The thirteen-year-old did a better dive.
If there's a typical men's league game, it can be roughly divided into three sections:• First 20 minutes: both teams whine, complain, and exaggerate to see what they can get away with. If there's a big mouth, he looks for someone to prod into getting a yellow card.
• Next 50 minutes: The teams realize that I won't make idiot calls or buy their attempts to get a PK. In other words, this is where the actual game of soccer is played.
• Last 20 minutes: As one team falls behind, they start adopting the tactics of the first 20 minutes over again in a desperate attempt to catch up, because they've been beaten on the field.
I've run this model past others, and at least in this league the consensus seems to be while it's not universal, that it happens a lot, especially when the game is, or should be, close. There are exceptions of course, some games remain tied and some teams are actually honorable. But how sad is this? I had a guy who purposely turned into a defender on my last game, when his team was down 3-1, and then ran screaming to me saying, "He pushed me!" Christ on a unicycle, I know guys get stupider when the testosterone is pumping, but this guy was close to needing a booster chair and a sippy cup.
I love soccer, but this crap is getting to me. The 13 year-old from the last game, and this seeming like the norm for adult men? And this wasn't even a bad game. It was a normal men's league game with nothing out-of-the-ordinary. I'm a referee; all I can do is police the game, but I can't waive a card around because it seems like the country's view of the game is ethically challenged.
I may have mentioned this here before — I have commented a few times — but I quit back in 2003 because I had a 13-year old tell me to f**k myself. This was in front of the CR, and the the other AR, after a match. They just laughed it off. I reported it to the tourney officials, and that was the last game I did. But then I was started to get burned out at that point anyway. So tonight I am off to my new referees class (it has been six years) as I am thinking about giving it another shot …
Kingsnake () - 30 July '09 - 17:09