Dumbing down your refereeing (NFHS)?

It used to be the way Bubba explained, but it has since changed. If you read the three steps of the rule by themselves, yes a team could potentially score an unlimited number of goals in the first half. The scenarios make it clear that a 10 goal differential ends the match after the 20th minute.

1) If a team is 7 or more goals down AT THE MIDPOINT OF THE FIRST HALF, the half will end and the second half will be 20 minutes in length.
2) If a team is 7 or more goals down AT HALFTIME, the second half will be 20 minutes in length.
3) If a team is 10 or more goals down IN THE SECOND HALF, the game will be terminated.

Below are some examples created by GHSA clinicians. All of the scenarios and solutions have been sanctioned by the GHSA.

1) If a team reaches the 7-goal lead AFTER the mid-point of the first half, the half continues for the full 40 minutes. If the lead is 7 goals or higher at halftime, the second half will be 20 minutes.
2) Once the game gets to the second half WITHOUT the 7-goal lead, the game will be terminated ONLY after the 10-goal differential has been reached.

Scenarios:

1) If Blue scores the 7-goal differential in the 17th minute of the first half, the half will end at the 20th minute. The second half will be 20 minutes in length.
2) If Blue scores the 7-goal differential in the 32nd minute of the first half, half will end at 40 minutes and the second half will be 20 minutes in length.
3) If Blue scores the 7-goal differential at the 23rd minute of the first half, the half will end at 40 minutes. If Gold scores and the differential DROPS BELOW 7 at the end of the first half, the second half will be 40 minutes and will be shortened ONLY if a 10-goal differential is reached.
4) If Blue scores the 10-goal differential BEFORE the 20-minute mark of the first half, the half will end at the 20th minute and the game will be terminated.
5) If Blue scores the 10-goal differential AFTER the 20-minute mark of the first half, the half is over and the game will be terminated.
6) If Blue scores the 10-goal differential any time in the second half, the half is over and the game will be terminated.

 

A lot depends upon how the letter is written and who is reading it. A brief letter that is mater of fact and is written to humbly inform may or may not make a positive difference, but it should do no harm. A letter that comes across as arrogant, condescending, or defensive will do no good and may very well create more problems. If you choose to write one, I'd suggest having someone you trust read it with this in mind before you send it off. That or accept that we deal with willful ignorance occasionally, and sometimes you just can't fix stupid.

 

So they take a simple rule, and make it complicated by writing the rule wrong and then explaining what it "means" in a way contrary to the actual language of the rule . . . who do they think they are IFAB?

 

Interesting. So they didn't change the rule, they just changed the way we are to "interpret" it, notwithstanding its plain language? I take it this will all be made clear to us at the recert in January?

In fairness, I've never actually faced the 10+ goals after the first 20 minutes of the first half scenario — but I've come darned close.

 

Ours is a little simpler, I guess. If a team has a 6-goal or greater lead at the half, the second half is reduced to 20 minutes (no matter what goals are scored in the second half). If the lead is less than 6 goals at the half, but is increased to 6 at some point in the second half, the remaining time in the second half is reduced by half. No score differential results in immediate termination of the game.
Scenarios
1) If Blue leads 6-0 at the half, the second half will be reduced to 20 minutes
2) If Blue is leading 6-0 at some point in the first half, but White scores late to make the score 6-1 at the half, the second half will begin with 40 minutes on the clock.
3) If at 16 minutes into the second half Blue scores to achieve a 6-goal lead, the remaining 24 minutes are cut in half, the clock is set to 12 minutes, and the game is played until it reaches 0.
4) If the second half time has been reduced due to a 6-goal lead (either at the half or at some time in the second half) and the trailing team scores to close the gap, the time will remain reduced.
5) In no case is the first half reduced to less than 40 minutes.

 

I'm not sure that's simpler.

 

Say it ain't so, AEK: You on the same pitch with more than one whistle? I am aghast!

So, if I understand you correctly, part of your decision making process on whether the situation was a DOGSO or not; whether you were going punish with a sendo-off or not, involved a review of how you were to be perceived as a result of this incident by the referee community. Do I have it right? Somehow this line of thinking is not congruent with the AEK, I've come to know and love on this forum. Counselor, you surprise me.

 

We had a referee e-mail a school about their coach and their facilities and how he thought that both could be improved. The AD immediately forwarded the e-mail to the commissioner, essentially asking "Who the bleep does this guy think he is?" Let's just say that the referee is not doing high school games anymore. At any school.

Put yourself in the place of the AD. With a few blessed exceptions, soccer is not their highest priority sport. And within each sport, worrying about varsity first and only then the subvarsity teams, their most important job is seeing that the games actually happen (teams show up, officials show up, the field is lined, the bus takes the team to the right school, the locker rooms are unlocked for the visiting team, etc.). Then he's concerned about dealing with coaches and their problems, followed by student-athletes, the principal and other administrators, the parents of students, teachers and the administrators from other schools that affect his school's games, as well as the state high school association people. Waaaaaaaaaay way down there, almost invisible, is dealing with an official's post contest opinions. "Yeah. I think I can get to that, about the 35th of November." Not commenting about you personally, just about how receptive the AD is going to be to your comments and whether anything will happen as a result of your efforts.

 

Yep. Ya gotta know their priorities.
A year or so ago, I was nearly nominated for sainthood (by the AD, the coach, principal, booster club, refereeing association...) for sending the following to a HS AD:

Mr. xxxxx,

I am writing you in hopes that you can address a concern of mine.

First some background. I am a soccer referee. I have done several games at your school this year. Your staff, coaches and players are all first-rate and have always conducted themselves in a way that is a credit to themselves and your school. I have thoroughly enjoyed going to xxxx and look forward to returning.

However, one issue has disturbed me. Some of the Varsity boys pre-game music that is broadcast over the speaker system is, in my opinion, not appropriate for this environment. Last night, the word “s---” was clearly and repeatedly audible. On a previous occasion I heard “n-----” several times. I asked the staff at the game about this, and they seemed equally appalled. In fact, they asked me to write you for assistance. Thus, this email.

I’m not sure what the next best steps are. I’m happy to rely on your expertise as to how to continue to support what is in every other way a wonderful environment for youth soccer.

Thank you for your time.

P.S. In order to avoid possible future confusion, I have copied xxx, the president of my refereeing association, and the two referees who were with me last night.

 

I should have paid closer attention to the thread. I was actually thinking about a letter to the coach, not the AD.

 

And, to be fair (since it was my suggestion), it depends on the school and the AD. Some don't give a rat's behind about soccer. Others actually do care about the conduct of their coaches.

I coached HS for seven years, and pretty much all the ADs I worked for (there were 4) would at least have cared about my conduct. Two probably would have ripped me a new one for behaving as this coach did. However, I have dealt with ADs elsewhere who I can easily imagine blackballing a ref based on the same scenario. So, YMMV.

AEK, this thread has pretty much gone off into the weeds of the politics of your particular area. You don't regret the red card, it was correct and proper, the coach is an idiot, and you've vented here--which is probably all the satisfaction you'll ever get out of this thing anyway. C'est la vie.

 

Personally I would let your HS Assignor know the circumstances of your interaction with this idiot coach since they are the one that assigns you so that when the story gets back to them, they know from you what happened.

You can't control what the coach says and as others have pointed out, sending a letter or comments to the school AD may backfire and do more harm than good for you.

Is it possible that your AR1 is a source for people knowing about this incident? If so, maybe a chat with AR1 is in order to clear the air (I know, not always realistic). Or let the assignor know (if you have a good relationship) that AR1 is not up to this level of play and you don't want them on your games.

Don't let it get you down.

 

I've written one letter to an AD.

High School district semi-final. Two teams ranked in the top 10 in D1. From the same conference, so there's something of a rivalry (although neither would consider the other school their main rival). In my experience, coaches are wound way too tight on these district games; once they get to regionals/semis/finals, they seem to calm back down.

Attacker, keeper, defender all come together about 22 yards out. In my opinion, the defender had fouled the attacker before the dogpile. I don't see the ball, and assume it's in there somewhere. I whistle and signal for the foul. I look up and see that the ball is in the back of the net. #*%!, I effed up. I stop the clock, go to my AR and ask if the ball was in the net before I whistled. He doesn't know.

I go to the coach of the fouled team, tell him I effed up, lost sight of the ball, and whistled, and we don't know if the ball was in the net before the whistle or not, and we'll be restarting with a DFK from the spot of the foul. He yelled to his team to shut up, relax, get over it, and play soccer. He went on to win the game 2-1.

I wrote a letter to the AD (copying the coach) telling her the circumstances, and how much I appreciated the coach's professionalism, sportsmanship, and empathy.

I think that was three years ago.

Saw the coach a couple of weeks ago at a pre-season tournament. He thanked me (again) for the letter. Said it went a long way with his AD.

So would I ever send a note to an AD about bad behavior? Um, only in the form of a game report, explaining why I dismissed the coach. But thank yous and the recognition of good sportsmanship are rare enough that they carry weight.

 

I'm a fan of Law18 - Use common sense

 

Technically Law 18 doesn't apply in NFHS as they use rules and they don't involve that one. I get what you mean though.

 

A bit stale, but it hit me whenGil posted this, and again when this was bumped: a good lesson for us ARs -- there's erally ne excuse for the AR to not be able to answer the question. The AR's responsility is not the train wreck, but being in position for goal/no-goal and OS calls -- as AR's we should always be able to answer this question.

(Gil, I'm curious -- did you check with your Trail AR to see if he could answer the Q on the timing?)

 

The honest answer is "No." A contemplative answer is "I should have." Good catch.

 

I didn't want to start a new thread because I new there was something like this down there. Going through the annual hassle of the NFHS rules test now and came across this caseplay:

1.2.6 SITUATION:
Observation of the penalty-area line leads the referee to believe measurements are incorrect. Upon measuring, it is verified they are not correct.
RULING: The lines shall be used as marked, but the home coach will be advised of the error with corrections to be made prior to the next game. (5-2-2)

Really, NFHS? I can understand letting go other misgivings on the field, like a partially-obscured halfway line or goalpost pads with logos other than the manufacturer's, but an incorrectly-measured penalty area? That's a pretty big deal.

 

Big deal? Well not really, but yeah. The key is, play the game, both teams have the same field. This one goes to the competition level of the game, higher it goes, the more likely you really need to fix this before the game (but again the less likely it will happen).

Logistically how do you fix it? Draw another line? Now you have two penalty areas. Can't really "erase" a line quickly.

 

I've rubbed out incorrectly painted lines with my shoes/cleats on several occasions. It's never perfect, but next to a freshly painted line the difference is clear.

 

I think implicit in the answer is that fixing it is not an available remedy so that the choices are (1) play as marked, (2) cancel the game, or (3) have the referee(s) guess where the PA "really" is. I think all Fed is saying is if those are the three choices, (3) is the least bad.

 

Don't you mean (1) is the least bad? That is what NFHS wants.

 

*sigh* of course that's what I meant . . . thx for correcting . . . I'd edit my post but it won't let me . . .

 

Can we please do so