Thank you for giving your time and efforts to refereeing at Southern Soccer Academy. Regardless of whether you are a seasoned veteran, or a newly-qualified referee, we want to make sure that we as a club support your efforts and recognize the vital role you play in ensuring that all our players, parents, and coaches have a safe and enjoyable soccer experience.

To assist you in this process, we have an experienced group of staff in place:
 
SSA Cartersville (Cartersville Soccer Complex), SSA North (Big Shanty and Noonday) - Charles Coursey ([email protected]) - 404-772-8939
SSA Northwest (Braly) - Mark Smith ([email protected]), 470-349-9521
SSA Central (Mud Creek, Marathon Park, Tramore) - Jo-Ellen Eiseman ([email protected]), 678-849-3164
SSA South (Whitlock, Central Park) - Larry McGeehan ([email protected]) 678-416-2792
SSA Northside - Ben Pickens ([email protected])

These contacts will be your primary go-to resource when it comes to questions about assignments, Game Officials registration and account management, ongoing assessments, and feedback about your experiences through our Referee Mentor Program.

We also have our Operations Manager, Sean Chamberlain ([email protected]), available as a point of contact for general questions about the club, and as a point-of-contact for referees to report issues related to coach or spectator misbehavior, in support of the staff listed above. To provide confidential feedback to Sean regarding coach or spectator misbehavior, please use the 'Incident Report' feature under 'After Games' in your Game Officials account.

ASSIGNING PROCESS
SSA uses the Game Officials system to handle the assigning for all regular season and tournament games. If you are a certified referee and interested in refereeing at SSA, please follow the instructions below. Please be sensitive to the fact that we have multiple assignors across the club as a whole though, so issues may arise if you commit to different locations (and therefore different assignors) for the same weekend. Please try to provide as much information as possible therefore with respect to your preferred locations, and your abilities especially as they relate to whether you are comfortable acting as a center referee. 

NEW GAME OFFICIALS ACCOUNT
Go to www.gameofficials.net and click on “New Official?”.  Enter "1094" in the Group Number box and in the Access Code box.  Click continue and compete the registration including selecting your SSA location of preference, adding emergency contact information etc.  Email your local area staff (information above) once you have competed the registration or if you have any questions. If you are 18 years-old or older, please be sure to complete the Kidsafe Disclosure Form found HERE (log in and the Kidsafe Form link will appear under the main menu).

EXISTING GAME OFFICIALS ACCOUNT
Go to www.gameofficials.net and Login.  Go to My Assignor and click on Join a New Group.  Enter "1094" in the Group Number box and in the Access Code box.  Click Join Group and email your local area assignor (information below) that you have joined our group. If you are 18 years-old or older, please ensure that your Kidsafe Disclosure Form is current. It can be found HERE (log in and the Kidsafe Form link will appear under the main menu).

ASSIGNMENTS
Referees are booked (5) days in advance.  Each club referee should set his/her availability in Game Officials weekly or e-mail their ref assignor by Sunday of each week with their availability and any other restrictions in your schedule.  Assignments are e-mailed by Wednesday.  Please accept your assignment promptly in Game Official to confirm you are taking the assignment.  Click here for more information on how to get started in Game Officials.

GAME DAY EXPECTATIONS
Please click here to view our game day referee expectations check list.

REFEREE UNIFORM AND EQUIPMENT
Items, including a beginners set containing a yellow shirt, shorts, socks, and equipment, can be purchased through online stores such as soccer.com, refereestore.com and epicsports.com. We recommend purchasing a green referee shirt as the primary color, with red as a secondary shirt color given that SSA teams wear yellow.

RULES
Different leagues have different rules regarding such things as game duration and substitution restrictions. To view rules league-by-league, please click HERE.

HOW TO REPORT COACH/PLAYER/SPECTATOR DISCIPLINE ISSUES (Red and Yellow Cards).
The process varies depending on the league. For details, please click HERE.

SCORE REPORTING
All score reporting to each league is done by the team managers, so there is no obligation on the referee's behalf to submit scores.

REFEREE PAYMENT

2023/24 Ref Pay Rates (as of Aug 5th)

• Payment is made every two weeks through GOPay. The process allows for the referee to choose either payment to go directly into a referee's bank account without a fee, or by a check mailed for a $6 processing fee (per check) deducted from the amount paid.
• To set your GO account to process payments correctly, please click HERE.
• It is the responsibility of the Center Referee to post the score of each of their games in Game Officials and list any assignment change(s) or game incidents.
• Any referee that makes a change to their assignment must contact the assignor within 24 hours.
  
• SSA tournament pay to officials is made by GOPay under the same terms above, but payment is processed within one week of the tournament being completed.