Situations like this are exactly why those guidelines SHOULD be followed. It doesn't matter if the referee had a great match, a poor match, dismissed no one, or dismissed half the players, there's always the chance of a little simmering animosity that you want to avoid stoking. Chris Penso was removed from a fourth official assignment earlier this season for this exact reason. It has nothing to do with job performance. It has everything to do with minimizing potential problems. There are enough things that happen in the match itself that you don't need to bring the baggage, good or bad, from a previous match in with you.
Seattle vs Chivas USA - Edvin JURISEVIC / Craig LOWRY / C.J. MORGANTE / Yader REYES New England vs Kansas City - Jair MARRUFO / Peter BALCIUNAS / Jason CULLUM / Jeff GONTAREK Philadelphia vs New York - Paul WARD / Philippe BRIERE / Cameron BLAIR / Terry VAUGHN San Jose vs Houston - Michael KENNEDY / Chris STRICKLAND / Eric BORIA / Ricardo SALAZAR Toronto vs Columbus - Jorge GONZALEZ / Adam WIENCKOWSKI / George GANSNER / Geoff GAMBLE
Los Angeles vs Colorado - Kevin STOTT / Darren CLARK / Kermit QUISENBERRY / Alejandro MARISCAL Real Salt Lake vs Dallas - Baldomero TOLEDO / Bill DITTMAR / Greg BARKEY / Ramon HERNANDEZ Of special note: this will be Kevin Stott's 200th league match as referee. Quite an accomplishment, and he's still got quite a few years left in him, I would imagine!
That's awesome. I'm pretty fast but I'm certain Stott is faster than me...if he wants to he's got at least 5 years probably more.
I think the guideline is meant to avoid over-familiarity as much as anything else. I do not think that a controversial call should disqualify a ref from any future game, absent other considerations. If a team makes a big deal about a controversial call and it the assignor, assessor, and in-stadium observer all agree that the call was correct there may be sense in assigning the ref to the same team(s) soonest. (edit: this would be a rare exception to the usual practice.) That is not to say that there are not valid reasons to not assign that ref to the team(s) for a while, especially if the call was blown or there may be a safety issue. (edit: this should be the usual practice even if there are no controversial calls) IIRC, the coaches said that they were just shaking hands, that they were tossed for displaying sportsmanship. The referee team said otherwise and the referee office agreed with the refs. Could it be that the second assignment was sending the message that some types of head games will not be tolerated and just to show how much we agree with the ref you will get him again at the next opportunity? I don't see the guidelines as scripture.
All very good points. I have never understood the idea of assigning referees at this level to avoid "familiarity" with the teams. There are only a handful of referees that referee MLS matches, and most of them have 5-7+ years in the league. The referees are familiar with the teams, and the teams are familiar with the referees, due purely to the fact that they have all been around each other for so long. They all have relatively the same familiarity. It's an issue in the minds of the teams and fans only.
After week 29: Code: [b]Referee Matches Yellow Y/Game Reds R/Game[/b] Anno, Jasen 8 19 2.38 3 0.38 Bazakos, Elias 1 1 1.00 0 0.00 Chapin, Andrew 3 8 2.67 3 1.00 DEPIERO, STEVEN (CAN) 4 9 2.25 1 0.25 Gantar, David (CAN) 2 6 3.00 0 0.00 GEIGER, MARK 13 40 3.08 3 0.23 Gontarek, Jeff 2 14 7.00 2 1.00 Gonzalez, Jorge 13 36 2.77 6 0.46 Grajeda, Hilario 11 35 3.18 2 0.18 Hernandez, Ramon 8 30 3.75 0 0.00 JURISEVIC, EDVIN 14 53 3.79 1 0.07 Kennedy, Michael 13 46 3.54 0 0.00 Mariscal, Alejandro 1 5 5.00 0 0.00 MARRUFO, JAIR 17 54 3.18 7 0.41 Okulaja, Abiodun 12 28 2.33 2 0.17 PETRESCU, SILVIU (CAN) 10 36 3.60 0 0.00 Prus, Alex 19 47 2.47 7 0.37 Reyes, Yader 4 10 2.50 1 0.25 SALAZAR, RICARDO 17 54 3.18 6 0.35 Stott, Kevin 16 58 3.63 2 0.13 TOLEDO, BALDOMERO 17 43 2.53 4 0.24 VAUGHN, TERRY 14 42 3.00 2 0.14 WARD, PAUL (CAN) 11 32 2.91 1 0.09 Wiley, Landis 1 4 4.00 1 1.00 [b]All Referees 231 710 3.07 54 0.23[/b] Code: [b]Assistant Referee SAR JAR Total[/b] Anderson, Frank 4 7 11 Anderson, Ian 3 10 13 Badea, Claudio 1 4 5 Balciunas, Peter 4 9 13 Barkey, Greg 14 6 20 BELLEAU, DANIEL (CAN) 7 4 11 Blair, Cameron (CAN) 5 5 10 Boles, Greg 1 1 2 Boria, Eric 4 13 17 BRIERE, PHILIPPE (CAN) 9 3 12 CLARK, DARREN (CAN) 5 2 7 Clement, Nate 6 1 7 Conlee, James 3 11 14 Cullum, Jason 3 10 13 Dittmar, Bill 5 2 7 FLETCHER, JOE (CAN) 11 0 11 GANSNER, GEORGE 10 4 14 Garner, Adam 5 7 12 Hosking, Jeff 1 9 10 HURD, SEAN 4 3 7 Lowry, Craig 14 7 21 Madukanya, Cyril 3 1 4 Manikowski, Peter 2 19 21 MORGANTE, C.J. 10 5 15 Muschik, Jeff 2 9 11 Poeschel, Brian 3 13 16 Proctor, Eric 0 12 12 QUISENBERRY, KERMIT 13 4 17 ROCKWELL, COREY 13 7 20 Scott, Paul 7 10 17 STRICKLAND, CHRIS 17 5 22 SUPPLE, THOMAS 16 3 19 Taylor, Steven 3 9 12 TOVAR, FABIO 4 2 6 VASOLI, ANTHONY 9 5 14 VERGARA, HECTOR (CAN) 2 2 4 WIENCKOWSKI, ADAM 8 7 15 Code: [b]Fourth Official Total[/b] Anno, Jasen 15 Bazakos, Elias 3 Bratsis, Niko 1 Chapin, Andrew 9 Chouaf, Ben 3 DEPIERO, STEVEN (CAN) 4 Gamble, Geoff (CAN) 10 Gantar, David (CAN) 8 GEIGER, MARK 3 Gontarek, Jeff 9 Gonzalez, Jorge 5 Grajeda, Hilario 10 Hernandez, Ramon 11 JURISEVIC, EDVIN 3 Kadlecik, Mark 5 Kennedy, Michael 7 Manikowski, Peter 1 Mariscal, Alejandro 13 MARRUFO, JAIR 4 Okulaja, Abiodun 11 Penso, Chris 11 PETRESCU, SILVIU (CAN) 5 Ploeger, Tyler 7 Prus, Alex 3 Reyes, Yader 11 Russo, Tony 3 SALAZAR, RICARDO 10 Stott, Kevin 4 Suckle, Lee 9 TOLEDO, BALDOMERO 7 VAUGHN, TERRY 6 WARD, PAUL (CAN) 5 Wiley, Landis 15
That was obviously Kennedy tonight. Not sure if it was a mess-up on the game guide or a late switch. D.C. United vs Toronto - Silviu PETRESCU / Philippe BRIERE / Jason CULLUM / Geoff GAMBLE Houston vs Seattle - Jair MARRUFO / Fabio TOVAR / Adam GARNER / Ramon HERNANDEZ
Chivas USA vs Chicago - Paul WARD / Eric BORIA / Peter MANIKOWSKI / David GANTAR Colorado vs Real Salt Lake - Ricardo SALAZAR / Steven TAYLOR / Thomas SUPPLE / Jasen ANNO Kansas City vs San Jose - Jorge GONZALEZ / James CONLEE / Bill DITTMAR / Landis WILEY Columbus vs Philadelphia - Kevin STOTT / Chris STRICKLAND / Daniel BELLEAU / Hilario GRAJEDA Los Angeles vs Dallas - Mark GEIGER / Craig LOWRY / Greg BARKEY / Baldomero TOLEDO
MLS is making me look bad this week. Stott instead of Marrufo in Houston this afternoon. Guess we'll see who shows up in Columbus.
I suspect these changes were likely due to playoff assignments. I wouldn't be surprised to see Stott on New York's game or Marrufo on Seattle's. Anyway, here are the final unofficial statistics for the regular season. As always, I warn that the match summaries on MLSSoccer.com are notoriously unreliable. Just this week, the yellow card to Brian Mullan for the PK foul on Jamison Olave was completely missed. There was another yellow given to Pablo Mastroeni for dissent, but the summary on the main site credits Drew Moor with a yellow for unsporting behavior, which as far as I can tell never happened. Colorado's website at least has Mastroeni's caution. ANYWAY, here are the numbers after week 30: Code: [b]Referee Matches Yellow Y/Game Reds R/Game[/b] Anno, Jasen 8 19 2.38 3 0.38 Bazakos, Elias 1 1 1.00 0 0.00 Chapin, Andrew 3 8 2.67 3 1.00 DEPIERO, STEVEN (CAN) 4 9 2.25 1 0.25 Gantar, David (CAN) 2 6 3.00 0 0.00 GEIGER, MARK 14 42 3.00 3 0.21 Gontarek, Jeff 2 14 7.00 2 1.00 Gonzalez, Jorge 14 36 2.57 6 0.43 Grajeda, Hilario 11 35 3.18 2 0.18 Hernandez, Ramon 8 30 3.75 0 0.00 JURISEVIC, EDVIN 14 53 3.79 1 0.07 Kennedy, Michael 14 51 3.64 0 0.00 Mariscal, Alejandro 1 5 5.00 0 0.00 MARRUFO, JAIR 18 57 3.17 7 0.39 Okulaja, Abiodun 12 28 2.33 2 0.17 PETRESCU, SILVIU (CAN) 11 39 3.55 0 0.00 Prus, Alex 19 47 2.47 7 0.37 Reyes, Yader 4 10 2.50 1 0.25 SALAZAR, RICARDO 19 62 3.26 6 0.32 Stott, Kevin 17 62 3.65 2 0.12 TOLEDO, BALDOMERO 17 43 2.53 4 0.24 VAUGHN, TERRY 14 42 3.00 2 0.14 WARD, PAUL (CAN) 12 40 3.33 1 0.08 Wiley, Landis 1 4 4.00 1 1.00 [b]All Referees 240 743 3.10 54 0.23[/b] Code: [b]Assistant Referee SAR JAR Total[/b] Anderson, Frank 4 7 11 Anderson, Ian 3 10 13 Badea, Claudio 1 4 5 Balciunas, Peter 4 10 14 Barkey, Greg 14 7 21 BELLEAU, DANIEL (CAN) 7 5 12 Blair, Cameron (CAN) 5 5 10 Boles, Greg 1 1 2 Boria, Eric 5 13 18 BRIERE, PHILIPPE (CAN) 10 3 13 CLARK, DARREN (CAN) 5 2 7 Clement, Nate 6 1 7 Conlee, James 4 11 15 Cullum, Jason 3 11 14 Dittmar, Bill 5 3 8 FLETCHER, JOE (CAN) 11 0 11 GANSNER, GEORGE 10 4 14 Garner, Adam 5 8 13 Hosking, Jeff 1 9 10 HURD, SEAN 5 3 8 Lowry, Craig 15 7 22 Madukanya, Cyril 3 1 4 Manikowski, Peter 2 20 22 MORGANTE, C.J. 10 5 15 Muschik, Jeff 2 9 11 Poeschel, Brian 3 14 17 Proctor, Eric 0 12 12 QUISENBERRY, KERMIT 13 4 17 ROCKWELL, COREY 13 7 20 Scott, Paul 7 10 17 STRICKLAND, CHRIS 18 5 23 SUPPLE, THOMAS 16 4 20 Taylor, Steven 4 9 13 TOVAR, FABIO 5 2 7 VASOLI, ANTHONY 9 5 14 VERGARA, HECTOR (CAN) 2 2 4 WIENCKOWSKI, ADAM 9 7 16 Code: [b]Fourth Official Total[/b] Anno, Jasen 16 Bazakos, Elias 3 Bratsis, Niko 1 Chapin, Andrew 9 Chouaf, Ben 3 DEPIERO, STEVEN (CAN) 4 Gamble, Geoff (CAN) 11 Gantar, David (CAN) 9 GEIGER, MARK 3 Gontarek, Jeff 9 Gonzalez, Jorge 6 Grajeda, Hilario 11 Hernandez, Ramon 12 JURISEVIC, EDVIN 3 Kadlecik, Mark 5 Kennedy, Michael 7 Manikowski, Peter 1 Mariscal, Alejandro 13 MARRUFO, JAIR 4 Okulaja, Abiodun 11 Penso, Chris 11 PETRESCU, SILVIU (CAN) 5 Ploeger, Tyler 7 Prus, Alex 3 Reyes, Yader 12 Russo, Tony 3 SALAZAR, RICARDO 10 Stott, Kevin 4 Suckle, Lee 9 TOLEDO, BALDOMERO 8 VAUGHN, TERRY 6 WARD, PAUL (CAN) 5 Wiley, Landis 16
It's a real shame they only gave Wiley 1 center. He deserved more, especially after how well he did in his 1. Hopefully we will see more of him next season.
The status quo of referees bothers me...it's not like we have a Bunch of really great refs at the highest level so there's less games to give up and comers. They're just "MLS Approved".
Apparently no rookies got any more centres after some had issues, hence why we never saw Penso in the middle.
That's crap!! Isn't Kennedy in his 50's now? We need to get rid of some of these geriatric referees and get some new, young blood in there. He and Penso are our next 2 referees to make the panel IMO, and they are both VERY good. Wiley had a fantastic match in his first center. Why did he have to suffer because someone else didn't do well? Heaven forbid people get promoted on merit!! When are we finally going to get a referee assignor in there who will have to balls to tell MLS to screw? When are we going to assign the referees who we think are the best rather than placate the Illuminati in the higher office? Hopefully once Tamberino is out we can get some movement. Sometimes I watch some of these older guys and think they could barely keep control of a U-12 girls rec game, yet they continue to get matches because they are friendly with the assignor. Sometimes there is no difference between the corrupt assigning practices of NISOA and the professional game. It's beyond understanding for me to see referees in the twilight of their career working Division 1 professional games while the best young referees in the country stand between the benches and get yelled at. Shameful!