Gk, that's true about my AR. I'll have to make sure before the game with my AR that he is willing to work the game with a cool head. Gosellit, you need to make a trip one weekend! It would be awesome to meet sometime. I didn't sign up for it because it is a big weekend for some college stuff. Next year I will be back living in Dallas, so I will sign up for Dallas Cup as well.
NFHS State Final. 7-1. Not much of a game. But the kids had fun. And I only had a 30 min drive this time. The game after us got rained on. All in all, a good night.
Last Sunday I'm CR on a U13 boys Friendly. I had had one of the teams the day before. We're playing on a turf field, and there are markings everywhere (sometimes they play small sided going one way, and today we're playing 11 v 11 going the other way). To add to the confusion, most of the lines are the same color. I told me ARs about it before the match, and we agreed to help each other the best we can. I had already given two penalties to one team (one made, one miss). We're in the other end, when I spot a handball. I point to the penalty spot, then quickly realize the box I'm in isn't the right penalty box. The players knew what the correct restart was (DFK). One of my ARs gave me grief after the match, the other one didn't see it. Second game, same field, I'm AR1. I'm standing at halfway as play is in the other end. Coach is standing near me when a foul is whistled for his team (the attackers). he starts shouting it should be a penalty. I just looked at him, smiled and told him there was absolutely NO WAY he could see that. Overall, a fun day even if it was 40 degrees and raining.
Recert today. Got to see Vetshak's kid asleep at the wheel along with the FIFA Offside test. I'd love to try that in real life.
Was about two weeks ago, a Under 11 boys match 9aside. I'm doing my player checks (Boots, shin-guards, jewelery ect. ) and one of the players asks me "Are watches ok?" I say "No, Have you got one on?" and his reply "Nope I haven't" and runs away smiling This weekend has been quiet with one of my games called off. Under 18s this morning 5-1 with 3 Cautions. Under 13's tomorrow morning.
Preseason friendlies. Ball goes off of red as he goes to ground - no foul. He gets back up and goes to get the ball and I politely inform him "black ball". He looks at me and goes can't you give me a break? I just inwardly chuckled. (Sarcasm Meter) Learned something during my U12 boys line today. I put my flag up for offside, but the CR didn't see me right away. Finally, ball goes out of play for the attacking team, and AR1 mirrors my call. Parents start complaining - you can't make that decision now. Of course the other team goes right down and scores, so it was my fault that they lost the game. Forgetting the fact of course that they lost 4-2! Oh yeah, temps today were in the mid 20s with 30 MPH winds!
Session 2 of Futsal started today. But more importantly, Futsal Nationals starts in just a few days! I'll be heading out to Kansas City Thursday night with one other referee from Mass. Is anyone else going? Any recommendations on where to get some good food? PS: I hope to be tweeting the experience. Follow me @MassFutsalRef </shameless promotion>
Umm! About 10 degrees warmer than Iowa! Looking forward to the Spring Season starting on March 29. And looking forward to the IOWA Referee Academy on February 25 and 26th!!!
So summary of my weekend. Saturday: AR2 Mens Premier 6:00 - easy match that only had one caution and a goal both in the final ten minutes of the game. Quite tame. AR1 Mens Premier 8:00 - #1 vs #3 with #1's only loss earlier in the season being to #3. #1 team has is made up of a diverse range of ethnicity. Most of them are ex d1's and Houston Dynamo trialists. #3 is mostly players from Uruguay, so naturally they are short passes and really quick. There was a lot of fans there for an amateur match. Final score: 7-0 for #1 and one send off for SFP for #3. The score was already 7-0 at that point. Sent off player is walking back to his bench. Sent off player: Did you think that was a red card. Me: Every time. Sent off player: Fair enough. Sunday: 1:00 AR1 for mid-tier men's division. Referee made a bit of a blunder that we discussed at half time. I'm dealing with the substitution and I'm telling him to wait to allow the throw in on the far side. They throw it in and he blows the whistle (he wasn't looking at the throw in so he might not have known it was already in play). Defending players stop due to the whistle, but the offense continues and scores. Yikes. The team that scored went on to win 2-1. 3:00 I had CR for the WWE Royal Rumble Rematch from earlier this season. I feel like I had one of my best performances. Two cautions for each team, and the #2 team upset the #1 team 3-2 after being down 0-2. Only complaint was a noisy fan after the match from the losing team that was mad I moved him from behind the opposing team's goal area. Just one of those guys that thinks he has to get the last word. Awesome weekend back since I haven't worked since late November. Already placed my availability for next weekend.
I pulled the "all I have left is red cards" trick, for the first time ever. And then had to follow through... hoo boy! HS Boys indoor, a bit of a grudge match. Early on, lots of fouls, then handbags between two guys so I do a double blue ("matching minors") to let them chill, but a third player (always a hothead) comes in and gives someone a shove. Yellow for him. Didn't help much, as the fouls kept coming. After another harder-than-usual foul, I stopped play, announced that the crap needed to stop, and pulled out my wallet and made a display of removing the spare blue & yellow cards, and showing the only ones left were red. Of course, being HS boys, they either chose not to understand, or had to test me. Thus followed the three softest send-offs I've ever given. The first two went to the black team--within 40 seconds of each other! Normally they might be yellows at worst, but come on--I just sent off your teammate, and then you pull a stunt less than a minute later? Same guy who already had a yellow, surprise surprise. Then 1:20 later, white goes into someone with what would usually be a garden variety foul, but I just sent off two opponents for hardly any more. Sheesh. I wondered if I'd shot myself in the foot with the stunt. But third time was the charm, I guess. It finally sunk in, and the last 5min of the first half and entire 2nd half were clean, well-played soccer without another card. Ended in a 3-3- tie.
First match post injury (strained achilles). Been out since Disney Showcase. Started training again 2 weeks ago. Hispanic League, first division. First game was AR, one of the teams was effectively a local NAIA college team, so speed was necessary. No issues other than NOT being faster than a 20 year old. Second game, whistle, was fortunately at a slower pace than the first. No issues with achilles. I did have to send off some knucklehead for after issuing 2 cautions. He committed exactly 2 fouls, each 100% misconduct. Second being worse than the first. In the first half. His teammates said absolutely nothing, which is very UNCOMMON in this league. Other than that, very controlled game by both sides. Today, I feel great. Saw the Ortho this morning and he cut me loose. Six weeks to get back to proper fitness before Dallas Cup.
The highlight of my weekend was that my daughter passed her physical fitness test and became a high level instructor the same day. Next week, I hit the field again for the first time since December. The assignor put me, with another State Referee, on the line for U-14 girls and the center for U-12 boys. The joke's on me because I was the assignor's coach when he was a U-12 boy!
Had my grade 7 assessment game at Washington State Founder's Cup this Saturday, u-18 Boys semi. called a foul late in the first half, set the wall at probably between 10-11 yards. And a fan yells from the crowd "That's not even close to 10 feet!" I just gave him a thumbs up and had a laugh with the players. BTW, I passed. Washington's newest Grade 7
Going back a few posts, how exactly did the CR in the game with the whistle during the throw in handle it on the field? And why did he not call it back and restart?
Got to go out this past Saturday for about an hour and mentor some younger referees. The games were U-14 rec games, games which go one of two ways: perfect or FUBAR. I was watching two fields from a hill and then approached the crews at half time to discuss. Nothing was happening in either game so there wasn't much to discuss. A small point here, small point there but honestly both crews looked pretty sharp and on top of things. It felt nice to give back a little bit and hopefully we can retain some of our younger kids and push them to a higher level. On a side note five of the six refs were younger than 20 and every single one had the proper uniform on, tucked in, socks up. So refreshing to see them looking professional even for rec games. Matthew - www.footyref.blogspot.com
U16 coach telling I don't know what DOGSO is. His GK just cleaned out the breakaway attacker as he was cutting into the center of the PK area. The coach tells it can't be a DOGSO because the GK was going for the ball. After the game, my AR tells the coach is going to call the SRA because he of what he considers "malfeasance." I never heard of "malfeasance" used in the context as a ref. I guess there is always something new.
[ame="http://vimeo.com/35452203"]The Sunday Ref (Spanish with English subtitles) on Vimeo[/ame] That's Señor Francisco López [69y], and his football world remains idyllically unspoilt. Most of the people on this forum may identify with his sentiments.
His reasoning was that he blew the whistle to tell the players to put the ball back in to play. The players knew it, and trust me... they weren't happy. I've worked with the guy many times, and he usually does a good job. I think there was a communication error (language barrier), so he might not have fully understood what I was explaining to him. I just told him to make sure every time he holds up play for a substitution, stop the game, and don't resume until he blows the whistle. Funny thing is that he did it again in the second half, but stopped the play and had them re-take it this time.
That ability to focus just on the game, being "in the moment" - that's one I identify with - there's enough going on in all our lives - to have one task to do well for that time and nothing else going on is calming and exhilerating at the same time. For me, that's a similar rush to skiing the steeps & trees - at that moment in time, nothing else matters - that's part of the joy. Nice video - thanks for posting it.
HS JV Girls game last night. 3rd says he can't make it for this one so we call the assignor and he says run a dual - good for us as I've worked with the other guy before. 2-0 to blue when there's a nice good foul 35 yards, hard whistle from my partner, white stops playing, blue makes a pass and ball dribbles into the net on my end. To be fair, there was no advantage and white stopped playing. It helped that my partner used to play ball with both coaches. He jogs over and explains, no problem. White fights back and scores two goals with less than 5 to play and its game on! Game ends 2-2 and no yellows with only a couple fouls. Best part of the match for me was with about 2 mins to go blue is attacking towards my end and makes a nice crisp pass that bounces off a player and comes straight at me about waist high. I jump up high hurdling the ball and land square on my feet. Somehow I cleat myself on my left hand and hit a nerve and can't feel my thumb for the next 30 minutes. However, I did get a "nice job, ref" for getting out of the way from the white sweeper.
Anyone catch the Zenit-Benfica match yesterday? I saw only about 5-10 minutes - you could tell by looking at their faces they were COLD! Checked - the temperature in St. Petersburg was about 7 deg. F. Anyone worked in temperatures like that? Concerned about frostbite of ears, fingers? Many years ago I was working HS matches at a stadium which had an officials room connected to basketball arena. It was about 30-32 deg. F with a very light mist falling. Yes, I was cold. Between games we were trying to warm up in the officials room. Some basketball officials came in between their games, long pants, creases in them. One looked at our shivering there and said "I always knew there was a reason I never wanted to officiate outdoor sports."
Didn't think I'd ever put this in a "best story" thread I've worked games COLD, but not 7 degrees. We have a tournament that runs in march here, every year I do it I swear I will never do it again, but then it comes along and it's the first chance to get back outside so I cave in..... Worst was Saturday evening, under the lights. Snow/sleet, temps driving over were around 25 but the sun was out. By game end my feet where numb, couldn't write cause gloves were socked through and I was frozen. Sunday morning had to delay the start of games while the fields where cleared of about 3-4 inches of snow. After Saturday evening, my drive home is 45 minutes. Had the heat cranking the entire way, large dunkin donuts coffee, got home took a HOT shower and sat on the couch to watch TV, shivering for an hour under a blanket. To say I was possibly hypothermic is in the realm of possibility. I'd rather ref in 100 degree with high humidity than do that again!