"I'm her father!" In that state (w)rec(k) tournament, U8 girls game. Red player takes a rocket shot off her head and I immediately blow the whistle even though red teammate gained possession of the ball. In this tournament, accidental heading is play on. But I'm worried about safety. I asked her if she is OK and an assistant coach said "She's fine." I said, "sorry coach, I didn't ask you. I asked her." He said "I'm her father..." and before he could finish I said "You didn't take the hard shot to the head. She did." She was indeed OK, looking me straight in the eyes and showing no signs that something was wrong. But I was ready to insist she be subbed out if I saw any sign of unsteadiness, tears, or anything else. Restart was a drop ball to the white team because they were the last to play the ball before the stoppage, drawing even more ire from the red team.
Conversation with a high school coach: Who kept that guy on side? Your whole back line, coach. I'd like to say it only happened once in the game, but I can't.
I appreciate your comments and I don't really disagree with anything you said within context. I called it "lame" because the incident that was referenced wasn't just a situation of "parking the bus" (which I'm not a big fan of, but wouldn't go so far as to say it was lame). What is "lame" is that the players weren't allowed to go past midfield and weren't allowed to shoot. That's a gimmick, not a legitimate tactic, that is never done at any higher level of soccer. Someone mentioned that no one would pay $3,000 to have your kids team go 1-9. Well my son's DA team is 1-12 halfway through the season and I'm paying not quite $3,000. My son and I are happy with the coach, team and season. Would he and I be happier if his team were winning? Sure, to an extent, but not enough to club hop to a better team with a crappy coach where my son wouldn't develop as much (been there, done that). Most of the other DA clubs are "recruiting" clubs that turnover a good percentage of the roster every year (jettisoning kids they developed for the shiny new toy). Whereas his club is, for all intents and purposes, an all DA club (they maintain enough non-DA teams to qualify for DA). They have no younger non-DA teams to act as a feeder for the DA, so for the younger DA teams winning is hard to come by. However, the older DA teams are very competitive and finish towards the top of the league and on occasion near the top nationally. I hope that's the case for my son but there's certainly no guarantee.
I remember an indoor game a few years ago... Full sized field, 11v11 U14 girls. Two man reffing... The team defending on my side was playing a high line. The other team would play the ball to the wing about midfield, and from there, a diagonal ball to the center forward who was about 3 yards onside when the ball was played. She'd collect the ball just outside the penalty arc, 5 yards in front of the defensive line, one-on-one with the keeper. They must have done it 10 times. Coach was livid about how it wasn't off-site.
Aye, that I am. But I also officiated pole vault 22 times this year and my even more vertically challenged daughter signed off on an American record this year in high jump (women O-40).
I've heard similar a few times from coaches and/or parents... My blood boils instantly. Are their heads really that far up their arse? Or, is it from not having dealt with the volume of injuries we have?
Yea, I took that more tongue and cheek from @Law5. Maybe you have not been on these boards long enough, I really didn't think he would literally tell his players that, but I guess it could be taken that way. I look at is that the kids were told not to get in a compromising position so that if they were to lose possession they wouldn't be out of defensive position.
This was from last Saturday. I was AR2 and several times during the first half, in AR1's end the coach and keeper were yelling about how the attacker had entered the penalty area too early on the goal kicks. To me it looked like the attacker might have been jumping the line but I couldn't really tell because I was far away and the lines weren't good. At half time the center is in the restroom and the captain/center back for that team comes over with the coach and asks that we watch the attackers. I say I will then to AR1 who is in her first season reffing, "For goal kicks we want to make sure that the kicking team has a fair opportunity to receive the ball after their kick so be aware of the attackers entering too early. If they line up on the line like this [demonstrates real close to the line looking like I'm going to leave at the start of a distance race] be aware that they will probably enter to early. At this point, if they are moving before the ball is kicked, I give the benefit to the kicking team, back the attacker out, and kick again." First goal kick of the second half. The attacker isn't even paying attention when the defense kicks the ball. Then the attacker turns and starts running for the ball which is half way between the corner of the goal area and the far edge of the penalty area. At that point the captain throws his arm up and starts yelling. *facepalm* He thinks the ball has to leave the penalty area... The next time they play a short goal kick, to the far side again, when the attacker runs I yell, "Its in!" a few times to try to indicate that the pressure is okay. After the third one exactly the same results in a throw-in after a couple of touches the captain turns to give me grief. I yell, "Once it is kicked, they can go." After the game I explained it to a coach who was baffled that the opponents could enter the PA once the ball was kicked
And the other thing that coaches and parents don't get: Billy has just taken a knock to the head and he's dazed and confused. Well, more dazed and confused than teenage boys normally are. They want Billy back out there because he's, apparently, a much better player than whoever the team has to replace him. (Wow, dig at the sub's skills!) But, while that may look like Billy, it isn't the Billy that started the game. He's dazed and confused! He doesn't have the level of playing skills that he had 20 minutes ago. Why do you want someone out there who doesn't even know what the score is? Even if you don't care about Billy's health, you ought to be concerned about the skill level of the team that is playing right now. Billy's playing level may have gone from the gold division level down to the bronze division level with that knock to the head.
"This guy was a joke all game, and that AR too. The other AR was ok though." U16B, player along with his coach, trying to argue he shouldn't have been sent off at a tournament admin table. 2CT, both for dissent. I'm not surprised she didn't buy it.
Just like every referee assault case I've ever been involved in. The defense is always "Ref make bad calls."
How many of us are answering that question as AR's, by the way? If the CR asks me so he can inform the coach, I will answer, but not if the coach asks me directly. My take is generally that if the coach can't tell, it's not my job to give him the information needed to correct a problem with his defense.
If it is politely asked, and I can readily answer, I will. Often it's easy, but when there are a lot of players in motion, I may not have been identifying specific individuals to be able to answer the question. If it's really an argument phrased as a question, not so much. (In the games I do, I don't get asked very often.)
If I know, I will say so. (And I try to know.) If I don't know and the coach has not previously spoiled my good mood, I will say, "Well it was one of your guys on the far side coach, but I'm not sure which one." And if I'm not in a good mood, I might say "It was some kid in a white jersey coach."
If a coach asks that, whether legitimately or to argue, I will give the specific position or number one time. If the coach continues to argue, I'm calling the center over. Example - Boys U15 State Cup game. Left forward makes a run inside of the defense's right back. Perfect through ball played. Forward is even and off we go. Defending team's coach - "How could he be onside?" (He only saw the defenders between the left forward and us, who would have placed the attacker offside if not for the right back.) Me - "Coach, #34, your right back, kept him onside". Coach - "You couldn't have seen that!" (As he was five yards closer to the half line than I was and definitely not on the offside line.) Me - "Coach, if you were right behind me instead of five yards up the field, you would have seen it. I'm now asking you to stop your inappropriate behavior."
I've probably posted this before, but one time I was asked who kept the team onside. I replied, "It was Josh." Then I heard, "Well that's rather specific." I knew Josh because he was also a referee.
I hate that question. It is rarely sincere and is usually snide dissent masked in the form of a question. If I happen to remember I will provide the information but know in my experience it is a coach or player trying to get in your head. It is not in our normal instinctional decision making to remember “who” was the last defender - and don’t let a coach tell you otherwise. I’ve actually had conversations with coaches I know and trust about how that’s an unfair question to ask an AR.
My quick answer to the coach on that question is generally a confident "far side, coach." Unless that's totally impossible (like they're all upfield), it stops the conversation. (I can't argue with the "well, that just encourages them" logic, I'm just saying it's what I do.)
While I generally agree with you and recognize that it's usually a snide question, I also like being able to tell them specifically when I know (and I admit that I don't always know specific number). In the example I shared earlier, this coach was right on the line of a card. I don't think he expected me to give him position and number. So in that case, I did it partly to throw it back in his face along with my "ask". He was quiet the rest of the game after that. I've also found that being that specific does help with players and coaches when they are reasonable about it. I was doing a college showcase a couple of years ago and had one of those tough calls where the attacker was moving to goal and the center backs were running up to pull him off. The attackers timed it right and scored. The keeper looked at me with a hand up, and I told him "24 kept him on by a step." The keeper nodded, gave me a thumbs up, and proceeded to tell 24 to run the offside trap earlier.
I like to remember a number. I started practicing on boring youth games trying to remember which number was playing where on the field and I'd attach it to something distinctive (shoe color, hair style, etc) then every 5 minutes there was someone else in the back line that I had to remember. That helped me stay engaged when I was losing my mind from boredom. Additionally, it is a lot easier on the adult games since the back line is much more stable. My favorite response once was, "The line. He timed it right. The line kept him on."
I've taken to running a little play-by-play in my head. "7 is offside...24 has everyone on, etc." A ref shouldn't have to know the number, but it does deflate the coaches arguing if you can demonstrate that you saw it that well. My favorite is when a center back asks who kept the attacker on, and I get to say "you did".