Proactive reffing - how far?

[DerbyRam54]

Yesterday I refereed probably my biggest match to date. It was the final group stage match of the State Cup for O-30 men. The situation prior to the match was that each team in the group of four had won one match and lost one match, meaning that either team in the match I had needed to win to be sure of advancing. In other words, it was likely to be a keenly-contested match.
As it happens, by the time we came close to the end of the match, the outcome was not in doubt. The winning team had clearly been technically and tactically superior and the result reflected this. One of their tactics had been to play the ball around once they won possession in their defensive third. They generally had numbers up and their technical ability meant this was a low-risk tactic that gave them a breather (they only had two subs) while tiring the opposing forwards in a 3v2 possession game.
I observed that one of the losing team's forwards was frustrated by the scoreline and by this tactic, and as the end of the match drew near he was starting to lose control. He first made a slide tackle on the left back that missed both ball and player by a wide margin. He then ran at full pace across the top of the penalty area to where the keeper was dribbling the ball forwards.
Anticipating what would likely happen next, I had moved into a good position to observe that while he did make contact with the ball he also fouled the keeper in a tackle that clearly fit the description "reckless". I was close enough to dissuade the angry keeper from any retaliation, booked the attacker, and defused the situation. The match finished without further incident.
My question is what, if anything, I might have done prior to the challenge. There was no legitimate way in my mind of stopping the game (two minutes still to play), the previous challenge really couldn't be deemed a foul as he didn't come close to contacting his opponent and he was certainly attempting to play the ball rather than simply injure the opponent.
But as he raced towards the keeper, could or should I have called out something along the lines of "make sure you're playing the ball". I was close enough for this to have been audible, and it might have had an impact on the player and avoided a reckless challenge.
Those of you who have more experience than I at this level, any suggestions?

[NHRef]

A lot depends on how he'd been up to that point, you said you noticed him getting the frustration level up. You could, given time, become his buddy, talk to him at breaks, down time, slow times etc. Just to let him know you are there. Remind him to keep it clean.

Short of that, sounds like you really didn't have much of a chance between the two challenges, you could have yelled to keep it clean, but it sounds like a quiet word would have been more along the right lines. If there had been times between the challenges where you could get this word in great.

Short of that, sounds like you handled it great. One question would be how did you handle the booking? Again, could range from a public butt chewing to a quiet word, again depending on how he'd been, how the game is evolving and your personality.

[intechpc]

As NHRef pointed out, there may have been opportunities prior to this point in the match that you could have perhaps helped prevent this situation. However, in the situation given, you shouldn't feel that you need to wait for the foul to occur to say something. This sounds like one of those cases where probably everyone on the field saw what was coming. So a quick word serves a couple purposes.

First it could keep the situation from occuring in the first place. It says to the player, I'm right here ready to nail you if you do something stupid. Considering the keeper was involved in this case, all the more reason to be proactive. Second, if the foul still does occur, having put this warning out there in advance makes the caution even easier to sell (sounds like it was pretty obvious anyway). Third, establishing your presence can also help cool the keeper more quickly. He heard your warning and then the whistle so he knows you're there and you've got it covered.

Sounds like you handled the situation well, but certainly don't be afraid to speak up when the situation warrants.

[DerbyRam54]

A lot depends on how he'd been up to that point, you said you noticed him getting the frustration level up. You could, given time, become his buddy, talk to him at breaks, down time, slow times etc. Just to let him know you are there. Remind him to keep it clean.

Short of that, sounds like you really didn't have much of a chance between the two challenges, you could have yelled to keep it clean, but it sounds like a quiet word would have been more along the right lines. If there had been times between the challenges where you could get this word in great.

Short of that, sounds like you handled it great. One question would be how did you handle the booking? Again, could range from a public butt chewing to a quiet word, again depending on how he'd been, how the game is evolving and your personality.
Up to that point he'd been playing OK, I think it was the realisation that time was about up and once again the defence was playing their possession game just got the better of him. His first tackle didn't look reckless, just not very good (a forward's tackle rather than a defender's tackle) and I think it was his effort at that and still not getting the ball back that triggered the red mist.
Really my only option would have been to shout a few cautionary words as he (and I) ran towards the keeper.
Once the tackle had occurred, the primary goal was to make sure that nothing escalated. I was making sure the keeper knew I had it covered, getting him to back off and stay out of it. There wasn't any need really to explain to the forward why he was being cautioned, but I did want the rest of the players to see justice being done as soon as possible, so I just showed him the card and told him to calm down, which he did. To their credit, none of the other players came to get involved.
I had gone suggested to my ARs in my pre-game to be on their toes for this kind of incident and to be prepared to step on the field to make sure as far as they could that nothing else developed.
In truth it had been a pretty typical game, one late clip that led to a spot of verbals requiring both players to hear a little chat and a suggestion that they shake hands and get on with playing. But I figure there's always the possibility of one psycho in a Sunday morning league, the challenge is spotting the most likely (and up till then I hadn't figured it would be him either, I had my eyes on a couple of others).
As we walked off, a couple of his teammates came up for a handshake and observed that his "tackle" was not what the game needed, which was decent of them. The captain, collecting the passes, (who played left back, and so must have been a good 50 yards away) trotted out the "he got the ball so I don't see why he got a card" so we gently explained a few things to him.
I think I'm ready to go for an upgrade (so I can be an instructor in two or three years when my knees give out :) ) now that I've got a few of these behind me, I don't get many U-19 games outside of high school, so the O-30/O-40 arena is where I've had to learn. To be honest, I usually prefer it as you can generally enjoy a few laughs with most teams (though being careful not to get too relaxed).

[nonya]

What was your relationship like with the captain at that point. If you were friendly with him, maybe a word to him like "that forward of yours is starting to get out of control, I think you should talk to him before I have to."

If that is not possible, then you need to go over and talk to the guy, tell him that you understand that he may be frustrated but you are starting to play reckless and I am warning you know.

That's it, quick and simple.

[andymoss]

Use his name if you know it - brings a sense of personality to it as opposed to calling him # 11 or whatever.

After the first attempted tackle - "Hey John! Careful there. Don't want to hurt yourself."

In a situation like this, I'll do one of two things, either quick card, bang and away - an AC AFTER the card likely won't have the same effect (but do it anyway). This placates the fouled player particularly in this case as keeper are usually nutters themselves.

Or get on the whistle hard and race in there with your book out. Advise the keeper you're going to take care of it and give the extended version of the AC. Refer to the previous lunge and ask him why you should keep him on the field if it is clear he is way out of control?

Then show the card followed by a final "calm down or you're gone."

Generally speaking of course - you'd know better if you were there and had the feel of the game.

[JeffG]

There's a guy in my neck of the woods who frequently shouts "No foul" or "No foul, now" before the challenge. I've tried it, and it occasionally works for me. There seems to be an inverse relationship with my distance from the potential fouler (the closer I am, the more effective the 'reminder' is), and a direct relationship with the distance from the potential fouler to the foul-ee (give my message time to 'sink in') but there's no guarantee.

[GOOOOAL!!]

I observed that one of the losing team's forwards was frustrated by the scoreline and by this tactic, and as the end of the match drew near he was starting to lose control. He first made a slide tackle on the left back that missed both ball and player by a wide margin. He then ran at full pace across the top of the penalty area to where the keeper was dribbling the ball forwards.

The previous comments are very good advice. One thing to think about when the game is essentially over except for running out the time, is for you the referee to control the emotion of the game at every opportunity.

Since the game is over and everyone only wants to get out of the game and start the "refreshment" portion of the day, allowing the same type of game flow is not necessary. Go ahead and call the fouls that during other parts of the game would be trifling. Don't have any advantages for the leading team. Take some extra time during subs. Make all of the free kicks ceremonial when they are for the leading team. Get picky about the location of throw-ins and move players back. When a player on the leading team commits a foul, stop play and have a quiet word with them about not getting the other team excited so that everyone stays on the field until the end of the game.

In short do all you can to slow the game down.

In this case you might have had an opportunity to call a foul on the attacker when he went in on the defender. If he made contact, it could be a simple foul. If there was no contact, call it dangerous and go indirect. It wouldn't affect the outcome of the game and it would have given you a chance to talk to the forward and calm him down.

Other than that, it sounds like you did what was necessary to keep all of the players on the field and keep them civil at the same time. Many times, O-30 it is not that way. At many of the tournaments, the 5&6's get the U23 and younger adult teams. The experienced Nationals get the O-30 and O-40 because the crazy stuff happens there. The younger players play hard, but they play soccer. The older ones can stop playing soccer and get goofy.