Best Story of the Week - 2018

And the steel balls hanging from the bottom of the truck.

 

I once attended a referee clinic that featured an ex-pro coach giving tips to the referees. He said that they used
a deliberate ploy at corner kicks they were defending where their smallest player would "collide" with the opponents
big striker as he was jumping to head the ball, and get a foul called going out. Worked every time!

PH

 

My girls babysat for years for a small family - or rather a large family of small people. They had four kids, but I don't think anybody in the family was over about 5'6". The dad was also our kids' pediatrician, and we knew them pretty well.

One of the boys was a soccer player, and I ref'd his games more than once. One time in a HS game I called a PK against him when he undercut a much larger player going up for a header ... really cleaned the guy's clock. He ran up to me and said "C'mon ref, that can't have been a foul. He's twice as big as me!" And I just looked at him and smiled and said "Really?" And he smiled back and said "No, not really."

 

I met professional referees MARK GEIGER AND ALLAN KELLY today at the Maryland Grade 7 and 6 upgrade class. Kelly spoke on player management, and Geiger went over Fouls. Incredible class.

 

During a men's Championship (D 2 of 10 in open) match, in the 89th minute there is a break away just outside the top of the penalty area and a defender slide tackles the attacker from behind. The defender was walking off the field before I even got the red card out of my pocket. On top of that, he had grabbed his stuff and was at his car before the free kick was even taken. He must've had a hot date or something...

 

Girls Varsity Match. I'm AR1 in front of the visiting bench. Game tied. 1 minute remaining the 2nd overtime. Ball played forward and attacking player gets wiped out by an oncoming keeper. Both girls are on the ground for several minutes. Center gives a YC to the keeper and awards a PK that ultimately decides the game. Head coach for the losing team loses her mind. Yells over and over that it was a legal challenge by the keeper because she was "protecting her box". "CAN'T SHE PROTECT HER BOX?!! THIS IS HOW YOU RUIN A GAME!!"

I reviewed my NFHS rulebook after the game. I was unable to find any reference to "protecting a box".

 

Was the coach sent off, or just a caution?

 

what was incredible of class. please share.

 

Ok so first of all, in the parking lot as I pull in, I see Alan Kelly. So I’m thinking “there is no way that was him, because why would he come to a Grade7/6 Upgrade clinic?” So I walk into the auditorium and there sits Mark Geiger! So at this point I’m just like HOLY CRAP THIS IS AMAZING! So they basically split the class into 3 parts: Alan Kelly going over man management, Geiger going over Fouls, cards, etc., and an MLS assistant Referee going over offsides. I will elaborate on what each said in my next post.

 

Center let the game end then cautioned the coach on the way off the field. It was too bad. For much of the game she was a decent coach to joke with. But when I saw things tighten up into overtime and then the PK I shut my mouth and kept it professional. No reason to add fuel to the fire. She didn’t argue the caution.

 

Awesome story! My first referee clinic I went to was like a week after I took my first USSF test last January and MLS referee Edvin Jurisevic was talking to about 60 of us over what it takes to excel to new levels and how training works, etc. He was also the assignor for the men's league I started reffing as well. It's been super cool to have someone like him to reach out to with guidance and to grab a beer with.

 

We have a really good teaching environment here next week. We are hosting a regional ODP "Friendlies" tournament in town this weekend. We have hosted this every year for the last 4 or 5 years. The last couple of years several highly places folks have come in to watch and mentor the younger refs and do developmental assessments. Last year we had 3 National Emeritus and 2 State Emeritus referees including the SRA, SYRA and SDA, all here watching and mentoring refs as young as 13-14. Good stuff.

 

This very nice to know. Why? In our region, referee who go high level (and speed track), and for who like to go high level, the association give us single referee in old age group. Also one Observe for each match. The Observe gent older referee with many year experience. I learn much very fast. What? Manage player. I belief the older player know game, but not have body. Also many back-chat everytime. So what referee do? Make whistle loud and also explain every whistle to half dozen players. That what I do in my first match. These player come to spend afternoon with the buddies, make referee life misery. Why spend energy explain whistle, Observe ask. I tell then player know what I saw. Observe advise no need, just delay look, keep ear open. This another trick to communication. When player see make eye contact. Player will always see to referee direction, remember when you play what you do? Same now. When hear bad thing, do action. What? Sometime better to keep leg on ball, talk to bad players together. Also manager or captain. It good to manage player and communication, then match also good. Okay, I mix many thought here.

At end of first season, many player see referee in street, or shop, they now hello. The association make Observe different, so referee learn different trick. Life become good as chest puff and collar tight after match. I become confidence. No fight in my match as single referee. Second year we all become full crew in young player match (30-35 year group). Same story. Observe give trick to make team, and all that for fast match. More tactic also from player, so we also make tactic. To show yellow easy, to not show yellow card referee work hard. Same for me to understand, two yellow sent-off (2CT=R). This I now belief mark of good hard-working referee. Also signal advantage play. When player see referee work hard, and know futball, then make more respect. It no matter single referee or 3-men. And life become good.

 

Start of the second half of the futsal season today. New teams and, unfortunately, I didn't shower myself in glory today. A few mea culpas on my part.

Four game set

Third match - O-40 (grumpy & old) Men -Red vs Black- Direct kick foul, I signal the foul and show the spot. Black sets the wall too close, I come on to the court, position them back, tweet my whistle and start my count in my head ( direct kick fouls do not show a visible 4 second count) Red #3 asks if it's a direct or indirect kick ( my arm is not up) . I don't answer as some other experienced adult players will ask questions to delay the restart. The acoustic timer goes off ending the half ( I should have ended it there, you do not extend the half for a direct kick). red asks him again, " direct or indirect?" I finish counting ( my bad) and tweet, half over. I come back on to the court and pick up the ball. Red #3 gets upset,

" You didn't give us time! You didn't answer my question!"

His team mate, #10 , explains that you have 4 seconds to take the kick once placed.

"But he didn't answer my question."

I say to him, " I don't have to explain to you the rules. You should know the rules and the signals."

His reply, " I guess you don't need to answer to your boss on Monday either ..." and storms off the court...

" I can explain it to you now if you would like."

"NO!, NO!"

Fourth match - O-40 ( more grumpy old men) - Green vs Orange - Orange attacker dribbles the Green GK , shoots and the ball is saved off the line by the extended arm of a green defender. I show him a yellow ( DOH!), he walks to the bench and sits down, I position the kicker for the Pk. My partner mouths to me, "Yellow..?" I face palm, before the whistle for the kick and show the red to the player, which he accepts. I don't know what I was thinking, it was the text book version of handling to prevent a goal. At least it was corrected before the whistle. Mea Culpa.

Same match , green dribbles down the side, the ball is on the line , but not out. An orange, defender yells

" That ball is out ref!"
I reply , "No!" and give no signal

Green advances, shoots wide . I signal a GK clearance, The orange GK collects the ball and rolls it out to his defender who performs a proper hand slap substitution and the ball rolls, untouched by anyone, out of bounds. I signal a green kick in. The orange GK explodes,

" Green? It was out of bounds over there!!!!!"

I reply, " No your goal clearance was distributed out of bounds."
"OMIGOD!! That is terrible. Terrible! "

Green puts the ball in play and goes to orange where they call time out. My partner meets me at mid court chuckling. "I saw and heard everything! You were right"

Again, not my greatest day on the courts. Hoping for better from me and players next week....

 

Well, you can improve your performance, since you have control over you, but don't expect much better from the players.

Best of luck to you.

 

They are trying to shut down Big Soccer Referee forum.
Where is criticism of US Soccer/State/FIFA Referee Program/administration, or is that OK?

PH

 

"Pictures taken getting posted by others." What control do referees have over that? So, if I'm doing U-8 girls, I'm supposed to prevent parents from posting pictures of their kids where I'm in the background?

"Anything political, religious...." I guess we're just supposed to hang around on hooks in the club house, waiting for them to need someone to start a game. One of my referee friends is a Catholic priest and two others are Protestant ministers. They can't post anything?

This is the kind of thing where they want to make, essentially, everything improper, according to their rules/guidelines. That way, when they want to get someone, they can easily do it, even though they don't raise the issue with the 99 other people who are doing the same thing. "In the future, everything will be prohibited or mandatory." I'm not saying that the occasional referee doesn't post stupid things on Facebook or whatever. But this stuff throws the baby out with the bath water.

 

Above post reported to proper authorities!

 

I think (and hope) that you are over reading what is intended--ppt slides out of context can be misleading. I read this as a slide about how social media can be dangerous to referees. I read the comment about pix being posted being more a reminder that what seems private isn't always and pictures someone else takes can be embarrassing--and can link to wearing team gear. A referee hoping to be in MLS might be better off not wearing that Galaxy jersey places where his picture might be taken. I didn't read the religious (o even political) as "never post anything religious" so much as be careful about posting in those spaces. It's obviously different to post something positive or affirming about a religion than to post something derogatory about a religion that could be used to infer bias against a group.

 

I have been reminded up here many times that "friendly competition" will do anything to get that assignment... don't ever admit anything online. It's too bad that this forum is my only outlet now, I used to enjoy posting fun referee stories to friends on Facebook.

Best story of the week: Set a personal record for cautions (9) in a match by a large margin; however, no straight reds, only one 2CT, no fights, no VC, no SFP. That's a huge win for me. The two adult teams had the game decided before the first whistle, and I just had to stop them from killing each other for 90min.