MBB game on a field with pointy ball lines in white, soccer lines in black (and men's lacrosse in blue, and women's lacrosse in orange, and...) Goal kick is sent straight up, and a teammate of the GK plays it two yards short of the 18. There is an opponent nearby to challenge immediately. I raise my flag to indicate that the ball did not make it out of the PA. Player who played the ball: "What!?!" Me: "Never made it out of the PA. It's a retake of the GK" Player: "But I played it right here!" Me: "Yeah, but the PA is that black line two yards up" Player: (hangs head, heads up field).
Game one of four today. U10G. I am center with a 15 year old and a 13 year old ARs. LOTS of things I heard. I asked the ARs if they were grade 8 or 9 referees. The 15 year old said grade 8. The 13 year old said grade 7. I said "really?' rather skeptically. The older AR said "He's in the 7th grade." Parents were great except one doesn't know a "handball" from a hand basket. Early in the second half, Blue player starts dribbling to her own goal forgetting which way she is supposed to go. She passes ahead to a defender and Mr. "Hand Basket" yells "That's offsides!" Later, Blue keeper takes two steps outside the PA before punting. AR2 flags it, I blow the whistle, and Mr. "Hand Basket" yells "That's an indirect kick." I say "handling is handling, and all handling is direct." He yells "Not for keepers." Turns out on an adjacent U10 field, a referee a third my age awarded an IFK for the same offense...twice. Late in the game, one of the girls said she was going to the Atlanta United game tonight. I said I was jealous and told her to have fun. She was absolutely beaming.
I'm sitting on parent side of girls U10 game this afternoon and attacker is called for offside. Parent "The ball was in the air, how can they be offsides?"
Sunday in a u-12 boys AYSO game, blue was playing orange. The ball was high in the air, and an orange player raised his leg high to get the ball exposing the bottom of his cleats near the face of a blue player. I blow the whistle and award an IFK for dangerous play. The orange coach asks loudly, "Why can't they do that? They can do it in the pros." I respond, "It was dangerous." In my head, I'm thinking, "In the pros they also get paid, have a bigger field, and only have three subs per game."
My final game of ten over the weekend, 4th of the day, had nothing but positive experiences save for one on Saturday. U10 match, nice, friendly game, one team playing short a man and is winning by several goals. 4 minutes left, ball goes out to winning team (red), Dad tells white player to throw it in as it's right in front of the spectator's side. White picks up ball after I called "red", I blow my whistle and re-indicate "red ball". dad proceeds to be upset. This is the first thing I've heard all day from the parents. I walk over and say "I have the whistle, I make the calls, went off white's foot, red ball." Dad continues to disagree, nothing major, just huffing a bit, so I say "Look, we're not doing this type of thing today, so you get to decide; you can watch the match quietly, or you can get sent to your car over an OOB call." He opens his mouth to say something else and a woman in their group yells "Jesus, Mike, just shut up, already!" He folds his arms in a huff and shuts up. best line from a parent all weekend.
One of the things I have noticed with the new "no heading U11 and below" rules is the preponderance PIADM calls I have been making in these U-little matches. These kids are trying to play balls they would normally head (or even chest down) by playing them with feet that they are getting at face level or higher with other players right there. Boots are way up and other kids are ducking and covering.
Very low skill level U10 boys match. One of those games where every throw was whistled for being bad. The coaches would send on players like hockey lines changes, only to be sent back by the mean center. Every legal substitution was scene because they never got the right number of players on the pitch (you can even use you fingers to count to 7). "What do you mean the keeper has to wear a pinnie, they are going to play on our team" Scrum down on the goal line and the ball pinballs back and forth between players. Offside is called. Parents go ballistic. Parent yells "That can't be called here, those are European rules. This is American soccer".
AR1 Urban , adult ethnic league. Good talent on the field. Carnival atmosphere off the field. Boom boxes, a wall of sound with music so loud that I cannot hear the CR too well , whiffs of ganga from the crowd, a few drunks on the sideline , babies wandering on to the field, people riding bikes across the field, folks partying and enjoying a warm sunny day. Late stages of a well contested match. Minor confrontation and more of a "referee rhombus" forms rather than a "triangle of control". I talk to #4 who is animated and he vents off some of his steam. Game ends, # 4 comes over to thank the referee's. I talk to him a little more. Second match begins and I am AR2 with my back to the crowd. Halfway thru the first half I am tapped on the shoulder by #4, " Ref, come have a shot with us." " Sorry, no I am working here..." We both laugh. Second half, some one says over my shoulder, close enough for me to smell the peppermint schnapps, " Come on ref, have a shot with us..."
The place where I officiate indoor soccer adopted the no intentional heading rule almost as soon as it was announced. The first few weeks that it was in effect, I also noticed that I was calling a lot more dangerous plays for high kicks. I guess that is one of the unintended consequences of the rule change. However, more players have adapted to the rule and are now taking an extra step back on high kicks and chesting the ball.
I wish my indoor facility adopted it... I even spoke to the head ref and the director of the facility about it this past winter. All of the kids (and especially the parents) were used to the rule after playing outdoor this past fall, so every time the ball hit a head half the kids stopped (and all the parents yelled). But they director insisted that they weren't USSF affiliated, so they didn't have to do it.
Lots and lots of PIADM in our indoor facility. I told my kids to just head it and give up the free kick as long as it's near midfield. I'd rather they get in the practice than take one to the face. My kids are U14 though, so are allowed to head the ball. Reffing the U-littles is tough, because of this, though. A LOT of kids about to high kick and hold off, I'm waiting for accidents to happen, but so far, everyone has adjusted. Anytime a kid take a ball to the head and it's unintentional and it's with any kind of force and the kid hesitates, I stop play to check the kiddo. MOST coaches appreciate it, but others scream and yell about the header being unintentional.
This weekend I heard something that I have never heard before. A forward for black was consistently offside. It didn't help that white had a high line. After calling this player offside on 3 occasions. His coach yells at him and kept saying "You are lining up offside. Stay onside". The black player yell's "I can't be offside if the goal-keeper is outside of his box!" He then goes onto say "This linesman doesn't know that rule?! Everyone knows it." The white coach looks at me in his British accent and goes "That kid is bonkers right? The rules don't say anything about goal-keeper and offside?" I reassure him that he is correct and he goes back to his seat. The things we hear...
That's a good one. Reminds me of the HS varsity girl who, when her teammate yelled at her that she was offside (ball nowhere in the vicinity, mind you), pointed at me and yelled back "But he's not calling it!"
Last week U13 girl's game. Obvious handling by a defender in the PA, but ball still moving toward goal. GK simply stops in her tracks and the ball rolls slowly in. I signal advantage first just in case anyone is paying attention, then indicate goal. On the way back up field one of the players complains to a spectator "It was a handball but he didn't call it".
I *think* it was a player on the attacking team, but I'm not sure. I decided it was not the time to try to explain anything.
Several years ago, I was officiating a high school girls varsity game. I heard the coach tell his players, "Remember, you can't be called offsides if you are in your own half." A few minutes later, I saw one of his players who was in her defensive half of the field kick the ball all the way up to her teammate near the other penalty and behind all the other team except for the goalkeeper. Of course, I blew my whistle and called her offside. The coach started yelling,"She can't be offside. The pass came from her own half of the field! You can't be offsid on your own half!" I responded, "You are right. The pass came from the defensive half of the field so the player that kicked the ball was not offside. But the player that received the ball can be called for offside in the offensive half of the field."
Wonder what it would do to his head to see one of the new-rule defensive-half offside restarts. (Has anybody actually done one of those yet?)
Sooo close! I had one right in hand a few weekends ago, was getting ready to raise the flag and everything, but the CR called a foul right before I could. Darn CR's, making their own decisions.
I already made several of these calls, some as AR others as CR. It's funny how all players so far placed the ball on the halfway line not at the spot of the infraction.