RefBlog

Referee News Break

It's nice to start with a feel-good article, and it doesn't get too much more feel-goody than this. Player does well, becomes even better referee. Of course, most professional players, when asked, would never become a referee themselves - god forbid they'd take what they dish out. I don't know if the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune counts as big-time media, but I think we'll take it just the same.

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Kevin Keegan is about to find out what punishment he'll be given for verbally abusing a referee after a match. Speculation is that, being that it's his first offense, it'll probably be just a fine. Hrmph... and I rather like Manchester City...

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Three referees in South Africa's first division were sentenced to four years in prison for match fixing. You'd think, being their first offense, they'd get similar sentences as Kevin Keegan.

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I saw a referee in a co-ed rec league give someone three yellow cards, but Mark NcNally of Stirling Albion received three red cards. One for a foul, the second for foul and abusive language against the referee, the third for not shutting up when told he had the second.

I'm smiling. I know I shouldn't, but I find it terribly funny.

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Whoa... a coach who gets it. Of course, his opinion might change when he's on the losing side, but he's correct when he says that yes, assistant referees are supposed to, when it doubt, go with the attackers. Other than that, it's the usual dribble and diatribes from (other) coaches, such as, "I was screaming a cussing at the referee, because I wanted to protect my players!" Uhhh, yeah, how that supposed to work, then? Oh, that wasn't an actual quote, either, it was probably closer to, "Grunt! Grunt! Aaack! Hoooooowl!"

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A team president in Mexico has been accused of physically assaulting a referee crew after they awarded a controversial penalty kick (when is a PK not controversial? OK, there have been a few, but not many). The president denies it, but I'm a little biased in who I believe.

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John Runk might finally have company in his hall of shame: an unnamed coach (but a named referee - something's wrong there) physically assaulted an 18-year-old referee, at a U-10 game. Can you believe this? I hope they don't use Kevin Keegan's FA results as a basis - throw the bugger in jail!

29 October '04 - 19:49 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

First indoor games

They're running schedules a little differently right now, instead of blocks of four, they're putting refs in blocks of two - not a whole lot, considering the games are only 50 minutes long; but more are opening up next month, so who knows.

First games in the first session are often pretty easy: it's the second and third sessions, when teams have played each other a few times, where they find players and teams they dislike, and friction occurs. It can happen in the first session, of course, but only when playoff spots are on the line.

As it turned out, I had nearly the same team twice. I say nearly, because they're registered twice, but only a handful of players play both games (some play on team A, some on team B, some on both); but in both cases, they were out-classed. The first game was close, a 1-0 loss that could have easily gone scoreless. But in the second game, a new team that probably won't stay in this bracket next session, really dominated what was, based on my past experience with that team, the better squad of the two. But they played solid defense, and got half-a-dozen shots off from long-range (speaking from the perspective of indoor soccer, with five-yard goals), and kept it close until the last five minutes of the game.

Myself, since I was only doing two (I would normally have two more on Sunday, except I was out-of-town), I decided to run as hard as possible - there's no reason to hold back, when you're only doing the time equivalent of one game, but on half-a-field. So far, so good - but the real trick will be my trying to stay in shape during the winter, and that means training.

28 October '04 - 21:25 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Referee Bouquets

I'm going to hold off on writing about my games until a little bit later (besides, now that I'm doing indoor, I don't ref nearly as often, so the pace of entries will slow a bit), because at half-time of my first game, I was told that a friend of mine, another referee, has cancer.

Refs, as you know from reading this, are an odd lot. But we tend to band together because of the job we do, and we're really passionate about the sport that we take all this crap for. However, this guy really takes the cake; my friends think I'm passionate about the game, but they have nothing on Sal. Every week during the last two winters, he's talk about the games he saw on Fox Sports World, and if I was lucky, I knew the league he was talking about - and I get teased about watching too much of that channel! He's played and reffed longer than I've been alive (which is now into the 30s), and although he's lost a step or two, still has a fierce passion and love for the game.

Sal's also one of those character refs - he can do things by force of will that I could never dream of. Where I have to pull plastic, he'll yell at a guy, tell him to take a break, and they'll just sub out. But even when he does that, he still comes across as friendly; I've rarely seen a game where he isn't laughing about something on the field. He's been around so long that it feels natural to let him do it; that if he's behind the play, that he's got a good enough eye and enough experience to make up for it. During indoor, where uniforms are lax, he's known for wearing obnoxious and brightly colored sweatpants, and the sign on the door that pointed us to the get-well-soon cards used that description ("Crazy Pants") to let people know that knew him, but not his name.

I only saw Sal once this summer, he was running a Junior Varsity game solo, prior to the next crew, which included me, in the Varsity game. He looked good, and had a good attitude, even though he got word that his entire department, in his real-life job, was about to get the axe.

I don't know for certain how things will turn out - I don't know his prognosis (although from what I've heard, it's not good); he was one of those people, as a player, who made the prospect of becoming palatable, even fun. I'm taping a bunch of games on Fox Sports World right now, because I'm sure the hospital doesn't carry that channel. Hopefully I'll have time at work tomorrow to stop by a florist, and fine a yellow-and-red bouquet, and then a soccer shop to throw in a couple of cards for good measure.

27 October '04 - 17:50 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Yeeouch!

Back to indoor; back to unaffiliated adult leagues where just about anything can go, and often does. Last year another ref and I proposed that, unlike what they had done years before, they start keeping track of yellow and red cards and actually start enforcing penalties. Things had gotten worse, we argued (and I've known many refs who agree that co-ed games are often the worst to referee), and we needed to provide some sort of enforcement.

And, for the most part, it worked. The rules were simple: Get a red card, and you sit out a game; get three yellow cards in a session, and you sat out a game. For the first time in three years reffing in that league, I went a session without a red card. Then the soccer coordinator left, and the rules were relaxed: no longer were we going to keep track of individual yellow cards, and she introduced the soft-red (aka the "rellow" or flaccid red) that comes in high school and college. I filled in for a couple of games when I had a free weekend (which was pretty rare) and ended up giving out two reds in game - the first since the end of winter - one of the players, before getting sent off himself, was asking about the soft-red - I think he wanted to get that instead of the straight, because he knew it wouldn't hurt his team. Maybe that's one of the reasons control is so much harder in high school versus club soccer: with the soft red, you're playing a team sport, but your actions don't necessarily hurt the team. But it wasn't just me, it apparently got much worse this summer - no details yet, but two teams were permanently kicked out of the league, and we received the following change of policy for the indoor sessions:

Yellow Cards:

• No more soft reds! Maybe I was right about people abusing the softening of the rules.
  
• If the team receives four yellow cards in a single game, they will have to play one player short for the remainder of the game.
  
• When a team receives eight yellow cards in a session, they play one player short in the next game, playoffs included.

Red Cards:

• No more soft reds! OK, I mentioned that before, but it's a small victory, and one I'm happy to have.
  
• If a team receives a red card (not sure about if it was a second yellow), the team will have to play one player short for the remainder of that game, plus the next

I didn't get around to asking just what happened this summer to bring these out, but man are they harsh! I'm not complaining or anything, because these are supposed to be recreational leagues, but talk about going above and beyond.

26 October '04 - 19:53 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Sandy Hunt Retires and Other Ref News

Retiring at the top, US FIFA Referee Sandy Hunt is hanging up the whistle to become a top-level instructor and assessor. Including with the announcement is a rather nice interview, including a nice section on the myths of being a referee: "I have yet to meet someone who referees that goes out there [without caring about the game or players]. Somebody who went out there with that attitude just wouldn’t last. People who last as referees really care about the game and the players that they are refereeing." The complete interview is located on this link.

I hope the announcement doesn't mean she's giving up the whistle completely. I've found that in the three games I've refereed with National grade referees (one where I was in the middle!), I've learned a great deal about how things are supposed to be done; and when they're done well, you learn by osmosis why they're done that way. I'd hate to deny others that opportunity with a FIFA (or former FIFA).

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I have to admit that I don't keep track of the NCAA's version of the rules, because I don't ref at that level, but it seems most of the differences between NFHS, NCAA, and FIFA are niggling little details, not something as big as offside. So I may be wrong, but if the rules and the Laws are consistent, then this player needs a little bit of a brush-up. A deflection by a defender won't negate an offside; and where the defender is when the ball was played (very important word here) in relationship to the other players is the important part, not when it gets to you.

I love this line: "so I got frustrated and before I could even get a word in with the referee, he gave me a yellow card" Ummm... if you didn't say anything, you wouldn't have been booked. [shrugs, rolls eyes, and moves on]

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Russian FIFA Referee Nikalai Ivanov was attacked by two men, who ran away (so not a mugging), breaking ribs, causing facial injuries and a concussion. No official word if this is soccer related or not.

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A premiere level match in Amsterdam was abandoned when the fans started chanting offensive slogans. Apparently the league asked for this type of behavior to stop, the referee followed through, and the teams appreciate it. Nice to see.

23 October '04 - 16:00 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Likely my last HS games of the year

No word yet from the high school association if I'll be doing any post-season games - I'm not shocked, since I pissed off a lot of coaches this season. Of course, I pissed them off in the course of doing my job, and doing it correctly - which shouldn't take into account what the coach thinks. But to get post-season, you have to kiss their behinds, and I just refuse to do it. I also had a much harder schedule this year than in season's past (last year I had several games with coaches that were just happy to have bodies, let alone refs that gave a damn). I didn't have a perfect season, I had a couple gaffes, which I corrected on the field, but probably doesn't help perception any. I also had some injuries, and issues trying to correct mistakes in the high school association's website regarding my schedule.

So in short, I'm not crying about being left out. There's still a small possibility of being included (I haven't had a rejection letter), but considering the tournament starts in just four days, I think I'm pretty confident in making other plans. Besides, I had a terrific year in USSF soccer, with assessments by neutral people, rather than overgrown children who throw a tantrum when they don't get their way (and don't even know the rules that they're playing under).

All that being said, I had a very pleasant two finals games of the high school season. The coach for the home team came up to me before the game, and made a plea: If anyone starts getting into trouble, tell me so I can pull him for the game before he gets in too deep. The rationale was very sound, too: this was their last regular season game, they're playing a non-conference opponent, so the game is essentially meaningless. Furthermore, they're in the playoffs, so the last thing they want is to have someone suspended before those critical games. I explained that I would certainly keep that in mind, and let him know if someone's running into trouble, but if something happened on the field that required a card, I'm duty-bound to give it; also, if you notice me talking to or following a player continually, that's a good sign to consider pulling him (since I can't always be by the bench to warn the coach).

I didn't have to do any of that. His players were as calm and polite as the coach (and unlike many times where I might say that flippantly, it was certainly a compliment). They understood if I missed something, if I said I was trying to watching something, and pretty much perfect gentlemen. I did have some issues with the visiting team, but nothing serious - there was one player that avoided a persistent infringement card by the skin of his teeth - I really should have booked him, but I got lucky with a dissent situation a few minutes later. I was in good position for the later, but you know that players and refs see things differently - I actually had a nice chat with the kid I did book after the game - I appreciated his good attitude after the booking, and we talked about what he experienced versus what I saw. We'll never agree on that, but it was a good chat for both of us. I even talked to the coach at halftime regarding that one player, who also knew he was close to a booking.

Second half, no problems. Was nice to see.

The girls game was much of the same - teams with good attitudes playing hard, and amazingly understanding coaches. Even in a situation where I would expect them to go bezerk, they were calm, understanding, and even friendly! And it was a doozy of a situation:

Game is 2-2, and in overtime (yes, again); the home team takes a shot from 25 yards out, with the second-to-last defender 20 yards out - the goalkeeper is off her line, and backpedals to make the catch, but backs into the goal! Knowing what's she's doing (and where she's going), she holds to ball straight out while attempting to stop her momentum. My problem is this: in the one second it takes for the shot to be grabbed by the goalkeeper, it's physically impossible for me to go the 20 yards necessary to get to the goal line to see if the ball indeed wholly cross the line. Fans wanted a goal, but the coaches just asked nicely if the ball went over the line or not. They asked nicely, so they deserved the real answer:

"Because that second-to-last defender was so far up, it's just impossible for me to get to the goal-line in time, so I just had to use my best judgment, knowing I'm at a bad angle. I wish I could have gotten there, but there was just no way."

And the absolutely amazing this was that they accepted that! I don't know if it's the end-of-the-season, or if someone drugged the water at this school, but where were these coaches when I needed them in the beginning of the season?

If it does turn out to be my last high school games of the year, at least they'll have ended on a good note.

22 October '04 - 07:53 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Back In Action

It's been a little over a week since I pulled my hamstring, and after returning eight games (four double-headers), I decided that it was time to see if my leg could handle it. And the verdict is, after a double-headers (boys/girls varsity)...

Mixed.

It's actually pretty simple: I can run, but I can't sprint. But the day after doing the games (which both went into overtime), my leg still feels pretty good, so I think I'm on track to do the last two regular-season games of the fall. There's a few dates for conference playoffs, and the unlikely possibility of games in the high school tournament. I say unlikely for two reasons: first is that you have to please coaches to get in, and I'm pretty certain I didn't; the second is that the association website requires you to update their website with your schedule. I started the schedule well, but their site wasn't done, and didn't have positions available - editing it is a pain in the butt, and you can't edit games that happened in the past (it takes about 3 minutes per game, and you have to do each one individually), and by the time I noticed that you could put your position in the web page, I pretty much adopted the attitude of, "Screw it." The reality is that I shouldn't referee high school tournament games unless I'm 100%, anyway. Besides, it'll give me more time to help plan my wedding.

Did I announce that? I can't remember, but if I didn't, here it is: I'm getting married! My fiance and I have been dating for five years, and although I had been ready to pop the proverbial question for the last two years, she wasn't ready to hear it (and I knew that explicitly) - but she let me know that he was, and I wasted little time in bringing out the ring that had been sitting in my drawer for six months.

But back to soccer. I had the center in the girls game, which speaking generally, is a better game to center in if you can't sprint. I let the ARs know, and for the most part, I was able to keep up with play reasonably well (I probably stayed a little shallower than I normally would, but for the most part, kept going as wide as I needed). The game was good for me in another way, because after a week's break, this provided a good game to get my head back into the game; the home team played very aggressively, and often came into challenges late. One player, who earned a card about ten minutes into the game, just received a verbal warning about her play inside the penalty area, then less than a minute later, she came in hard, high, and late into another player - easy yellow card.

A few minutes later, another player came in high and late (although not as hard), and I decided to take a different tack than booking her. I beckoned her over, saying, "Let's talk." I basically spelled it out, that they had two hard and late challenges, "If this continues, I have no choice but to start flashing plastic; you don't want it, I don't want it - but I don't want people hurt more. I need you to make sure your team under control, or you all might start playing short on Senior Day."

For the most part, it worked - they played much more in control for the rest of the game. I had to work on the player who had gotten booked (fortunately, when it went into overtime, she was one of the captains, so I could emphasize the consequences of playing short in OT), and tried shadowing a player who was upset (she received several hard, although fair and legal, challenges in short-order, and I wanted to make sure she didn't retaliate - this is not a skill I've been able to master in boys high school games because of the greater propensity for Boom Ball, but it's good to practice), but otherwise things went well. Except that we went into overtime (that's always the ref's fault, right? ). But it provided a chance to stretch out my leg a little more before running line on the boy's game.

Oh, and true to form, I still haven't had a game where a winner was determined in OT.

Running line in the boys game was pretty straight-forward. Perhaps one of the advantages of the run-run-run style that Americans play is that offside is a pretty easy thing to gather. It's much more difficult when there's midfield play, and the strikers are mixing things up with the defenders. With the run-run-run (and Boom Ball) style, you only need to be in position before the ball is launched into the stratosphere, because if the striker is onside and collects the ball, all he'll do is run up the middle, or to the corner, and either shoot or dump the ball back for another player who's playing catch-up. So, even though I wasn't where I wanted to be for this game, I wasn't put in any position where my lack of sprinting ability would put my judgment in jeopardy. What I hope is that the increased exercise will allow me to get up from the 80% I am now to 90% by the end of the regular season - then some street running will help me further.

The game itself was very very even. Both teams had identical records, and tied for fifth place in their conference. Big surprise then when the game ended 1-1 and scoreless in overtime.

20 October '04 - 23:09 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

No, the site's not dead...

... but its internet connection was. There was a number of problems with a DSL upgrade, and then DNS issues as static IP addresses were changed - and chances are it'll take a couple more days until the later issue is straightened out for good (or the next time, whichever is sooner).

Will have more stuff soon.

18 October '04 - 22:53 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Who does the NFHS care about?

Since I'm going to be sitting on my hiney for a while, I feel like taking a moment to ruminate about something that's been swimming in my head for a while, something that's been bugging me about the National Federation of High Schools.

As you may or may not know, High School soccer does not use FIFA rules (or Laws, as they're actually called), but instead has their own set of rules (and they do call them that) that take a very simple game, and turn it into a 90+ page monstrosity of a rulebook that look like they've been written by lawyers (which, apparently, as I found out this year, is more-or-less true). The reason for the style of these rules are probably two-fold: the first is to have their soccer rulebook look like all their other rulebooks, for referees who officiate other high school sports and can't put their mind around the concept of rulebooks written any other way than article-section-subsection. The other reason is the aforementioned lawyers, who apparently (according to one of the Rules Committee members) have carte-blanch to veto or add any rule they choose - and if they can do that, why not dictate the style as well.

So why does the NFHS have their own rulebook? They say because this is an educational experience, and they need to have their own set of rules for that purpose. I can understand that, to a point - and even if I don't agree with many of them (like the "soft" or "flaccid" red, or referee signals), it can be sold to the masses. Of course, it's not sold to the masses, I recall hearing stories (which I, regrettably, can't confirm) about schools who rejected the NFHS rules for one sport (one obviously that wouldn't be played in the NFHS-sanctioned league) being threatened to have all their sports removed from the high school association. So maybe sold isn't the best word, as much as dictated. There are, however, other rules that don't make sense, like the foul-throw rules or the explicit banning of "bumblebee socks".

But when I received this years rule changes, and had them enumerated at the rules meeting, it was said that the rules changes are made to confirm with the NCAA (college) rules.

Why?

Why is the NFHS making rules changes to toady up to the NCAA? Only a handful of the athletes that play high school ever play in the NCAA, but I bet most play club (FIFA) soccer. These kids play FIFA ball all though childhood, up to high school, and then they're thrust into a different set of rules. Heck, even the coaches get confused (and they should know these rules as well as well as we do). Who does the NFHS care about here? If they cared about the students as they said, they could make whatever safety and educational changes they want, and leave it at that. If the NCAA wants to go it their own way, let them - but I can't understand a logical reason for it, other than the NFHS would rather be the NCAA, which has absolutely nothing to do with the student-athletes. If a high school athlete makes it to the college ranks, bully for them, but high schools sports shouldn't be about reaching the NCAA, it should be about the benefits of the game, itself.

Maybe if they actually let referees have a real voice (instead of an inaccessible and virtually unknown token), they'd know that.

13 October '04 - 07:31 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Referees in the News

It's a good time to see what's happening with soccer referees as of late. It's not the end-all be-all, but it makes for a good read.

Not a good way to start, but there's more graft and corruption in the game of soccer, including referees, in China. Nothing explicit has been found yet, but when a referee awards a game 3-0, when the game ended 1-1, you have to wonder.

Speaking of corruption, at least the moment of silence was out-and-open when it was done for a deceased Mob boss.

Not a whole lot of details, but charges have been filed against a Canyon View High School soccer coach and fan - the coach for disorderly conduct with regards to his behavior to an official, the fan for assaulting two referees. Bet the coach only gets a one-game suspension from the high school association.

The court says that they're making a statement, "loud and clear", and while nine months in jail is nothing to sneeze at, all the ref gets for the trouble of being beaten unconscious is £250. Better than most, to be sure, but work still needs to be done.

I don't know what the charges were, but two players were let off the hook when a referee didn't attend a hearing which might not be a problem, except the referee wasn't told of it! Maurice D'Arrigo hit the issue on the button, however: "The referee report should have been enough. A ref should not be obliged to attend if they are happy with their report.'' Here here.

If you follow English soccer at all, you're probably familiar with the Jamie Redknapp tackle of Tim Cahill, with the media using the ever popular phrase, "Horror tackle." Redknapp was given a yellow card, but the FA upped it to a red and a three-game suspension. There's been the usual ripping of referees, complete with over-to-top comments, histories and whatnot, but I found this singular article interesting because it actually contained some information from the referee himself: it said that he put himself too close to the play to fully appreciate it. If you think that's a cop-out, think again - it's true - I've certainly been there and know what he's talking about.

You have to go about midway down the page to see this little gem. But you have to take what you can get - how often are referee's publicly branded as "brilliant" in today's press?

10 October '04 - 20:51 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Out-of-Commission

I knew I was in trouble before half-time when I felt my right thigh become tight. I'm not sure how I did it; the first game, the boys, when I was on the line, wasn't particularly strenuous. The girls game, where I was in the middle, had me running pretty constantly, but not terribly hard. But at half-time I spent most of my time stretching out my hamstring to try to ensure that I could make it through the game.

Of course, the real problem is that I had games the following day, at a difficult time-slot to fill (3:15 in the afternoon on a weekday), but if I can't run, I can't run. I can feel bad for the assignor, but other than that, there's not much I can do.

All-in-all, the injury was minor, I was able to get through the game (although this morning, despite ice and ibuprofin, it's as stiff as a board), and it was quite a fun one at that. Goals were being freely traded back-and-forth, and we ended with a 2-2 tie. As I've mentioned before, I've yet to have a game that went into overtime actually finish with a winner, but I thought for sure I would be wrong today, because a mere ninety seconds into overtime, the visitors scored. Here, in high school, overtime is not golden-goal, so we continued, and another ninety seconds later, the home team tied it up. It was such an offensive show that, unlike the last few times games have gone into OT, these teams both stayed up mentally and physically - it was a fun match, and if it's going to be my last for a while, at least it was a good one.

Mentally, I felt real good going into the game - I had a little problem in the first 5-6 minutes with positioning (there was a bit of dump-the-ball, lose-the-ball, dump-the-ball going on), but after didn't have any real issues. I also had a couple of, if I might say so, really good advantage calls, including one that resulted in a break-away goal. In both cases, I went, after the play ended, to make sure the fouled player knew I called advantage and that she was OK (they were both hard, but not really reckless, fouls) - the second time, I don't think she knew I called advantage, but was understandably happy about it when I informed her.

Even physically, I felt I was doing a good job. I was keeping up with the players, covering the entire length of the field - but it was cold, and I had that nagging tightness that was warning me that this could be the last game I would do for a while. I hope it's not, but the reality is that, given what it feels like today, I don't think I have a choice but to turn in my games which is too bad for me because I'm back to enjoying myself again, and too bad for the assignor because some of these games are quite aways from the city and he may have a difficult time filling the slots.

But what can you do. If I'm hurt, I'm hurt.

08 October '04 - 15:46 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Overtime?

I had one of my assistants joke that she doesn't want to work for me any more, because each time she does, the game goes into overtime. Of course, I'm not always in the middle, and it's only a joke, but yes, so far on each game we've worked together, we've had to play an extra ten minutes.

I had the center for a girls game - I had the home team on the line once before, when they were blown out by double-digits by one of the state powers. They're a good team, but just not at that level. I like watching them, because they're one of the few really physical girls teams in high school, and for the most part, do it cleanly. As a referee, this can cause problems, especially for me because I have no problems with girls playing aggressive - but sometimes other coaches don't.

I've worked with these assistants many times in the past, and we have a good relationship. They both know my style, and know my likes and dislikes - including something I've added to my pre-game regarding the penalty area: I ask for first crack at calling PKs, and tell them that I'm very vocal in the cases where I don't want things to be called, but if I'm silent, they're well and truly welcome to make the call. And I mean it, and when my senior AR flagged a PK, I had no problem awarding it. It ended up giving the team that was being outplayed a 1-0 lead that they took to the half. I missed it, he saw it - it was an excellent display of teamwork.

The second half was a lot of fun, because the game really evened out. Now up 1-0, the visiting team who had been utterly dominated (except for a pair of runs into the attacking third, and the gift from the home defense) came out fighting, making it a 50-50 game. But the home team started wearing out the visitors with their physical play, and pushed in the tying goal, collecting the ball off a deflection from the goalkeeper after a fine first save (one that just wasn't swallowed up). There was a good chance for a PK, too, as the keep got a part of the striker's ankle as she ran past, but she kept on her feet and collected the loose ball for an easier take than a PK would have given her. And let's be honest, it was also a heckuva lot easier for me to let it go for that, too.

I'm not sure what the point of high school overtime, though - usually by that time, both teams are just too pooped to make anything happen, which was the case here. The visitors were pooped from working through 80 minutes of soccer, the home team was pooped from pressing so had for the tying goal. The high school game is generally played much faster than club ball (with an emphasis on playing Boom Ball, unfortunately), and I'm unsure, after seeing maybe six games go into OT, if it's worth it, considering that each one has remained tied after the extra time.

Playoffs? Sure, but I'm not sure about the regular season.

07 October '04 - 11:13 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

"Should I have done anything? "Yeah, you should have thrown out the coach."

I'm not told I'm too easy on coaches very often, but I did get it tonight. I had a single boys game with myself in the middle, and I was pretty much feeling my old self again. I enjoyed the game, was comfortable with my running - although there was a few times where I got too close to the play. I might be able to excuse that by saying that the skill level wasn't the highest, but in truth that means I need to back off a bit when quick dispossessions are likely.

First half was great, and ended scoreless. The second half, after what turned out to be the lone goal was scored, brought out the whining. Suddenly challenges that were fine where now outrageous, and the player that I talked to in the first half about where they placed their hands clearly had them amputated, meaning I was clearly hallucinatory when I saw them push or elbow their opponents.

But I was in a good mood, and smiled through it all - not sure why, it just worked out that way - maybe because I felt like I was doing a good job. There were some coach issues (of course) - the trainer who came out for an injury (a three-way collision with two opponents over a loose ball at the top of the penalty area that, and here's a big shock, had all three going in at full steam - not a foul, just a cringe-worthy moment) who decided to neglect his patient for me. Even after telling him he was booked, he continued, until warned that I can just as easily escalate the card.

The coach in question (the one the assistant wanted chucking) wasn't on that team - it was on the visitors. Apparently he was being oh so great of an inspiration to his players by telling them just what he thought of me. Personally, I don't care - but I'm continually amazed at what schools blithely ignore just for the sake of sport. Not only because it's teaching poor social values to these kids, but because the teaching is working - when the coach behaves badly, so do the kids. Sadly, though, the coach didn't have the balls to tell me directly (or much of anything, the coward), and the assistant didn't mention it until long after the game, so there was little I could do except suggest he write out a sportsmanship form for the high school association.

It almost happened in tandem: once the whining started on that one team, so did the cheap stuff. Arms started being raised, and I called the fouls. Challenges started coming in late, and I called the fouls (including one that, the AR correctly took me to task for, for one that was inside the area, but I had the restart outside - it was half not wanting to give the PK, half not associating the challenge with the actual location on the field).

When the player stood next to the ball on a free-kick, and then moved his foot to (successfully) block the free kick, I booked him. This is another thing I don't understand: why schools allow their coaches to be so ignorant of the rules they play under. Both the coach and players first started complaining that the player taking the kick didn't ask for ten yards; guys, ten yards is an entitlement - the asking for ten is to get the maximum out of it. Standing six inches from the ball then sticking your leg out is just begging to be carded, so give me a break!

And when the player runs into the opposing keeper, saying he couldn't stop (but had three paces on him), I roll my eyes, shake my head, and also yellow card him. I could have gone red, but the bump wasn't too hard, and therefor fell short of the "excessive force" requirement.

It's too bad - the game was good, but I'm becoming increasingly convinced that high schools sports is not the character-building boon that the state-wide associations claim it to be. Maybe those who've been around longer will look at me and go, "Duh!" at my naivety, but shouldn't I expect higher standards? Isn't it sad that the club teams that these kids play on behave so much better, in general, than when they're representing their school and community? What does that say about them? About us? No wonder we're ruder as a society - look how we're teaching our future role models.

06 October '04 - 22:17 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Whistle superstitions

After several years of trying out whistles, I decided about 30 games into the club season, that I liked the Baillia II - it's a pea-based whistle that's shrill and loud. Not quite as loud as the Fox 40 (which I used in the logo of this site), but I felt like I had more control over it, where as the Fox 40 is much harder to vary in tone. The idea is that I want to "speak" with the whistle - that a player should be able to find out if a foul is minor, major, and just how angry I am about it. I can do that with the Baillia to a much greater extent.

But I just put the Baillia in my pocket as my backup whistle. I think part of it may be superstition - I've had a rough outing so far in the high school season, and in the two games I've went back to the Fox 40, things have gone well. It may also be that, given that the Fox 40 is so popular among soccer referees, that players have started to unconsciously associate it with the game, as opposed to my other whistle. Another, and this is not a terribly flattering theory, so I think I'll use the other one and place nice, is that high schools teams aren't sophisticated enough to understand the difference between a minor, "it was an 'opps' - please be careful" whistle and a "you really screwd up, buddy" whistle.

I can't say if wither one is is right, or if I'm just trying to bolster my psyche by creating a superstition. But after the last two games in the middle, I'm feeling better about doing my job again.

04 October '04 - 16:13 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Finally, a suburban game that goes well

I had the last two days off from reffing, and it was a good thing. I went into today's games a bit apprehensive, but overall in good mental form. I was apprehensive because I had noticed this game when the schedule came out, and could safely mark it down as a difficult game for a couple of reasons, and the both come down to the coach.

The coach does a good job of getting his boys to play very aggressive. This is not a bad thing, and there's nothing wrong with the coach for doing this, but it can be an issue if the other team is not used to that style of play. The other thing is that the coach is a screamer - this is his fault. I've reffed him maybe four or five times, and in every game but one I cautioned him and he came inches away from being ejected; the only time he didn't was when he was ejected.

But this game turned out different - the teams played hard, the fans were obnoxious (but not nearly as bad as others been lately), but the coaching staffs were well behaved - it was a miracle! And good thing, because the visiting team wasn't used to the aggressiveness, although they remained gentlemanly when trying to address their issues with me. The only issue, and a minor one at that, I had was with the home team regarding delay of game:

The first one was easy to let off with a warning. A home player was flagged for offside, and immediately following the whistle (and I mean immediately - I couldn't tell you how short the difference was), sent the ball downfield - it could have been frustration, it could have been... well, something else. But it was in the midfield, there was little advantage for a quick restart, and coming down hard would have been counter-productive. The visitors, understandably, wanted a delay call: "You know what, you're up 1-0, he's only hurting himself."

"Good point."

Looking at my near-side AR, who's now tying his shoes, "Besides, we can't restart until the assistant ties his shoes." We both (the AR, and I) grinned at each other. Home had been put on notice, so when it happened again, and flagrantly done it was, too ( he kept running after three whistles at full-blast), it was easy to issue the caution.

In high school, you're required to inform the coaches about the reason for the card. Sometimes, I flagrantly ignore this, especially if the coaches are behaving badly and they aren't motioning for me to come over - but in this case they were gesticulating, even though in my mind it was a total "Duh" as to why the guy was booked. I was wrong, of course, they wanted to talk about that player being offside and not the caution: "He wasn't offside, ask your linesman - the other guy was, but he wasn't!"

Don't ever ask a center referee to overrule an assistant on offside - we may blow it when a player if an offside position receives the ball from the opposite team (and therefor no infraction), but when it comes to determining if a player is in an offside position or not, you just can't argue with the person who sticks with that second-to-last defender. "Coach, I'm not here to talk about offside, I'm here to talk about the yellow card. If you don't want a reason for that, I'll just get back on with the game."

They did ask for a reason, which again, I thought the reason was, "Delay.... duh!" (I didn't say that!), but at least it justified their complaints to me (you can tell the high school rules are written by coaches, because refs hate that rule - it's just an invitation for dissent).

But that was it - the teams just played, not always agreeing with me, but always staying calm, focused, and intent on winning the game. Kind of ironic that the best behaved suburban teams I've had this fall have been the ones I worried most about before the season.

02 October '04 - 12:30 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶