If a kid has watched even one professional game he's already seen a damn near 100% occurrence of delaying restarts and 0% of those getting a caution. Most of the time the CR completely ignores this tactic as if there isn't a rule about it. This isn't something that is often coached and doesn't need to be. If it's almost never called at the professional level why are you expecting 9 year-olds to understand that a rule exists? I admire your attempts to adhere to the rulebook, but clearly is isn't a priority at any level.
9 year olds did not run to the ball as a group without being coached to do that. I do agree, to a point, that refs can get overly concerned about this in some situations. I’ve seen a caution given when a player is 7 yards away—really not necessary. IMHO when cards are needed is when the actions by the defender actually interferes with what the attacking team is trying to do. More often than not, in the attacking zone, the team wants to set up, and simply asks for 10-xodgen regardless of where the other team is. But if the attacking team is trying to do something quickly, I think we need to be aware of that right and enforce it.
When I became a D license coach, "defending the free kick" was one of the topics. We were all expected to be able to teach our players to "get the 10," including how to do it probably without getting a card. A few years later, the competitive youth league used a pre-season tournament, with short games, to seed teams for the regular fall season. If you were refereeing U-12 boys, at that time the youngest age group, you would routinely see kids doing this and telling each other to do it. I think I stopped one team's worth of kids the first time they did it. I asked the boy who was assigned to encroach, "Your coach taught you to do this, right?" "Yeah." "Well, it also means that you get a caution for doing it." And I showed him the yellow card. That didn't appear to traumatize the 11 year old, and it did stop it from happening again, at least in that game.
Dissent is almost totally ignored in the professional game. I don’t see anyone suggesting we should tolerate it in youth games. The professional game is sufficiently different from the games that we do that it is almost pointless to use it to guide our games.
I seriously considered breaking out the yellow card. I even unvelcroed the pocket. But my mind went a mile a second. Who to card? All five came up at the same time. Card all five? That actually crossed my mind. But this is U10 girls. In the two or three seconds it took to process it, they started stepping off ten backwards on their own. What about the optics of carding now? One of the learn by experience moments. With three U10 games in the Alabama Rec and Parks Association state tournament this weekend, I have a feeling I'll have at least one more moment I've never seen before.
Actually at the professional level you do see this on the rare occasion that a team is delaying purposefully to kill time at the end of a match. You rarely see it during the match because the players know things. A DFK taken in the attacking third is a scoring play and both teams know it and act accordingly. They set the play up for both teams and the CR acts accordingly with the restart being ceremonial. Its almost 100% of the time. Everywhere else the players restart quickly and the defenders all back off to get in defensive positions and the kick is taken simply as a way to restart play. The U9 players doing the statue are emulating big brother and sister, not the pros on TV.
I think you've gotten things wrong here and are being too one-sided about it. I've coached my daughter to look for the quick kick and goal and she has gotten it. If a team wants to quickly restart, isn't it our job to enforce it if the other team gets in the way. Here is where my relative newness comes in: Is it a referees job to tell players to move away from the ball before the kicking team asks for it? Or should we allow a player to post up on the ball and see if the kicking team kicks it into the person, guaranteeing the yellow card? Or, is there middle ground, where referees are supposed to use words to warn the other players to give 10 yards?
The challenge is that once we have said anything to the defending team, it should become a ceremonial restart. If someone comes running in from across the field, that's a perfect time to either give a verbal warning (if you are feeling generous) or giving the yellow. Establish that you are "one of those" refs early and you shouldn't have a problem later. It is a bit harder if the player making the foul lingers around the ball, but the concepts are the same. You will find refs across a spectrum on this. Some are quick to intervene with a yellow, some wait for the request for 10 yards. Or you can do like the pros and make nearly every restart in the attacking end ceremonial.
There is also a cultural difference here. In my experience, Hispanic players expect that all free kicks in the attacking third will be ceremonial and the kickers don't worry about the encroachment. Nobody wants or expects a card in this situation. Now Anglos, different story, sometimes, which makes doing a primarily Hispanic team against a primarily Anglo team a challenge.
Good on you for imparting a good habit on your daughter. I wish my high school keeper had learned that lesson before conceding from a quick-fk a few years back The middle ground is the whole point of my argument. If you make binary decisions in every match you referee without ever taking the SoTG into consideration there will be a lot of unhappy teams. Like Law5 said, cultural differences can and should affect how you control a match (also age group, field conditions, etc.). If the teams are happy with asking for 10, let them. Otherwise, make a judgment call about what is appropriate and do your best to apply that evenly.
Have you seen this on the soccer field? Any administrator types had to deal with this? Parent Accused of Wearing Referee Uniform, Influencing Outcome of HS Football Playoff Game: Lawsuit The suit alleges a parent of one of the Nazareth Academy players wore his referee uniform to the game and communicated with referees from the sideline https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/loc...cago-nazareth-lawsuit-football-500851571.html
Not an administrator, though I have heard my fair share of the referee is biased complaints. But, I'm very surprised that in a high school playoffs match the state association did not have any state assessors or administrators at the match who would have shut this down if it were happening. My state always has representatives of the state association in the playoffs to help with developing and assessing the officials and making sure weird things like this don't happen.
That school is right next to my house! I don’t go there, but yeah I heard about it. Just disgusting stuff, parents trying to win in their lives through their kids because they couldn’t do it in high school. If he is in fact an IHSA ref and this stuff is true I hope he gets banned. But I’m also concerned that the refs didn’t know who their crew was, and thought he was one of them. Was he just talking to them from the side and they took his advice or was he actually officiating the game (throwing flags, whistles, etc.)?
The lawsuit has allegations, not facts. The parents from the other team haven't proved anything, they have just claimed that something happened. For all we know, the officials on the field had nothing to do with the knucklehead wearing his uniform to the game, or perhaps just said hello and were seen (and who knows, maybe even told him he was out of line to be wearing the uniform). And for that matter, the article doesn't even confirm that the supposed parent was actually a high school official. But regardless--really? A lawsuit?
Don't lawsuits pay your bills, SoCal? But, yeah, if it was a ref not doing the game and with an obvious preference between the teams, he was stupid to be in uniform and talking to the working officials. Even so, a lawsuit. Sheesh
In that game, “a number of questionable calls were made” by the “officiating crew,” according to the suit. I never heard that said about any of my matches!
OK, pop quiz -- what's the restart when a penalty kick is saved by a dog? https://www.socceramerica.com/publi...aign=20306&hashid=u5fAgYk1EH6I0GMXIH-dRsoJ_cI
You never want to see this....ever! The big Copa Libertadores final second leg on Saturday in Argentina between Boca Juniors and River Plate has been pushed back an hour. Fans of River Plate were seen attacking the bus of Boca as it neared the Estadio Monumental, and it turns out players of Boca were hurt as a result. Some players were seen vomiting and trying to clear their eyes after being attacked with pepper spray, others had cuts. As a result, CONMEBOL announced the game would kickoff at 6 p.m. local time, which is 4 p.m. ET. But, there are now doubts as to whether the game will be played after some Boca players were taken away from the stadium in an ambulance.
Now it's delayed... not being played today. And apparently the city closed the stadium, so it won't be played tomorrow either. Good times!
Sounds like a forfeit should be declared? From a disinterested party, that would be a just judgement. Not quite the Solomonic "half-a-baby" decision, but that sort of "fan" behavior needs to be addressed to safeguard all teams in the competition. Thoughts? Separate thread?
Note, the players were not attacked by pepper spray. The bus was attacked, glass broke, and when police used tear gas to defend the bus, the players got inundated. On Sunday, FIFA and CONMEBOL wanted the game played on Saturday, then again on Sunday. Rumor is for TV rights ($$$$) issues. Players from River Plate, on both days, said that they supported Boca's players request not to play.