Ethan Estevez spent seven years as a football referee in the Hartford County School System in Maryland. He started out as a head linesman, then became a line judge, and finally a back judge. Each referee position has specific duties, and Ethan Estevez outlined what those are.

There are referees, umpires, head linesmen, line judges, side judges and back judges. A referee is responsible for the general supervision of a game, says Ethan Estevez, and has the last word on all rulings. The position is sometimes called Head Referee. During every play he is positioned behind the offensive team. He focuses on the quarterback on passing plays, and on running plays watches as the handoff is made, but stays with the quarterback in case it's an option play or some kind of trick play. The Head Referee can be identified by a white cap. The other refs, Ethan Estevez explains, wear black caps.

The Umpire, who has the letter U on the back of his striped jersey, stands behind the defensive line and watches as the offensive and defensive lines collide. He looks for any illegal blocks, and on pass plays moves to the line of scrimmage. If an offensive lineman moves too far downfield before the pass is thrown, the umpire throws the penalty flag for an illegal receiver downfield.

The Head Linesman positions himself at one end of the line of scrimmage and looks for possible offside or encroachment penalties. He also watches the action during the play to see if any player steps out of bounds. The Head Linesman also watches receivers during the first five to seven yards of their route.

The Line Judge helps the head linesman at the other end of the line of scrimmage. He too looks for off-side or encroachment penalties, and watches the action near his sideline.

A side judge, Ethan Estevez says, works downfield behind the defensive secondary, and on the same side of the field as the head linesman. He makes calls near the sideline on his side of the field and judges the action of running backs, receivers and defenders in his area. The side judge makes pass interference calls, illegal blocks, and incomplete passes, and helps make calls on field goal attempts.

Finally, a back judge is the official who is responsible for pass interference calls, determines whether a pass is incomplete, and calls delay of game when appropriate. Additionally, if the official game time is on the stadium scoreboard, says Ethan Estevez, the back judge is also the backup time keeper.