I was AR2 in driving sideways rainstorm on Saturday. Just miserable cold conditions. U15B's, pre Academy. Very good players. In the first half, center back comes up for a corner kick, and 35 mph wind blows ball into goal to tie game at 1-1. After CB celebrates, and takes his time going back to his half, he kicks the ball away after it has been placed on the halfway line. (Never seen that before!) Later in second half, he should have gotten his second for a hard late challenge, but the referee was a tad more lenient than I would have been given the churlish circumstances of the first one!
I'm AR2 U14G. Also good players. I learned U14 is a tad above my limit physically, but that is another discussion. Black fouls Red and the ball was around 15 yards ahead of where the foul took place. Red player comes up to retrieve the ball but a Black player kicks it away from the Red player, but toward where the ball should be. CR pulls out the yellow. Parents complained to me saying she intended to send the ball where it was supposed to go. I said I agree, but we cannot judge intent. We have to judge the action. Lesson learned. If your team fouls, especially at the full-size field age, leave the ball alone.
Without context of the game or more specific details (either of which could change my view) that seems a pretty harsh caution.
Player sitting on a yellow scores the go ahead goal. Runs right past me twirling his removed jersey over his head. He realized the mistake when he got a foot from me and saw me staring at him with a WTF expression.
It was a very competitive game. Red was up 1-0 and Black was getting frustrated they couldn't score even though they were getting plenty of opportunities. Two off the post, one off the crossbar, and the Red keeper made two ridiculous saves. I don't know if anything was said and I didn't ask the CR. But the Red player was around five yards of the ball when Black kicked it away from Red and toward where the spot of the foul. You probably had to be there. On the games I normally do (U12 and younger) I probably wouldn't have carded that. But the CR is a grade 7 and was one of the better ones I have worked with.
If the girl was reaching down to pick up the ball and the opponent kicked it away (even toward the restart location) I could see the caution, but not under most other circumstances. [edit] Missed your clarification. Still definitely a YHTBT situation.
I once was the AR on a mens game when the GK kicked the grass where he was going to spot the ball where he was going to take a goal kick, what most players do before a PK. Center Referee blew his whistle hard and sprinted to the GK and gave him a yellow card. Later told me it was for altering the field, he had seen it on a MLS game.
I don't often do kids games (tournaments only) so would probably be lenient on interfering with the free kick if I thought there was no malice. I would explain what would normally happen so they knew about the yellow card offence (with kids you are training them for the future). Wth the men's leagues it's a card straight away, no debate.
GU16 match. Player is setting up for the corner, and she picks up the flag and moves it about a yard away. I tell her not to move the flag; she insists she has to move it or she can't take the corner. After a bit of back and forth, the player makes a half-hearted attempt to replace the flag, but can't seem to get it back into place (it's the kind with the X metal base and it has somehow collapsed). So I sigh to myself, go over, replace the flag, and tell her that if she touches the flag again I will caution her. I jog back into position and blow the whistle. She backs up and deliberately knocks over the corner flag. I caution her. Surprise, surprise—she somehow manages to then take the corner kick without having to move the flag.
This always annoys me. Leave the flag alone. Had a player kick one in celebration to earn a card once. She told me they do it in the pros. Sigh, well when you make it there go for it, here we barely have 4 flags for this field and if you break one there isn't a replacement.
U16B game about 12 years ago - Nearing the end of the season, so there are a few playoff berths on the line. I have a match up with teams both fighting for one of the remaining spots. Maroon team is very chippy, questions everything (including calls in their favor for some reason), and the screaming players are feeding off their screaming coach and vice versa. 2nd half - already have two cautions on Maroon players, one for DR/dissent (kicked a ball 30 yards after yelling back at me about the call), and another for a reckless tackle. Third caution comes for a reckless tackle just outside the center circle. I blow the whistle for the foul, double tap to bring the player over (who is already yelling out), and show him the caution. He responds with "WHO CARES, JUST GIVE ME ANOTHER ONE, IT'S NOT GOING TO MATTER!" Your wish is my command. Immediately showed him the caution a second time and then the red. Teammates come running - "No! That's only one!" I responded, "no, he asked for a second one, so I gave it to him." About 10 min later, the coach was dismissed. Game ends 2-2 and Maroon grabs one of the playoff spots. Called in to the assignor/commissioner about the game and reported all the cautions/sendoffs. and his response was "yeah, we've had issues with them all year. I think is seals their fate and they won't be allowed to complete in the playoffs."
U19B at a tournament. I had awarded a PK to black in about the 10th minute of the match. White was not happy saying it was soft, etc, etc. That goal turns out to be the only one scored in the match. After the final whistle, the losing team starts coming toward us as we meet in the center of the field. They start complaining I cost them the game and making other disparaging remarks. I gave a couple of yellow cards, and on the second one, the player grabbed the card out of my hand. As I reached for the red card, the player said, "Go ahead! This is the last game I'm ever going to play anyway!"
Always part of my pregame with U18/19 especially at tournaments - no telling what may happen and watch even closer at the end of the match and just after as many may not have anything to lose by being even more stupid than usual.
Good, because I'm also calling the police for the assault since you are an adult too. I'm not saying my I would actually do it but putting the fear of god in someone can do wonders.
Assessed a game where the AR made a grand, sweeping throw-in signal to his right. His flag somehow caught the corner flag and sent it flying five feet in the air. I started the debrief by saying "Jesse, the corner flag is NOT an AR flag!" I believe it was at the 1990 World Cup that Diego Maradona went to take a corner kick. He removed the corner flag and dropped it on the ground. The AR ordered him to put it back. Maradona put the post back up, but left the flag itself on the ground. The AR, standing goal side of the corner, did not budge. Maradona then draped the corner flag over the top of the post. AR did not move. Maradona then put the flag back on the post correctly, and gave the AR a wink. It's all about testing you. That and young players who can't figure out which side of the post to place the ball, depending on whether you are right or left footed.
Isn't that the darndest thing? I always find myself resisting the temptation to coach them when I watch them struggle from so close. And why don't the coaches notice this struggle and teach them??
HS Boys, 2 man. Green player has been a pain in the Arse. Just kept pushing things with fouls, steady dissent, delay, etc. Foul on partner's side. Green player sends ball in direction that gave me the opportunity to take care of him. Tweet, Caution. Went to the bench, advised coach of caution. Player is subbed. As we are setting up for kick, my partner comes and advised me that she was telling the player to send the ball back there, which the player did. I held up play, jogged to the bench, advised coach I am rescinding the card and why. As the player and I are walking back, we had a nice chat. No problem with him the rest of the match.
Hispanic men's league. Foul about midway through the first half. I set the wall for a free kick. One knuckle-headed defender thinks that I've set the wall much further than 10 yards. I disagree. He starts taking tiny steps and counting "uno, dos, tres, ... ." As he hits 15, he turns around with a smile on his face to see me standing with a smile on my face and the yellow card in the air. No further problems with him until he is late into the keeper twice in the last two minutes, earning him his second yellow.
Same for me on the number of paces, only I am really disappointed that I have never had this brought into question.
Unless they call your bluff. Then you're boned. I wouldn't say something like that unless you're actually going to do it. Apropos of that, I actually did call the cops on a parent that shoved me after a match one time (well, someone from the tournament actually called them, but it was because I told them I wanted them to). The officer clearly didn't give a crap, and tried to discourage me from filing a report. I filed one anyway, but as far as I know nothing ever came of it. Wanna guess what division the game was?
Yeah, well what do you expect -- you and you alone ruined forever that little girl's opportunity for a Stanford scholarship and a place on the WNT. You should be embarrassed!