The Things We Hear

I will apply advantage at this level, but certainly not if the fouled player is on the ground crying. That can cause all kids of bad things that you don't need, such as coaches screaming and parents running onto the field.

 

The rule was implemented by the ref in charge of youth refereeing. He knows from football.

 

I have NEVER signaled advantage in the very u-littles. Just let play go if you think it's advantage. But if you yell "Play on" the players stop to figure out what the ref just said.

 

Well stated Gary V! Have to agree here since most of these players have yet to begin to understand concepts and rules or laws beyond simply playing.

 

I came very close to having a spectator removed last night and not because they were complaining about the calls, although they were, but how they described the other team.

"They only call fouls on people with armpit hair."

They were similarly vile all game.

 

Hopefully it wasn't a women's game.....

 

As I was cautioning a 17 yr. old girl for USB she puts her hands on her hips and says to me "Do you know who I am? " Apparently she was ODP or something.

 

Heaven help us.

 

"I will as soon as I look at the roster to put your name in my game report."

 

"Yeah you're the person who no one loves and is getting a yellow card right now."

I mean you'd say this knowing that all teenage girls are strong and self actualized and wouldn't even consider breaking down and crying because someone said something mean.

 

Since reading this thread, I now know that she is "the Princess!"

 

Wow. "Do you know who I am?" I'd tell her coach that she needs to go off to be checked for a concussion because she doesn't know who she is! "Oh, you mean that was a rhetorical question?"

Seriously, I've been at the Olympic Track & Field trials for the last four days. When the athletes are introduced, it's real clear who the true 'royalty' is. E.g. "Four times world champion, indoor and out, two time Olympian, representing Nike and the New York Athletic Club, it's Reese Hoffa!!' and then, 'competing unattached, John Jones.' Or, like they say in Texas, 'if you can do it, it ain't braggin'.' Being on a youth ODP tream makes you a middle size fish in a very small pond.

 

Adult League. After letting in a few goals, I hear from the sideline, "Dad, you suck worse than I do in goal!". Kid was 8-10 years old. I asked the keeper if he would like me to remove that spectator.

 

U13G. I'm bench side AR. Defender and attacker are the only two people in the half. Attacker is offside by a lot. ball comes back up on a counter-attack. The defender tries to play it but only clips the ball with her foot. ball continues to the now onside attacker. flag up, whistle blows, discreet thumbs up from center. After the game, the coach of the DEFENDER comes up to me and is like "Good game, but you got that offside wrong. You see, my defender touched it so that cancels the offside." I replied, "No, coach, that's incorrect. A defender must play the ball and be in control of it to nullify an offside." Surprisingly, he continues to argue his point, saying "No lino, you're wrong. I've never heard or read that in my life." Walking away, I just went, "It's in the rules" he retorted, "No its not." The center just laughed.

Same game, I call an offside where a girl who was offside came back 20 feet to get a through ball that the defenders wisely left alone. Flag up, no complaints. A defender, who seemed somewhat slow anyway, runs over to the touchline about to throw... While a still have the offside- near signal displayed. center whistles like crazy. I turn and tell her, "Indirect free kick, kid, it was offside." She goes "Oh I though on an offsides like that, you got a throw in."

And I've had the idiots of handball, the people who claim that there's a box on my field (Hmm, there is? My vision must be getting away from me.), kids who took someone out and ask me sincerely what they did, those who think halves end right on time, kids who ask me direction while I'm showing the signal, and club linesmen who can't follow directions

 

Sure there is. Just tell them that "handball" is an Olympic sport, not a foul in soccer.

 

Suggestion: never come back at the coach while you're walking away -- you just encourage the debate. (And I'd never call them "rules" while trying to show that I knew them better than a coach; if you're going to respond, reference Law 11 specifically.)

 

I put this in the Worst Story thread too, but last night, after sending off a second player from the same team, the captain of the short team came up to me and asked, "How much longer do I have to try to control these idiots?" I responded, "Do you mean in this game or in this season?"

 

According to a player in a U13 game I was AR1 for tonight, the CR (who's got to be about 50 years old) threatened to punch the player in the face. The coach seemed confused & didn't really say anything when the player ran over to the sideline and mentioned it, but oh boy, did the boy's parents cause quite the scene and altercation after the game.

It's hard to comprehend the CR saying that, but it's even harder to comprehend a player making that up during a stoppage in play. The CR did have a very think accent (he is from Brazil/Chile, and I'm not well-versed enough but I think it was Spanish), so maybe the player just grossly misunderstood something he said.

 

"Come on Jane, You're better than that!"

A scream from a mom after a 10 year old girl split two defenders and pulled a shot wide. I wanted to give her a hug after I saw the look on the girls face. Just told her, "Keep playing hard, you're doing great!" I wanted to go over and have a chat with the mom. I did stare her down, while waiting for the ball to be retrieved for the goal kick.

Mark.

 

Would be interested in what, if any, action you took regarding this allegation.

--Scott

 

Our head referee/guy in charge rang me the following day asking me about said incident and I told him everything as I mentioned above. His reply was pretty much 1) based on past incidents, he is positive that the CR would have said that, and 2) he'll never referee anything above house league again.

Whether the local association and/or the parents/player involved took any further action, I wouldn't know and/or haven't heard.

 

In our state, this would be a professionalism issue. Sometimes, referees do bad things. Not only do we need to deal appropriately with referees who do bad things, we also need to be seen to be dealing with the complaints. "Appearances are reality." Even if we end up deciding that the complaint can not be substantiated, we still have to be able to show people that their complaint was taken seriously and dealt with by neutral parties.

Dealing appropriately means that, if the complaint is substantiated, then any penalty is applied even handedly. In other words, if the assignor decides to penalize him on his own, then the referee can go do games elsewhere, with the only effect being on his reputation amongst other referees. [I realize that geography may not make the going elsewhere option practical for everyone.] If action is taken at the state level, however, then the penalty applies everywhere. E.g. in this case, the assignor says that 'he'll never referee anything above house league' in the future. But why should the house league players be subjected to this guy, if that is, in fact, what he did? It's not right, for the good of the game.

And, at the same time, the referee should be entitled to defend himself, rather than having somebody make some phone calls and none of them go to the referee. We had a referee accused of showing up for a youth game under the influence. Only after the game. By the losing coach. The Professionalism chair talked with the other coach and parents from both teams, none of whom supported the accusation. Wouldn't you want the same treatment if you were the accused referee?

 

So what did the house league do to deserve this ref? It's OK to threaten house league players?

 

Presumably it would be adult house league, and presumably he wouldn't make the same threats he did to a U15 kid.