Whoa, they're 80 bucks on Amazon. For that price they'd better know the answer for both the African and European varieties.
We got refs dropping $1000 on comms for high school and non D1 college games. Ateast this would be useful dozens of times per hs season.
Reliability mostly. The high end ones usually stay connected and usually auto sync if you just turn them off then on. The motorcycle Bluetooth ones can easily de-sync if something gets bumped and in my experience you usually are out of luck until the half ends.
Good athletic directors/game administrators are worth their weight in gold, and I've had three of them in the last two nights. Last night, I'm AR1 for a boys playoff game. There's a threat of severe weather. The AD approaches the crew and walks us through the severe weather protocol - where the teams will go, where we will go, etc. Never had to even ask. Tonight, I'm the center for a girls playoff game. The fans are starting to get riled up in a 2-0 game and begin to start talking to players and to each other (one of the guys was a fan I had a different admin warn in a different game last week - he's lucky I treat each game as a new experience). I stop the game with about 16 minutes left and bring both ADs together to let them know they need to calm their fans down. After a little grumbling from a fan or two and the obligatory "We're here to watch soccer, not watch you" that I let go, everyone calmed down. I had 2-3 players thank me for settling things down as even they admitted the fans were becoming a distraction. If you have good ADs/game admins, thank them and support them. We have some pretty good ones in my area.
Memorial Day tournament. Not the top bracket. U15B. First game of the day - 8 a.m. sharp. I'm the AR2 with parents behind me. I'll call the teams Sweden and Norway. Sweden dominates the first half, and Norway's keeper heroically keeps it at 1-0. Second half is completely different (which means I had ALL the action of the game on my end). Norway ties. Sweden goes ahead against the run of play. Norway comes down the field. Parent yells for a foul. I reflexively say "advantage" -- probably a habit I need to break. Norway scores. Parent apologizes and grins. With about five minutes left, all hell broke loose. Norway attacking again. Sweden's gloveless goalkeeper, who has already fumbled a ball out for a corner and forced me to raise the flag on a punt when he planted a foot a yard out of the area, comes out. Sweden plays it back under heavy pressure. Keeper dives on it. I start to raise my flag. That's a backpass. But the center ref is already blowing his whistle and making a bunch of gestures. He says there's a foul. He calls me over to confer. I say I saw a backpass and not a foul, but I didn't have a clear view and he did. "If you saw a foul," I said, "I'll back you up." Sweden is furious, saying the keeper got the ball. Center says he also tripped attacker. Here, the center undermines his own credibility. The field is one of those multisport turf fields, and he doesn't trust the short line on the field in the middle of the area. (In fairness, if it's for football extra points, then it's 13 yards out.) So he walks it off. And places the ball down after he takes *10* steps. I call him over and whisper to him that he only took 10 steps. He says, "Yeah, it's 10." "No, it's 12," I said. Then he goes back and walks off two more yards. Norway converts. It's 3-2. Parents (fortunately on the other half of the field from me) are furious. And it gets worse when a Norway player falls down hurt with about two minutes left. Sweden keeper is yelling to get him off the field. Parents are yelling that he's wasting time. The distress continues until only a few seconds are left. Whistle blows for the end of the game. Sweden coach demands an explanation. Center is talking about "second contact." Sweden coach doesn't like it and also says we should've had five minutes of stoppage time -- this is one of those tournaments with the fields booked all day, and we've been instructed that stoppage time ain't happening. After the postgame fist bump, Sweden player looks over his shoulder and tells center he can't count to five. (Not sure where he got five. Twelve, OK.) Center warns him that he might go home early. We turn and walk to the ref's tent for shade and water. And we have to walk through Sweden's parents. Burly guy tells us we need new jobs. Others pile on as well. Center is telling a tournament official to keep an eye on these parents. One woman politely approaches me for an explanation, and I give it. Another guy leans his head into our area to say something -- center tells him to get out. Burly guy walks by, and the story changes. It's not longer "no contact" or "he got the ball." He's yelling, "It wasn't intentional! He didn't mean to do it!" I respond, not with much volume, that intent doesn't matter. I doubt he heard me. Nice woman and burly guy end up yelling at a tournament official about 10 yards behind us. Nice woman is no longer nice -- someone must have set her off. Tournament official says something about a sheet they can fill out. I was not aware of such a thing. Center turns and says, "Wait, there are no protests here." Which is correct. Second game was uneventful. We switched roles -- center goes to AR2, I go to AR1, etc. Team showed up with 11 players, and the goalkeeper collided with a forward and bled a bit -- braces cut his lip. Tournament trainer takes care of it. A few minutes later, keeper says he's dizzy. Out he goes. They're down to 10. They were already losing, and it ends up 6-0. The only complaints I hear are from the *winning* team's coach, who's grumbling about the AR2 (yes, the center from the previous game) and his offside calls. At one point, he has five subs ready to go, and he forgets to tell us to sub them in because he's still muttering about an offside call. Kids get pissed at the coach. Serves him right.
Sounds like a heck of day! One thing on the above—be careful what you’re watching. Some goalkeepers will release the ball far enough that they can plant that foot well outside the PA without having committed a handling offense. So be sure you see the hand touching the ball after the ball is fully past the PA line.
My spring season is done, but I only get one month rest. I have, so far, one USL Super Y game in June. I'm looking forward to it.
Catching up... I used to tell young kids the objective of the game... Make soccer balls happy. Put them in their happy place... The big boxy thing at the end of the field. They usually laughed at me.
Passed my first maintenance assessment over the weekend on a B19 State Cup game. One down, 2 to go. And I am heading back to the Midwest Regional tournament as a referee coach/mentor for the 3rd straight year.
I don't get this part. When you say, he has 5 subs ready to go, I assume you mean waiting at mid field. If so, then what does the coach have to do with it at this point?
I loved this and sent it to the 250 (mostly kids) refs in my assignment pool. I will try to adopt his advantage/play-on method. And his comment about "easy yellow" on the 10 yard rule is great.
Just because a coach has players standing at half doesn't mean he is ready to put them in at the absolute next stoppage. At least in the youth soccer here in so cal.
Our "standard practice" is coach in the technical area and subs at the midline. Sometimes it even works that way.
Most high school games I've done have had no fourth official or scorer's table, so a player standing at the midfield line is the only signal required that they are ready to come on. When the substitution opportunity arrives I waive them on with no participation from the coach necessary or desired. Youth games are generally a little less organized. Even if there are players that appear to be ready to enter, I check with the coach to see if they are ready to substitute.
Our standard practice is - if the players are standing at midfield, then they are waiting to sub at next opportunity (and if they are not there, you ain't subbing on, except in injury). Our goal is that coaches/players never have to yell "subs" because we see them and wave them on before they can do that. We feel this is "more professional". Now, does a coach sometimes (like a corner kick) change his mind, sure. But if he does that too much, I might just stop noticing his waiting subs............
For games that matter, I try to manage the sideline near midfield better and keep players away if they aren't ready to sub. When the ball goes out, I'll look over to see if someone is ready to come in, whistle to hold up play, and beckon the sub. For youth games that are lower than a President or Championship finals weekend, I'll give it two seconds of looking at AR1/Coach to see if they actually want to sub then we move on. If they yell for a sub and nobody is at mid-field, I'll ask the coach to please have them ready at mid-field and the next time I'll deny the sub with a, "They aren't ready. I'll get them next time."