RefBlog

A little bit like pinball

I've mentioned before how much I appreciate my youth-league assignor - in some ways I've had the best of both worlds with her (and now, her partner). When I started, she assigned for one club, and was able to work with me in both on the field, and to work me up the levels of play (putting me with more experienced officials, for example); now that's she's assigning for a dozen clubs, she's able to give me U19 centers (which I need for my upgrade). I've got several more coming up, and with the number of teams she works with, I'm not having the same team over-and-over again.

The U19 center I just had reminded me a of a pinball game; the field was really too small for the size of the players. I've worked smaller fields with adults before, which have always been a challenge - so I was happy with the few extra yards I had for these guys. I was also happy the score remained close, because the inevitable contact that comes with such small confines, unless you play 90 minutes with one-touch ball (and neither team did), could easily have gotten harder and more dangerous as one team slumped into exhaustion and frustration.

As it turned out, the game ended 2-2, with the tying goal in stoppage time. I handed out three cautions: one with some help from my AR when I didn't get a good enough look at it, two others for obvious reckless challenges that didn't garner any protest. The hardest part about the game was trying to stay far enough away from play, when a few steps in any direction could put you in the middle of it. I think I did an adequate job - I was able to avoid getting beaned by the ball, although I had a couple of close shaves. It was one of those fields where you can't go too much further than the top of the penalty area, because there's just not enough room between it and the touchline - I was able to get there late, as the team that was ahead started looking to hold in the corner, but overall it was far too crowded - even if the ball switched to the other side, the lack of length tended to put more people into the area, and I'd lose sight of the far side.

The second game, where I was an AR, was a 17-girls match. And the issue for me was in the second half I felt like I had pulled my calf. In retrospect, I think it may have been a small cramp; I always show up very early for matches, and apparently I had the wrong time for the first game - so while the game got off on-time, I didn't have time to stretch or drink enough water (fortunately, I keep a water-bottle with me at work, which I regularly partake of). A scheduling snafu of giving the first game only ninety minutes to complete before the next game (ignoring such things as half-time, and check-in for the second game), meant that we had to rush things along after the first game; and at half-time for the second, I had to do paperwork for the first.

No problems for me the next morning (other than some stiff legs and joints - I'm going to say it was from all the starting-and-stopping from the first game and not because I'm getting old), which is why I'm thinking small cramp.

30 May '07 - 14:43 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Small-time leagues, big-time dangers

I've had an on-again off-again relationship with Referee magazine (it's on-again now after a player broke his leg after a nasty tackle a couple of years ago). Don't get me wrong, the content is always good; but it definitely has a NFHS bent to it - something which I also have an on-again off-again relationship with. It's a fantastic magazine for current events about referees - but when it comes to learning or reinforcing good techniques, it's a smidge basic. There is, of course, nothing wrong with that - basics need to be reinforced, but I have a stack of books that cover much of the same thing.

In any event, there were two articles I found interesting, however - and only one was specifically about high school soccer. The first was "So you think you're ready for the big game?" All of us would like to think we can do higher level games than we are - maybe we choose not to, maybe we can't for one reason or another, maybe we're not as good as we think. But the piece was a good article about what separates those who do the big games from the rest of us: commitment, living out of a suitcase, etc. etc. Good stuff, especially because officials don't live the life of even the lowest-paid player (I've seen the locker room for one stadium's NFL officials; they're in poorer quality than team lockers for some high schools - which is still better than most soccer referees ever see).

The only thing that really caught my attention to the article was at the beginning, where they listed the possible consequences: vandalism, death threats, changed lifestyles - all because of a call the big time officials made... except it's not. All too often we get those same problems in the trenches of community leagues. How difficult is it to find the name of an official then look it up in the phone book? How about when you see the referee later? When I had to quit playing soccer because of threats of bodily injury, I had people write back that they had to make the same decision: to run the risk of someone taking it out on you because you reffed in the past - who cares about present tense - you can quit and they can still be after you.

I read the article about a week after a very disturbing email on the SocRef listserv. As you read the email, there are plenty of people to blame: the coach for causing yet another new referee to quit, the assignor for giving an assignment to a rookie official, the parent for going along with it (and some "questionable" behavior during the incident). But there's still only one person handing out the verbal abuse, the coach - and given the age it can have far more consequences than someone spray-painting your garage:

After cajoling my 14 year old into taking the basic course we went to a small local tournament and the assignor, a good friend who had refereed some of the kid's games made a terrible error because he was short of bodies and instead of giving her a line tossed her right into the meat grinder. We both protested, but he pleaded and she gave in.

I was on the next field doing a U12 and she had U-10s with Stanley Screamer for a coach. This idiot was trying to play an off-side trap with a U-10 coed team and a rookie official. I could hear the yelling clearly and when my game wrapped up went right o the touchline and this guy was absolutely out of control. The assignor had already been called by the opposing coach and the guy had been warned, but nothing was going to deter him from making his points. He was losing 6 - 1 at that point and had kids on the team in tears because they seemed unable to conduct a proper off-side trap.

My first step was to sidle up to him and say " the kid is a rookie, you are making things worse and I am asking you to stop screaming" The guy went off on me and when game ended my kid stalked over to the touchline threw her whistle at the assignor and said "I am never ever going to referee another soccer game, find some other dope!" That was a signal for coach who could not leave well enough alone to make a disparaging comment about her abilities where upon my really neat kid used language I associated
with my old Navy buddies and suggested that he do something physically impossible.

By this time some parents from the both teams were on the touchline and a local cop who I had grown up with (Bert) was on the site mediating when the coach then referred to my daughter with the most disgusting description for any woman and I lost it and I invited him to the parking lot. My friend, the assignor was trying to hold me saying 'Phil, you'll never get another game" as if I cared.

Using a Navy term it was time for "General Quarters" and I was going to have parts of the guy regardless - that is when Bert flew out of the crowd, tackled the guy, threw him down, and had the cuffs on in a heartbeat. Bert was screaming at the guy and it was then I think the guy realized he had made a serious error in judgment and started to apologize. Bert was having none of it, called for the on-duty patrol car and tossed the guy into the back and they took him off to cool his heels at the station house.

After taking my kid home, I went to the station house and signed the complaint. The follow-up was that he took a serious hit when we went to court, and then was suspended from youth soccer for five years.

PS I am still looking for him.

I wish I could say that atypical. Unfortunately, I can't. I've seen parents and coach first hand say terribly vile things about children who are learning to referee. The first time I saw abuse, both to myself and my officiating crews was on my first day reffing. Do a search of the word "abuse" on this blog, and it just continues.

There are plenty of things that separate those who work the big games from us, but it sure ain't worrying about abuse. (more)

28 May '07 - 16:11 - - default| Only one comment - § ¶

A little self-effacing humor

I had an adult men's second-division line, which gave me a nice run, although no real problems. There was one guy who complained when his team was offside (by yards) and complained when his opponents were no offside. I'm supposed to take you guys seriously?

Overall, it's a line, and not too much to write about. There were a couple of funny moments off-the ball; one of the teams was primarily Irish. After a foul that they weren't too fond of, one of the Irish players, "What a cheap bastard. Must have some Irish in him." At check-in, when the team manager showed up his kid in a carriage, wearing a green national team jersey, one of his teammates peered down, and said, "Wouldn't you like to have an English jersey?" As if on cue, the baby sputtered twice, then started a full-bore bawl. You just can't get any better timing than that.

25 May '07 - 09:49 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Quietiest game I've ever had

17-girls State Cup match in the middle, and I can't think I've ever had such a quiet game in my life. I'm not talking about events on the field (although they were pretty quiet, too), but vocally. The game was clearly a mismatch: the visiting team scored in the first minute, and then a second goal maybe ninty seconds later. What normally happens in these situations, if not on the first goal, but definately the second, are calls from the team leaders to wake up, play some defense, show some self-respect, but they were silent. They weren't sullen or anything - but really really quiet. So was the winning side; they all came up to congratulate the players who scored, or set up the goals, but otherwise they didn't do any talking amongst themselves, either.

The good news from this game was that the person I needed to impress, the person I had in the back of my mind while working out all winter long, was impressed. According to him, I was moving the way I was two years ago. Is my ticket punched? I'd like to hope so, but I can't assume it.

The second game, a 15-girls line, was very similar - the winning side was from the same club, and nearly opened with their own first-minute goal (the end result, 6-0, was the same). I felt really bad for the losing side in this one, though, because they kept getting hurt. Apparently they had a bunch of injuries going into cup play, and they had several fluke moments that took out two players, leaving other in who desperately needed a subsitution. Cup play here involves a form of limited substitution: when you're out, you're out for the half (so if you sub-out in the first half, you can re-enter in the second). I'd really like it if the first, maybe the second division in the entire state played that way, instead of just at the State Cup - it makes a better and more enjoyable brand of soccer (no subs every five minutes), and it gets the teams from our state more used to this type of play come Cup time (it's already a disadvantage for us to have to have the Cup at the beginning of the year rather than at the end).

In any event, they got through, albiet playing a man short, and in decent spirits; it was somebody's birthday and they brought cupcakes. (more)

22 May '07 - 17:06 - - default| Only one comment - § ¶

Post-center let-down

I started the day with a State Cup 16-boys center, and I really enjoyed this game. The teams were a top division out-ring suburban team, versus an out-state team in the 2nd division. During check in, the top-division side seemed rather confident that they should win this game, given the status of the other team. I think perhaps there may not be enough teams to play top-tier in the outer regions of the state, because not only did the second-division side play up with their opponents, they out-played them.

The second-division side had a couple big players who were able to couple using their size with a nice touch on the ball - if they could shoot better, they would have won; the premiere side had nicer overall touches, but couldn't string passes we enough, and were getting just too fancy for their own good. So, the game, which ended scoreless, by the way, was almost everything I liked about boys games in the Cup: fast and physical - and because things were tight, there was no time for hacking.

There was one player, however, who did have grabby hands. I whistled him for a foul early on, and then had a couple other conversations with him after his attempts at shirt-pullage failed; the second ended with, "Look, you can't say I didn't warn you." He agreed, and almost instantly later was subbed off (maybe the coach noticed my attentions). When he came back in the second half, he did it again, but it had no bearing on the play whatsoever (the player just breezed through it, and got a shot off for a corner kick). "Nothing came out of it, so I'm not going to do anything, but if you hands get in the way of anything, I am going to have to book you." He played the rest of the game with his fingers flat even with his palms - the first time I saw him doing that, I was torn between thinking, "Cool, he's making an effort," and laughing out loud.

Because the games were 16s, we had more of a time between games than with the older kids, and even though I felt great running the first game, wishing I could have justifiably extended time further; I had a post-center let-down on my line for the second game (16 girls). Maybe it was because we had 25 minutes between games and it was cold - it was just difficult to ramp back up to doing what needed to be done; I started feeling better after about 25 minutes, and had no issues in the second half. Maybe it's mental fatigue, too - I went from no games in the winter, to all sorts of games (and I longer day at work than normal). If I'm privileged enough to center a knock-out round (where we have fourth officials), I hope my assignor takes my suggestion and puts the center at fourth for the second game.

21 May '07 - 22:42 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

"If we get questioned on a line call, I'll just reply, 'Dude, dandelions!'"

If I classified my games, this would go into the "Nothing special center" category. The first half was all one team - they must have had more than twenty shots, but none of them on-goal (as opposed to zero for the other team). At half time, I asked the AR, who was mostly parked at center, "How boerd are you?"

A fluke goal actually put the dominant team behind 0-1, and the second half was at least marginally more interesting. The most interesting thing about the game was the field - it was covered in white dandelions. It slowed down the ball, running, and made the lines difficult, if not impossible to see. And while it didn't ruin the game, I think it hurt it a bit.

In the second half, with the score still 1-1, I decided to add two minutes of extra time. I rationalized it thusly: a minutes for the two goals, and a bit split evenly for subs and a couple of delays looking for balls. I added a bit more after the winning goal was scored. Naturally, as we left the field, I was loudly asked (and I don't know how serious this was, since last year they played 40-minute halves, and this year 45), "Hey ref, why'da add seven minutes to the game?" The cynic in me says it was serious.

15 May '07 - 14:10 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Only positioning

Women's division three center today (1st and 2nd divisions start later); I would have been really boerd on the line. But since I had the center, I was able to run and work on positioning: top of the penalty area for each penalty kick (well, most of them - if the kick that went over the goal line originated near the middle of the field, I don't think I should be expected to make it to the penalty area by the time the ball crosses the line).

Overall, no problems - only a couple of fouls. There was one player who was, when she got the ball solid, able to streak past defenders, but couldn't finish. Also, in the last minute of the game, a player on the team down 3-0 was rather vocal about an offside call she disagreed with; I let it go, then she walked over to the AR and told him it was a "Bullshit call". As I went over to talk to her, I pointed to my badge, and then the AR, asking if he wanted me to card her - he nodded yes. At the time, I thought it was an iffy card not not much in the way of dissent, but I was OK with him making that decision since I didn't see at much as the intended target. But now I'm feeling a little better about it. It was her second comment about the call, and her point was piss on the AR. It may not fly in State Cup or better, but I think, in retrospect, that it doesn't have any business being on the field and that it was more worthy than I initially thought. (more)

14 May '07 - 12:34 - - default| two comments, already - § ¶

The counter-argument to players make better referees

A couple of entries ago I peppered a certain game with a number of sighs, because of mistakes from the referee, and the game going down the toilet. In what's probably my last regional league game of the year, I had him again in the center, and well... I was the only person not yelled at and berated in the game.

Sigh.

The good news was that it wasn't as bad as the last one, the bad news is that it easily could have. Before the game, he mentioned that he played first division amateur soccer, and how bad the referee he had was. Unfortunately, as the game went on, he became more intent on the comments about him than his actual game, and more and more persnickety about little things, like placement of the ball for free kicks at mid-field.

I'd be the first one to say that a referee has to make his decisions and stick with them, but a referee also has to adapt to the game: what type of game it is, and what the players are willing to accept. Unfortunately, I really do think that, for him, the game really became about him, even if unconsciously. And I think that's a potent counter-argument to the good players make good referees argument: a player that plays well has to make an adjustment to refereeing, and reffing in lower levels than we play; I think in this case, since he plays far in advance of the players he's reffing, his mind is saying there should be no dissent from his calls, even when he blatantly mis-handles things. Referees who don't play (or in my case, play but suck) don't have that type of ego to rein in (although I have to admit to having one, I'll let you the reader determine the size and appropriateness of it) and are free to learn the ways that referees look differently at game than players or coaches. I'm not arguing that non-players make better referees, only that we both have issues to contend with - and I don't think either one makes one a better official (except in the physical aspect, where high-level players have people like me down cold).

Two issues in the first half really make my point here: Team A is losing 1-0 after getting scored upon in the first minute; they've been on the defensive almost ever since and are getting frustrated. They finally get a possible shot at goal, but the through-ball is kicked too hard and the goalkeeper easily picks up the ball. But the problem is that an attacker makes a slide really late and takes out the keep.

No call.

OK, I play like shit, but I know when the keeper is rolling around in pain after a late challenge, it's just a good idea to call it; it may not be in the Laws of the Game, but there's an expectation that when the keeper dives in for the ball, that attackers break off their challenges if they can (an important three words - because if they can't and they get hurt, it's a different matter and most people understand that as well). When they don't, it pisses people off. Just like with the injured keeper in my last game with him (and boy, this read almost like an exact duplicate in how he handled things), he ignored it for a while, and then when it does, he ignores me when I subtly try to signal for a yellow card (I had the coach right behind me, so I just used the universal signal for an AR to indicate a booking, by covering my badge). If he looked at me and said no, that's one thing - but he never looked.

Later, with a minute left in the half, a player on the same team that went after the keeper, made a very late, excessively hard charge that literally sent his opponent flying five feet sideways. No call. At halftime, I tried to point out the keeper incident, and the 45th-minute charge, and how, even if he didn't want to card them, that he needed to make a show out of talking to the player who slid into the keeper (especially after he stopped play), and call out advantage on the 45th minute charge. In both cases, it's telling both teams that you saw it, you're dealing with it, and you'll deal as appropriate as it continues.

He didn't. He was more interested in the dissent coming from the coaches and players. How do you tell a fellow official that he deserves it? I think the only way is if he wants to hear it from us, and he clearly didn't. And like last game, what followed was a cavalcade of dissent cards and cautions out of frustrations for calls the players just didn't understand.

Sigh. (more)

12 May '07 - 16:25 - - default| Only one comment - § ¶

I forgot how slow they are

I had my first adult-league game - a men's third division line, and I had forgotten just how slow the place is, compared to the State Cup and regional league games I'd been doing until this point. The game was pretty well unremarkable - no issues on the field, and it was well, a line. Although the pedometer I wore said I still ran close to two and-a-half miles - almost the amount I ran in regional league and State Cup play (which ranged between 2.5 to 3.5 miles per game on the line). Maybe it was because instead of a lot of very short sprints from side-to-side, there were more long-balls, so I covered the same distance, but slower (and this game, unlike all the regional league games, wasn't a blow-out).

11 May '07 - 14:26 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

A stinging implosion

I try to have good habits when I referee: I like getting there an hour early, not only so I can mentally get into the game (a habit I picked up when I was acting - but in this case I get "in character" as the referee), but make sure the field it the way it should be. Yesterday, at the regional league games, I corrected some goal-posts that were off the line, and even in a hole of a couple of inches. I had another regional league game today (a single, thankfully), and did much of the same, to be told ten minutes before the game that the teams I expected, and the field, had been changed. My ARs were even more late (apparently they were fill-ins - see last entry for lack of referees), so after I found out what color jerseys they had, we basically had to get the teams in and just play; I don't like doing it that way, but sometimes when the devil drives, you do you visual inspection as you check in the teams.

Because of the change, I had one team I centered the day before (again, see previous entry about that), and one from my third game where I was line (sigh). The good news, there was no rain, although the winds were out again in force. In fact, by the end of it, the direction changed so that sand and dirt from a nearby construction project were blowing onto the pitch, and stinging any piece of exposed flesh - everyone's jerseys looked like they were being torn from their bodies with fishing line - it would have been funny to watch, if you weren't in the middle of it or trying to have a high-level soccer game.

The game was mostly no problem - I ended up booking a player ten minutes into the second half that I booked the day before (this time for persistent infringement than making a second effort to trip someone after a lost challenge), and another in the 90th for the opposite team for a nasty tackle that took out two of his opponents. The only real bone of contention I had was with a coach, after his keeper was seriously hurt in the first half (he was out in the second, but by then they were already up 4-0), going up for a punch inside the six. It was one of those things that was just unlucky - there were four people all crowded next to each other, the keeper jumps, make a good punch, and hits something going down. I didn't see elbows up (although the possibility is there they I couldn't see them), and it's just as likely his head, as he went up at an angle into the fray, hit someone else's. He went down really really hard, and even though the ball was in the penalty area - I blew the whistle right-away as I knew someone hit his head or face. No foul, everyone was looking straight at the ball - I could have gotten away, legally anyway, with letting play go on, but it just wasn't worth it given the score. I talked to their de-facto captain (their actual captain really wasn't chatty - maybe because he also had a booking from me yesterday), and he was reasonable about it; we both knew keepers were crazy, he agreed that it wasn't a foul and just dumb luck. I even told him that my stopping play was a bit of a stretch (again, inter-state ultra-competitive leagues, versus what we see 95% of the time).

So, to continue, players: reasonable. Coaches? Well, not so much. To recap, no foul (and I checked this with my AR), and the ball was loose (it was after the punch). The solution according to FIFA? Drop-ball. Insert deep echoing voice here: Coaches not happy. They carried on something awful, too - I was about to warn them off about being removed, when they finally stopped. I had to estimate where the ball was (attention was understandably elsewhere) based on where the keeper was punch it to, and had a drop-ball inside the penalty area. The fact that both players went after it with gusto, both getting it before the bounce, just gave the coaches another opportunity to voice their displeasure. When players get the ball before it hits the ground on a drop-ball, I normally ask them to drop back a half-step - they're still an equal distance from the ball as their opponent, and it works quite nicely. It doesn't work when the drop is in the penalty area. While I'm trying to get the participants in the drop to back away (I think I got two inches a piece), I had to get the other defenders away as well - by only other option was to lower my hand closer to the ground (from about waist to mid-thigh level). We dropped, the ball skittered away outside the penalty area, where it was taken back by the attacking team (who was down by four goals), who were able to resume their attack. In my opinion, that's fair.

Back on the other field, which started an hour later than us, things were getting real interesting. As I said before, it was extremely windy, and just not a lot of fun when you coupled the weather with flying sand and dust. So as we're packing things up from our game, the officials are looking into a third field we used for the league that's a little farther away from the construction project, hoping that they'll get less flying detritus. It never came to that, because one of the coaches came storming in, complain to the referees about the field they chose, and that he's taking his players home - and it's off the officials fault. This drew a unanimous call of "bullshit" as soon as he stormed away - he's a local team, who know all too well that the referees don't choose the fields assigned to at the complex, but the complex does itself, and they issue very nasty fines to anyone who uses a field they're not supposed to (in this case, the league rented three fields, which was why they were investigating moving to an available alternate). If it was the visiting, out-of-state team, that's one thing - but everyone who plays in the metro-area uses this complex - it's the largest in the state, which is why teams put up with its deficiencies. The site-coordinator, who apparently knows all the poop when it comes to teams in this league (he knew which coaches also coached elsewhere, how they were in the standings, etc.), said that this team was going through a very public implosion between players, parents, and coaches.

One of the referees, who I've known for a long time (a state referee my regular youth assignor used to help me ease into higher levels of play), was very succinct: "He wouldn't be up here if the score was 1-1." The score was 4-0, and guess which side was losing? (more)

09 May '07 - 14:34 - - default| four comments, already - § ¶

Three's a crowd

I ran into a rather sticky situation a few weeks ago: I was asked to referee in some more regional league games (youth teams from the USSF-designation region, which means usually one of the teams is from out-of-state), and the preliminary schedule included four games on one day, include three-in-a-row, and back-to-back centers in that 3-game set. This took me greatly by surprise, mostly because of who assigned the game - I assumed, given these were all 17-boys games (and really high level) that this type of scheduling just wouldn't be an option. So I sent him an email, just trying to be nice, saying that, given the preliminary nature of his schedule (his words), that I could assume I'd be removed from some of those games, adding extra emphasis on those two centers and three back-to-back (to-back, because there's three of them - sorry, really bad joke that's not even mine) games. Several days passed; I hoped to see him at the State Cup, but didn't - and I decided that, I just couldn't afford to be subtle anymore. I asked straight out to be taken down to two games, citing performance, and my desire not to incur additional medical expenses (considering last year, even after insurance, we spent over $6,000 out-of-pocket on my wife's soccer injuries).

I didn't get all I wanted, but I got enough that I was at least somewhat relieved (although I'll have to add him to the list of people I tell "no more than three hours"): I was dropped down to three games, one center, with two-hour breaks between each game. As it turned out, I was physically able to do these games, although keeping mentally in it, after 270 minutes of cold, wind, and rain was difficult, and not altogether successful.

The first game, where I was the senior assistant, was an illustration of both why we need more high-level officials, and why you don't officiate the same team several times in a row (in this case, three - and the season's barely a week old). I've actually mentioned this before: as a referee you know one team better than another, and you can better anticipate the fouls for one side - not wrong at the first reading of it, but it does mean another team, just by you being there, is more likely to get called for a foul. It also means that if a team doesn't like how you ref (or a particular aspect of it), they'll get increasingly frustrated, too. I didn't think of it at the time, but I should have offered to take his center, although he was only doing the one game, as he has a professional match later in the afternoon (albeit a fourth official); but that also may have put me in the situation of doing back-to-back centers again (bad), or putting someone unqualified in center for the second game (also bad). I think both of those points above happened in the game, although that's nobody's fault - but he got through the game OK, and I ran about 1/3 more than I have so far on the line (I've been wearing a pedometer I got for christmas).

The center featured a team who was in the first game (everyone was playing multiple games, probably because of the travel involved), and another from outside of the state. In the first game, the returning team did a nice job of counter-attacking, they won 3-2, and all three goals were off the counter; the winning goal had a lot of luck, as it was a high lofted ball from near the midway line with the keeper near the top of the penalty area - it would have sailed over, except a gust of wind (not a freak gust, it was windy all day long) caught it at just the right time, dropping it to graze the crossbar and into the net (I was actually quite happy, I was able to make it to the goal line, maybe a stride or two late, to make the call - and was able to sell it quite well). But the team they played in this game was fresh, and they just didn't have the energy to try to counter. By the end of the first half, the blowing winds (according to weather.com, somewhere between 15-30 miles an hour) was joined by rain, and things just got miserable. The game wasn't much better, ending 6-0; there were a couple cards given to frustration challenges near the end of the game. I didn't add any stoppage time, as doing so would have just made things worse.

The third game... ugh. I'm just not sure if there's a polite way to go about this. I've written before about Referee Capital - well, referees have that to, and the center for this game lost it really quickly, and while not the ugliest game I'd seen, it wasn't good - certainly not for the type of game we had. The first strike was just not looking professional: I mean, he had a legal kit on, and it was on appropriately, but it was the über-cheap variety that kids buy when they first start out. Should it matter? No, but we all know that appearance counts. The second strike was calling really stupid handballs... sometimes... and sometimes not. It frustrated the heck out of the players (and myself, for that matter). The third strike, which was the nail in the coffin, was a brain-fart of enormous proportions: indirect free kick, kicked at the goal, keeper dives and saves keeping the ball in play but landing hard, referee blows the whistle and says it was because it was an indirect kick.

Sigh.

The keeper, as I said, landed hard and had to be looked at, but as he was writing around, the center was oblivious to people trying to get his attention, including myself. Three-to-four minute went by - I went on the field and was about to waive the coach in, when he finally looked, called the coach in, and ended the half.

Sigh.

Over half-time, he admitted he blew it, but the damage had been done. Players had lost all respect for him, and he started resorting to cards for dissent (I'm assuming it was dissent - none of them were, as far as I can tell, for anything on the field), including one player who got two cautions for it. So, as AR1 (again), I've got coaches both vocally unhappy with the center (although the one coach, the one with the sent-off player, was overheard as saying, "The referee doesn't know what he's doing, but he wanted to be tossed anyway - I could see it happening"), and while one (who had a four goal lead) took it too far (center didn't do anything), I can't say I blame them too much.

Maybe the referees just weren't there. There's State Cup (there goes most of the high-level referees who work youth games), a big tournament elsewhere in the area, and an advanced clinic with a FIFA referee all going on at the same time. Maybe it just comes down to not enough referees.

08 May '07 - 16:57 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Little mistakes that only I notice

More State Cup action (regular league play doesn't begin for another week or so), and I started with a 17-girls line. For the most part, it was OK, nothing terribly special. I made one mistake in the last fifteen minutes of the match that nobody said anything about, but I knew nonetheless. An attacker with the ball right in front of me was tripped, and instead of waiting to see if she actually fell (she sure looked like she was headed there), I flagged. But before the whistle, she was able to turn and made an off-balance cross into the penalty area. I should have let it go.

I then had an 18-girls center (I've definitely moved up in the referee rankings - never having done 18 centers in the State Cup before, and now I've had two) that I'm mostly happy with. Running, I think I did well - I'd like to go deeper, but I'm a little hesitant on speed. I've been playing with a pedometer I got for Christmas, and by the end of the night I'd run 6.75 miles for both games (a bit more than the last games); I got too close to play a couple of times, and realized that there's an area I'm just unsure of my positioning, and that's on my side, just past the center circle - I don't want to be in the middle of the field, but don't want to be too far behind play, either. Not sure about that.

As far as the game I centered, it was your typical higher-level team wearing down the lower-level. The game was a contest between a 2nd and 1st division teams (although the 2nd division team were 19s), and there just wasn't much on the foul or misconduct issue to work on, so I worked on positioning and running.

So far, I feel pretty good about the season - I feel like I'm running at or almost mid-season form, at least compared to previous years. So I may have screwed up the physical, but all the work is still paying off.

06 May '07 - 14:11 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

What a way to open the season

You generally don't know what games you have at the state cup until the day of the game - if the assignor is there, you might be able to find out what you have on your next stint, but especially early on; like all tournaments, there's a feeling out process as they learn about new referees and where they should go.

In my case, the assignor know me, and has shown a great deal of trust in me for the last three years, so in my opening game I drew 18-boys, with one of the teams the defending state champions, two or three times over. Ass, prepare to be run off. Actually, the game was quite good - the defending champions where predictably well disciplined, well in shape, and well... dominating. Actually, for the first 30-35 minutes, the game was pretty even, and I spent some of the downtime (waiting for balls, substitutions, whatever) trying some of the techniques I learned over the winter training - they seemed to help (again, I'm not on the running track, so of course they work now!). The champs scored in the 47th minute, and after that the majority of the game stayed in one half. They scored a second time, and a third in stoppage. I was able to keep relatively decent position - I would have liked to have gone deeper, but I'm just not fast enough, and had to judge when to go in more than few yards past the top of the penalty area, lest I get caught too far out-of-position. That did happen early on, and I had to get used to working on the full-sized pitch, with other officials again, but nothing serious came out of it. Overall, people seemed satisfied with the game (so said my assignor as well).

The other game... well... remember my first paragraph where I said that tournament assignors often use referees they've never seen before, and have to determine where they play next based on what they see? This was one of those situations. The referee, who was one of my assistants in the first game, was a bit over-his-head. This was a 16-boys play-in game (the winner of the game joins the group-stage of the cup proper, sort of a wildcard match, if you will), and while the center had good positioning, and good running, he showed a lot of inexperience. His foul recognition, while dramatically improved in the second half, left a lot to be desired, and the other AR and I ended up trying to carry the game ourselves - this, as I've learned before, just does not work, but there's also little choice as well. Players were getting hit very very late, and very very hard, and going uncalled, and when they started getting called, carded way to late (depending on who you ask, 5-7 times).

The other AR and I had a good talk with him, on what he needed to do, and he improved a great deal. He started calling a lot more, including the late stuff - but the other AR needed to call a penalty kick that screamingly needed to be called and carded - it was initially a no-call, but the ball went out of play shortly after the take-down, and after consultation, he gave the PK.

He clearly wants to be there, and cares about the game, but he just wasn't ready for this type of game. We've all been there (I sure have), in my advice, I reiterated about the cards coming out sooner (one of the teams, who didn't foul much in the first half, became the serious aggressors in the second, and I know it's because of their first half experience), and also to watch more experienced officials - how they handle the game, how they handle their whistles, how they pull up their socks (OK, I didn't say that - but there's something about Adidas referee socks that just don't stay up evenly - ick!). I have a feeling that, despite his age, he's pretty new at this, maybe a year or two in - hopefully he'll improve.

03 May '07 - 13:37 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶