Chas Denonno - A Referee's Journey

[Chas (Psyatika)]

My tenderness is not on the inside of the shin, so maybe shin splints are out of the question (although i could make it sore if i apply pressure near the bottom, near the ankle). The soreness is on the muscle next to the shin nearer the outside of the leg. The muscle that bulges outward just below the knee when you point your toes up towards the ceiling (if you're standing). It makes my lower leg really stiff and makes it hard to move my foot up and down at the ankle (side to side, IIRC, is fine).

I've iced it, and that works well. Applying heat brings pain, so i'm guessing that's not a good idea.

We have elliptical machines as well as stationary bikes at the Athletics Centre, to which i have access. I used the bikes occaisionally during the winter, but i didn't like them too much because they don't appear to do much for cardio. Great leg workout if i turn it all the way up or do the hill training preset, but i just never found myself breathing hard no matter how long i spent on the bike (although that might just be because my cardio is decent, and just my legs aren't as strong as i thought).

[blind_clown]

Faster on the bike, not longer.

[bluedevils]

I am an aspiring 07 (i.e. still 08 but working my way up). I am 33, your call if that is "young". I run about 25-30 miles/week and like to race at the 5k distance. Refereeing is a hobby behind running - so on Saturdays I'll go out at 6:30 a.m. for 5 miles or so before heading to the fields (except on tournament weekends).

When I took the test, my goal was to beat the standards for pro refs working MLS games, and also to set a benchmark for myself to beat next time. But again, I am a runner first and a ref second. Most folks are refs first, and if they run at all, only do so to support ref'ing (or to get in shape for the fitness test). Sure, it would be nice to see more 3000+ meter runners, but in the great scheme of things most of them don't care, and that's probably OK.

I just like being able to do 8+ games in a tournament weekend and still give the last one good service.

I suspect the powers that be, consider 33 to be NOT young! But you've obviously got plenty of years left, especially given your solid fitness level.

There can't be more than a handful of 8s in the U.S. who are putting up better numbers than you. So you ran the test even though you didn't need to do so, being an 8?

Congrats on being into your thirties and still being in good shape.

The Cooper isn't a great benchmark for referee match fitness, but it does provide a good guideline of general running fitness, both distance (12 minutes is short-ish) and sprinting (200m and 50m). When I see a referee do 2600 or 2700m on the 12 min, I see a referee who is not serious about fitness. I don't believe he is on a regular, legitimate distance running program and he should be.

[bluedevils]

I played a little in high school. I was backup goalkeeper behind a first team all-american who recently graudated from University of Chicago. Then i played semi-professionally until i started refereeing. In both cases i was never expected to run much.

It is very surprising that your high school soccer team never went on any distance runs (2 miles, 3 miles, 5 miles, etc). Even more surprising to hear that about a semi-pro team. Was that in the states, or elsewhere?

Was it the whole team that didn't do the running, or just the GKs who avoided it?

[Wreave]

I suspect the powers that be, consider 33 to be NOT young! But you've obviously got plenty of years left, especially given your solid fitness level.

There can't be more than a handful of 8s in the U.S. who are putting up better numbers than you. So you ran the test even though you didn't need to do so, being an 8?

Congrats on being into your thirties and still being in good shape.

Agreed on not being young, at least not for a ref in terms of advancement. Although my RealAge (www.realage.com) is 22 - does that count for anything?

I ran the test for my AYSO Advanced badge. This is one step below the AYSO National badge, which is equivalent to/cross-certifies to USSF 07. I should get AYSO National/USSF 07 next year (2007).

And thanks - I intend to win age group awards in the 5k as long as I'm mobile, so hopefully the USSF fitness tests won't provide any challenge.

[Chas (Psyatika)]

It is very surprising that your high school soccer team never went on any distance runs (2 miles, 3 miles, 5 miles, etc). Even more surprising to hear that about a semi-pro team. Was that in the states, or elsewhere?

Was it the whole team that didn't do the running, or just the GKs who avoided it?Yes it was in the US, and the team only practised together once per week, and it was mainly tactics and skills. In high school, the GKs mostly avoided the runs, but in any case, the team as a whole wouldnt do much running. We ran with the warm-ups, did the stretching, ran a little bit with the second run, and then broke off to do keeper warm-ups.

Perhaps i was expected to do extra running on my own, but as a teenager with a million other things to do, i never got around to it ;)

My RealAge is 21.5, although i'm actually 22.9, so i guess that's not saying much. I think my resting heart rate (62) is what brought my score down.
EDIT: wait, i wasn't done with the process yet...my RealAge is actually 24.7 :eek:

[Chas (Psyatika)]

21 March 2006
Just got the assignments for West Side Soccer. 30 matches in total, and 6 referees, so getting 6 centre assignments is about right. I was also given 6 AR assignments, but i volunteered to take two more to fill in gaps on a day where i wasn't assigned any matches, for a total of 8. They respected my request to not give me any morning centres (i'm travelling from New Jersey to 114th street in Manhattan), and to give me exactly two matches whenever i'm assigned on a given day. There is one open centre spot with two ARs assigned on May 15th, and i'm tempted to take it, but it's the morning game and i have the next centre and then an AR assignment. Normally that would be alright, but i will have my Brooklyn AYSO U19 matches the day before, so maybe not.

Brooklyn's schedules aren't out yet. I plan on doing at least one centre and one AR each week for them, regardless of age groups, and two centres on days where i don't have West Side Soccer matches the next day. (WSSL was nice enough to give me 3 weekends where i don't have to travel at all). I'm definitely looking forward to it all...hasn't hit me yet that it's less than a fortnight away!

[Chas (Psyatika)]

Yikes...way too many games in the last couple weeks, and not enough time to write about them. Well, now i have some time, so let's see...

27 March 2006
Opening night for the Rutgers Intramural Soccer League (http://www.refplanet.com/rutgers/index.php). Eight teams composed of angry college students and alumni (mostly students). And one referee :)

I was given an "assistant" referee. He's not a licenced referee, but he's there to help, and i can't complain about that. Problem is, he carries a whistle, and tries to use it! I instructed him not to blow the whistle at any point, using the reasoning that my whistle is official, and i'd hate to have to overrule his decision and cause chaos where the players are concerned. I asked him to carry a flag, but he declined. This was a bad idea, because i can't really tell what he's signalling without the flag in his hands, aside from who gets the restart when the ball goes into touch.

Fortunately, opening night went fairly well, and the only times my assistant blew his whistle (...) were times when the ball quickly came back onto the field after going out, or for something for which i simultaneously blew the whistle. One of the teams didn't show up for their match, so i only did three games and just watched while the team that did show up played a practise match against whomever was willing to play them.

In the first match, the players on one of the teams kept trying to lobby for getting their opponents booked. I just ignored it today, but i plan to give pre-match warnings to players about sporting conduct for the next matches.

29 March 2006
Matchday 2 of the Rutgers Intramural Soccer League (http://www.refplanet.com/rutgers/index.php). I gave my pre-match talk to each team, so hopefully nothing stupid will happen. The matches went well once again; i'm definitely about 1308471405614 times better of a referee than i was last year! The final match was quite interesting...

Blue v. Red (the teams have names, but for simplicitiy's sake we'll go with colours). 1-1 and just about to begin stoppage time. Blue player dribbles into the penalty area. For some bizarre reason, a Red defender has the belief that referees are not allowed to call PKs in stoppage time. He puts his hand, arm bent, on the Blue player's shoulder and SHOVES him off the ball, fully extending his arm. He left me no choice. I pointed to the spot.

Queue over 40 seconds of complaining. The complaints, to my credit (i guess) were all along the lines of, "you can't call a penalty this late in the game!" The player who made the push even admitted he pushed his opponent, but still asserted that i can't make such a drastic call this late in the game. Maybe i'm crazy, but i could have sworn that a foul is a foul, whether it occurred in the first minute, the last minute, or any minute in between. Apparently i missed the referee courses that the Red team took prior to this match...

Anyway, PK converted, 2-1. Red gets the kickoff and fights for an equaliser. They ultimately get a corner kick, and score with an own-goal to equalise. They feel justice has been served. I honestly don't care. Final score 2-2.

I still have many more matches to post. Watch this space.

Statistics:
Career Appearances
Men (Amateur):
-Referee: 38
U19 Boys
-Referee: 10
U19 Girls
-Referee: 47
-Assistant: 5
U14 Boys
-Referee: 4
U14 Girls
-Referee: 10
-Assistant: 33
U8 Boys
-Referee: 1
Total:
-Referee: 111
-Assistant: 38
Discipline
Yellow Cards: 25
Second Yellow Cards: 1
Red Cards: 5


Milestones
1st Cap as Centre Referee: 19 September 2004
25th Cap Overall: 8 January 2005
50th Cap as Centre Referee: 5 March 2005
100th Cap Overall: 22 May 2005
AYSO Intermediate Referee: 14 November 2005
100th Cap as a Centre Referee: 25 February 2006

[sandaroo]

My RealAge is 21.5, although i'm actually 22.9, so i guess that's not saying much. I think my resting heart rate (62) is what brought my score down.
EDIT: wait, i wasn't done with the process yet...my RealAge is actually 24.7 :eek:

Geez...I hope your match reporting is more accurate than your age reporting :p

[Chas (Psyatika)]

One little thing i forgot to mention about my first game in the Rutgers league...about one minute in, the guy i had sent off in the final match last year performed the most ridiculous looking dive ever: he threw his arms into the air, let out a bit of a yell, and went to the ground. It was the first match of the entire tournament, just a minute in, but i probably should have cautioned him. Instead i just told him to get up and play went on. I need to work on not being lenient on league opening days...

2 April 2006
Opening day of the AYSO season in Manhattan. Before this match, i was watching an EPL match on Fox Soccer Channel. I don't remember who was playing...might have been the Chelsea match. Anyway, usually i find myself watching the referee during professional matches, getting tips on positioning, when to talk to the players, etc. This morning, however, i noticed something which might have a huge effect on my officiating.

The referee looked like he was moving in slow motion the entire match. He was taking long strides, his back foot would go above the knee before swinging forward...it was an extremely flowing form of running. He made it look so easy. I decided that from now on, i'm going to run like that.

As it turns out, i honestly had no clue how to run! Trying to emulate the EPL referee's running style was a huge success! At no point in my match did i have to sprint; i ran the same speed throughout the match (i would run a little faster every so often, but rather than change the way i run to get into my usual sprint, i just ran the same way i had been running, just increasing the pace of the same mechanics). I felt exactly the same at the end of the match than i did at the beginning...no soreness, wasn't winded, anything. Maybe there's hope for me yet on the fitness test! I can't wait to time myself again.

Anyway, nothing of note happened in the match. I had one more match afterward as an AR, which also went smoothly. WSSL has no more matches for me until 30 April, because i asked for next week off for opening day of Brooklyn AYSO, and then the next week is a holiday, and i'm not sure why they left me off on the 23rd. Ohwell...

Statistics:
Career Appearances
Men (Amateur):
-Referee: 38
U19 Boys
-Referee: 10
U19 Girls
-Referee: 47
-Assistant: 5
U14 Boys
-Referee: 4
U14 Girls
-Referee: 11
-Assistant: 34
U8 Boys
-Referee: 1
Total:
-Referee: 112
-Assistant: 39
Discipline
Yellow Cards: 25
Second Yellow Cards: 1
Red Cards: 5


Milestones:
1st Cap as Centre Referee: 19 September 2004
25th Cap Overall: 8 January 2005
50th Cap as Centre Referee: 5 March 2005
100th Cap Overall: 22 May 2005
AYSO Intermediate Referee: 14 November 2005
100th Cap as a Centre Referee: 25 February 2006

[Chas (Psyatika)]

Almost caught up!

3 April 2006
Rutgers Intramural Soccer League (http://www.refplanet.com/rutgers/index.php), matchday 3. Supposed to have four matches, but one team didn't show up, so we only had three games. During the time slot for the game that was forfeited, the team that did turn up wanted to play anyway, so they played a pick-up game with whomever wanted to play against them. I decided that this would be a good time to see what my assistant could do. I asked him to take the centre for this game, and i took a flag and ran the line. I was hoping that 1) he could get some experience at this level, 2) i could show him what he more or less should be doing when acting as AR, and 3) i could determine how fit he would be to be the centre for future games in this league.

Well, on the bright side, all three goals were accomplished. Unfortunately, my answer to goal number 3 is, "he isn't".

As much as the players moan during the games where i'm the centre, i don't think they realise just how much i do for them in this league. My ability as a referee allows them to play a high level of football without fear of being killed out there. If they had to play every game in this league without a referee, the level of play would diminish greatly, so that the players could ensure their own safety and so that they could keep control of the game themselves. With me in the middle, they know things can heat up, and that i'll keep control of the situation for them. This match was a clear example of that.

Right away, first challenge of the match, right next to the centre ref (which, again, is not me; i'm AR in this match, although in my statistics i do not count this match). Player in White goes right through his opponent in Red. No call. I don't wave the flag, because it was right next to the ref.

Next challenge, same thing. This time i raise the flag, even though it's on the ref's side. At this point i have determined that the players are clearly testing the new official. I decide that i am going to be very strict with the flag with the hope that the ref will call fouls for the same types of things i call fouls for.

A little while later, and a player bends his body, reaches out near the ground, and blocks the ball on a pass with his hand. NO call!!! I raise the flag, the ref blows the whistle, and i gesture to my pocket to let him know that i think it should be a caution. Ref gestures back to me that he doesn't have a yellow card. Whatever, this match doesn't count anyway, and he was only expecting to be an AR tonight, so i take a step onto the field, make eye contact with the player, and hold up MY yellow card to make it known that he is being cautioned by the centre ref. The cards are intended to be for communication purposes anyway, so i guess in theory it doesn't matter who holds it up, as long as it is clear to the player that he is playing with a caution.

Anyway, there is all kinds of holding, hard tackling, etc in this game, and lots of raised flags by me. At one point a player made a terrible sliding tackle that would even be a borderline send-off in an outdoor game. He already had a caution, so i gesture to the ref that i think he needs another caution and a sending-off. At the same time, i take a few steps onto the field in case there is retaliation. The ref comes to me and says he doesn't want to send off the player, so i just agree and go back to my position. Thank goodness the buzzer is going to sound any minute. When the buzzer does sound, i go to the score table, only to discover that the referee hasn't ended the game! He's adding time on! I run back to my proper position, and we play another 40 seconds or so. Oh dear...

The good news is, at least i could point to specific reasons now if i recommend he not take the centre again this season. Another plus: he now (sometimes) raises his flag high enough for me to see it, presumably because he saw how i raise the flag. And now that i see how he tends to make foul decisions, i might be less inclined to rely on him to make foul calls on his side when he is AR, which is what i had been doing. Overall, a decent learning experience. He doesn't cover the same range i do though (i ran from goal line to goal line as AR; he goes about halfway between the centre line and the goal line, in both directions). The saddest part about the match, though, is that this team won the Fair Play Award last year, and are currently leading the table this year! Although i guess, to their credit, it says a lot about them that they can adjust so quickly to the referee's style to suit their own needs for a match.

This post is fairly long, so i'll hold off on the one last day i need to update.

Statistics:
Career Appearances
Men (Amateur):
-Referee: 41
U19 Boys
-Referee: 10
U19 Girls
-Referee: 47
-Assistant: 5
U14 Boys
-Referee: 4
U14 Girls
-Referee: 11
-Assistant: 34
U8 Boys
-Referee: 1
Total:
-Referee: 115
-Assistant: 39
Discipline
Yellow Cards: 27
Second Yellow Cards: 1
Red Cards: 5


Milestones:
1st Cap as Centre Referee: 19 September 2004
25th Cap Overall: 8 January 2005
50th Cap as Centre Referee: 5 March 2005
100th Cap Overall: 22 May 2005
AYSO Intermediate Referee: 14 November 2005
100th Cap as a Centre Referee: 25 February 2006

[Chas (Psyatika)]

Alright, quite a bit to cover, so i'll just continue to chip away at it all.

5 April 2006
Rutgers Intramural Soccer League (http://www.refplanet.com/rutgers/index.php), Matchday 4. One game was cancelled once again, and apparently one of the teams will not be able to field enough players to play the rest of their games. Waste of my time...

Anyway, during one of the games, a foul occured, but the ball went straight to an open attacker who started advancing on the goal. Easy call, just yell out "Advantage, Play On!" and get on with the game.

Literally three seconds after i had called out advantage, and the attackers were getting ready to put a shot on goal, my now imfamous assistant decided it would be a good idea to randomly blow his whistle (which he keeps handy for some reason!) for the foul i never called. Some of the players stopped for the AR's whistle ("AR's whistle" is a term i never want to write again), and some players kept playing because they knew it wasn't my whistle. So i blew my whistle and gave a dropped ball, which the defence just let the attack have. ARGH! I have told him every day to never blow the whistle and just use the flag to get my attention, and he still doesn't get it! On the bright side, the players tore him a new one about blowing the whistle, since he's not the referee, so maybe if he won't listen to me, he'll listen to them. I conveniently didn't hear the players' abuse just this one time.

On another note, today i set my record for cards shown in a day, giving 4 cautions in my three games. Don't worry, this record doesn't last long...

Statistics:
Career Appearances
Men (Amateur):
-Referee: 45
U19 Boys
-Referee: 10
U19 Girls
-Referee: 47
-Assistant: 5
U14 Boys
-Referee: 4
U14 Girls
-Referee: 11
-Assistant: 34
U8 Boys
-Referee: 1
Total:
-Referee: 118
-Assistant: 39
Discipline
Yellow Cards: 31
Second Yellow Cards: 1
Red Cards: 5


Milestones:
1st Cap as Centre Referee: 19 September 2004
25th Cap Overall: 8 January 2005
50th Cap as Centre Referee: 5 March 2005
100th Cap Overall: 22 May 2005
AYSO Intermediate Referee: 14 November 2005
100th Cap as a Centre Referee: 25 February 2006

[Chas (Psyatika)]

10 April 2006
I have always had a pilonidal cyst at the base of my spine. Over this weekend, it became infected and grow to 8cm in diameter. I would end up having sugery (the first of two) on the 14th, but in the meantime, i did my games on the 10th injured. I was able to stand, and able to run, so i put the pain aside and did my games.

Oh dear...what a first game i ended up with! The game was between the teams tied for first and second places in the league. We'll call it White v. Black.

The match was rather physical from the start, and i was calling quite a bit of fouls. I specifically warned one player, White's captain, for his manner of play. Other than that, the first half was uneventful.

The second half, on the other hand, was INSANE! First of all, Black was on attack, outside of the penalty area. White commits a foul, so i make the call. I don't know why, but for some reason, the White goalkeeper left his goal to argue the call (only about 6 metres, but in an indoor game i suppose that's quite a bit). At pretty much the same time, Black put the ball down on the exact spot where i pointed for the position of he foul and took a fairly quick restart (about four seconds between my whistle and the restart. The goalkeeper realised what was going on and ran back toward his goal (about 6 metres to cover, but he's not the most fit person on the pitch). Meanwhile, Black took two passes, and finally put the ball in the back of the net. I don't see any problems here, so i point to the centre.

Naturally, i get surrounded by White, so i just backpedal my way to the centre. Just before they take the kick-off, the captain picks up the ball and puts it (lightly, of course) into my chest. Then he says, "Thank you very much, your team won." I assume he was being sarcastic. In any case, i sent him off.

The team decided they would follow the captain's lead and walk off the pitch. One player gave me the middle finger, so i went ahead and sent him off. Then another player decided to scream at me and curse me out for a good 45 seconds. I just stood there and took it, and when he was done, i sent him off. He then decided he wasn't finished and continuted screaming at me, including asking me to "come outside" with him, which i guess means he wants me to have my allergies. To be fair though, he was doing it while walking over to get his belongings and leave, so i can't complain too much.

This situation was getting annoying, so i decided to talk to the team that just scored. I told them that i want the game to continue, and asked if they would be upset if i disallowed the goal and gave a dropped ball (i wasn't sure if i could erase all the post-free kick activity and give the same free kick, so i figured the dropped ball on the 6m line would be sufficient. Keep in mind this is indoor, so the 6m line is not the same as the edge of the 6 yard box in outdoor). Strangely enough, they actually agreed. It helped that they saw me send off three players (although one was a substitute).

So we're about to get started again, and only 4 minutes to add on! When Black saw four White players line up (six players per team, so they were expecting three), they started arguing with the White players. Somehow this arguement moved from the spot of the dropped ball to the centre circle. I told the teams, "if we don't start in two minutes, this match is over." Surely enough, two minutes later, order could not be restored, and the next match had to start in about ten minutes. I gave up, re-allowed the goal (as play STILL had not restarted), walked to the centre circle, told the teams there would be a kick-off, let them argue for another 5 seconds, and blew the whistle and put an end to this debacle. Three yellow cards (two had nothing to do with this incident, the third was for the White goalkeeper, as he completely left the gym and never came back, whereas his teammate only left the field, and briefly at that), three red cards, and an unfinished game.

The league administrator ultimately let the result stand at 1-0, and all the statistics in the match were allowed to count. Only one match bans were given to the sent-off players. But anyway...ARGH!

Fortunately, the other two matches were nice and quiet.


Statistics:
Career Appearances
Men (Amateur):
-Referee: 48
U19 Boys
-Referee: 10
U19 Girls
-Referee: 47
-Assistant: 5
U14 Boys
-Referee: 4
U14 Girls
-Referee: 11
-Assistant: 34
U8 Boys
-Referee: 1
Total:
-Referee: 121
-Assistant: 39

Discipline
Yellow Cards: 34
Second Yellow Cards: 1
Red Cards: 8


Milestones:
1st Cap as Centre Referee: 19 September 2004
25th Cap Overall: 8 January 2005
50th Cap as Centre Referee: 5 March 2005
100th Cap Overall: 22 May 2005
AYSO Intermediate Referee: 14 November 2005
100th Cap as a Centre Referee: 25 February 2006

[Wreave]

Sounds like a very interesting game, to say the least. Not sure about your decision to disallow the goal. Obviously, black's willingness to accept was understandable as they'd be playing 6v3, but my gut says white should have walked away and you should have called the game for their having abandoned it. Certainly, if that were the case the writeup would have been easier, and the suspensions might have been more.

Especially already into the second half... seems not worth the trouble, and of course the teams showed you that anyway.

[Chas (Psyatika)]

I just wanted the game to continue. I figured asking Black would be a long shot (i was expecting them to say no, but they also just wanted to play). It was pretty much the best way i could try to convince White to get back on the pitch in the heat of the moment. The last thing i wanted to do was abandon the match.

I ultimately ended up first allowing, then disallowing, then re-allowing the goal during the course of all of that (which is why i made sure to alert the teams that i changed the restart back to a kick-off before finally calling off the match).

[blech]

Sounds like a crazy game. I understand the desire to avoid calling off the game, but I can't imagine changing the call like that. It's too much of a negotiation, and as you saw, it wasn't going to get you back to square one. Just curious about what you think of it in hindsight -- would you handle it the same way or differently? Not that we get to go back, but as a helpful tool for the next time.....

[Chas (Psyatika)]

In hindsight, maybe i should have noticed the goalkeeper had come so far out to argue, and delayed the free kick. If i'm doing all that, though, a caution to the goalkeeper would probably also be in order. I don't think there's anything that could be done to make it seem "fair" to both teams.

All that said, even in hindsight, if it came up again, i'd let the kick go again, and i'd allow the goal again. The only difference is, i wouldn't be so willing to negotiate, now that i see i can handle a situation like this without falling apart.

[bluedevils]

My first reaction to reading what you did (trying to get the match restarted by wiping away the goal) was, What the f#@* is he thinking?!

Nobody likes to see a match be terminated early, but this sounds like it was a very good candidate. Just let it die. There was nothing that could be done to save it, or get back to square one as someone else described it.

On the plus side, I'll give you a point for 'creative refereeing.' Most people wouldn't have thought to try what you did!

And I like the decision to allow the goal while the GK was out arguing about it. It isn't the referee's job to bail out a player for stupidity.

[Wreave]

In hindsight, maybe i should have noticed the goalkeeper had come so far out to argue, and delayed the free kick. If i'm doing all that, though, a caution to the goalkeeper would probably also be in order. I don't think there's anything that could be done to make it seem "fair" to both teams.

Agreed that if you're going to delay the kick, you have to caution the keeper.

Sitting here in my chair with the pleasure of hindsight, I'd allow the kick and the goal, but if you elect to delay the kick, and the kicking team hasn't asked you for ten yards, you've gotta have a reason. The spot was right, so it must be to issue the caution for dissent... in which case you'd probably get an earful from the kicking team for not letting them take their kick.

All this, of course, presumes you didn't engage the keeper in his dissent. If he's just complaining, let him do it. If you start talking to him, explaining the call or something, and allow the kick, you're just asking for trouble. But the way I read it, that's not what happened.

[Chas (Psyatika)]

No, i didn't say a word to anyone. I just blew the whistle, signalled the direction with my right arm, and pointed at the spot of the foul with my left hand (i was less than a metre away from the spot of the foul, so i pointed nearly straight down). When Black took the quick kick, i backpedalled quickly to get out of their way (which didn't matter as they kicked it to the left as i backed away to the right).

I know it's unnecessary, but what else am i good for on this forum if not for multimedia :p
Here is a diagramme of what happened.

http://www.refplanet.com/images/rimslplay.jpg