In my neck of the woods, that's how it was played the first season of u9/10 BOL as the initial USSF PDI docs either weren't clear on when they could cross or actually said when the ball is kicked. Crossing the BOL as soon as it was kicked made the BOL pretty ineffective. After fixing that, you could see some of the intended benefit. But, if crossing the BOL has to be tied to the ball being in play, maybe they move the U9/10 BOL back to the half line in grassroots like some Rec leagues do for U7/8? We shall see. Yes, it'll be interesting to see if USSF addresses it for Fall '19.
Lots of items in this list that I don't like, especially the DFK from the defending PA change. This is going to hurt the younger ages and the JV-level girls. Can someone explain the 'delayed' assistant flag section? I'm not sure what they are going for here.
Basically, there are situations where an offside infringement may have occurred after "waiting and seeing": attacker plays the ball but it goes directly to goalkeeper, defender is challenged, but breaks up the attack, etc. In these situations, the AR should continue to "wait and see", but if the defending team gathers the ball, do you really need to flag? In some situations, it might make sense to play "advantage" in the situation. If the attacking team commits an offense, but the defending team breaks up the attack, you may not flag it. But if the defending team only temporarily breaks up the attack and lose possession again, you may want to indeed flag. It's probably a lot of what you're already doing, quite frankly.
That makes sense, but if I delay a flag because we are playing advantage, I now need to raise the flag after the goal is scored? That seems confusing. If I am delaying a flag because of a possible offside offense, I'm raising it when the offense does happen, not after the goal is scored. Another issue, is IFAB encouraging the CR to stay out of the PA during play? If the CR gets hit by a ball played by an attacker in the PA, that will almost always lead to a drop ball to the keeper.
I focused on the summary document and didn't really look closely at the actual changes yesterday. Just now realizing that a couple of very important changes relative to VAR and disciplining team officials were also made. First, "an offence by the team that scored" has been changed to "attacking team offence" and then clear examples are given. My guess is that, despite the lack of full explanation, this is to ensure only offences that had an affect on the goal are counted. In other words, the entry of a substitute onto the field (so long as he doesn't affect play) or a player leaving the field without permission wouldn't count. Subtle but important change. Second, there is a lot of definition on how to discipline team officials now. Notwithstanding a formatting error right at the beginning, the Laws actually outline behavior that deserves a "Warning" (which, I suppose, is now an official unofficial sanction, given it's codified in the Laws). And, as I suspected, behavior that used to be a dismissal for most referees (e.g., kicking a water bottle) is now only a caution. Also, this whole thing is so over-legislated that no one realized "biting" and other physical behavior against an opponent is a form of violent conduct.
Wait, hold on. You're talking about the top of page 32, right? If so, that is ONLY on matches with VAR. Note the top of page 31 is bolded in yellow with the header "VAR Protocol." Page 32 is just a continuation of page 31.
I don't think anyone has ever encouraged refs to be in the PA in active play. And certainly being in the PA where being at risk of being hit has always been a bad idea due to the risk of taking away or creating a goal scoring chance (or, worse yet, the ball bouncing into the goal). Neither of those are really worse than a DB to the keeper. So in this respect, I don't think anything has changed: during active play, referees should be cautious about being in the PA, and only do so when it is needed.
On the plus side, they did recognize that we can't just use the player list and also included "but are not limited to" on the lists, which gives us flexibility.
Wow, I was taught by a former MLS ref that once a coach starts clapping toss him. Actually saw it in action after my decision as an AR led to the coach’s dissent, then clapping, Referee immediately dismissed him after the clapping.
I've only done a couple of games that used the BOL, and IIRC they all start charging in as soon as the ball was kicked anyway so maybe I understood the BOL rules incorrectly. Either way seems like it shouldn't be a problem because the defensive team can be back as far as they want now to take control of the GK. I think it will improve the odds that the GK will not be directly intercepted by the attacking team.
That makes sense. I haven't done a ton of centers yet, but now I'm wondering if I've ever followed play in. I'll have to pay attention to that specifically next time I'm in center.
Your use of defensive and attacking has me confused here. The team taking the GK is now the attackers right? The BOL rules say the "now" defensive team must remain behind the line until the ball leaves the PA. I think it actually says PA to avoid confusion with people hearing ball in play and thinking that is when it is kicked, not when it leaves the PA. Either way, I hope the USSF keeps it the same, like others have said, I see it doing good things for U8 and U10 ages, especially in rec leagues like our local AYSO.
No I meant the team taking the GK is the defensive team - ball is in their defensive half - sorry to create confusion. Either our league BOL rules were different, or I didn't remember them correctly, or no one cared. Yup, agreed.
As I recall, AYSO used ball kicked the first year, and converted to ball in play this last year to match USSF guidelines. (I don't recall if it was written as "ball in play" or as "leave PA.") I'm sure the powers that be will be thinking about how best to handle with the new changes--both in BOL level games and the youngest ages post BOL.
The first year was a hot mess, the guidance was conflicting between USSF and AYSO. Trying to referee club and AYSO was a nightmare.
Refereeing in different states was tough. The first year, where I ref, one allowed drop kicks while the other did not. Hopefully with the new laws both states will be of one accord in BOL games.
I was very impressed with this. While it does move away from "laws" and more to "rules", it's helpful to give clear-cut examples of what coaches should be dismissed for to help referees not be afraid to do it. That is, until an over-eager AR recommends a YC because he's asked the coach 3 times to back up off the touch line in the first 10 minutes. You know, actually I'm ok with that idea.
If this, then it's handling (sorry, handball), even if it's an accident? If that, then usually it's handball? How is that a definition? Are there fouls or misconduct anymore, or just specific descriptions of player (or coach) activity that result in a free kick? Change the coin toss choices this year because one can score directly from a kickoff (as of 22 years ago!)? I find myself pining for the days when the Law book was maybe 50 pages, and 10 of them described USSF administrative procedures. Remember when we would bend the book and compare it to how we called a game? It's so thick now, they're going to have to publish it in hardcover soon! Rant over. I'll be over here in the corner, self-soothing by rubbing my face with my socks (yes, the ones with the white cuffs)...
USYSA was inconsistent all by itself... on BOL GK's, the first docs said when the ball is kicked. They also had greatly reduced field dimensions while adding a player to every group under 11v11. Turns out, I guess, the field layouts were just an example of how to fit multiple fields on one full size pitch (half for U12, quarter for U10, etc.) U9/10 went from 6v6 on 60x40 yds to 7v7 on 45x30 (or something). As I was working with others in the State, the specs under the new PDI went *poof* from their site for a while and eventually the old sizes quietly re-emerged in a revision that didn't appear until maybe late August -- too late to redo all the fields, so everyone played on a postage stamp and we re-measured/re-lined again in the Spring... I was Rec league director at the time, it was a [curse words] hot mess for sure.
One of the things that changed with 10U-12U field dimensions, at some point in the recent past, was where the PK spot is. Used to be, it was half way between the goal area and the penalty area lines. Not sure when it changed, but it is now fixed at 10 yards for both 10U and 12U...which means on some smaller 10U fields, it is close to the penalty area line....which makes the arc look WEIRD.
You’re looking at it from a referee perspective as examples “but not limited to”. Any coach or league is going to see it as the only things I can’t do. And any review board is going to be clueless of either concept and do whatever keeps the ratings high and money flowing.
Haha yeah, a 12 yd PA with a 10 yd PS makes that 8 yd penalty arc look more like a semi-circle. You're giving me flashbacks... the first PDI release (early '16?) actually had U10 & U12 goals both spec'd at 6.5 x 18.5 and the GA/PA/PS/etc. measurements also the same for both -- to help "simplify" things... U10 PA's were like 6' from the touchlines so we narrowed them. The late August '16 final update specs are current ones, I believe.
Oh I absolutely agree. "There's nothing in the rules that say I can't malicious encourage you and scream about how much I agree with your calls" "There's nothing that says I can't kick the air. You're just interpreting that I want to kick you" etc. ad nauseam. Hopefully we can rely mostly on coaches not knowing the rules to begin with.