Precocious kid. When I do U9/u10 girls games I ask them if the remembered to take off their wedding rings, it's usually good for a few giggles. It backfired on me once though - one young lady put her hands on her hips and glared at me, and said at the top of her lungs "WE ARE NOT MARRIED!". I got a few concerned looks from the parents.
U13 - decent level. I'm AR2. Halfway through second half. White rockets a shot just over the bar. A mom behind me yells "great shot, keep it up guys, almost got it!" A home team dad says to her, "why are you rooting for us?" Mom: "oh, I forgot we switched sides"
U13B moderate level, I am AR2 parent's side. Minute 20, kid goes down, ball is nearby. No one else around. He kicks it while sitting on his butt. Cue the usual cries of "He can't do that!" "No playing it on the ground." Yeah, whatever. Minute 22, another kid goes down near the ball (frost on the artificial turf). This time there are others somewhat nearby, but not no big deal, IMO. One of the moms behind me lets out a "Oh, come on!" in a tone indicating the most grievous moral injury at the absence of a whistle. 10 seconds later, to her older son, "Brandon, is that legal?" From wounded to the core, to maybe not even a scratch...? Oh, come on!
Showcase tournament this past weekend, I'm AR2 for a U16B. Play originates from a corner kick to my left, gets cleared forward to an attacker who is two full strides behind the half line and runs on to it, but misplays and a defender clears. Of course all arms on the bench go up as the attacker meets the ball. The coach starts screaming "he was on the other side of the 50!" Uh, coach, if you think that's the 50, we're obviously watching two different sports.
First tournament of the 2017 year. Doing a few games with some newer "kids" - both college age. One had been refereeing for a couple years, the other I think was his first year. Was pretty cold, high 30's/low 40's - I had multiple layer and wore tights, I've learned to hate the cold more with each year. Each of the younger guys had a few colors but some only in SS and inevitably we had conflicts where one of them wouldn't have the right color to wear. I have basically 2 of each color shirt in my bag (both LS and SS, but removed all my SS until the weather warms up) so I was happy to lend them out, which I had to do twice in 4 games. And in return for my generosity I hear: "I love working with you old guys, you always have extra stuff...." Ummm. Wait, what was that again about OLD guys!!???
Sarcastically, during a game called tightly: "I didn't want you to call a foul on me! You're really good at those." I'm not going to disagree!
"It's over your head." Attacker to last defender, just before streaking past him as he indeed misjudges the high ball and lets it bounce past, leaving him flat footed.
"You're not going to be here next week" "I'm going to call your boss and make sure you're fired" This is after I wouldn't allow his player to play with a paper player card. No picture, not laminated, between D1 U16G teams in 3rd and 4th places with a trip to regionals on the line. What, you think I'm just going to let it slide? "Coach, I'm not going to excuse you for not having your paperwork done before the game"
Absolutely. They failed at the job that literally takes no effort and want to give you crap for it. Nonsense.
So I'm sitting here at my daughter's game, and the CR is talking to his ARs and says on PKs, he GKmis allowed to be a step and a half off the line.
Never pregame within earshot of people. Lol. In all seriousness though that's quite a legitimate big allowance on his part
Just an update, got a call from my assignor. The "unwritten rule" is to allow the player to play without a valid player card, despite the league rules. "That's just the way we've always done it around here."
An unwritten rule that goes directly against written rules yah that makes sense. I'd be pissed being put in that situation and I can't see taking the liability- unwritten rules don't hold up in court.
Lesson learned on my part. Pregame PKs. I didn't once and told the keeper I'll allow a half step but no more. My AR flagged for the keeper coming off her line. I forgot to tell the AR what I told the keeper. Lesson learned #2. My first year, a team from two hours away didn't have player cards because the parent/manager had a flat tire. I allowed the game to start anyway and the cards arrived before halftime. At the half, I checked the players in. My assignor let me know in no way should I have started that game without player cards. That has not happened since.
Gotta love those. Had our high school assignor try to read us the riot act because we red carded a coach that ran 25 yards out on to the field during a fight. Told him he could get it in writing from our state association or I wasn't going to to listen to him. He backed down. No way am I taking that liability without written back up.
So that rule about leaving the bench during altercations applies to the players AND the coaches yet the coach got pissed that the official enforced the rules as written? Seems legit
Yikes. The bigger mistake here by far was telling the keeper what you would allow. Specifically, you were basically telling her you weren't going to enforce the Law as written. What good can possibly come from that? Mind you, I'm not saying don't allow a half step. I allow at least that. (And what the heck is a half step anyway?) But don't say you're going to do it - just do it. More generally, telling players, or for that matter coaches, prospectively what you will and will not allow can only come back and bite you when you inevitably call or don't call something in a way that they inevitably interpret as different from what you said you were going to do. Let your calls speak for themselves. Having said all that, yes, it's definitely a good idea to cover PKs in the pregame. It's one of the things as an AR I always ask the center about if it's not already covered.
I always tell my ARs to watch closely on PKs at the other end -- the last thing we want is inconsistency.
That's a disaster waiting to happen. If you let a player without a valid player card step on that field all kinds of bad things can happen. Just imagine that player scoring the winning goal. The first thing the losing coach is going to do is file a complaint and protest for you letting an ineligible player play. And they are going to win that fight. Coaches know that all players are to have cards and they better be able to produce it and be on that roster. If not no way in the world am I letting them play.
My son was coaching a youth team at their furthest site of the season (about 40 miles) and I rode along to watch the game. When we got there, his manager was leaving her son with him while she went back home to get the cards she had forgotten. The referees allowed as much time as they could, but eventually called the forfeit. They wouldn't even stay to ref the friendly the coaches decided to play instead.
We're using an online player pass system in the Minnesota youth leagues this year so no more physical passes. If the online system cannot be accessed a printed roster may be used, and if they forgot that we are just supposed to record the numbers of all the players that played and the state association is supposed to figure it out. The instructions were clear though, the "no pass no play" rule is history.