Football is played in accordance with Laws of the Game set internationally by FIFA plus local rules set by the national governing body (Football Federation Australia - FFA) and the local competition administrator (Football Federation Victoria - FFV).

 

Online Laws of the Game

FIFA's Laws of the Game can be found here.

The Laws have been updated for the 2017 season so even if you think you know the laws it is worth going to the new version and having a good read. 

Learning the Laws - Highly Recommended!

FFA has set up great FREE online course for parents, players and coaches to learn the Laws of the Game - and, if you want to go on it gives the start point for becoming a referee.  But in any case it's a really useful knowledge base for anyone involved in the game.

To do the course you have to log in and then do a set of workbooks which each have a little test at the end.  Each workbook gives you details of a Law, explains the the law and most have a video to watch.  The time taken to do the workbooks varies - some take 5 minutes, some take 15 minutes.  It's not something you can do all in one go but you can log out and come back to it when you have time.

Once you have done all the workbooks you can do a test (multiple choice style) and when you pass the test you get a certificate saying you have completed the basic study that allows you to sign up to do a referees course.

To sign up for the online course click here.

 

Becoming an Official Referee

Players aged from 13 upwards can also be referees and still keep playing and earn some money every weekend refereeing matches before or after their own games.  Same for parents.  To learn more about being an official referee go here.

 

 

Rules of Competition

As well as the Laws of the Game, every league has local rules set by its competition administrator.  The rules have to be consistent with the overall Laws.  They go into additional detail about such things as the length of the match, the number of substitutes, how the competition is organised etc etc.

The Rules of Competition for the leagues that Brunswick Zebras play in are set by FFV.

The relevant rules for each competition can be found here.

It is important for team coaches and managers especially to be familiar with the Rules of Competition as well as the Laws of the Game as many of the issues that occur on match day have to be accordance with the Rules.