RefBlog

"They're so full of themselves; I hate them!"

It's not secret that I'm not a fan of American football; I used to be, but I've pretty much lost my taste for it. On the big football games (when two rivals play, or the SuperBowl), I go grocery shopping so I don't have to stand in line, and that's about the extent that I pay attention to the game.

Our local college team, whose practice field we play on, is apparently going to a Bowl Game; I, of course, could care less - and apparently they could about anyone else, too. The league I work for right now rents the field, but were summarily bumped from their first hours games today by the football team; they had a few hours notice to try to get in touch with all the players and referees - which of course didn't work (including me). Then they start eating into the second hour, reneging on the agreement that they would be out by 7:00. "We got a late start" they said - we'll be out in 10 minutes. Then another 10, and a third ten. Not only did we not get started until 7:45, but we got thrown out of the building and had to go into the arena through the back way, outside in -10F (actual) temperatures so they could make their post-game entrance to the fucking news media. Even the facilities guy dislikes his own football team: "They're so full of themselves; I hate them!"

Needless to say, this is not improved my perception of football or big-time sports in this country. What I like less is the words that were coming out of the mouths of the coaches: terms like "pussy" and "jack-off" referring to the players he's coaching, in the public hallway during the first hour of my wait to get to the field. I'm getting married in less than a year, and of course the idea of kidlets come up; and between what I see in high school games and here, I tend to wonder I want my kid, especially if a boy, to be involved in sports. I love sports, but I also want to instill certain values; values that apparently don't exist in American sports. It's yet another reason to be sad about the direction this country to going.

But onto the games; because of the pointy-ball assholes, we had to play shorted halves (because we still had to leave on-time... fuckers) and almost nonexistent halftimes. Halves were knocked down to 22-23 minutes, and a one-minute halftime - enough time to get some water and head back in). This really sucked in the first game, because it was a cracker. It was the "B" division, but in games like this, skill doesn't matter - it's the excitement of the game - the reason why we play. Teams were throwing their bodies around every-which-way to eek out some small advantage and it didn't matter if the other team did it, because they did the same thing five minutes earlier. They were scoring too much to complain! Each team had two goal leads on their opponents and let them slide; can you get more see-saw in a 6-6 game?

I called over the goalkeeper and captains for the rules about kicks at the mark (and to tell the keeps that I was going to tightly enforce the encroachment rule, because it's much hard to score a PK in a five-yard goal). I said that their game was the most fun I'd had watching a game in many years (true); but then both keepers said it wasn't for them - which is, of course, also true! It all depends on who you ask. PKs are, unfortunately, PKs - a player shoots and either scores or doesn't; it's much luck than skill, and in this case, it went six rounds.

Marvelous game, though.

The second game wasn't difficult; much like last time, it was just teams playing for fun, and they really didn't need me for anything, except to appreciate them. I was happy to oblige.

The third game, also an Inter-A playoff, just screamed scoreless tie. Unlike the first game, this game was a bit slower, a bit more skilled, and a bit more refined in the whining area. Not bad by any means, but just in contract to the other two, they stood out. One woman in particular (who had the only really blatant foul) kept arguing with me when I fouled her for a slide tackle; it was a nifty move, just not allowed in this league - she sort of jumped backwards in her slide deftly using her feet like surgical instruments to remove it cleanly from the other player without any contact. Beautiful - but still not allowed here. She argued, I basically denied and performed the universal referee movement for back off, there's a free kick and you're in the way (watch the World Cup). It was a deep free kick, but it was miss-hit and went very high, so nothing came of it.

But I came out surprised, because on two successive corner kicks, starting with eight minutes left in the game, one team scored on close to identical plays: kick long, head it near-side. As it turned out, the referee on the other side went to PKs - nice to know I'm not the only one.

31 December '04 - 15:50 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Championships

This is the third indoor session in a row where I've had the competitive bracket finals - a rather nice compliment. The finals are always fun because the stakes are so high; and as a referee you have to, on one hand, be prepared to allow more complaints toward you because so much is at stake (even if it is a T-shirt); and on the other, be ready to let the game go a bit looser, and let the game be decided on the field. The later statement is not to say don't call fouls - but be damn sure about what you call, because one foul, especially in indoor, could be enough to swing the game.

The final was actually the third and final game of the night. My first was a semi-final, which meant that I was going to referee one of these teams again two hours later (possibly - if it was a contentious game, I'd remove myself, unless the other referee, who had the other semi-final also had one). One team, wearing yellow, had me for the first time; the other several times. I'd never seen the later team lose before, but they were just beaten all-round. Every time a player stopped to receive a pass, a yellow player jumped in and took it; they evened things out a bit in the second half, but not enough to win. It was too bad, too - the score was 2-1, and the second goal was a miss-hit dribbler that the keeper over-anticipated, clamping his hands down on the ball too hard, causing it to squirt up and into the goal. The better team, in my opinion won - but it's a helluva way to lose a game.

The second game was the final game for each team, near the bottom of the bracket - and they just played for fun. There was a couple fouls, but overall it was that nice type of game where people play because they love it - not because they're driven by the desire to play to win at all costs.

The final was fun, and a good contrast of styles. The black team quickly established that they were faster than the yellow team (or that yellow hadn't recovered in their hour break before this one), played nice one-touch ball, spreading the field; the yellow team played a bunker defense (which you can do more easily indoor when the goal's only five yards wide), opting to leave their biggest man in Center-D to out-muscle the strikers. And the strikers did not like him - he pushed the limit, but after a couple fouls found where my limit was, and just straddled it like a professional tightrope walker. As a referee you can appreciate that, because in those situations you have to watch players like that very tightly anytime the ball comes anywhere near him, but yet was able to adjust to stay just one the other side of trouble.

And it worked, he pissed off the strikers. After a nice shoulder charge that left a striker on his behind (he was trying to finesse the ball away), brought up the call of, "Are you going to call that, ref?" Incredulous, I replied, "No. That was clean!" Sometimes you can't get what you want, folks. My thinking was this: the defender was playing within the acceptable limits of physicality for the league, especially so against this team, and he was being technically clean as well. I'm going to punish good defense, keep playing.

The game ended in a scoreless tie; it was too bad, but it was a good game, but neither team was making good offensive inroads. Black ended up winning 4-3 in five rounds of kicks from the penalty mark.

30 December '04 - 08:38 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Best of 2004: Three drug-induced events

These are actually three entries, but they're short, and illustrate the good, the bad, and the ugly of working unaffiliated soccer matches - and all three of them are just really strange!

Listed in the order they were published, first is a potentially scary example of what can happen without adequate security - both for the players on the field, and the referee who's forced to deal with it. The second is an example of improvisation - one I hope I never have to do - but something that you can actually get away with (and laugh) when it's the boss that does it. The third is a great example of how the word "recreational" is a misnomer when it comes to "rec" soccer, while also being funny.

Here's the first entry, The most bizarre abuse I've ever recieved, published on March 8, (more)

27 December '04 - 22:24 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Best of 2004: The Economics of "Referee Capital"

I don't think that this was the best written article I wrote, but I think I've referenced it more than just about anything else, because it just makes sense. It makes sense because of the nature of human-to-human relationships, and it makes sense in how much a referee will trust and player; when a referee trusts a player's intent, he's more likely to give that player the benefit of the doubt, be it in a single play or when the player brings something to the referee's attention.

I'm including two articles in this section, because I wrote a follow-up that involved me, not as referee, but as player, that I think shows a good example of what happens when one teams plays the game in a civilized manner, and when one team does not. Not to mention, I still think I deserved a red card!

This is the first article, The Economics of "Referee Capital", published on February 13, (more)

24 December '04 - 13:44 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Best of 2004: On foul throws, coaches, and red cards

Like last year, I've selected ten entries that I, with help of people who submitted comments, were the best entries of the year. A couple of the subjects traverse multiple entries, and in those circumstances, I've combined all of them into one single entry. The order of the entries submitted as the "Best of" are random.

Problems with youth soccer usually start top-down; if a coach sets a bad example, it's the job of the club (or school) officials to deal with it, and all too often they don't. Sometimes, if we're lucky, we'll get fair warning about possible issues - this was certainly the case, as we found out, when a team had three players with red card suspensions (picked up at different times), and could only have played three or four games at most that season.

I liked this article for two reasons: it's a great example of what happens when coaches run amok, and it allowed me to use the Muppets in a pretty realistic example of this coach's hysterics. Unfortunately for America's school system, this coach's example is much more representative of what high school athletics produces rather than our club system, but it's something that needs to be watched out for at any level.

Here's the article:

On foul throws, coaches, and red cards - Originally published on June 4, (more)

22 December '04 - 10:55 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

"Card the m*%$#er f%^ers!"

That was the message from the soccer coordinator to the referees. Playoffs are upon us, and sometimes players don't care about lectures, whistles or cards - they just want to beat each other senseless on the soccer field.

I take that back; it's incorrect. They just want to win their soccer game and don't care if they have to beat the other team senseless to do it - a problem often shared by both sides.

Discipline wise, this has turned out to be a slightly above average year for the league; of course I judge my average from all the years there were no repercussions if you were thrown out of a game; this year there are serious ones (your team plays short on your next game if you receive a straight red), but I've still handed out three reds in eight weeks of play.

I often think that I must lead the league in cards (both yellow and red); and I might do, because there is at least one referee that doesn't believe in issuing cards at "rec" level games. "Rec" needs to be in quotes where this league is concerned, because while there are some modifications to make it a safer game (like no slide tackles, and a lower threshold for reckless behavior), the game is played with a competitive fire. These people want to win; and just like leagues with players who have a higher skill level, sometimes the players get out-of-hand; heck, most of the time these players get out-of-hand easier because they're not as disciplined.

Are cards a necessity at every game? No. Most of the time, in a four-game shift, there's only one game that needs plastic; sometimes there's two, and once in-a-blue-moon something gets put into the water and everyone's nuts... when it's not the playoffs and I tend to expect it. Put the teams into playoffs, and just like the excitement goes up a notch or two, so do the emotions, and the possibility of someone falling off their rocker.

Should be interesting, I have seven games next week - all playoffs.

21 December '04 - 23:13 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

I, Talkative

For some reason I was pretty chatty in my last set of games; partially because I'm getting to know the players, partially because they were the kind of situations where talk works.

I've always found that Referee-based talk-therapy is an iffy thing: there are teams that respond well; and there are teams that will use it to open up giant cans of whiny-ass. You try to feel it out if you don't know the teams, but at most I'll only use a single sentence, and a short one. With women and women's teams, I barely say a word - in general, they don't want to hear it and it'll just piss them off. Guys, on the other hand, can be much easier: you yell at them, and a few minutes later they forget. Get chattier and you start rolling the dice again; it may work very well, it may backfire. But then again, so much of reffing is like that; I've been told that the difference between a State 5 and State 6 is that a 5 should be able to determine how the game will go, emotionally, within the first five minutes. I'm barely a seven, so I'm still trying to work that one out by experience (and sorry, guys, that's how we learn - you are our ginnea pigs).

I voluntarily took the "B" games tonight - I needed to do some team rotation, and if I did the A's, I would have had the team that I issued a second caution to. I think the coordinator wanted me to do that game, but there needs to be some spacing, if nothing else so that they don't associate me personally with bad games (for them - it was a good game for me); that happened last year and it's not a pretty thing. They'll get me again, but they need a week. So, as it turned out, I had the easy games, while the ref on the other side of the building (we use an American football field sliced in half, along the 50-yard-line, to set the boundaries for our small-sided games) had all the very intense playoff action.

So maybe I unconsciously decided to experiment. The first game was a breeze - nothing going on at all; the second started my talkative faze. On the second there's a player who's very very good (and plays something like ten games a week), but can also be very aggressive (he's a lawyer) and loud (did I mention he's a lawyer?). But I've also played with him in the past, so we can get along. So when he started upping the verbage, I was able to have a good talk with him over halftime, explaining that if he just talked to me, I can change my focus from my pattern to where the problem is.

I can't tell if every referee does this, but I tend to develop a pattern of where and what I look for. It's based on the type of game being played, the players, the support I have from assistants, and where the ball currently is. Of course, in the indoor game, it's just me reffing, so I tend to follow the ball much more than I normally would (something the ARs do more of outdoors) because I have to - I need more of a reason to look outside of the 10-15 yards surrounding the ball then I normally would. The thing that really set him off, I saw peripherally, which is to say not terribly well; the ball was in the right corner, and I followed a little further toward touch to get a better angle on all the play, and saw him try to thread the needle between two defenders - what happened after that, I don't know, but it can be awfully difficult to spot something in a crowd even when I can focus all my attention on it.

But the talk worked; and what the talk basically came down to was, you got to tell me quietly and calmly so I can start focusing on it, otherwise you're going to piss the other team off, and I'll have book you to keep control. It was the kind of long talk that I could never do if I didn't know the player by his first name - something MLS refs are known to do, because there's a small pool or refs who work the center, and because they spend a lot more time with the players they ref than I do.

The next game was my talking through a gift. A gift for a referee is a cardable offense in the first five minutes, and in this case it allowed me to set the tone for the game, not only in what was going to be called, but that people would not to have to resort to histrionics if they took a nasty knock. The fouler wasn't malicious, but got the striker badly (but not enough to go red by a long shot) from behind; I already had a yellow card in hand when the foul-ee started screaming four letter words.

To the foul-ee: "Hey! Look at my hand!" It hadn't be raised yet, but it was clearly out of the pocket and ready to go skyward. He looked, then looked back at me. "Let. Me. Handle. It." And he did. The fouler knew that he was going to be booked, but not screamed at; the foul-ee knew that I'd do my job, and understood the implicit threat that it's easy to turn that card on him if he carried on (which I've been known to do).

The last game I wasn't as talkative; the one team had the player who thought he knew the "Rules" but kept quoting absurd ones (like goalkeepers picking up throw-ins from their own teammates are legal, and that foul and abusive language isn't a sending-off offense). There was a slide tackle issue, where I talked to the keeper (another player I've reffed quite a bit, but unlike the second game, I hadn't played with him) who had a player whoosh past him, spraying little black balls from the turf behind - he calmed down, and when the player did it a second time, there was no controversy with the card. It's a shame about the card, because I explained that there was no slide tackling, and he got it - but got the post-halftime brain fart, and did one barely a minute in. He admitted he deserved it, and there was no real issue beyond that - he was just too used to playing in leagues that allow them.

I think next week all the games are playoffs, so the fun will really begin.

20 December '04 - 08:07 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

A pair of playoff games

I've picked up a couple more games during the week (right now everything's going to either the wedding or the house down-payment fund, and although there's not much in the later kitty right now, I became 100% debt free last month, and one would hope that might counter-act any ill effects from a smaller down-payment). I was actually rather surprised by it - I asked for some additional games, but thought they would start during the next session, but instead I started working them in the first round of the playoffs.

For the uninitiated, indoor here runs in three sessions during the winter, which allows teams to play more games, and both the teams and the organizers to have more flexibility on scheduling (for example, my current week-days games will disappear once the current session ends, because they're being pre-empted by the college who owns the facility to it for their own teams). Fortunately, both games were fast, hard, and clean. No cards, no real thoughts to them, either. Only one issue in each game, too. The first game was that age-old problem of just what is a slide tackle in a league that doesn't allow them? This was the intermediate-A/competitive bracket, so I tend to let more go (partially because they want it that way, and partially because I'm comfortable that they're in control enough to get it); and these guys stretched the limit: one leg moves in a sliding fashion, but the far leg is planted to the ground, unmoving. Aesthetically, you can only say one word: neat! But in this situation, you're in a serious grey area, and hope that the teams are willing to take your first decision and run with it. Fortunately for me they did, and we had a really good game.

The second game's issue was more to do with my Theory of Referee Capital; there's a player who complains about line calls (despite my telling players every game that line calls will suck), even the obvious ones, so I just don't believe him. "Ask him, ref!"

No need. I had a clear view, and with the other guy setting up for a corner kick, I already have my answer.

18 December '04 - 16:48 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

New version of blog installed

This message serves two purposes: it's a test message on the upgrade I've done on the blog software RefBlog uses. It's also a request that you send me an update if something doesn't work properly.

Thanks!

16 December '04 - 22:53 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Last call for nominations

I'm putting together my list for the Best of 2004; get your nominations in soon or be left out!

It's actually rather fun to read what I've written over the last year - and to think that I thought this might be only a short-term project!

15 December '04 - 22:54 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

I'm amazed, I truely am, that the best coaches in the world not only don't know the laws of the game, but the recent history of their own league. Thierry Henry took a quick free kick for a goal against Chelsea on Sunday, and the Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho is complaining that he can't do that, that the restart must have a whistle.

Uhhh, no.

The fact that a coach in what arguably the best club league in the world doesn't know this is disappointing, although not surprising - what made me bust a gut laughing at him was that Henry did the very same thing last year against Aston Villa. And like last year, the referee decision was ruled correct. Henry has a bloody history of taking quick free kicks, people! Call my cynical, but Mourinho is simply trying to avoid being blamed for poor coaching by trying to deflect the blame toward the referee.

The only way that call could not be correct was if the ref told Henry to wait for the whistle, thereby making it a ceremonial free kick. The only way people - remember this. Ask the FIFA referee in charge if you don't believe me.

---

More stuff on the impending referee shortage, this time by a college administrator and why kids who ref quit. It's easy for us: it's abuse; especially by people ignorant of the game. A U8 game with a FIFA referee (with World Cup experience) getting harangued by ignorant soccer moms. Unbelievable.

14 December '04 - 16:39 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

I do indoor for man-management skills

I was chatting with the soccer coordinator before our games started; she troubled by the number of red cards being issued (there were three last week, including mine) and the problems with the way some of these so-called adults are behaving. Part of it might be the refereeing, and myself being one, that was pretty much what we stuck to. I told her that she's pretty much in a catch-22; if she wants better referees, the best thing they could do is certify and get some real training - but then she's lose those referees because they'll be paid better elsewhere. I know some referees who were certified and decided they liked this league best, but the reality is that they'll lose at least some. There are some additional options, which I didn't bring up (because it wouldn't be her decision, and I know it wouldn't happen anyway), such as affiliating, but as we had to start the games, I suggested some of the USSF training materials that were for sale online - better than nothing.

And some for the players, too? The team that was telling me that there's no such thing as a send-off for Abusive and Foul Language was telling the other referee this week that the goalkeeper can pick up the ball from a throw-in by his own team (it's an indirect free kick from the spot of the handling, in case you were wondering). I told the guy to go to FIFA.com and read the Laws of the Game- but apparently that's too many letters for them.

My third game today was very spirited, and I knew it would be from the get-go. I've written about this team before; they play very physically, usually just scraping under my tolerance level - but they were being outplayed, and started upping the ante by getting reckless, while whining about any little touch they had against them, let along getting what they were dishing out. It's totally unscientific, and probably just my own bias, but it seems that the most physical a team, the more they whine when they get it in kind. Maybe I'm wrong, but I seem to be astonished when teams can give-and-take with equal vigor.

First half was tolerable - they had a couple hard fouls that I let go for advantage, one of which scored. I talked with the captain and we kept it at a decent level. But at half time you could see that the potential was there for ugliness. Fortunately, it didn't get ugly, but considering a half is 25 minutes, four cards handed out is quite a bit (one on a woman from the other side; three, including a second caution, for the team I'm focusing on). Some of the stuff was just obvious: there is no slide tackling, so when one of their players did a screaming tackle into another player, they whined that there was no foul. They also whined about what could have been their only goal, except that the ball was mid-air over the goal-line, and with a single referee you can never call it with precision - which is why I tell captains every game that line calls will suck. I can call those types of balls, but in a single referee system, the only times will be on corner kicks, and free kicks, when I position myself on the goal line, expecting a shot.

Probably the most amusing, for me, was the head whiner; I caught myself from saying, "Don't talk again" - I changed it to, "Don't. You don't want me giving you a stupid card for dissent." Apparently, however, he did, because a few minutes later, I was back: "I warned you - here's your stupid yellow card for dissent."

Overall, I'm happy about the match - I'm not sure if I could have done anything to nip it in the first half, although it seriously deserves looking over ironically, that if I let their hard play go on a few minutes longer before the first half lecture/plea, I could have easily justified a yellow card to set the tone. The irony is that the few words I had with the players worked for the remaining 20 minutes of the first half (out of 25); I tried to nip it before needing a card - but then again, it could have backfired with my firing out cards around in the first half.

13 December '04 - 17:23 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

New product review added

Official Sports brought out a new pair of shorts, complete with a new design and USSF logo; I bought a pair an offer you my review of them right here. Feel free to share your opinion.

11 December '04 - 03:31 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

"How much are they paying you?"

There was a whole bunch of odd games tonight, complete with mixed messages from players. Things like that happen, but not usually in successive games.

I was reffing the "B" bracket tonight, because the first game would have had a team that, had I taken it, would have been the third week in a row. Doubles happen - there are only two refs for the night, and the entire league plays that night in that location, and as long as nothing bad happened the previous game, it's usually fine - but three's pushing it. The first game in the "B" bracket was easy - one foul throw and one indirect foul for the entire game. The second pretty much followed the first, with the only thing of note before the game was that I had never reffed them before, ever - so unlike the other teams, they really don't know my style of reffing. But it really didn't matter, because the game was so mellow. It's really the only way I could describe it.

Mellow mellow mellow goal scored mellow mellow mellow goal scored mellow mellow mellow goal score... and so on for the first game. All the goals were scored by one team, but there was nothing on the other side that betrayed any frustration - no hard challenges, no griping, no whining, nothing even close to being a foul.

You can see where this is going, can't you. Don't worry, while the obvious does happen, there's still a left turn in there.

Second half, (more)

06 December '04 - 23:30 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

The post-game conversation

I went to watch my fiancé play, and ran into the captain from yesterday's game. He was talking to the soccer coordinator, and we chatted for a while, too. It was enlightening.

He wasn't pissed about the game, in fact he said he was happy about it. We talked about the incident I missed; apparently he was going to the far post, and got a forearm to the head as a defender came back into position. Ouch! We talked about my positioning, and he said he didn't think that there was a way I could see it. I expressed my gratitude for him taking control, and that I didn't hold a grudge (sometimes you just lose your cool, and as I said before I did sympathize with him). He expressed gratitude with my stopping to game to talk to him and be honest - and that he just fooled both of us that he wasn't as calm as he appeared.

It was a nice conversation; it put us all on the same footing, in case we run into each other again on the pitch. Considering that all the teams in the league play on the same night I ref, in the same facility, I'd say it's likely.

Before my fiancé started playing, I watched the end of a game that was preceding hers, and saw a great example of the the use of "reckless" in determining what is and what isn't a foul: a striker was bringing to ball across the goal line toward the goal, maybe six yards away, and a defender makes a technically clean play clearing away the ball - but in the process sends the striker flying... literally. It looked like a pointy-ball hit, complete with the nailed player going airborn. My initial thought was, clean play; but the referee blew the whistle, and then I remembered where I was. If the game was an outdoor affilaited league (which meant they played at a higher level than there), it probably would have not been a foul, but the ability to determine a foul based on recklessness means that, given the level and expectations of play, that yes we can call the foul. Nice whistle.

The other interesting thing (besides my fiancé's team winning) was that people in that organization are recognizing me out of uniform. I'm getting lots of "Hi"'s and "How are you doing"'s from people who play in multiple leagues though the company. That's a strange feeling.

03 December '04 - 08:04 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶