My first center

[Laggard]

Ok, I spent a year lining U11 - U14 games but have never centered one. I have my first game tomorrow night and I'm terrified. It's only a U11 girls match but I can't help but worry.

This should be pretty easy, right? I really shouldn't be this nervous?

Ugh.

[pasoccerdave]

Enjoy it. Remember - they're playing for fun, too.

[Garkbit]

Think of your overseas colleagues whose first-ever matches take place on windswept bits of grass with no assistants, between two teams of blokes with boring jobs who want to kick each other for 90 minutes.

Alternatively, if you can afford my travel costs, I'll come over and hold your hand. I'll even put it up to your mouth when you need to ping something.

[Ref Flunkie]

I find girls to be fairly easy, just because of the fact that they do not have the testosterone going through their bodies. Enjoy it....it will probably be the easiest game you ever have. Just blow your whistle loud, point with confidence, and explain to them what they do wrong if needed.

[dadman]

Ok, I spent a year lining U11 - U14 games but have never centered one. I have my first game tomorrow night and I'm terrified. It's only a U11 girls match but I can't help but worry.

This should be pretty easy, right? I really shouldn't be this nervous?

Ugh.
Hope it went well. Want to report?

[vabeacher]

I find girls to be fairly easy

Who are they? Give us some phone numbers.

But seriously, I often work stretches of 4 or 5 games on a field which has alternating boys and girls games. It's amazing to see the difference. You're right about the testosterone in the guys' games (especially at U16 and older), especially in one-sided contests where you really have to be on your toes. In some games, earning a yellow card is almost a rite of passage. Guys want to get carded so they can tell all their friends about.

For girls, on the other hand, playing is a lot of a social occassion. They spend a few hours with their friends. You hear things said in girls games you would never hear in a boys' game. "I'm sorry" and "Are you alright?" are heard after every foul. I'm sure though many refs will write and tell me what a tough time they've had in girls games. One of the worst parent and coach (both male) confrontations I ever had came at the end of a U10 girls game. Regarding a throw-in that took place 5 minutes earlier.

[Flyer Fan]

I did my first center about two weeks ago - a U-10 girls game between two U-10 teams from the same club. It started raining about three or four minutes before kickoff, and it was still raining lightly as the game was about to begin. I reminded the girls about the wet surface and told them to be careful. About two minutes into the game, the first person went down - me, right on my ass. To make it worse, a girl standing by me asks, "Are you OK, sir?" Everything went well after that, though.

[whitehound]

Think of your overseas colleagues whose first-ever matches take place on windswept bits of grass with no assistants, between two teams of blokes with boring jobs who want to kick each other for 90 minutes.

Alternatively, if you can afford my travel costs, I'll come over and hold your hand. I'll even put it up to your mouth when you need to ping something.
What is this? Another limey whiner? Cry me a river!!! I think all the horror stories are bollocks! We all know how well mannered you englishmen are!

[IASocFan]

What is this? Another limey whiner? Cry me a river!!! I think all the horror stories are bollocks! We all know how well mannered you englishmen are!

Gentlemen, let's keep this professional. It's amazing how scary your first game can be. My best advice is to just get out there and do it. If you need a low level to get your feet wet, do it. One of my early games was a men's open league. I wasn't ready then, but I learned a lot. Good luck to new refs! Ask more experience refs for advice and work with them when you can.

[ur_land]

I'm sure though many refs will write and tell me what a tough time they've had in girls games. One of the worst parent and coach (both male) confrontations I ever had came at the end of a U10 girls game. Regarding a throw-in that took place 5 minutes earlier.

Leaving parents aside, in my experience girls can be just as dirty and just as ornery as the boys, and this is especially true in higher-level play. In the really competitive games, I get just as much dissent, hard tackling, gamesmanship, and late hits after the ball from the girls as from the boys. At the lower levels, there's more of a dichotomy.

[Ref Flunkie]

Leaving parents aside, in my experience girls can be just as dirty and just as ornery as the boys, and this is especially true in higher-level play. In the really competitive games, I get just as much dissent, hard tackling, gamesmanship, and late hits after the ball from the girls as from the boys. At the lower levels, there's more of a dichotomy.

This tends to be true at the really old ages of girls (17-19). However, boys seem to start this crap earlier in life (13-14). One of the cleanest, least complaining teams I've done was the U-13 girls team that won the state championship last year. I have to do them (U-14 now) this Sunday....we'll see if they've turned all mean as most women do as they get older ;).

[BC_Ref]

Leaving parents aside, in my experience girls can be just as dirty and just as ornery as the boys, and this is especially true in higher-level play. In the really competitive games, I get just as much dissent, hard tackling, gamesmanship, and late hits after the ball from the girls as from the boys. At the lower levels, there's more of a dichotomy.

I find girls foul differently than boys. However, Ur_Land is right that they can be just as aggrevating, if not more so, than the boys. Problems male refs run into is (based on my experience)
1) Dissent - I find it is harder to quash since the "cut the ********" type of lines is much less effective than with the guys. In fact, opening your mouth is a good way to dig yourself into a hole. :)
2) "Sneaky" tackles. If player A is fouled hard by B, in boys you keep an eye out for B and you are fine (the only real exception I've noticed is keepers, where you can run into team retailiation). In girls, the retribution can come from C, D, or E (who might have caused zero problems until then) - hard to catch.
3) Hip checks.
4) Sleepy refs :) - you can get lulled to sleep by nice, easy game after nice, easy game. Leaving you completely unprepared for the nasty one aroudn the bend. With boys, the intensity levels is generally high enough (even at the very bottom levels) that you keep on your toes. Boys games can be very fun and pretty foul free, but they tend to play much closer to the edge - more physically - on average.
5) I've run into more aggrevating coaches the past season (by a considerable amount) than the boys. A few wanted trivial calls (foul throw-ins at U18 Div 1 :confused: - not unless they are way off ), complained routinely about (in my view) clear-cut goal/corner or throw-in directions, and one gamed me big time (during my first assessment to boot - wasn't a pleasant feeling realizing I completely missed it for the whole game)

[ur_land]

and one gamed me big time (during my first assessment to boot - wasn't a pleasant feeling realizing I completely missed it for the whole game)

Just so the rest of us can be aware of it, what did he do?

[Laggard]

Well, I did it. It went well. So well that all I want to do is center now. Screw this running down the touchline crap.

So yeah, it was a good experience.

Thanks for the encouragement.

[Ray Luca]

Funny story a rec youth game. They play with two officials one on one touchline and on the left half of the field. The other on the other touch line on the right half of the field.

One of these adults get hurt pulls a muscle. So they are left with one official to do the game. He stays on one touchline and moves only on his half of the field.

Someone says do the game from the center circle and move back and forth from there. He says no because he never did it before :-)

[BC_Ref]

Just so the rest of us can be aware of it, what did he do?

He was using subs to buy himself time to reset his defense. Locally, youth has unlimited subs at ANY stoppage (including free kicks). The coach always subbed one player at time, and it was always fast (less than 10 seconds from beginning to end), much faster than most other teams. So I never picked up on that some of his subs were for gamesmanship purposes - the assessor was the one who spotted it and clued me in after the game.

Sad thing is, I don't see how I could prevent a repeat. The provincial association came out a few weeks later explicitly stating that they do mean at any stoppage, and the ref can't pick and choose. All I can think of doing is having a brief chat with that coach and reporting him for unsporting behaviour if he keeps it up. If I don't give him his subs (they were always ready to go and he was always very loud in his requests), this would allow for a protest. :confused:

[IASocFan]

...Sad thing is, I don't see how I could prevent a repeat. The provincial association came out a few weeks later explicitly stating that they do mean at any stoppage, and the ref can't pick and choose...

It's not unsporting if he is following the rules. The problem sounds like a league problem. Did the assessor have a remedy? It's impossible to have a quick throw-in or free kick if you have to stop for substitution. The fix is to the rule - not the coach. They can either limit substitution and have a flowing soccer game or they can keep the rule. You might have the referee coordinator suggest unlimited substitution only for the team taking a throw-in or free kick. If one team subs, then both can sub. This way prevents the disruption of gameflow.

[Garkbit]

Sad thing is, I don't see how I could prevent a repeat. The provincial association came out a few weeks later explicitly stating that they do mean at any stoppage, and the ref can't pick and choose. All I can think of doing is having a brief chat with that coach and reporting him for unsporting behaviour if he keeps it up. If I don't give him his subs (they were always ready to go and he was always very loud in his requests), this would allow for a protest. :confused:

My solution would be a quiet word with the opposing team letting them know that if they want to do anything quickly with their dead balls, they've got to be done *quickly* and then developing a sudden, tragic and highly specific case of Wrestling Referitis that leads to you unfortunately not hearing his shouts before the ball stops being dead.

Sadly, this option is probably closed to you because of having done a whole game and been able to hear him throughout it. It's a nice thought, though.

[NHRef]

Let's see, first off he's doing nothing wrong, he's inside the rules.

Second, he can't "request loudly" a substitution, he can only give tactical info/instruction to his players. The CR/AR team has to see the subs ready at the mid-line and call them on.

The "other" team can take the kick so quickly you do not have time to signal for the sub.

But basically he is within the rules, so about all you can do is add time for each sub that occurs.

Our local leagues allow subs on your own throw, GK (both teams), goals (both teams), injury stoppage (both teams). A team can not sub on the other teams throw in.