A while ago, we had a high school playoff game, quarter-finals, scheduled for a Saturday at a school whose field was two inches deep in standing water. The home school AD said to play. "If it was good enough for the football game last night, it's good enough for soccer." Eventually, the coach, the opposing AD and coach convinced him not to play. The game was moved to Monday, the only alternative, because the winner had to play in the semi-final on Tuesday. And, a different year, we had a semi-final game on a Tuesday evening that was very, very foggy. The assignor and I sat at midfield and we couldn't see one goal. Even the players on the other side of the field were difficult to make out. It was definitely a game where long ball was not going to work.
I have called games because of standing water. I have also called games because of Fog. Funny story: I lived in a very arrid area so we did HS in the winter. The field had standing water. During warm ups both teams could barely stay up right and the field was soaked. I told the coach because the match was preseason “you really wanna ruin your field for the rest of the season for a meaningless preseason game!” Coach grumbled was still adminant to play the match. The home coach, the AD, and the visiting coach wanted to play. I told them “is it really worth someone having a season long injury because they break their ankle on this waterlogged field?” I ended up having to wait until game time to terminate the match. Had a follow up with my supervisor and assignor. Pictures were used and my decision was supported. Later in the year I had the same team and same coach at a different venue. He thanked me for my decision not to play the match. I guess the teams continued to play on an adjacent practice field and absolutely destroyed it. It also gave him and the AD leverage to invest in some sand and hire additional help to maintain the field. And they partnered with a local club soccer to use their turf fields in rain situations and they have lights! So it played out in his favour.
For fog I have always used the threshold from goal area to goal area. And if I can’t see we don’t play. If there is a potential violent conduct I need to be able to see it. If that’s the right threshold or not idk...
This in my opinion makes a field dangerous. My father has had 4 knee surgeries on the same knee, the first two were due to his foot getting stuck and falling over, once in snow and the other when his foot clip on his bike didn't release. A foot that sticks is just asking for a knee to try to bend the wrong way tearing something.
That's a good reason for sure! What about standing water? I heard someone say a potential broken ankle, is that likely? *** FYI, I'm in San Diego, so not sure why I'm worrying about rain, lol! We do get a month or two with sporadic rain. Seems like every other year our local New Years AYSO tournament gets soaked. Once we had a field that should have been closed to keep the school happy, but we played. I wondered after if there was any danger to the kids. They sure had fun...
What about this. If you, as a referee, wouldn't run across any part of the pitch, at full speed, without looking at the ground, it's probably unsafe.
How though? The game is always potentially unsafe in and of itself. holes in the ground will lead to a twisted ankle much sooner than later. Lightning will strike when close enough sooner than later. etc.
Years ago, had a game on a grass field with standing water in a giant puddle, maybe 20 yards in diameter, at the halfway line by the parents side touchline. Actually a beautiful day but it had rained a lot overnight. Of course, there were cries of "somebody's going to get hurt!" The boys, U-13 if memory serves, had a blast. The ball would go in the pond, they'd try to run in and kick it as it was floating, and so forth. I knew what was going to happen and, eventually, it did. One of the boys tried to do a slide tackle of the ball as it floated. He cam at it from quite a distance and he raised a rooster tail that was, I'm not kidding, at least eight feet high. Every parent along the touchline got absolutely soaked! Like I said, the kids had a blast.
Another year slowly working through the very disappointing USSF grade 6 powerpoints. When's that new training program coming out?
Well this season is thankfully coming to an end. It has been an absolutely horrid fall this year up in the frozen tundra. When it hasn't been raining it has been unseasonably cold. Last night I had two HSBV matches. First one, I am center on a "grass" field that is just mud due to the heavy rain over the week. Again, no standing water, but both PA's are pretty much straight mud. Visiting team is a favorite to go far in the tourney, home team is below average. Visiting team has the top goal scorer in the region and going on to play D1 next year. visiting team up 4-0 and top scorer gets fouled in the PA, I signal the PK. Can't see the mark, so I mark it off and pick a lovely piece of filth over there Dennis... (sorry). Top scorer gets up kicks the ball to the right corner as the keeper dives left. Easy goal, ball hits the mud and just stops about a yard before the goal line. Everyone just looks at it as the keeper gets up walks over and picks it up. Also had a play where the keeper from the visiting team walks out to kick the ball and my AR raises his flag. I stop and he says he is past the 18 (handling). Keeper says he was behind this line. I tell him that line is the 10 yard arc for the PK spot. FK outside the 18 does no damage. Visiting team comes up and asks if I can call the game for unsafe conditions, I say whats unsafe? You guys can't gain speed to really plow into anyone, plus the fact that you are afraid of falling so your not going very fast anyway. It may be not fun, but it wasn't unsafe IMO. They also didn't start complaining until the 75th minute and were cold and wet. Gametime temp for that game started at 41° with a good stiff wind. Second game is "thankfully" on a turf field, I am AR because it is my sons team. I have talked about them before, but they only have 13 kids on the whole team. a few freshman as well. Anyway, game starts at 7PM with a temp of 34° but with the wind chill it is 24° (people in the south don't have an idea of what wind chill is, but it makes it FEEL like it is 24°) Visiting team earlier beat this team 8-0 and had their JV in much of the second half. This game however is pretty evenly matched, Home team goes up 1-0 in the first half on a long ball over the top to their speedy striker who beats the man and tucks it in the corner. Start second half and visiting team equalizes in the 56th. Home team gets a DFK about 25 yards out and the kicker beats the GK to the corner to go up 2-1. That is how it ends, great to see the joy in these kids faces getting that win on their last game of the regular season. They were not feeling the cold at the end.
I hope you mean HS season! My outdoor season ends November 17 with a U12 DA middle. Who doesn’t love unpredictable Chicago weather? I’ll still be in shorts though guys.
Yes, HS season. I am also always in shorts as well. Never long pants, just not my style. Also, no long sleeve shirts, I am not buying two pairs of shirts. although I did have my UA under my shirt last night.
I'm not following you. My point is if you don't feel comfortable running across the field then you can't do your job effectively, and the players are at risk of injury. I've seen a scenario where the CR could only slightly jog on part of the pitch and avoided a whole section entirely as he was afraid to slip and fall. Just this week my son sprained his achilles tendon on a torn up crappy pitch. 50 yards away from a nice turf field being used for football practice.
Random things I noticed during recertification: - Grade 6 KFTPM video still incorrectly states that you don't reduce to equate after KFTPM begins EDIT: I see USSF updated their presentation to fix this but apparently my state is still using the old version. - Player/actor in USSF Concussion video is wearing earrings
Since September 30th I have been apart of 7 assessments (between college and USSF). Not counting my D1 games that have had match observers. I passed my maintenance with a 77 on a #1 and #2 teams in the league standings adult match. I also got high marks on a random NISOA one. But I had another 5 where I was an assistant or 4th. Looking forward to when assessment season is done. And I got accepted to Florida.
It's a trick question. The player can't possibly be suffering from a concussion, because she wouldn't have been playing at all with earrings.
You’re not buying two shirts? I just dont understand some folks. For HS, since I do a game a day, I have 3 SS and 2 LS. At least 3 pairs of shorts (no logo) and 5 pairs of socks. Are you doing wash everyday?
Not to belabor the earrings discussion but I have a terrifying story from coaching high school softball. One of my kids misread a line drive off the bat and took off for home plate. The centerfielder made a running catch on the fly and fired the ball towards third. My baserunner dove back safely, headfirst, and immediately curled up into a ball and screamed. Her belly ring, which was the most elaborate dangly thing I have ever seen attached to a human torso, had caught and torn partially out. Not coincidentally, this is the same story I tell about the time I had a parent march onto the field while I was coaching to call her 15 year old daughter a harlot.
Best story of my day: I was asked at 12:30 to ref a 3:30 UofM men’s club game at TCF Bank Stadium, right after the MNUFC game. Pretty cool to ref there, especially considering half an hour before me a FIFA AR was running the same line. Lot of fun for me as a young referee.
I gave out a red card for VC to a player who's team was winning 8-0. My spidey senses had been tingling for the second half because the losing team came out, tried to commit reckless challenges but never was successful. In response, the winning team made sure that they played ball or man, never both, defense all over the field. A few minutes later a couple of players start jawing at each other and I hit the whistle but let the teammates create some distance before standing between players. About two minutes later there is more jawing, while 10 yards apart (same winning player, different losing player). I took two steps to be right in the middle and it stops. A couple of minutes later I award a PK for the winning team in the 52nd minute. All three problem players set up to the left of the penalty arc right in front of me. The kick is taken, the two losing players step in front of the winning player to make sure he can't crash the goal. Winning player stops, jumps in the air, cocks his arm, and punches one of the defenders in the back with a fist. I couldn't believe it! I also know I was the only one on the field to see it because defender's teammates didn't come to protect him and offender's teammates wanted to know why there wasn't a yellow for 'instigation'.
I'm even more tired of it - two weekends in a row! Rain almost all week - a couple of let-ups so I could mow my lawn. Saturday's game cancelled Thursday afternoon. Today's games at 1 and 3 o'clock were cancelled at noon. Not surprising as it's currently snowing!
Was AR1 on a U15G 2nd division match. This was one of the funnest games I have ever been a part of. The girls had fun, the home coach was very complimentary of the opposing team and explained the ref’s calls to his girls (he is also a ref). Home team lost 2-0 but had fun while they were out there. I wish I had more games like this.