocols for Referees in LHSA see Referee Resources at the Bottom of this page

2024- 2025 LHSA Referee Fee Schedule
Age Group          U6 U7 - U8   U9 - U10 U11 - U12 U13 - U14 U15 - U16 U17 - U19	Referee  $20 $24 $30 $40 $46 $54 $66	Asst. Referee  - - $20 $28 $32 $34 $42

Laws of the Game
FIFA makes minor changes to the Laws of the Game every few years. Every coach and team must be familiar with these new changes. A complete current edition of the Laws of the Game is available online, in HTML or PDF format. For those unfamiliar with soccer's Laws, the "letter of the law" is very simple, and parents would find many of their questions answered by reading through the Laws.

Update: FAQ's on Laws of the Game page now has an interactive guide to the Laws of the game.

For more information see Referee Resources at the bottom of this page

How do I become a Referee?
We get this question frequently, and we are excited that so many youth want to try their hand at officiating!

There are two requirements:

• Referees must be 13 years of age before September 1 of the current soccer year to referee in the Fall, or March 1 of the current soccer year to referee in the spring.
• The hard part - referees must take and pass a referee test. The easiest way for LHSA referees to do this is to take a class through North Texas Soccer. You can find details about referee classes at their web site.

Hey! Why wasn't that a foul? and other information

• Ask a Referee -- Review interesting soccer rule questions and answers moderated by National Assessor Jim Allen.
• Read the official interpretation: FIFA's Q&A About the Laws of the Game