The first assignments are out for the 2016 MLS season, so I guess it's time for this thread. http://www.proreferees.com/2016-mls-regular-season-assignments---week-1.php 03/06/2016 New York Red Bulls v Toronto FC Red Bull Arena (1:30pm EST) REF: ALLEN CHAPMAN AR1: Jeff Muschik AR2: James Conlee 4TH: Jorge Gonzalez Orlando City v Real Salt Lake Orlando Citrus Bowl (2:00pm EST) REF: CHRIS PENSO AR1: CJ Morgante AR2: Kevin Klinger 4TH: Robert Sibiga Chicago Fire v New York City Toyota Park (2:00pm EST) REF: ARMANDO VILLARREAL AR1: Corey Parker AR2: Peter Manikowski 4TH: Hilario Grajeda FC Dallas v Philadelphia Union Toyota Stadium (3:00pm EST) REF: MARK GEIGER AR1: Craig Lowry AR2: Eric Boria 4TH: Fotis Bazakos Houston Dynamo v New England Revolution BBVA Compass Stadium (3:00pm EST) REF: JOSE CARLOS RIVERO AR1: Kermit Quisenberry AR2: Brian Dunn 4TH: Nima Saghafi San Jose Earthquakes v Colorado Rapids Avaya Stadium (3:00pm EST) REF: TED UNKEL AR1: Frank Anderson AR2: Corey Rockwell 4TH: Alejandro Mariscal Portland Timbers v Columbus Crew Providence Park (4:30pm EST) REF: BALDOMERO TOLEDO AR1: Adam Garner AR2: Mike Kampmeinert 4TH: Juan Guzman Vancouver Whitecaps v Montreal Impact BC Place (5:30pm EST) REF: ISMAIL ELFATH AR1: Jeff Hosking AR2: Eduardo Mariscal 4TH: Baboucarr Jallow Seattle Sounders v Sporting Kansas City CenturyLink Field (7:00pm EST) REF: ALAN KELLY AR1: Ian Anderson AR2: Apolinar Mariscal 4TH: Drew Fischer LA Galaxy v D.C. United StubHub Center (10:00pm EST) REF: KEVIN STOTT AR1: Adam Wienckowski AR2: Jeremy Hanson 4TH: Dave Gantar
Why has MLS reffing been so awful this season. It's embarrassing that we can't keep up with the rest of the world. (Just figured we could get that out the way early this season . . . )
I was thinking that after last season, we might want to try to do a weekly thread much like what they do in the MLS N&A forum. Consolidate each week's discussion to one thread with an overall thread that list the assignments and then other threads as necessary.
From an organizational standpoint, I agree with you. However, there were many weeks where no comments were made about games and no one posted anything about the assignments. Whether that's caused by the cyclical nature of referees here being busy on the weekend with local tournaments, NCAA FB/HS Soccer in the fall starting, or MLS referees finally reaching perfection, I don't know. The population here seems to want to have information pushed to them so they can chime in with an answer, while the MLS N&A population wants to pull information so that they can push it along. My suggestion would be that if this happens, the weekly thread could have an outline that looks something like this: Assignments posted, Weds-Sunday match have their "controversial" highlights to spur discussion, the POTW is posted, and then it wraps up with any discussion about the POTW. The MLS N&A page will have 40-80 pages at least by the time it's done. There are many people (all?) who have an MLS live account. Add in the inside jokes, a few JK-bashing comments about Nguyen, Feilhaber, & Finlay (not that there's anything wrong with that), the obligatory Cosmos jokes sprinkled alongside a few comments about Mr. Westervelt, and you've got something entirely different than the posters that post here. So, while I vote more in favor with your thought than against it, I just want to note that the results will be different than the entertaining 3-ring circus that is MLS N&A. I'm not sure if this would be better or if the method employed last year would be better (where we started a game thread if enough discussion would happen about that game). It's a long season, so there's time to try both. Tagging the people that will have the ultimate vote: @La Rikardo @MassachusettsRef
I think this is probably accurate. A weekly thread would probably work best for the most active posters, but the problem I see is we have a lot fewer super active posters compared to N&A. Another issue is just organizational. The reason we went to a single forum with single match threads is that we had multiple complaints about people not being able to follow discussions when multiple incidents across multiple games were in the catch-all thread. It worked fine for me, you, and others, I'm sure... but some regular posters didn't like it and we had situations where people started responding to posts without realizing they weren't even talking about the same game or incident. Yup. I think sums it up well, too. N&A is a (very good) three ring circus that works for its users. I'd be all for going toward that model here if people truly want it. But I tend to think that the regular posters here wouldn't like it, based on the complaints we had during the 2014 season. That said, it's safe to say we'd go with any consensus that began to emerge, so people can feel free to weigh-in. To put a fine point on it, it's either: 1) Post the Weekly assignments in a new thread each week and then ALL matches from that week and ONLY those matches go in that thread. 2) Post the assignments in a general catch-all thread and then have individual match threads if people want to discuss a game or incident.
How about we just go back to the old ways? Have all discussions, assignments in a single catch all thread and then, when necessary, have a individual thread for a specific incident. Creating a thread for one 50-50 PK no call is unnecessary.
Not sure how reflective my experience is compared to that of most posters, as I don’t live in the US/Canada, but I’ll chime in anyway. I found last season that separating MLS content from the rest of the forum made me lose sight of it, and I got the impression (when I did check in on the sub-forum) that there was less talk about games/incidents than previously. I used Simon Borg to catch up on the weekend’s incidents (I obviously don’t always agree with him, but the segments are very useful as a compiling exercise, and he’s sort of entertaining), and would then often check the forum for discussion on some of the major ones and find nothing. I don’t know if instituting a weekly thread rather than an annual one would improve matters, but it might be worth a go. The annual thread may give the appearance of limited current discussion, while a weekly thread may encourage more participation.
FWIW: I like the weekly thread, but also thought last year's model worked well too. Are there any new referees this year? I imagine Nima S. will probably see a whistle this year. Hopefully Radford will too.
Sibiga was the only to make the jump to Part-Time Referee, Unkel moved up to Full-Time Referee. Will be interesting to see who gets a handful of games like Sibiga did last season and to see if it ends up with the same result
Last year we had Mathieu Bourdeau, Marcos de Oliveira, and Mark Kadlecik getting games in addition to Sibiga so they're certainly possibilities to consider.
There is a policy that a minimum number of trial spots will be used by PRO to test potential new referees. The people you mentioned above filled those slots last year (and you'll note it also occurred at the AR level). A noted change will be that a lot of those trial slots will be earlier in the season this year. PRO/MLS discovered last year that if you wait too long to introduce referees, there are very few games that are meaningless and you end up with options that have playoff or Supporter Shield implications in almost all cases. Better to try new referees on earlier season matches, when the table hasn't really been sorted out yet--at least that's how the logic goes. You might see a trial referee as early as Week 3.
It felt this way to me too. I value the opinions of the posters in this forum and it has helped me understand the game better. While its just anecdotal, I feel that there was much less activity in the MLS topics once the sub-forum was created.
2016 points of emphasis http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016/...ssent-among-points-emphasis-mls-referees-2016 Key Match Incidents, Offside Decisions, Bench Behavior and Dissent.
So PSRA was fine with PRO considering Kadlecik a potential new referee? He's been around longer than everyone but maybe four referees. I'd agree with that.
Here's a look at the new uniforms Our new uniforms for MLS 2016 First Kick in San Jose tomorrow... Looks a little pink in the sun. pic.twitter.com/PbVAOs1JTJ— Corey Rockwell (@coreyrock) March 6, 2016
One thing that is surprising to me about the uniforms is what you do not see: The adidas logo, for the first time since adidas started supplying MLS referees the kits, is visible on neither the shirt nor the shorts. There is an adidas logo if you look closely, but it is the same color as the jersey (and the logo is black on our black shorts). Nike did this for our CONCACAF uniforms, and now it seems adidas has followed suit. Looking forward to first kick today!!!
Referees: isn't the center official supposed to stop play when a player goes down in the box, for safety reasons? In NYCFC @ Chicago, I just saw a player go down in the box from an apparent blow to the head on a corner kick. The player was motionless, prone, just outside the six-yard box for 26 seconds (I checked the time) while the ball was being repeatedly sent, in, cleared, sent in again, etc., with players jumping into the air and landing all around him. Aren't the referees currently instructed to stop play in that circumstance? Or am I wrong about that?
I was pretty surprised too because of where he was laying. His own stupid teammates didn't put the ball out of play either though. It's been an interesting first day so far. I guess they really are using those Tag Heuer smartwatches. Rivero was doing a lot of swiping on his right before the kickoff. Seems like a recipe for trouble to me. But, I guess you gotta please the sponsors.
Which matters to my question if there's no special guidance to referees for players down in the box; but is irrelevant to my question if there is. That's what I'm asking.
I think the guidance is that if a player is in danger then you have to stop play. In this case he was in real danger of getting stepped on at the very least.
I've never heard an instruction regarding stopping play if the player is down in the PA, but I have been told to consider the likelihood of him sustaining further injury if play continues around him. So based on that, it sounds like play should have been stopped here. Regardless however, if (as you say) it was a head injury, play should be stopped regardless.
Very interesting to note, the reason for all cards are now published in the box score on the MLS website. Orlando/RSL for example: http://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2016-03-06-orlando-city-sc-vs-real-salt-lake/boxscore http://www.mlssoccer.com/schedule I don't think this has ever been done before, really nice to know the exact reason a card was given.