I have an AR on a USL game tomorrow night. My position on the field is near the home team supporter's group. I should have plenty of content for this topic after that game.
Not really a 'hear' but a read from an assignor email, "I Will have Sunday out today late this afternoon and NO I am NOT A WEATHER MAN and I do not if the rain will effect the event." (emphasis by the assignor) I still can't believe the tournament director hasn't said, "Stay home." Depending on which station you watch, this tournament is in a location calling for 10-20" from Friday night to Monday night.
Much to my dismay, I do not have much to report from the game last night. The only thing that was even remotely funny was listening to them try to figure out who I was. They knew I was one of two names, as the names of the officials are announced during the pre game ceremonies. I just smiled and laughed all night. Gotta love the fans.
This one is in a category all to itself: First year HS coach, first scrimmage. I am within ten yards of him. He says in a voice loud enough for me to hear, "I don't know what the f### Robbie is doing out there". We have a fairly strict language guideline in our association. But, it's his first time out of the gate, so, at the next stoppage I walk over to him to tell him that if he uses the word f### again, he's going to have to go. Coach: you should have covered that in your pre game with us.
This actually happened around here. College women's game, home coach is a former FIFA Referee from Wales. The referee hears a player say "s**t." Whistle, caution. Coach demands to know why his player was cautioned. "You can't say s**t on the field, coach." Coach yells at his players, loud enough for everyone on the field and in the stands to hear, "Ladies! You can't say s**t on the field!!!" The referee says, "Thanks, coach." No, I was not the referee. Whew!
We walked up to a coach last week and tried to ask him about half length. We said "we're going to do 2 35 minute halves. Good with you, coach?" He seemed confused and then said I prefer one half of about 15 minutes. After I figured out he wanted one halftime, we clarified that the halves would be 35 minutes long and he agreed.
Heard one in the ref room at a tournament Saturday. A couple referees were talking about doing adult games when one guy said "I did an O-50 women's game once. Once. It was like 22 ex-wives on the field at the same time."
I tell my wife (31 years last week) that if she had killed me the first time she thought about it, she'd be out by now.
A colleague told me this at last night's game. He was doing a game and had an incident near the bench. It was clearly a red card situation but, in the hubbub, he lost track of which player it was. He stepped back a little and said, "Red, this is for you!" as he displayed the card. A player slunk off the field to the bench. The coach said, "You didn't have any idea who it was, did you?" My friend replied, "Nope." The coach responded, "God, I hate it when you're smarter than the players."
I guess if no one steps up and removes themselves and forces your hand you can tell them to work it out among themselves as to who has to leave, but someone is leaving. Cheers, Mi3ke
As with many things, first choice is don't lose track, second choice is get your ARs to help. I don't think I'd say work it out among yourselves. Pick the best player on the team and the actual miscreant will fess up, and you can fix it.
But what if the best player actually committed the offense and one of his lesser teammates offers to take a hit for the team? Go with choices 1 and 2 if at all possible.
Not a heard, but read. This was included in an information document from the tournament, "Please make sure to walk off the 10 on every free kick. We know you can all estimate correctly; this is a visual thing just to increase the confidence of coaches and spectators. It’s little things like this that keep everyone calm and feeling positive about the game." I really want to be the @$$ who asks, "Does this mean every free kick is ceremonial?" I get it, they want us to walk it out when asked for, but that is not what is stated.
Not as much heard as seen. JV girls, I'm R1 on a dual. Visiting team bench near me and I notice that one player on the bench has flesh colored tape on both ear lobes. She's sitting at the end of the bench and didn't play in the first half, but I noted her number. I previously wrote about her teammate trying to enter at halftime with multiple bracelets. Ten or fifteen minutes into the second half, the coach is sending her to the halfway line, during a stoppage. I asked the coach, "Coach, you want to burn a caution here? She's got tape on her ear rings, both ears." The girl protests "I don't have ear rings. They're bleeding!" Yeah, except they weren't bandaids, just tape and there's no sign of any blood. "And you've got that bracelet and that necklace......" She sat back down. A few minutes later, the coach sent her up to enter. Now no necklace, no bracelet and naked ear lobes, with no sign of blood where the holes were. It was a miracle!
First minute of a JV game. Free kick to white. Black stands right in front of the ball. I laid on the whistle and told black "that is the last time we stand in front of a free kick". He says to me..."But I'm standing in front so we can get back and get our shape" "And that is not allowed". I did not card him, and I didn't have any other problems with delaying the restart
I blame the coaches, as this is definitely coached behavior. And a LOT of coaches do not know the Laws. Not that that hinders their opining on everything that happens on the field of play, bless their hearts.
Actually, the coaches do know that rule. When I became a D license coach, many moons ago, we were taught to train our players to do that. In fact, when it came time for the on field teaching exam, my assigned topic was "defending the free kick." The shame, the shame. When I was doing a lot of youth games in the fall, every year I would see a U-12 boy "get the 10" in the first or second game. Caution, with explanation, "I know your coach taught you to do this, but it's cheating. You'll get a card every time you do it today." Behavior extinguished, no further problems.