Referees

Our referees range from experienced adults to youth players who facilitate games for our younger age groups.

Arrive	30 minutes before kickoff
Bring	whistle, watch, large coin, red & yellow cards, pen
Wear	yellow jersey, black shorts, socks & shoes
You’ll earn	$20–$45 per game, by age group
Assignments	emailed weekly — Confirm each Thursday
Minimum age	13 and up, and older than the players
Questions	Kay Emmert, ref coordinator

For how to apply the rules in each MAYSL age division, see Ref Training.

Register

Sign up with MAYSL so we have your contact info:
- All Referees: Register with MAYSL Here
Get certified by US Soccer. Certification lasts 2 years.
- First-time referees — online and in-person: see all first-time referee courses from Cal North
- Returning referees — online only: see all recertification courses from Cal North

After you sign up, look out for emails about our upcoming season.

We typically reimburse our youth referees for the cost of US Soccer’s certification courses, paid back over the season as you work more games.

Game Day

Arrive at games 30 minutes early to meet up with the other officials.

Bring to every game:

whistle
pen
large coin
clock or stopwatch
red and yellow cards
your uniform

The league provides ref flags.

Every referee must provide and wear a USSF approved uniform whenever they are officiating. For MAYSL games that means:

yellow jersey with black stripes
all-black shorts with pockets
black socks with 3 white stripes at the top
primarily-black shoes

Pay

Rates as of 2026 (work in progress):

Division	Rate
U6–U8	$20/game alone, $15/person if shared
U10	$25/person/game
U12–U15	$45/person/game if paired; $45 lead & $30/helper if 2 helpers
Travel games	paid by District 7, according to their pay scale

Game cards track both the record of the game and the time you’re paid for. On each game card, every participating referee or facilitator should print their name, and make sure the date and age group are filled in.

In the spring league, all rates are determined by District 7. MAYSL pays referees for travel games and District 7 reimburses the league.

Getting Assigned Games

Schedules are managed by the league reffing coordinator, Kay Emmert, and are built weekly.

The coordinator assigns games by email. Please confirm your games by email — anything not confirmed by Thursday gets reassigned to someone else. We sometimes have cancellations, so we may call on Friday about additional games that need covering, and fields occasionally change at the last minute due to postponements, so refs need to be flexible.

We try to give everyone who completed the clinic an equal opportunity to referee games, and we’re committed to developing referees of all ages in the Mountain Area. Some of our refs are players with conflicts against their own game times, so when they have a weekend off we offer them games first. We also try to pair an experienced ref with a new ref for their first few games.

Who Can Ref

MAYSL requires that a referee or facilitator is 1–2 years older than the players they are officiating. We typically hire youth 13 and older for the younger divisions, and adults and older teenagers for our 12U, 15U coed, and travel matches.

Referees should hold an active certification from US Soccer, renewed every 2 years.

According to the California North Referee Association (CNRA), “there are no minimum age requirements to become a referee. However, many local leagues may require a referee to be older than the players that they are officiating. Parents are advised to assess the maturity level of their child prior to permitting them to take one of the Entry Level Referee Courses.”

Facilitators

Where licensed referees aren’t available or required, MAYSL uses trained game day facilitators who are authorized to oversee games only for our league — our local, recreational games, but not our travel games.

Facilitator uniforms include:

yellow t-shirt or collared shirt with the official badge iron-on
all-black shorts with pockets
all-black socks
primarily-black shoes

Buying Gear

MAYSL sometimes provides yellow referee jerseys to our youth officials as part of our onboarding and training program — ask Kay for more info.

You can buy the rest online or at any soccer or sporting goods store. No particular brand is required.

Local shops that give MAYSL referees a discount

Soccer Express — 6751 N Blackstone @ Herndon, Fresno / 559-432-7511

Tell them you are a MAYSL referee and receive a 15% discount. They have gear packages for referees as well as individual items.
Pro Soccer — 6929 N Willow @ Herndon, Clovis / 559-299-5363

They have ref gear packages, and will give MAYSL refs a discount on individual gear items.

Rules & Safety

Learn about concussion symptoms and how to handle potential head injuries. Print a copy of the Concussion Recognition Tool from the US Soccer safety course, get familiar with it, and keep it in your field bag or on your clipboard so it’s there if a player shows any sign of a head injury.

Heat-related illness is a real risk here in central California. Take a look at the Recognize to Recover Heat Guidelines.

Within US Youth Soccer, the FIFA Laws of the Game are used, with accommodations for small-sided games with younger players that encourage age-appropriate fun and skill development. See Growing with the Game on the Rules page for specifics, and Ref Training for how to apply rules in each division.