I centered my son’s games three times this year. Once was because of a mixup with player cards and the scheduled crew wouldn’t work. The other two games were quickly scheduled games with the sister club of my son’s club. I felt I was very fair, especially when my son looked at me for a call that I wasn’t giving at all. Later in that game, I called two penalties when my son was fouled that were so obvious that the other coach (a long time friend who I reffed when he was in high school) and my dad (who admittedly knows nothing about soccer except that his grandson plays it) said both were blatantly obvious.
The game before my reffing debut in August, a wrist went where a wrist is not supposed to go. Second half was basically abandoned because everyone did the right thing and kept her still until the paramedics did their work and THEN moved her.
Can anyone answer/update this? On the US Soccer By-Laws Page https://www.ussoccer.com/about/governance/bylaws the 2018-19 Policy Manual still includes the recreational and house league exemption for a registered assignor being required (Policy 531.8, Section 7 on page 34). If it was eliminated several years ago why is it still in the latest version of the Policy Manual? Is there any documentation showing this was actually eliminated? Thanks.
I was a delegate to the USSF Annual General Meeting at which this amendment was approved, so I know it happened. I do not know why the on line edition of the policies has not been updated but I will suggest that, based on other experiences, updating the USSF website has not been a high priority for USSF staff. I remember watching a USSF staff person Google a USSF document because the path to getting to it through the website was not apparent.
This is not good. How are folks supposed to know if the information on the website is wrong? I can see a valid defense here. If somebody were to look up the policy manual and do everything "by the book," then you can't hold them accountable if the book is wrong. How would we like it if the IFAB changed a law but never got around to publishing it and updating the documents online?
Within USSF, there is always a tension between hiring those who are good managers but know little about soccer and, on the other hand, those who are enthusiastic lovers of the game but can't manage their way out of a paper bag. USSF is by no means the only organization with this challenge.
Agree, and I would imagine to run a good club you would need some of each type of person. The ones who are both are the rare purple unicorns (with sparkles), who should be guarded at all costs.
Amusingly... this happened with the Futsal Laws of the Game. Two amendments made, approved, etc. The following year, new published version, those two amendments quietly disappeared. Whoops.
I just saw a report yesterday that Ryan Mooney is no longer with USSF. It will be interesting to see who gets his job, which included supervising the referee department.