Somewhat similar to 3-man basketball mechanics, except you're moving to get closer to the ball and only 1 official is changing sides of the court (and moving no more than 15 feet or so to do it).
We switch sides at the half, not ends. Most often we have double headers and many referees want to do all 4 quadrants on the day, switching ends for the second game then sides at the half again - never mattered at all to me.
We usually stay in the same side and end for four halves. Your way evens your tan a little better, and shares putting up with any idiots that need to be dealt with.
Boys HS JV match . . . One player being a pain, had previously done a stand and then slow motion player in front of a free kick (of course was not there at the foul and moved to slow the free kick) and then a few minutes later picks up the ball and moves it back two yards for another opponent free kick. The earlier one earned a "get out of there, you know that is not OK" comment at the time, the second earned an AC during which the coach asked "Is he talking back to you?" Delayed talking to the coach until the next GK, which being JV, was only 10 seconds or so. Swung by the coach to explain why the AC and he responds with . . . "Well, the rules say you only have to be 2 yards from the FK until they ask for 10" I respond with "No coach, that is wrong. You might actually want to read the rules." And then immediately back to the GK and match. (I should not have verbalized the second part and just left it as an internal musing.) But where does the 2 yard comment come from?? Other than FK distance is not typically dealt with strictly.
Nothing specific said. But I am still amazed at the level of vitriol parents of a low level U12G team spew over a throw in. I finally asked them to count the number of successful passes made before the ball went to the other team. After I said that, I counted myself for the next five minutes. Never got above three. But they were having conniptions when we didn't point the way they thought it went.
Maybe confused with throw in distance? Most likely just plain wrong in the belief that any distance has to be asked for.
Or maybe simply trying to game the official. Once a coach told me during a U9B game there was no slide tackling at that age. There was nothing in that ROC on slide tackling, so I allowed it. The other team had one player who was doing it quite well. Afterward I asked him where he saw no slide tackling and he admitted he knew slide tackling is allowed, he just wanted me to call it a foul.
I think it's that parents know they don't really know what a foul is, much less why players get cards or, gasp, "offsides" but they do know who gets to take throw-ins and they certainly know that, if they can see it, they must be right.
AR1 on a low level U11 boys match this past weekend. Horrible soccer, real mismatch in talent and interest. Good team up by what seems like a dozen goals. I raise the flag when Good team player comes from a hugely offside position to play the ball. CR does see my flag go up and a goal is scored. I cannot get the CRs attention despite flag waving and flag snapping. CR has signaled goal and subs start pouring onto the field. Bad team parents see my flag up and starts yelling. CR sees me and disallows the goal and regains control. As I jog past the bench I make sure the coach knows the goal was disallowed. He said the call was correct and has no issues at. Right before the half coach asks me if I would take a second during the break to explain the call to his players who all seem confused. When I asked the collected players if anyone knew why I signaled for offside the offending players states "I was offsides by a mile, but the ref looked confused so I figured I got away with it. Most people don't understand offside". He then follows up with "My dad is a ref and says that all the time".
It's depressing how much people don't know this. I've given two AC's in the past week who were adamant that they could run straight up to the ball and had to be asked for 10. One was a college team, one was an MLS DA team.
Oh no, of course not. I give one AC sometimes as a warning, but it's never more than 1. I was feeling gracious or lazy this week I guess, depending on how you look at it. One match someone got FRD later and nobody tried a third, the other one nobody even tried a second.
Whether this was a game played under NFHS rules or the IFAB's Laws of the Game and assuming that by "defend" the referee meant impede, interfere with or distract the thrower then under both codes it would be a caution. NFHS Play Ruling as follows: In a game played under the LOTG, the wording is:
It was a State Cup club game, not HS, so the IFAB's rule would have been the one, but he said the fact that she jumped was the reason for the card, not standing within 2 yards.
Fair enough, but you were saying that you'd never heard of any such thing so I was just quoting the relevant provisions, which do allow a referee to caution a player if, in the opinion of the referee, the player was unfairly impeding or distracting the thrower. Apparently, that is what this referee decided. I'm not saying this referee was necessarily right - that's difficult to say without being there and seeing the actual incident, just that a referee could make that decision if they so desired and still be within the laws.
Jr. College game. Still hot here, enough so to have water breaks. Ball out for a goal kick, see a player with hands on his knees and making some strange noises. Swing by and ask him if he is ok. He says, "Yeah, just old age". Uhh, he was 20, if that. And I'm double that.
I once explained to a newer coach that at the youth recreational level 50% of the time the defending team wins the ball immediately following a throw-in, so no it really doesn't matter.
I've heard that statistic many times - it's one of those that even if it isn't 100% statistically proven, it sure feels like it's true. In my (totally subjective) opinion it applies at many levels, not just at youth recreational level. I'm not sure I would go so far as to tell an irate coach or parent that getting a throw-in direction wrong doesn't matter but I might point out to them that in the overall scheme of things, it's not something that's worth getting too worked up about.
I was at a college clinic and the instructor said that assistant coaches are not in the rule book so if they yell at you "spend them to the bus."
Here in New York, we switch touchlines at halftime. One half you'll have the team bench side of the field and the next half you'll have the spectators' side of the field. About twelve years ago, we were told that we could switch touchlines halfway through each half at a stoppage of play. I never did that, and the next year we were told to only switch at halftime.
As a fish, I've instructed my players to blast the ball as hard as possible at a girl if the ref doesn't warn them the first time they try it.
7/8 grade Rec match, it's my third 7/8 in a row and my fifth match of the day. It's been really hot, but not terribly difficult of a day. Final match is a team (Orange) from the Jackie Joyner-Kersee center from East St. Louis (if you're unfamiliar with this area, ESL used to be a massive industrial area that has now become extremely poor and underserved. Very few white people live there and the surrounding rural areas are very white and mostly farming towns with deep German roots. I love their coaches, because they really never scream and yell at the kids and are trying really hard to teach them the sport the right way. The coaches also, generally, have a big van and drive from house to house picking up this kids to drive them out to our fields. Most days, they have only a handful of kids and I always talk the opposing coaches into lending them some players.) Vs a team (BLUE) from a wealthier, high property tax-having area nearby (a team I've coached against for years. A good team, but they play dirty ball, so I'm expecting a spirited match.) My assignor said the last time the two played there was some alleged racially-inspired language, so to keep my ears open. Match starts and is 100MPH from the get-go. We're running 2-man because our AR2 had to leave. Everyone definitely playing like they have something to prove, but nothing over the line, just a ton of effort. Everything goes well and my 14-year-old daughter, who never done lines on an 11v11 before joins as our AR1, and I take the CR spot. Minor warnings in 1st half for Blue, pulling, giving a little "extra" after play is gone, hanging on the crossbar like an idiot. But deep into the second half, I've given a couple of YC to Blue, could have been a third in there, probably. But I'm controlling the match well and then, I hear a parent from the Blue tea, yell "Go Street Rat!" *sigh* I blow my whistle, confer with AR2 who heard something, couldn't totally confirm it was that, but said it sounded right. I tell the whole sideline that if I hear anything else out of anyone, they're all going to their vehicles, that the language I heard has no place there and if I hear it again and see who says it, they're likely getting banned from the park for life, do we understand? Thank you. Jog over to the kids (to the sound of several parents clapping), tell them to ignore what happened, tell them I want to see a smile from everyone, and the Orange team says "Let's clap it up!" All the kids are smiling and clapping, I say "let's have fun, let's enjoy the night, let's play soccer." Rest of match uneventful, players are even giving each other stick and being silly. Post-match, a couple of Blue team moms with a very entitled attitude come up and tell me they don't appreciate the way I spoke to them. Blue coach talks to me, we know each other, I tell him what was said, that some people don't like my big boy voice (VERY loud, sounds like angry, but isn't), and I'm not concerned. Assignor not concerned, has my back. A shame, really, bunch of kids from vastly different background should just be going at it and hugging it out later. Also, at some point in the 2nd half, orange player calls out to me "That guy was offside!" about a player who kicked it out for a GK. I said "Close, but no, he wasn't, my AR didn't raise her flag." He replies "Man, that AR is..." I cut him off, quickly saying "my daughter. That AR is my daughter, so I hope you were going to compliment her." "She's your daughter?" "Yep." "Oh, yeah, she cute. Real cute." We had a giggle and played on. I love kids, they're hilarious.