This may not be real news but probably the best place for it. With all the bashing masl referees may be. I thought I would share what I just learned from one. I just found out that goal line judges are not paid. Most if not all referees pay for their own travel expenses. The MASL referees do it for the love of the indoor game. Ryan Cygich the MASL Director of Game officials is a USSF National Emeritus referee and current USSF National Referee Coach, as well as the NCAA Director of Referees Shane Butler is a FIFA Futsal Referee and has officiated the top futsal national teams in the world. Kyle Atkins is a current MLS Assistant Referee and PRO Assistant Referee. These are just a few MASL Referees. And they are more than qualified for the job.
Yep. Indoor is really hard to officiate. And it is constantly made harder by the various league sites tinkering with their rule books over the years. The people watching from the stands or on YouTube have no idea and it's very likely none of them have ever officiated anything, ever. Yet they are convinced they would make every call, from field level and at speed, that these folks don't.
Shane Butler has officiated a lot of games for the St. Louis Ambush, he is an excellent game official. I don't think any Ambush games this season were negatively affected by the officials. We were not a good team anyway, but the officials did a good job in the games I saw. No games were affected last year either. Many fans just reflexively blame the referees if their team is losing. It is harder for some fans to admit to themselves that maybe their team didn't perform well that night, or just is a lousy or mediocre team. I know that 'dives' can be difficult to penalize but it seems like 'dives' could be called more often. It is pretty rare that dives get called - maybe the rule needs more clarification.
Correct - Only guys getting paid are the 4 in uniform. Goal Judges and Guys in the Box are not paid. Some of you don't realize how Mickey Mouse this league really is. Same people want to bring in the top MLS referees.. who would laugh at the pay rate ! Indoor can be a tough game to officiate. You want the guys to play.. but how much is too much ?
I don't know, FifaMan, I am pretty confident everyone who lurks, peruses or posts on here for more than 2 weeks has a pretty good grasp that MASL is not exactly run like a Swiss watch. That being said, minor league sports are full of well intentioned, hard working men and women who are helping out because they enjoy the experience. Overall I have been impressed with the PASL-ization of Pro Indoor Soccer in this country (and Mexico).
The biggest thing that I have found is that casual fan do not understand advantage. I have been to quite a few games where there has been a foul, but the fouled player has maintained possession so the referees are signaling advantage. The people around me are screaming that the referees are "idiots" for missing the foul. Meanwhile, their teams is dribbling the ball up the field and having a scoring opportunity!
My only issue with the advantage is that the game also counts individual personal fouls. So a foul is a foul against a player if the offensive player loses possession, but if he maintains posession, what would have normally been a foul doesn't count against the fouler. I guess if - when an advantage is played - the ref later goes back and assessses a "foul" against the offending player, that would eliminate the free hack.
But you don't need the individual foul counted because you got the advantage of maintaining possession and not letting the defense set up.
Immediately, yes. But in counting towards 4-fouls-in-a-half, it could be a big difference in the team receiving a later 2-minute penalty.
Buy your very own masl game ball. Now available at Target. I am guessing this will be the ball used next season. http://www.target.com/p/puma-procat-soccer-ball-yellow-pink/-/A-51572313
Here's the official MASL soccer ball from Puma.com: http://us.puma.com/en_US/pd/masl-official-match-soccer-ball/pna888536716998.html
Maybe it's the ball for the masl 2 , or just a ball for marketing to get a better deal with Puma . I seriously doubt that the league would allow puma to release images and manufacture products of a new ball before the league does. BTW this is a target only item & if you would have looked you would have seen 2 different balls. Both look like a 2 year old puked on them
MASL Expansion: Rio Grande Valley Barracudas, 2017-18, Hidalgo, TX, State Farm Arena, 6,800 seating Toronto, 2018-19, Mississauga, ON, Hershey Centre, 5,000 seating
They said in the press conference seating was 6,000 Not sure if it has to do with how it's set up to add 1K more seats. But it does show Capacity at 5K online.
Toronto will not play until the 2018-2019 season. Both arenas look like the perfect size for MASL soccer. Cshop was right, the MASL Championship will be broadcasted in English and Spanish, which is a real plus for all the fans.
I was expecting Monterrey to be announced. Not sure why. I guess I thought there were hints about more expansion in Mexico and assumed it would be a return of the Flash. Oh, well. Maybe, yet.
Both the arenas in Toronto and Hidalgo have seen basketball, indoor football and hockey teams fold in each. If your rink cannot support hockey in Canada or basketball in Texas, then arena soccer might be a stretch. Good luck to both. Once Toronto comes back the league will have teams in 3 countries, which is impressive.
Why would you announce Monterrey at the Blast press conference ? That should be done at the Sonora press conference in front of the Mexican Media. The Game will be on the front page of the newspapers. Just like they will announce Tayou as MVP in Sonora
Did they say State Farm Arena or are you assuming? I heard a long time ago they were looking at a facility in McAllen. **Oh now I see the league release says State Farm Arena.
Rochester update: So, Soccer Sam comes on his radio show today and announces the birth of the Rochester Lancers (women's outdoor, UWS) and the Rochester Lancers (men's outdoor, NPSL). The only word concerning a possible return to the MASL is summed up in this snippet from an article today: http://www.frontrowsoccer.com/2017/04/08/duplicate-lancers-return-mens-womens-teams/ "There may be a third team named the Lancers in Rochester as (Doug) Miller revealed that the indoor side could return to the MASL. Miller said he hoped to have news in 60 days. “We’re in the discovery phase of trying to solve some issues in the past,” he said. Some of those issues included high insurance costs. “We’re about 10 steps closer. We’re closer to thing we want to make reality.""
Doug Miller, Soccer Sam & Others are meeting with the Blue Cross Arena Management on Monday to discuss arena agreement. The Cost to run the outdoor clubs is Minimal compared to the MASL. Since most of the game are in the NY region. for $100 you can get season tickets for both the men and women's season. Not to mention Kids under 12 are free and Anyone in the Military get in for free.