I did a search and the latest thread on pet peeves was 2010. So instead of resurrecting it, I thought I'd start a new one so I can vent. I have two. One that I saw Saturday and another that I have noticed more of this year. Untucked shirts. I'm AR1 on a U12G game and on a field behind me doing a U8 game was a referee with his shirt completely untucked. I don't care if it is U8. Look professional! Not running up the field after a good goal. Heck, just turn upfield and take two steps! I noticed this in a half dozen or more games this year, usually with younger ARs. All but one at least gave me eye contact, but I had to ask them if it was a good goal or not. They'd give a thumbs up, or flick the flag toward the center circle. However, one didn't make eye contact after each of three goals. I had to yell to get his attention. At halftime I told him the mechanic is to run upfield. He said "You didn't cover that in pregame." I asked if he was taught that at his certification. He said he was but different centers do things differently. I'm starting to consider a full 15 minute pregame for some first year ARs and cover what was or should have been covered at the initial certification. What are your pet peeves?
I wouldn't worry too much about that with first year ARs, particularly young ones. You want some indication that they believe it's a good goal but there are bigger fish to fry, like running all the way to the goal line. My biggest pet peeve is the inevitable shouts for the mythical "handball!" anytime there is contact between the ball and someone's hand or arm.
- "Handball!" - Nope, I'd rather a 12 year old protect their face than break their nose/get a concussion - Lazy ARs - I'm a rather try hard AR. I sidestep even on lower level games when it's needed because I'm focusing on developing good habits. Can you at least try to stay within 10 yards of the offside line? And I'm not talking about new/young ARs.
oh so many to pick! ill choose a few.. -When working as an AR on a lower level match and a referee tells the players to to tuck their shirts in... -When working a youth match and a referee tries to lecture the players during check-in, coin toss, etc. -When AR's insist on fouls that you should call, especially when you discuss pregame what to do, and you wave them down and they half-ass the rest of the game bc they're mad. -Working high school games and having to caution coaches for players equipment. -When teams give you rosters on hand printed line paper that their "team managers" wrote... like how hard is it to print a roster on a thing called a computer -When working a college match and the referee asks you to show up a certain place at a certain time and they show up 20 mins late. -Not warming up before a match, bc you are: pumping up balls, collecting rosters, doing other stuff for the referee bc they don't have their act together -during assessments when the assessor tells you need to "stay on your diagonal" -doing professional matches and the 4th official "forgets" to bring sub-passes, manual, clip board, etc. -Substitution boards
As a fan, I see this all the time. Fan side AR's who openly disagree with the CR to make themselves look good. Drives me nuts.
Yea. As a CR and seeing a pass to a player who MIGHT be in OSP and glancing at my AR to see that they are 10 yards up the line and not even looking at you... SERENITY NOW!!
Part of my pregame is telling the AR that being in the correct position sells your offside calls, but more importantly it sells your non calls.
So my pet peeve would be as an AR I hate it when the CR says in the pregame: "You call balls in and out and offside. I have everything else." Ok. Then move your lazy butt off the circle of excellence and make the calls. Dont leave me watching a foul in the near corner only to see you standing 50 yards away completely out of position, and then have the coach jump me for not calling a foul two feet in front of me.
I didn't realize how bad this was until I saw it the other day. I was working as an AR for a girls U14 game. The center referee, a college age guy, had some weird habits. While waiting for a restart, he would stand with his hands crossed behind his back. Didn't matter if it was a throw-in, goal kick, corner kick, or free kick. And then after the play was restarted, he would stand there in that statue pose for 4-5 seconds before moving. It drove me insane watching this. I was always taught that restarts are dynamic, so your movement should be dynamic as well.
It's just demoralizing as an AR when this happens. I had it during a coed game. You could tell the guy thought he was too good for the game and didn't really try.
Reading these reminds me that I'm moderately inclined to start initiating conversations with irritating young ARs with "Are you interested in becoming a better referee or are you just doing it for the money?" If the latter I can save my breath.
Pet peeve? Extremely arrogant older refs who expect a young ref to know everything (or for that matter to care as much as you do) and be a seasoned professional. Guess what? You want better AR's? Mentor them don't ask them if they were taught it in class. ARing a match can be monotonous and mechanical. Its really hard to remember all that stuff if you've only done it a half-dozen times. I don't expect a new ref to know this stuff automatically. If I have young ref I will cover such mechanics with them in a pregame (provided they are there on time) and I will re-cover it at halftime. That's how they learn. I remember Grade 8 training, its covered, yes, once. A couple months before they even go to the field. I'd bet its even shorter in Grade 9 training. They spend most of their time CR'ing a U-10 or U-8 games. ARing can be a completely different beast for them. They aren't mutually exclusive.
Oh, i've seen some, no doubt. And I will report them back to the assignor. For the most part, most of them will work to get better. May not be at a speed you like, but they are between 13-16 yo. I coach kids this age too (shit, I am the father of a ref/player this age) They will hear what they need to do. They do it but not nearly enough.
OMG, CRs that tell me NOT to call anything in the PA, because they've got it. Sorry, man, I know I'm relatively new still and you've been doing this for 20 years, but I'm fitter and faster and right there while you're jogging down from twenty five away. I always ALWAYS ignore this bit of "instruction." May not make everyone happy, but heck, we should be used to that. I always tell my ARs "I'm giving you your quadrant, if you see it, call it, I trust you implicitly." Especially the younger ones. Pet peeves for me: -Referee colleagues who are lazy, say things like "I don't even care, I'm here for the gas money." and openly say they hate you and it shows when they CR your team's matches. I guess, really, any petty crap like this. "I don't like you, so I'm over-ruling everything." "I don't like you, so I'm not giving ANY fouls to your team." -Parents who park their chairs too close to the line so their feet are less than a yard from it. Then give you attitude when you happily ask them very nicely to move back a couple of yards. -Parents who want to stand behind the goal and bark instructions to the GK. -Anyone besides another ref working my field that something should be a YC.
When I work with one of the guys Mathguy is referring to I always tell him it's been a while since I called a PK as an AR, but I feel one coming on. If something happens I'm not going to be able to help myself, the flag is coming up and I'm going to be waving it like crazy.
If only referees at the lower levels had to come to a live recertification class and learn more than they previously knew. Oh wait, we used to do that. But it was too time consuming for people, now they can take the recert online and bitch that the class is too confusing and the test unfair.
I've worked with plenty of refs with, shall we say, unusual personalities, but I don't think I've ever encountered this.
This a great list so far and I agree with pretty much everything here. My biggest pet peeve is when people call this a hobby. Maybe 20 years ago it was. But with the advancements in training/education, expectations of officials, opportunities, and the evolving of both the game itself and refereeing, calling it a hobby does a disservice to the sport and to referees. We have a full-time cadre of professional referees, a referee union, and academies in various states. I know of people who referee essentially full-time and make decent money. "It's a hobby" is the wrong mindset and leads to a lot of the problems with professionalism and performance that we see at the grassroots level. It doesn't matter if you do one game a year or 300 at the youth rec or higher levels, you need to treat this as more than just a hobby for the sake of player safety and development of the game in the U.S. I don't know if I've ever seen anyone in a state or national leadership position address this issue.
I see what you're saying in theory, but in practice, for about 95% of us, refereeing IS a hobby. Doesn't mean that we can't take it seriously, but I'm not going to confuse making money as a referee with being a professional referee.