Happened at final whistle. Winner of game went to state. http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2012/...s-in-melee-unfortunate-ending-to-a-great-game Doug, do you know the poor soul in the middle?
I don't know how one would get jersey numbers in such a melee. I've been the closest AR to a fight and was successful only in moving the rest of the target's teammates away from it all—they were all appealing to me for a Red card for the opponent who swung first and I figured let 'em keep appealing as long as I can get them all near their touchline 40 yards away from where my REF and other AR were pulling players apart. Eventually the players around me lost interest when the coaches came and told them to get water. If more players had been involved in the fight, I still feel like I'd have been useless. I feel for the referee crew in the video. Managed a contentious match right up until the final whistle. My worry would be could I have gotten all the info I needed and am required to get during and immediately following such an incident so my Assoc. would support my crew and that the perps would have the learning experience of some discipline.
never experienced this personally before, but there is a directive from USSF about mass confrontation. bottom line is when there is two, get in and separate and defuse. if three or more, step back, form a triangle and get the misconducts right. in this case, the referees are physically involved well after it had blossomed into a mass confrontation. i don't know what nhsf says about it, if anything. this site has a link to the directive: http://psasoccerreferees.com/resources/directives/game-disrepute-and-mass-confrontation/
With it being high school I'd presume they will be facing a very long school suspension, if not maybe expulsion. I think soccer maybe the worst of their problems.
Been unfortunate enough to have been on two matches (as AR, both times) that exploded into a mess like this. Not fun, let me tell you, but it certainly helped me learn a few things. First, like the directive from US Soccer states, get the hell out of there once it progresses from game disrepute to a mass confrontation. Sometimes our instinct is to keep trying to break it up, but you lose track of who comes in to start crap and you can get assaulted yourself. If you can get the instigator out early enough you have some chance of restoring order. Second, we can never be expected to catch everything that happens in an event like this even if we form the triangle of semi-control. We try to catch the big things and report those, but in this day of cameras being everywhere we write up what we saw and let the authorities acquire video evidence to met out the rest of the punishment. As far as NFHS providing guidance on the triangle of control -- I don't care if they suggest one way or the other. Been there enough times to know it is sensible advise and I'm following it. Same goes for college. I'll tell you that these referees probably learned a lot and we can fault them for how they reacted. You never are quite ready for something like this but now that they've gone through it I bet they will do better next time. Or maybe there won't be a next time!
Have to echo what Paper Soap just said, having been involved in more than a few of these in my career......the USSF directive is spot on. Ironically, the last one was just this past week in a Mens O30 match involving two teams with a history of bad blood, including a melee last year. White team is Hispanic, Red team is Balkan/mixed-Serbs, Macedonians, Greeks, plain old American (lol). The Hispanic side has some VERY nasty guys on its roster...I mean VERY nasty. A couple of guys from the Hispanic side pull up in brand new Escalade SUV's sporting lots of gold, ponytails, and the requisite tattoos. I've never reffed these guys before but.....been there and done that plenty oftimes before, on multiple fronts. I could smell trouble as I'm checking passes. Unfortunately, the assignor had me running a line, AR1, in this match. No more than 30 minutes in, with red ahead 2-0, the cr misses multipe fouls on reds right half in front of the red bench, including one where white had previously put on a sub for the express purpose of committing a hard foul on this player. The ref wanted to play advantage, but I pulled up, wiggled my flag, and tapped my front pocket. No more than five minutes later farther down the same touchline the same player gets whacked from behind, he retaliates with a backwards headbutt, and all hell breaks loose...the white player who was headbutted is raining haymakers down on the back of the red player and from what I could tell, this wasn't the first time the white player was throwing hands. White's bench goes flying down the touchline to jump in, all six of them. Reds teammates have jumped in and are spearating the combatants. I sprint past them and am fortunately able to get to the red player, who the white bench is still chasing after. I grab red and escort/carry him through an opening by the gates surrounding the field and tell him to get lost...permanently. This is an instance where I believe if you can get physically involved, do so...that is, if you can remove the player who serves as a "spark" OR if you can separate guys BEFORE it gets physical, do so. If not, back off, record info...and make sure of your personal safety. In the meantime, I've made a mental note of the combatants. Once the red player was removed, things calmed down enough for the ref crew to conference and I told the cr who had to go via red. For whatever reason, the cr decided to terminate the match right the and there. The tricky part now was getting to our cars in the parking lot. I saw several players still jawing and a couple of the white players going to their escalades. I backed off and pull my cell phone out of my bag. Fortunately, nothing else happened.
Paper St. Soap Co is spot on. I've had three serious fights. Two in high school boys varsity, one in D2 pro. You will never get everybody that is involved. Concentrate on getting the three guys that started the fight. It's always three. Two guys going at it becomes a mass confrontation when the third man in decides to 'protect' his buddy. It's sort of weird, but in my experience, the third guy is usually alot smaller than either of the other two. YMMV. Red card those three and you've usually gotten justice done, at least as much as you can. If they want more, they can watch the video afterwards, if there is one. My second one was the worst. The fight was clearly planned in advance by the home team. There were even a couple of pre-positioned spectators who ran on the field to join the fight. It was a dual and it happened right in front of my clueless partner. He's watching the pig pile of guys hitting each other, without blowing his whistle or anything. I had to come from the other side of the field to take the situation in hand. Three reds to the home team, two to the visitors, including a fellow referee who was a player for the visiting team, who ran onto the field to join the fight. The only goal of the game was scored 30 seconds after we restarted.
I am still new enough that there was only one game that dissolved into a fight (the center was too conservative with plastic for U19 boys IMO). Thankfully it wasn't on the benches side so it was just two players having at it. That being said, I was once told by a state looking to go national that when confrontation happens, you should be sprinting to the spot because every second of sprint is one player that you will beat to the fray and hesitate to join in. I spent an entire season working on the mechanic and I think it came in handy this weekend doing my first Men's Competitive game. Both times I got there first so there was just some jawing as they cleanly pull apart from each other. That said, I don't know that it would have been helpful in this situation where the altercation wasn't on the ball, was close to the benches, and one of the benches was already entering the field in celebration.
I have been involved in 2. My first game the weekend after my first mass confrontation where I was in the middle went like this. Adult game. First 5 minutes. Attacker (white team) shielding a ball out for a corner in the corner away from my AR. I am about 5 yards away. As soon as the ball goes out the attacker and defenders (Latino team) feet get tangled and they both go down. As the defender does a somersault, he lands up on the attacker’s ankle. Complete accident. Attacker yells, gets up and pushes the defender, before falling back down to hold his ankle. I am already on the whistle and yelling to the defender that I got it, when I turn back to see if anyone is coming into the mix. I see one teammate of the defender coming over to avenge his teammate. I get in front of him, put my hand up and on his chest to stop him (I know we are not supposed to, but in this case it worked. My physical presence was the only thing that was going to stop him), all while saying “I got this, I got this, leave it”. He says, “OK, but he needs a card” I tell him, “he is getting one, just as soon as I can put my hand down from holding you back, I’m pulling out his card.” I possibly saw a little smirk from him. Turn, yellow card the attacker for the push, and everyone is fine. No problems the rest of the game. I am pretty sure that this would have turned into another mass confrontation had I not stopped and settled that 3rd guy from coming in.
Well done, SouthernYank. Situations like you described are why I keep a yellow in my front right pocket in addition to my shirt (think one for slow, deliberate caution and the other quick draw to get someone between the eyes). Key in your story was that YOU were the third guy in. That is, in my opinion. one of the best ways to prevent the flare up.
I have only been involved in one mass deterioration in my career. Local men's league game which I had just started working and was not too familiar with as far as player conduct. Both teams were mixed Anglo and Hispanic. I was trail AR when one player began breaking up the middle trying to go though several oppossing players. CR is close by, blows the whistle. There is some commotion, CR segregates a player and shows him a red card. Another player comes out of the fray with a large cut over his eye. I was on the bench side, so I stayed put and controlled that. The referee started to escort the ejected player from the field when another player tried to jump the ejected player through the referee. That's when all hell broke loose. The police were called and there were two one year league suspensions as a result. I just hope I never have to be involved with something like that again.
Never been in a what I would consider a mass confrontation but I have had a couple of incidents where I believe one could have formed. Mens Open Beach Soccer. Tacky foul. Player who was fouled kicks out the legs of the nearby player. Stepped on the whistle and was there in two seconds. Ejected that player and the keeper who had decided to start pushing and then throw the ball after I had gotten there. Both teams calmed down in the aftermath. U18 Boys State Cup. Hard Foul at midfield, I had the YC out when another defender steps on the opposing players leg. Opposing player proceeded to kick out and connects with the back of the defenders leg. Isolated one player (inital step on) and showed him the red and then dealt with the player who had retaliated. The red took the wind out of team who had been stepped on and diffused the situation. Reading the above, hopefully I am better prepared if the need ever arises.
Since its High School..in GA if this happened right after the final whistle, the referees would be sanctioned by GHSA for staying in the area and trying to break it up. We are told once that final whistle or horn goes off you leave immediately, don't wait to shake hands, etc. If a fight breaks out, you keeping walking away, don't even take down numbers. Everything is the responsibility of the home school once that final signal goes off. I had a situation in a state playoff game with a local team and I knew the coach well. I blew the final whistle and just started right off the field, the local coach didn't like that I didn't shake hands, well a fight broke out at the handshake, I never saw it, I never reported it, to this day I still don't know what happened.
I have a "quick" yellow in my front shorts pocket, a "quick" red in my back shorts pocket, and another yellow/red set in my front shirt pocket with my ref wallet. Precisely for situations where I have to pull a 'quick" card to defuse potential mass confrontations.
Been involved from both sides. Most memorable was as a player - HS - post game, teams lined up for handshakes and player on opposing team decides he is going to throw a punch at one of my teammates as we shake hands. Well, the guy lands one punch, but unfortunately for him, my teammate had a black belt in karate and he responded with 5 quick punches to the guy's face before anyone knew what happend. Opponent went down, and we had fun watching the video replay for weeks and even broke it out as motivation the following year for our match against that opponent. Obviously, the referees only caught the response, so my teammate walked away with the red, but the state HS association eventually weighed in with a longer suspension for the guy who threw the first punch based on the video. Lesson for me as a referee - even after the final whistle, it is critical to keep an eye on all possible flashpoints.
Our state high school association has the same instruction for its officials in all sports. Most ugly spectator-referee incidents and assaults could be avoided if referees followed this instruction. Last year, we had a game in which there was a post-game brawl on the field, including spectators coming on the field to join in. An assistant coach chased the referees to the parking lot, telling them to get back there and "take care of business." Of course, they declined to do so, per the state's instruction. It was our theory that he only chased the referees to avoid becoming a victim in the brawl himself.
Strange twist: the school that won the game (which is also the one that appeared to initiate the fight) has been disqualified from the state tournament because the investigation into the melee revealed that they had an ineligible player. Seems like a cop out to me. They should have just thrown the team out for starting a brawl. http://www.startribune.com/sports/preps/175683171.html?refer=y
Final outcome of this mess was released today. Minnesota High School League, in its investigation of the incident, found out that one of the players involved in the fight from the white team (Prairie Seeds Academy) was using a player who transferred from another school at the beginning of the year... all year. And they never filed paperwork. Prairie Seeds has been tossed out of the state tournament. Their spot in the quarterfinals has been abdicated and the team they were supposed to play now has a free pass into the semis and will play in the Metrodome. Interestingly enough, the team that benefits is the one that won the section that I officiate all of my high school games in. File this under, "Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse..."
As a player, I've been involved in probably a dozen or so of these. As a referee, probably just as many if not more. What I can definitively tell you is that once people start swinging, nothing good comes out of a referee being in the middle. My rule of thumb is try to physically intervene before any blows, but once they start coming down, back out into the triangle of control. I had a mens game last year where a 6'2" Jamaican center back went at it with a 6'4" Romanian striker...and both were built like Greek gods. I was ar1 right by the ruckus, stepped in quickly to separate, and abou 4-5 seconds in realized there's no way I was going to stop these two. I can usually handle most soccer players, but these two guys were built like NFL linebackers. Good thing for m I got out of Dodge as soon as the haymakers started coming because there's no doubt in my mind I would have been on the receiving end of one.
Btw, I've done probably 300 high school games in the last 5 years, and I've never had one come even close to a bench clearing melee...not even a one on one outright fight.
Lawyers gonna get involved???? You can't exactly throw out a team for a brawl mainly by a few players involved. There were 2 players that really should be punished, but it seems like Minnesota said "Fukk this, we ain't having this team with the two worst offenders in this situation moving on, but let's look for an out."
I think MSHSL did exactly that. I agree, they can't toss the team for the brawl, but they said they aren't tossing the team for the brawl. They're tossing the team for using an ineligible player. They did also suspend a total of 12 players from the match. Five of them got 4-week suspensions (they didn't say from which teams, but they can't because it involves minors) and another 5 received one-match suspensions... I suspect the one-match suspensions are for leaving the bench. I heard this morning that Prairie Seeds is threatening a lawsuit to have their state spot restored. They are scheduled to play tomorrow, so they would need a restraining order upheld in the next 24 hours to pull this off. I can't imagine that even if they do play, they can get the players' eligibility restored.
The ineligible player was their out. I can't imagine a judge will grant an injunction in Prairie's favor because I know for a fact that transfers have to submit an eligibility form just to be able to have the right to participate. This is to prevent recruiting and players glory hounding.