Adult co-ed game. I call the "captains" for the toss. I had decided to use my New Zealand coin, "Lizzie is the heads, the kiwi is no tails." One of the captains was actually from New Zealand. He thanked me for using that coin and wanted to check it out. "Is that a florin?" "I got it when my daughter spent a semester at Otago." "Did you like the country?" "We didn't go visit while she was there." "Oh, you should have." Got the game off to a very friendly start.
Just had back-to-back U8 games... and well... U8 as a solo can be tough at times. I had U8G and that was laid back until it wasn't. About middle of the way during the 3rd QTR, I tweet after subs go on/off and hear, in unison, "Ref! Stop the game, STOP THE GAME!!" I look over to the action and I see a gaggle of red players on one blue player like 15v1. Somehow, someway (and through fault of my own for not checking), the red team while switching mistook a whistle for just play-on and too many players were on the field. But... I will say that some refs won't even get my attention to do subs and if the player is close by, they'll just quietly switch. It's rec-league match, but still. Overall, U8G went well, to the point where the coach's wife coming up to shake my hand "It's always a pleasure when you ref our games." Always nice to hear that. But U8 boys as solo? That's a fun one. Especially if you're like me, a newbie in first year still learning the ropes. There were 2 instances were I may have called it wrong (goalkick when it should have been corner) . In 1 return, I heard "that should have been a corner...?" Not too pleased with myself in the 2nd game but I keep telling myself "that's why they have asst refs... need to work on positioning, you're not perfect... only your 1st year..." Anyway, watching many U8 games... they can really offers some zany goals.
U12B game. Center does DA, ECNL and high school playoff games. I'm AR1 and have done a few NPL and a handful of SCCL games. Home team is attacking my way and I look at 2LD expecting a through ball. I do not see what happened near the center circle. Coach behind me is calling for a foul. CR is maybe ten yards away at most. Coach keeps calling for me to raise the flag for a foul. I tell him I didn't see it and even if I did, the center is a lot closer and saw it better than I could. Coach said "But you could raise your flag and overrule him!" The "I unfriend you" commercial where the woman says "That's not how it works" popped in my head and I tried not to laugh.
When a coach asks for a foul from me as AR 1, my standard response is “sorry, coach, I didn’t see it. I was watching the line.”
I was AR1 on a O40 match between two ethnic, eastern European teams. They spoke their mother tongue and I think that either they all share the same name or I learned a new polish curse word. ;-)
Similar experience with a Bosnian team. I now have one word of Serbo-Croatian, which is pronounced "brow," but it means "good." At least that's what the team leader was yelling at his teammates.
I guess file this under stuff you read: https://abc11.com/raleigh-man-charged-with-dwi-after-driving-onto-in-use-soccer-field/5303530/
That link is very timely. Any time I am selling or training people on personal umbrella liability I use an example of "if you were to lose control and drive off the road and into a soccer field, running over 15 kids, how much insurance do you think you would need?" I now have a real world story to point to in my training session tomorrow morning.
Not sure where to put this, but found this video and enjoyed hearing the refs on the comms. So, what do referees talk about during a game anyway? (🎥 via @FOXFOOTBALL) pic.twitter.com/l5V2ZIoFT6— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) March 20, 2019
This was posted on the forum previously as it is from March as you can see from the timestamp on the tweet.
I was working President's Cup finals the weekend and Sunday afternoon the fields were starting to turn over to the local adult league. Naturally the discussion in the ref area turned from discussion of the sketchy youth play to sketchy adult league play we have all seen, and someone said something I will keep in my pocket from now on. The comment one guy said he made to a player after one particularly egregious challenge was "Hey buddy. Do you have to go to work in the morning? Yeah, well the guy you just put on the ground does too."
Adult co-ed 3rd division. When I go to check in the white team, the manager is fumbling with the roster and cards. He says, "I'm sorry I don't have it all ready for you." I told him, "Well, I know your team name." One of the other players asks him, "What IS our team name?" "Chaos."
This is a good one. Last game of a long weekend at a college showcase. Very good teams. White sticks a leg out and trips blue. White says, “I didn’t foul her, she tripped over my leg!” Referee (me): thanks. That’s the definition of a foul.
U18 2nd tier championship game at a Memorial Day Tourney. Coach mutters: “You guys are f****** terrible.” His team won by the way.
On my way to the car tonight, I walk past a group of the losing parents, who don’t notice me. I overhear one say. “He called everything in the first half, but the let everything go in the second”. I called 2 fouls in the first half and 8 in the second half.
Co-ed over 30 league. Five weeks ago I was CR in a game that had one controversial call. A player who didn't like my call told me on the way off the field that, "You are the WORST referee, EVER!" One week later, after a game with no controversial calls, several players complimented me on the game, with one telling me, "BEST officiated game, EVER!" Beat that improvement, fellow referees!
He wasn’t. I told the center and other AR, but they agreed that since it didn’t disrupt the game, a send-off wasn’t necessary.