Things we See

I'd humbly suggest that thought process lead you astray. Putting aside that I don't think HS has adopted the idea that accidental handling can be an offense, that concept really had nothing to do with the call here. Your dilemma was not about whether it was deliberate and warranted a call, but about whether it happened. I fully agree with the consensus here--if neither you nor the AR could determine there was a handling offense, you can't call it because it might have/likely did/probably did occur.

 

I had a somewhat similar situation in a U19 boys match except the alleged handling happened on the touch line directly in front of the opposing team's bench. The attacking player controlled a high bouncing ball and then made a beautiful cross that was buried in the net by his teammate. The coach and bench players insisted that the player had used his outside arm to corral the ball, but despite my being only 10-15 yards from the play I was looking directly through the player and couldn't differentiate arm contact from chest contact. My AR was checking his offside line at the crucial time (which was necessary because the recipient of the cross was close to offside) so he couldn't help me. I completely believe that there could have been arm contact like the coach insisted, but I just couldn't see it and I let the goal stand. I'd like to say the coach was understanding about it, but.....not so much. It didn't help that he was probably right.

 

At the risk of being too facetious: This is what VAR is for, right?

BTW, I heard on the radio this morning they are instituting VAR for jousting. Yep, that sport where iron-clad "knights" charge at each other on powerful horses wielding lances. The jouster they interviewed didn't like it: "They didn't have video replay in the Middle Ages."

 

Building on this, what do people think is the proper response to the coach in this situation? Do you say you were shielded and couldn't see the contact? Do you say that you can only call what you see? Do you say that the situation suggests handling was likely (or probable), but you didn't see it clearly enough to call it?

Situations where you know you are probably wrong and the coach may know you are definitely wrong happen, but how do you try to walk the line between authority and understanding/empathizing?

 

It's OK to admit to making a mistake, just make sure its no more than one a game. In your situation I would probably go with option 3.

 

If you have to say anything you just say you were blocked off. Nothing you say is going to make them happy but the truth is always better than something else.

 

Yes. I think I hear myself saying "Coach I can only call what I see" or some variation at least once a season. And no, it never results in any satisfaction or satisfactory response on the coach's part. But sometimes it is indeed better than saying nothing.

Come to think of it, it probably works slightly better on a dual, as most HS coaches know that more stuff of that sort is going to get missed that way.

 

I love it. He'd probably been waiting to pull that trick on somebody ever since he got dumped off the seesaw in second grade.

 

I would lean toward including something about line of sight or being screened. Otherwise the referee may invite the "well then open your eyes" type of response and the downward spiral of dissent that can't be ignored.

As a general approach I've found that admitting I'm human works better for me than pretending to be perfect. It helps if I don't have to admit it too often though.

 

I more often get something about the adequacy of my glasses prescription, but ... yeah.

 

No one on here calls something they didn't see but their Ref "spidey" senses are telling them something did? No one goes with a "gut feeling" call?

 

Sure we do, but it's not something that inexperienced referees should be doing especially on a on a game critical call.

I started to trust my gut after I had my first ever USL assignment (4O). The CR made just that type of a call and I questioned him on it. His answer was basically what I said above.

 

All right, I confess I've made that call once (OK maybe twice) in my career, and on exactly that basis. It turned out OK, but it's not something I would recommend to anybody, including myself.

 

If you do this on anything more mundane than direction on a throw in or goal kick/corner decision (and I’m not suggesting you should) you better be prepared to sell the hell out of it. And if you were wrong and the players know it you are in big trouble.

 

I tried the "I couldn't see it" one time when I saw the retaliation (red-cardable) but not what initiated the whole mess. The coach replied, "A good ref would have seen them both."

 

The TI direction and GK/CK are really a different type of beast--you have to pick one, there's no other choice.

Calling a foul you don't see is quite different. I think you have to be really, really sure based on other clues before you think about doing it. Then be really, really, really sure before you blow the whistle. Whether you need to really sell it is an interesting question--the times you should be thinking about doing it are probably the times when everyone on the field except you did in fact see it, so it may be there should not be anything to sell.

And absolutely not something anyone should do without a lot of experience. I will continue to teach my intro classes that you never call something unseen by the referee team.

 

"That goes without saying, coach."

 

"Yeah, but I'm the guy you got today."

I'm reminded of the story that David Elleray told about a Premier League game. Foul, whistle, two guys get into a minor dust up, Elleray defuses it, he thinks, with a caution to each and he runs off to be where the ball is going to land. He looks back and sees one player on the ground, bleeding, and the other guy standing over him with a clenched fist, but he didn't see anything actually happen. He went back and asked the second guy, "Why'd you do it?" "It was the only way I could think to shut him up." "Okay, but you know I have to do this" as he displays the red card.

 

I had a probable handling in the box last week. In unison, all of the attackers in the area and all of the parents on the sideline started shouting. The reaction was so big that there had to be something. The defenders did not react at all. Nobody hung their head and nobody turned to me to say there was no handling. I wanted to call it, but while I was nearly convinced there was handling, I had no knowledge of how deliberate it was or wasn't. Those are calls you are going to feel you got wrong no matter what you call.

 

I had something kind of similar. Attacker darts inside the left-side penalty area, I’m inside the area about a yard from the edge of the D, (the theoretic best spot) forward goes down theatrically, BIG shouts for a shirt pull by the attacking team.

I was but 5 yards from the action, but was unsighted on a potential pull. It was between the defender and the attacker, and I just saw the forward go down (to me it looked very exaggerated). My vicinity to the action helped sell the no-call, but AR1, who I trust, said there was definitely a shirt pull there. He didn’t want to call it as I was literally 12 feet away (even though his angle was better).

Wasn’t the worst miss in the world, but maybe if I had his angle I would’ve called it a penalty. You live and you learn, always try and get that angle. Sometimes, as hard as you try, you just can’t get there. Player reluctantly accepted our brief discussion when I told him I couldn’t be sure.

 

Coach: Hey, ref, you're missing a good game.

Ref: I know, but this is the one they assigned me.

 

"Okay, but don't tell me the score. I'm recording it."