They would be, but they also wouldn't tolerate an adult coach berating a 14-yo referee either. A 99% of 1st year youth referees wouldn't know to write up a proper report and turn it into a league reporting this sort of behavior. It would be easier to just quit rather than live in an adult world (adult coaches, adult referee assignor, adult league commissioner, etc.). While a great potential learning experience, it would require maturity that many don't yet have. Much to the chagrin of the ref, the players and the coaches there are plenty of parents, irregardless of the age of the referee who take up what you describe.
Is that not allowed? If it's not, I gotta start telling an awful lotta people they are doing something wrong. I mean a lot.
Public service announcement: Just for the record, irregardless is not a word. I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.......
Tonight I had 1 game, U12B where I was CR. The fields are 5 minutes away from my house so I enjoy doing these, usually the assignor is good enough to put me with young refs that do a good job. Tonight one of the AR's was a new name to me, so I was looking forward to seeing what he was like. Kickoff's at 6, I get there about 5:20. 5:30 the AR I know shows up with a friend who also happens to be a referee and is assigned to the neighboring field. Getting close to kickoff and no other AR. The officials from the other field come over and we figure out there's another young ref at the fields with his stuff (yes!) so we sort out the crews and the 6:00 games start on time. About 13 minutes in I see a young ref talking to AR2, then he saunters (yes, saunters) over to speak with AR1. He then waits at midfield for us to come over at halftime. I figure this is the missing AR who has now also lost his assignment, though he doesn't know it yet. His first words to me are "who are you?" so I introduce myself. You guys all know the drill: "I'm supposed to be on this game" "What time was kickoff?" "6" "and when are you supposed to arrive for a 6:00 kickoff?" "5:30" "and when did you arrive?" "6" "really? Because I saw you talking to AR2 around 6:15 or so" This devolved into "what am I supposed to do now? Just go home?" I said yes, that's exactly what you're supposed to do. And call the assignor with an explanation since I'll have this in my report. I said, "we needed to start the game and you weren't here, we didn't know where you were. We needed 3 refs and we had them, so I started the match. And I'm not replacing one of these AR's with you at halftime. Period." He saunters away and we start the second half. Told the assignor about things afterwards and went on with my evening. The game itself was really nice, both coaches knew me from past matches and teams and it was a very low-key affair. Well, at least the game was - mister "I'm late but still reffing" peeled as he left the parking lot. I would never do that now that I'm older and have to buy my own tires.
High School regular season is over, ended with 2 good matches last night that meant nothing to either team, baffled by how hard the girls went at it as both were already in the playoffs and not in the same classification but I guess good prep. Still risking injury seems odd to me. Boys match was very spirited and away coach (away lost 1-4) got a bit heated until I asked him to calm down as the players seemed fine with the game - he paused, shook his head yes and replied "good stuff, good stuff" and not another peep from him so - Good Stuff! Now to hope for some play off games!
I'm not so sure this would classify as a "best story", but here goes. I had a couple of small sided (6v6) adult coed game last night. The first one was pretty good and the players were quite cordial. The second game is when the fun began. One of the teams I was not familiar with. When I knew some of the players from previous seasons, but there were a few I had never seen. Specifically, two Russian gentlemen. One of them, an older, porly man, was very vocal during the entire match. He complained about a few things and "cheered on" his teammates with sarcastic comments quite a bit. He played a total of about five minutes and pulled up with a leg injury. The other Russian gentleman played a lot more. He was getting a bit rough and I warned him about it. He looked at me like he may not have understood. In the third period (they play three 20 minute periods), this fellow tried to get past an opponent along the touch line. The defender made a decent tackle which put the ball out of play just as the Russian tumbled over his leg. It looked to me like he was making a meal out of the challenge, so I called for the throw in. The player got a bit upset, but carried on. A defender gained possession of the ball shortly after the throw in, and the Russian committed a cynical foul from behind as the defender cleared the ball. For that he earned a caution. As he began to approach me, I heard his team call for a sub that I assumed was for him. When I motioned toward the bench with my hand suggesting he cool off, the player slapped it down. Staight red. As soon as that happened, the other Russian gentleman who had been so vocal earlier began ranting in both English and Russian. I heard him saying some explatives and he began to wave the front of his shirt up and down and gyrating his hips as if he were flashing me (nice visual, I know). That earned him a red card and a trip to the parking lot. He came back with "Who are you? You can't tell me to leave!" He beacame so agitated, his teammates had to restrain him from coming on the field after me. A helpful teammate finally convinced the two men to leave and the game continued without incident. One of the players later told me that one of the men is a Russian diplomat. I hope I haven't started an international incident. As I was driving out of the parking lot, a car pulled out of a space near the entrance. I stopped to let the car go ahead, but the driver insisted I go first. When I came to the stoplight to the main street, the same car pulled up behind me. I could see the silouettes from the lights behind them, and it looked like the two russians that I had ejected earlier. When I thought back, the driver of the car that let me pass did look like the older man. When I pulled out onto the main street, the car followed me. I slowed down to about 30 MPH and the car did not pass. The speed limit is 45 and it is a four lane road. I saw some police cars ahead with their lights flashing aiding a stranded motorist. There was a school parking lot across the street, so I pulled in there within line of sight of the police cars. The suspicious car didn't follow. I waited a few minutes and drove home.
I hope you dont have to live up to your handle. seriously though i am glad that was it (bad as it was) and it was not worse.
I'd have no problem with having a talk with the ref after the game to discuss how to handle it. But you said you took action during the game, and it was your kid. That was what was improper..... Wait, have I imagined all the posts here about sending parents to the parking lot for not knowing how to behave?
And from a rules standpoint you're absolutely correct. My kid or not, and I know you weren't there, but any coach or other adult should not tolerate that behavior. Again, adult ref, I remain silent. ANY youth referee, should not be subject to being yelled at by a coach. Had there been an official mentor there, I can almost guarantee something would have been said early on.
Not so. Look in a dictionary. While it is considered "nonstandard" becuase of the dual negative, many dictionaries recognize that it is in fact used by even good writers for emphasis . . . if you're going to be pendantic, be precise!
This highlights in my mind the care that we need to have in how we assign youth refs to games -- especially new ones. Asking most youths to do games solo is putting them in an extremely awkward position of having to tell animated adults what to do without any support. (I've been there many years ago.) If we have to assign that way, we should look at a formal mentor assignment or league official who can be there to provide adult influence if needed. And we need to be more careful with youth than with adults in letting them get in over their heads, as they are less likely to have the necessary gravitas and people skills to manage the situatio when the game is above them. In working with our AYOS PRO program (Player Refere Organization = youth refs), we don't have quite that issue as we force volunteers so we don't have solo games. We do also try to get a mentor or experienced AR present when PRO refs are doing their first game, and to continue to provide support. I think we owe them that.
Our area does have a mentor program (I'm working a u-8 tournament as one this Saturday. All refs are brand new grade 9's). We have ongoing mentors available, but you simply cannot get 100% coverage. You probably cannot get 50% coverage. Anything you get is useful. Even then, mentoring is more of use to on the field, game and mechanical things. Really, it is going to take a special kid at 13-14 years old to stand up to an adult yelling at them in a lot of situations. I would think a mentor would end the coach's poor behavior ASAP and then discuss with the young official what is right and what is wrong with the game. The yelling and screaming needs to be filtered out for the new referee to evaluate their performance. Anything done under added pressure (aside being responsible for the match at hand) will lead to self-doubt in most new refs.
Utterly, even egregiously, off-topic, but ... as I was driving home on the interstate from my games last night, I found myself reminded of the old saw "Anybody driving faster than me is a maniac; anybody driving slower is a moron." The thing is, I suddenly realized that while there used to be a whole lot of morons on the road and not many maniacs, now it seems there are lots of maniacs out there, but not nearly so many morons. What's up with that? And yes, I'm sure this has nothing whatsoever to do with my age.
(Ejecting my 8-track tape and putting down my copy of Reader's Digest) Nope, nothing to do with your age at all.
Also off topic, but as I was working a lackluster girls middle school game in the Christian league, it occurred to me that I can't recall ever seeing a Christian school whose mascot is "Lions." I wonder why that is.
St. Pius X here in Atlanta are the Golden Lions. Holy Innocents Episcopal are the Golden Bears. (Maybe it's the gold that tames the savage beast [sic]...)
I was at a public community college today that is called The Saints. And it is only for geographic reasons that I haven't done games at two high schools in the area that are known as the Cheesemakers and the Papermakers.
Today was supposed to be the first of six consecutive referee days. Today's location got 1.5 inches of rain to add to whatever they had yesterday! AD with a water-logged football field cancelled the game. Also got a call from my Sunday assignor, they had cancelled their Sunday games - so Sunday off. It's not a bad thing, because I'm helping take care of my 2 year old grandson, and neither one of us is feeling very good. That reminds me I should update my avatar one of these days.
Since we're being pedantic, I can point out that it is, in fact, a word. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless I've been the "moron" since this past winter, when I discovered that my 27 minute commute to work while driving at 70-80 mph, was STILL somehow 27 minutes when driving at 60 mph (on a 55mph road). And I don't have to touch the break or accelerator, or change lanes, once on the entire highway portion of the trip. Random aside...someone decided to tailgate me for a small portion of tonight's trip. I took my dashboard camera, turned it around, and pointed it at the driver*. I couldn't tell you how quickly he slammed the brakes and backed off (on second thought...maybe he thought it was a gun...) *I drive a convertible
From your dictionary link: "Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead." I will forever think of it as "irregardless, as Barbara says," because that's how one of my coworkers always ironically used it, invoking the name of his dear but ditsy wife. So, irregardless of whether it's a word, it's still not a proper word (and BTW, I see my Moto X's spell checker doesn't recognize it as one).
Tip: Suppose you're in some situation, such as a job interview, in which you want to eschew a poorly reputed word that isn't generally accepted, but your brain and your mouth conspire to produce "irre-", the first two syllables. Save yourself smoothly by finishing it off with "-spective" to produce "irrespective", a well-reputed, generally accepted word that's synonymous with "regardless" when followed by "of".
Sort of like the player, U-14 girl, I believe, who saw her teammate do something unproductive and said "shit," sees the referee a few feet away and finishes with "take mushrooms?"