Yea, these are by far my favorite types of games, ones where you have a good rapport with the fans. And I agree it seems to help when you start off with a good joke or remark, that way they don't see you as an enemy. Just the other week, I started off the same type of way with the parents. During the first half, one player tried to prevent the GK from punting the ball upfield, he missed so I didn't raise the flag, but I called out to him that I didn't want to see any more of that. Right after the center blew for the half, a guy came up to me and asked about that incident. I explained that the only reason I didn't call a foul was because the keeper got it off, and I believe that you should let the play go in that situation, but say something to the player. On the other hand, I told him, if there had been contact, there would have been a foul and the player would surely be carded. He thanked me and told me he'd be sure to mention it again to his son, the kid who impeded the GK. It's such a welcome change from the game on Father's Day earlier this year, where I watched a dad pretty much yell at his daughter the entire game, about what she was doing wrong, and she wasn't trying hard enough. It took all my patience and willpower not to turn around and lay into him. Did I mention it was a U8 game? No? Well it was. Sad.
AR's should be paying attention to the game, not chatting with spectators. We are paid to officiate a soccer match not have tea and crumpets with soccer moms Miss a call and the "nicey nice" spectators will (rightfully) chew you out for talking and not watching the game. When I am in the middle it is frustrating, annoying and sometimes infuriating to have to wait to establish eye contact or be able to communicate with my AR while he/she is chatting with the moms and dads. Pay attention to the game.
"AR's should be paying attention to the game, not chatting with spectators. We are paid to officiate a soccer match not have tea and crumpets with soccer moms." Who said they were not. After 36+ years at this you learn that the best way to function is in a relaxed and professional manner. Not as an authoritative person with a control problem. And as for the actions of the AR, better instructions at the start have always worked for me. Plus, give them a little leeway; they are only trying to keep things civil on their side. Raport with the masses mean that they if they answer the questions, you have less challenges from the peanut gallery. Be a part of the match and not the match.
I understand the concern, but I agree with whyref. Keeping a good rapport keeps things civil. It's not like we should be turning around to discuss things at length with the fans. When I do converse with them, my eyes are always on the field, and I only talk when the play is stopped or the ball is way at the other end of the field. As long as the first priority is the game and the second is the fans, then you're fine.
I consider it part of the "management" of the game. It is also something that not all personalities can pull off. Done correctly it can avoid noise/dissent from the sidelines, but your point is well taken. We should NOT be doing anything that lessens our ability to referee the match.
Wow, there's very little here I can agree with. Yes pay attention to the match, beyond that you're way off IMO. For instance if you read my post you'll see that I said my conversations with parents are during stoppages. Even at this point my eyes are on the pitch. I may make a brief glance if warranted and permitted by the on-pitch situation but that's it. I can't imagine ever running a line on a youth game and not having communication with either the bench or the spectators (unless of course it were in a stadium or other facility where that communication isn't possible). You'll note that it IS the responsibliity of the AR to maintain control of the sidelines. Keeping coaches/spectators an appropriate distance from the touchline, helping ease dissent, etc are all things that an AR should be doing. Developing a certain rapport with the people on the sidelines goes a long way to this end. I'll tell you, I've had plenty of situations where I've saved my center plenty of grief by simply having a quick couple words with either a coach or a spectator. Just this past weekend I AR'ed for a younger referee who has not built up his confidence and did have a fairly rough game. I was able to manage the coach and keep him off the referee's back through just a small amount of discussion that helped him see the referee's perspective.
A couple quick comments... Intechpc has a great perspective on the AR role. Defend the CR from snippy spectators as much as one can. The AR is really the closest official to the fans, so some interaction really helps diffuse the situation. Back to Asthma-Mom. We might recall that she didn't indicateat registration that her player had asthma, so the coach didn't know. Asthma-Mom's irresponsibility in this regard extends to well before the game, & therefore I find her actions to be reprehensible, & the youth ref is to be commended. Off to the pitch, Sandcrab
As an asthma sufferer myself, I think it is best to err on the side of caution. Player safety is paramount. Having suffered some debilitating asthma attacks (never during a game thank goodness) and wound up in the emergency room, I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt to a parent. I will tell you that delaying treatment can have serious consequences. With age comes some wisdom and the gray hairs on my head will attest to the fact that I am not as rigid in this situation as I used to be. As an example: I had a match recently (U17 Boys D1) where a player got smacked squarely in the face with the ball. I see blood gushing from his nose. I immediately stop play and see a woman running onto the field making a beeline for the player while I do as well. As I get there, she turns to me and tells me she is a nurse. She is not the boys coach, trainer or anything else related to that team. She was a parent who happen to be a medical professional (or so she told me). Should my reaction have been to tell her to leave the field? I would have been within my powers, but why? Yes, it was a leap of faith to take her word for it, but I also believe she wouldn't have run out there unless she was the parent or someone who could lend a hand. The kid needed immediate medical attention that neither the coach or myself could offer the player (the only thing I could offer was my handkerchief). She responded, I took her at her word, she immediately helped the player and arranged for transportation to the local hospital staying with him the whole time. That aside, the mother's later behavior was reprehensible and worthy of some punishment. I will let the courts decide that one. I realize most of these are on a case by case basis, and while the LOTG are just that, don't forget Law 18.
"As I get there, she turns to me and tells me she is a nurse. She is not the boys coach, trainer or anything else related to that team. She was a parent who happen to be a medical professional (or so she told me). Should my reaction have been to tell her to leave the field? I would have been within my powers, but why?" ********************** The why, is the coming liability! What kind of nurse? There are a number of specialties. My mother was a nurse as well as my wife. And neither of them will venture onto a field of play without some type of proper medical identification. And let's not forget the first aid protection laws which many state have enacted. Those laws do not provide any protection in this situation. I am also a lifetime sufferer of asthma, but also understand that the team should be the authority which determines the call for help and who treats the player. Otherwise who know who will enter the field under the guise of helping. And before someone says it, yes, there can be too much help. For me keep the adults off the field and let the methods and practices for this situation work throug the process.
At that moment, process or not, a player's nose is badly broken. Blood was coming out of the player's nose at a pretty good rate. Immediate medical attention was required. I used my best judgment and would not change a thing. I realize nursing has many specialties. At that moment, any trained nurse is as good as any medical professional. So I guess we will agree to disagree about this situation. Here's a fun one for everyone. Many years ago, at a tournament a player on another field next to mine goes down in a heap. Coaching staff come out, referee comes over and agree the injury is serious to call EMT personnel. EMT's show up and decide to transport the player to a shock/trauma unit, which means medivac helicopter. I am minding my own business when a medivac helicopter pilot begins his descent. Guess where? Right onto my field. I immediately realize he is heading our way, order a player to put the ball out and get everyone off the field. Helicopter lands and after an hour, they are off to the hospital. Now, should I have told the pilot he didn't have permission to land on my field? Judging from some of the responses, I wouldn't be shocked if some of you went to the pilot and told him he had no business on the field. In my view, it all depends on the facts and circumstances. The situation I described is one of only two I have encountered in 20+ years of refereeing. The other was a player whose arm broke (it was a very nasty break). I immediately blew the play dead (the player's scream could be heard in the next county). A gentleman ran up to me, identified himself as a doctor and offered to assist. I hesitated to let him on, but decided to apply Law 18 and allowed it. Turns out he was a top orthopaedic surgeon in the area. I agree that 99% of the situations don't call for spectators or parents to be on the field. But a little common sense needs to be applied to every situation.
I agree, common sense is a good thing and used properly in an emergency situation it can make a difference. But, having to decide in the original situation I would keep the parents off the field and allow the team staff to tend to the situation based upon their knowledge of the player and the data available to them on the emergency card. I am leery of letting people on the field because they say they can help. Watched that scenario unfold one time to someone who it turned out really did not know how to help. The player suffered more at the hands of this person than because of the original injury. Referee and tournament were sued and found liable. I always ask about asthma during the pregame and if anyone says yes, I make a n ote in the margin of the match card and then make certain the team staff knows of it and can handle this. For me keep the parents off the field.
A number of years ago, I was the center for a tournament girl's U-19 semi-final. There had been a lot of "stuff" going on in the penalty area and I knew I needed to get a better view. So, the next time a throw-in was taken (it was on the oppisite side of the AR and about 10 feet from the corner (at the time, it was still "linesman"), I ran off the pitch, past the touch and stood around where the AR would stand for a PK, only the oppisite side). My plan was to get a different view of the goings-on in the penalty area. To my surprise, two of the parents on the sideline starting going nuts, "look, the ref ran off the field", "hey ref, where you going, get back on the field", and hollering to the coach, "he can't do that, he needs to stay on the field". I would have thought that at the U-19 national tournament level of play, parents would know better; guess not. Anyway, the coach knew exactally what I was doing and told the parents that my positioning was great. Another tournament final; U-17 boys. I called a foul (pushing), no complaint from any of the players. We get ready to restart and a woman on the sideline starts going nuts on me, "get your head out of your ass", "what game are you watching", etc. Her yelling occurred when there was pretty much no other noise going on and with it being a tournament final, it was the only game going on. I'm sure her yelling was heard pretty much across the complex. Anyway, she would not stop. After about 20 seconds, I hollered, "whom ever's mom that is, please ask her to be quite". I heard; but, did not see a player say, "mom, SHUT UP!!!!" All players and sidelines started laughing and play resumed.
Sorry I do not Bluedevils. This happened before I moved North (still can't believe I did), which was back in '87. Referee was a neighbor of mine at the time and I worked with him frequently. He lost almost everything trying to defend himself and protect his family. It became very ugly before the whole thing was said and done.
FWIW, do you recall what sort of insurance coverage this referee had? Was it a USSF game? If so, do you know if the USSF insurance was of any help? I just signed up for NASO, primarily for the insurance coverage in non-affiliated games. Probably a wise move.
Okay, I have a good one. U-14 match in a tournament, score 4-0 in favor of visiting team. There's about 5 minutes left. I am AR and a friend of mine in the center. Players for home team are a little frustrated with the score and we begin to tighten it up a bit. Home team player trips visiting team player right in front of spectators. It's a really tough challenge worthy of a card, I flag at the same time referee blows whistle. He comes over to give a card. In the blink of an eye, a red-headed woman comes running on the field screaming at the kid on the home team. Well, it turns out home team player tripped mommy's precious little son. I jump in and manage to put myself between her and the kid and I bark (and do I mean bark), "Lady, you have no business being out here. Get off the field!" Other spectators are entering to get involved so I bark at them to get back to the touchline. I turn my head for just a second to note where the players were to prevent them from getting involved or hurt. In that split-second head turn, I see mom lying on the ground and I see a very-short gray-haired gentleman running back into the crowd behind some people. I do everything I can to keep from laughing as she leaps to her feet looking for the person who pushed her. She looks at me and says, "Did you see who pushed me?" My reply: "No ma'am. But I am sure there is more than one person over there who wished they had done it." It was the grandfather of the player at whom she screamed. Needless to say, she tried to get grandpa arrested. The police interviewed me and when I told them what really happened, they couldn't stop laughing. They never did arrest the grandfather.
Funny, but not funny. I was involved in a G14/1 match this fall with an unfit referee in the center. His calls weren't bad, but he was never in a position to sell the call. There was a first half incident of a mother screaming at a child, but a reasonably calm second half. Until the assistant coach of the losing team commented inappropriately about the referee's fitness and ability to call the game. The referee mishandled the send-off of the coach and it rippled through the sideline. I called the referee over and we cleared the sideline so that there would not be any "unfortunate incident". However, there was a grandfather who threatened to meet me in the parking lot. Perhaps taocpa's dude has a g'daughter, too.
Could be. You never know. The police officers who came were laughing at the absurdity of the whole thing. One said, "All this because of a kid's soccer game." I didn't blame them for a bit for their reaction. I felt the same way. Mom wanted grandpa arrested for assault, of which he was clearly guilty. But the officers explained to her she could be arrested for trespassing and for assault on a minor. She quickly dropped the whole thing. Dealing with spectators isn't easy sometimes. I think the worst game I ever had was as an AR. I was new to refereeing. All my training about spectators went right out the window at this match. It's because one team secretly planted one of the most beautiful woman I've ever seen (next to my wife, whom I met much later) on my touchline. She kept asking me questions the whole game. I tried really hard to concentrate on the match. The center referee who is a long-time friend told me at half-time, "Hey, get her phone number after the game. You can talk then." I never did, darn it.
That is hilarious! I bet the team did that on purpose! I was doing a center in a U-13B competitive game last weekend. The visiting team's STep in Assistant Ref(STAR) came up and asked me if he would be needed for the upcoming game. I told him no, we had 3 refs. He said good, he won't have to be quiet on the touchline, then. I was concentrating on my pregame with my ARs and didn't think anything of it. 5 minutes into the game, I blow the whistle for the first foul of the game. It's against the visitors. A guy gets up screaming, "That's the worst call I've ever seen!" at the top of his lungs. Sure enough, it's him! I told him to leave and he was gone. After 5 minutes! It was nice of him to warn me about himself.
His coverage if I recall correctly was what was offered by USSF at the time as well as whatever the tournament provided. I do remember that I was not very impressed with the coverage at the time. The NASO insurance is good, regardless of what type of match you're working or the sanction. It also piggybacks in most instances, picking up whatever the primary does not. Where I am now the state organization has a very good policy however I keep the NASO up as well.