I have a confession to make... I was once a gotchaballer. Actually not just once, but twice in my officiating carreer. The first time was when I did youth recreational back when I was in college and for a few years afterwards but after being exposed to higher level games I got past it... sort of. By this, I mean that rather than whistling every foul I saw, I learned that at the higher level games to only whistle the popular or obvious fouls, but let the others go. At the time, I thought of myself as a pretty good referee. The players liked having me at their games and most of my calls were rewarded with approval by at least half of the people there. Then after a twenty year gap during which I played a little at the amateur level, coached both of my children to several championships, I got back into refereeing, this time by taking the USSF entry level course with my son. Interestingly, it was not a matter of picking up where I had left off some 20 years before. Now my head was filled with a whole new set of Laws and mechanics. In a sense, it meant starting out all over again. We not only had Laws but specific conditions for their application. What I thought I knew was very different that what I saw before me on the field. To make matters worse, I was initially doing only the younger ages where in many instances, fouls often do not occur at all. They were not obvious, you had to go seek them out. So, in the spirit of use it or lose it, I again emerged on the field as the master of the gotchaball game. This gotchaball game looks a lot like soccer. It uses the same ball, players wear the same uniforms and it occurs on a soccer field, but where soccer is a beautiful and fluid contact sport where the players contest for the ball and the outcome is decided by the players on the field with as little outside interference as possible, the game of gotchaball is constantly interruped by whistles, influenced by the screams of parents and coaches, and quite often decided by the interference of the referee who is more focused on preserving his or her authority or vision of how the game should be played than the spirit of the game or what is actually occuring in front of them. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that gotchaball can't be a lot of fun. Someone wins and someone loses. There is the thrill of competition. Some calls go for you and others go against you, but it is all part of the game. Players adapt to the rules. Parents learn to accept the calls. Coaches even learn to take advantage of the the rules to gain a competitive advantage. Gotchaball is not unfair. It is not unjust. It is not wrong.... it just is not soccer. What is interesting about gotchaball is that, in the US, at least, there are probably more people participating in the game of gotchaball than in the sport of soccer. On a given Saturday, in every state in the US and every town with a youth program, you can see parents, players, coaches and officials engaged in the sport. And it is not limited to recreational youth, but is equally, if not more popular, at the intermediate and high school level where, again, rules and infractions are the standards by which the game is played. This is particularly true with the recent growth in the sport and the need to train more people as referees, combined with the high turn over in officials which means that at any given time some 80% of all officials have less than three years of experience. One of the other reasons that gotchaball is more popular than soccer is that it is one heck of a lot easier to understand. The ball hits the hand, everyone sees it, its a foul. A foot lifts during a throw-in - foul. A player goes down, hands on the back, player past the second last defender, blow the whistle. It is simple black and white. If it looks bad it is bad. So the question is this: Is there any one of us who after taking the course and getting our badge, whistle, jersey, socks and cards, and our head filled with all the laws, did not walk out on the field and find that the only way to apply our craft was to perpetuate this wonderful game of gotchaball? Who among us did not go out there a look for a foul? But, is this a bad thing? How else are we going to learn to be a good official if not by making mistakes? Is not gotchaball the proving gound, the place where we learn to distinguish that which is trifiling from that which is not? That which is doubtful from that which is a violation of the laws? What is deliberate and what is an accident? Is is not a necessary phase or rite of passage for every referee to first learn the Laws though both their use and abuse, and then learn to temper them with experinece and judgement? How long does it last? Is it measured in years or in game count? How many do not get past this stage at all? It does have certain rewards? Why advance to the next level having the mastered the first. How many of us, if faced with that first season of refereeing would make the same calls, today, that we did then? For some of us, how many years has it been since we did a game at that level at all? Let's face it. This is where we all got our start. It is a common experinece for every referee. The question then becomes, at what point did we make the transition from refereeing gotchaball to refereeing soccer? Maybe more important, how many of us have completed this transition? Even for the most experineced is there a little bit of gotchaball still lingering in the recesses of our subconcious? Speaking for myself, I realize that no matter how hard I try, I cannot deny my roots. There is still a little gotchaballer in me waiting for that momentary lapse in concentration to show itself to the world. Just this past weekend in a G13 a player accidentally handled the ball, but she stopped and looked guilty and all the other players stopped and before I knew it the whistle was at my lips and I gave in to that moment of weakness and signaled a foul. Then, from the sidelines came that sweet chorus of "good call, ref!", "its about time!", "he finally got one right". I guess we all still have a long way to go. Sherman
Boy are you right Whipple... I like to think that I was always past it. I had good teachers and mentors on the field as a youth referee. Having grown up playing the game with my father as a certified referee, I didn't come to learn the rules as an afterthought. But you're right. Sometimes when my rational mind is slow to catch up with the visual overload of what I just witnessed, I react. But I'm torn, Whipple. "...we learn to distinguish that which is trifiling from that which is not?...Who among us did not go out there a look for a foul?" The rules are written in black and white. Our applications of the rules are often not. Attempting to trip an opponent is a foul. It very well could be considered trifling since no conduct was made. Yet it was still a foul, regardless of whether or not we blew the whistle. Odds are we let it go since we strive for that balance of game flow vs. referee 'glory time'. We choose when to enforce the laws of the game. The purpose being to 'preserve the flow'. I wonder just what the game would be like if players adjusted to the game's laws being enforced exactly as written in LOTG - Every hold was penalized, every push and so on (not ruling out advantage here). The players basically adjusting/learning to play without fouling. Isn't that the ideal we hope for? In the meantime, I guess I'll continue to preserve the flow of the game.
Nice post Whipple, As someone who feels he is no longer a gotchaball ref and someone wh is too old to have aspirations of getting to the top of the referee pyramid, I find the following: As my skills of officiating get better and better; the coaches, players & parents feel that I am doing a worse and worse job. Calls that "every other" referee make, just don't cut it in my mind. I guess my dilemma when reffing anything under the U16 level is do I call a match properly so that everybody feels I have no idea what the heck I'm doing, or do I ref gotchaball and walk off the field having everybody think I'm some sort of "zen referee". I have committed to myself to ref every game I do the way it's supposed to be done, but there indeed are days that it just doesn;t seem worth it. Scott
Confession is good for the soul. Hello. My name is Paul. Sometimes I'm a "gotchaballer". Every once in a while I find myself making a call where, even before I finish blowing the whistle, I realize I'm practicing "gotchaball". It usually happens in an easy game where I'm bored and I'm trying to concentrate on correct mechanics or positioning or something else to make the game seem "worthwhile" to me. That's when I'm most likely to forget that the game isn't supposed to be for my enjoyment and I end up screwing the pooch at the expense of some hapless player. We never stop learning, I hope.
Scott, I'm sure I have told you the reaction to the national who worked a set for me down in Plymouth a couple of years ago. He was CR and I was AR1 on a G12 and the coach was beside himself complaining and asking me where I found this "turkey" who didn't know anything about the game. He thought I was bad, but this guy was worse. I really do get a lot of satisfaction in seeing how well you and others in the area, like Russ, have made the transition and continue to just get better and better with every game I see you do. But, there is always something else to work on. That was so funny when that parent came to the referee tent to complain about you a few weeks ago. She said you were the worst referee she had ever seen. Then Russ popped up with the comment that someone had earlier in the day decided that he was the worst, and I pointed out that this could not be right since I had been given that title by another coach. If you noticed, she just kind of walked away at that point. I don't know whether we ever did finally resolve which one of us was the worst. Sherman
We shall never speak of that day again! That particular episode was a clear example of a match (boys U16 tournament final) in which if I had called a "gotcha ball" game (I love the word gotchaball), I'd probably have been getting praise as the best referee in that tent! Scott
Worst referee ever seen ... When one of our refs was given the "you're the worst ..." line, he replied, "You have to get out more." (Now, he told me this personally, but I don't know whether it was something he actually said, or something that he really wanted to say.) I think almost everyone starts as a gotchaball ref. You can hardly help but. Most refs start from the bottom up, either as parents of kids in the youth leagues, or as kids themselves. Only very rarely will you find someone who's been playing, say A-League ball, decide to become certified. So most new refs have only their misconceptions gleaned from the youth games, and their limited knowledge gained in cert classes, to base their calls upon. I'm sure I was a total gotchaball ref when I started. I hope I've advanced past that, although sometimes I see myself slipping back into habit. Unlike many online, my standard fare is recreational games. I do some competitive, usually u12 or u14. (I have decided to stay away from the U15 "barbarians" and the HS game entirely.) I'm not that rare among my peers in doing this level of games; our former SRA is a local ref who likes a rec game from time to time, and there are many others who take these assignments on a regular basis. I am different from other refs of my tenure (6 years now) in that these games are my primary repetoire. Not to toot my own horn, but several times in the last year I have received complements on my games - directly from a coach; from the league president based on an email he received; from a u12 player who not knowing I was listening, told his teammate "We've got the good ref today." I must admit it makes me feel good; it also seems to indicate that I'm doing some things right. I certainly don't call the u12b rec game like some other refs I've seen. That's because the typical u12 ref is someone with about 1 year experience consisting of all rec level games. No problem with that. But I find that for me, u12b or u14g rec games are about the hardest to judge "what is a foul". Maybe a year or two younger in comp games. I need to find out what game the teams want to play. Often times that is different from week to week, from game to game, from team to team. It is sometimes different than what the coaches want, and almost always different from what the parents want. Some teams are content banging off each other all afternoon. Others want any physical contact called as fouls - they want gotchaball. The ref who has progressed beyond gotchaball will recognize the difference. The key to being "consistent" is not to call every game the same way, but rather to call the game you are in at that time to what the game requires. How much experience does it take? That all depends on the experience and what is learned from it. Some refs have 10 years experience; others have 1 year experience repeated 10 times. The latter is much more likely to be a gotchaball ref. Sometimes there's a single game that gives you a year's worth of experience in and of itself - and probably two year's worth of new gray hairs! I think we all retain idiocyncracies where we are "gotcha". Don't we all have that one call we just love to make? Why? - because it demonstrates your fine grasp of the minutia of the Laws on that point? That sets you apart from the unwashed masses that just don't get it? Because on that one point hangs the entire Spirit of the Game?
From my experience the gotchaball refs are the ones who never played the game seriously. They opted out of being a player before reaching any kind of true competitive level, or they never were a player to begin with. They don't really understand the game from a player perspective so they can't relate to what is taking place. They attend the entry-level clinics which spends 18 hours explaining what the players can't do instead of what they can. So when they walk out onto the field their mindset is virtual laundry list of "Player can't do that, can't do this." Everytime they see a list item they blow the whistle. Clinics need to focus more on the spirit of the game. Teach the laws, but also teach their purpose. Introduce the idea of how to read the players skill and what contact they will accept. Teach them how to sympathize with the players; put themselves in the players shoes and think about how they would feel in certain instances. Teach them how to have respect for the players and the game. You don't learn to referee in a classroom. New referees should have continued guidance every week as part of the training program. They need to be observed by those who understand the game and given critiques of their performance. It shouldn't take years for a referee to break away from "gotchaball," it should take only a few weeks.
Re: Worst referee ever seen ... I'll usually say something like, "I've done worse." To Whip's point about the G13 players simply stopping when they think their is handling, I am very quick to say, "Play! Play! Play!" or "Keep playing!". [Devil's Advocate mode on] Conversely, we hear it repeated that it is the players' game. Well, in this case the players wanted a handling call. Why not give it to them? That doesn't make you a "GR", that simply shows that you are reading the game and doing what is necessary for that game. [Devil's Advocate mode off]
Re: Re: Worst referee ever seen ... I was actually thinking along these lines. What exactly is our responsibility? Isn't it pretentious for us to say "I know how this is supposed to be done and I don't care if you like it or not."? That seems like an arrogant attitude to take to the pitch. As nsa says, if all of the players want this call it is very difficult to not make it, and it can lead to a loss of game control if no one trusts your judgement or accepts your decisions. I've certainly taken my share of grief from the sidelines and to a lesser extent from the players at the younger age groups especially with regard to things like handling and sliding tackles because I tend to not see things as fouls that everyone else seems to think is a foul. I have thought from time to time that maybe they are right. If this is what the players and everyone else connected to this particular match wants me to do, then who am I to say "No."
I assigned a nice select tournement this weekend and had the opportunity to see NON-gotcha-ball carried to the extreme. We had a courtesy assessment on a new official on a U13B game in which a team lined up for a DFK and sent two players running up to step over the ball...........and continue running into the wall to knock holes in it.....Unfortunately the young reff did not call any type of foul and was corrected after the game by the assessor. Needless to say the story made its way to the reff tent and we all had a good laugh. Unfotunately I did the U13 final and, yep, the same team tried the same play again. I dont normally do many games below U16 but I was frankly DEAD TIRED!!! Anyway the runner come and bump into the wall right as the kick is being taken. I didnt think it was enough to warrant a card(maybe I am getting soft but they were 12 year olds) so I chose to have a stern word with the player who made the most contact. I did caution a 12 yr old in the same game for one of the worst executed dives in the area I have ever seen. In addition to learning that he might get cautioned for diving.......he learned what the word embelishment means.........and I was reminded not to use $10 words when communicating with children......I think I need to watch the reffs that are doing my U13 games closer!
Re: Re: Worst referee ever seen ... I agree you horned devil I could have easily switched four or five unintentional to deliberate in my last weeks match and they would be quite happy particularily the ones that were advantagous. I think it is important in not calling the handling because it is nit a foul is to say accidental get on with it. It at least shows you saw it instead of missed not calling it in their eyes. My game last night the the player ran after the cross ball which dropped into the path of a defender who one times it on the bounce to the head of the player with a shielding motion the ball is off the hands in front of the face. HANDBALL!!! I scream NO WAY! He was protecting his face get on with it! The player thanked me profusly for recognizing that fact. After the match I was approached by the coach and asked not too impolitely why do some referees call that handling when I do not? I pointed out that I determine offside when the teammate kicks the ball yet they stay lined up defending until the ball is past them. He seemed puzzled and I smiled and simply said because they do not know any better. Myths created that satisfy the comfort level are hard to eradicate.
Re: Re: Re: Worst referee ever seen ... I think there is a clear distinction in our responsibility between younger youth games versus older and/or more competitive matches. In the former we have a duty to teach as we officiate. (Notice I said "teach", not "coach" - I'm talking about the laws, not tactics nor strategy nor even sportsmanship.) Even if every player, parent and coach at a U-little game thinks that we should declare a handling foul when a player kicks the ball into the hand of an opponent, we have a duty not to make that call. If we don't teach them the correct application of the law, who will? Obviously as we move up through the various levels of play it becomes increasingly more important for us to consider input from the players as to how they want us to call the game. At some point it is more important to be right by the players than to simply be correct by the letter of the law.
Re: Re: Re: Worst referee ever seen ... And here you have the quintessential distinction between the game of soccer and the the game of gotchaball. Who are we, as soccer referees, to say anything, whether it be a yes or a no? Who are we to interfere at all unless we have either observed a deliberate breach of Law 12, and that breach effected the opponents and we must signal or stop play and restart in order to ensure fairness, or there was an infringement or aspect of one of the other laws (ball out of play over the touch, an offside infraction, etc.) for which play is stopped and must be restarted? This is not arrogance, this is our job and a responsiblity to the game which we alone must have the courage to uphold, often in the face of unanimous opposition. It is not easy. While we must adapt our tolerance to the level of play and respond to the dynamics of the game to fairly apply the Laws, we do not have the authority to change the Laws themselves. This is respect, integrety and courage, not arrogance. Sherman
Statesman, I would strongly disagree with the above. In fact, I suspect that the opposite may be true. That experienced players may initially be more likely to call a gotchaball game than those with less experinece. What their experinece does do is make them better gotchaball referees and it may help them make the transition out of gotchaball to soccer a little easier, but this means changing their mindset. Remember that the perspective of a player and the perspecitve of a referee are vastly different. Players are driven by approval and are often quite succeptable to how spectators, coaches and players react. You are absolutely right about the entry level course. The focus of the course is to help the applicants pass the test. The real training only starts when they get out on the field. What you suggest is right in line with what has been recognized and we are trying to address with mentoring, informational assessment, and, in the future, through the assigning program. It is also dealt with at the annual in-service training, usually given at the recerts. You are also right that it should not take years for referees to make the transition from gotchaball to soccer, but unfortuantely, this goal is hard to achieve unless a program of early mentoring is already in place, or the individual referee seeks it out. The problem is that gotchaball is reenforced at the local level and rewarded by the approval of the local parents and rec programs who know no better. Therefore you see a lot of peer support and for many referees in Massachusetts for example, it is not until they have been officiating for three years and are invited up to the MTOC or the Chevy Cup that ever work a game with referees who apply the Laws any differently. For many it is almost culture shock. Sherman
First let me clarify what I mean by experience. Anything less than a U17 Class 1 player is not an experienced soccer player. They are a youth soccer player who is still trying to learn the beauty of the game. Even most U17-U19 players have not fully developed their knowledge of the game. Because of their youth and inexperience they become gotchaball refs just like any non-player would. However, an experienced player knows exactly what a foul is. They know when they've been cheated and they know how to cheat another player. They can tell right away when somebody else has done the same. They know how to create an advantageous handling of the ball under the guise of it being non-deliberate, and can recognize when others do the same. They know how much getting kicked in the ankle stings and how frustrating it is to have it done over and over for the entire 90 minutes of the game without being punished early. They know all the little tricks like giving opponents a slight push while challenging a header, throwing elbows midair on the opposite side of the ref to intimidate the other player, or backing into somebody about ready to jump to make it look like a foul. You say their is a vast difference between the mindset of the player and that of the referee. My contention is that there should not be. The referee needs to think like the players so he can anticipate their actions. Like the old saying goes, "Anticipate the offense, ref the defense." Referees need to read the flow of the game and position themselves to observe where the defense is weak and would most likely foul. They also need to be aware if the offense is attacking a strong defensive area as then they would be more likely to foul in order to get through. These are all tactics that an experienced player inherently understands because he has been in those positions throughout his entire career. The non-player referee has to not only learn how to observe for unfair play, but learn how the players think too. The latter part takes years to develop without proper guidance, but works hand-in-hand with the former. Until that time where the non-player referee is strong in his understanding of both, he will be a gotchaball referee. He will look at the game through the eyes of the text in the LOTG, not through the eyes of the players. This is why he sees things differently -- we are talking about two different paradigms. Finally, the referee who plays relates better with players. He knows what refs have said to him in the past that upset him further. He knows what refs have said to him that calmed him down. He knows what works from experience even before becoming a referee. The player-referee already has many years of experience under his belt that a non-player referee can never achieve.
This doesn't just apply to cheating or gamesmanship. The experienced players knows how much of a bump is "trifling", and what you can play through. Whether the slide tackle that cleaned out the player was necessary or calculated. Who had position on the header and who went over the back (or low-bridged underneath).
Gotchaballers Yep, we ran into one this weekend. I must say, the situation made me appreciate how hard it can be at times not to be a gotchaballer. The referee gave our team a 1-0 need with a free kick outside the box in the first half on a very soft foul. A gotchaball foul, if you like. Then, he gave the opposition the 1-1 draw late in the game with a free kick outside the box from a "hand" ball on a line drive that glanced off the lower shoulder of our team's defender, as he was turning his back so as not to block the ball with his chest/neck. I will say this, it's hard not to be a gotchaballer! The referee had 20 fired-up, riled parents of the opposition: a) pissed off about the first goal, and b) absolutely, positively convinced in their hearts and souls that any time a ball touches any part of a defender's hands or arms, it 100% MUST BE an infraction. Would take not only experience but much confidence to face those parents after having ruled "play on."
Re: Gotchaballers If the referee ruled "play on" then he should be ready for the wrath of any "knowledgeable" parents. The words "play on" or "Advantage" pr "Advantage, Play on" have very clear meaning when coming from the mouth of a referee. When those words are spoken it means: -There was a foul and the referee clearly saw it -The referee is allowing play to continue as to not take away a percieved advantage to the fouled team. If the referee feels the need to say anything, it should not involve the three words advantage, play and on. Generally saying nothing, or saying "nothing" will work as well as continue. Scott
Play On Scott - OK, I stand corrected. Have that last sentence read "after having thought 'play on'." Soccer referees in this country ... God love you. I know more about the game than 99% of U.S. soccer parents ... and I rarely make a comment to a ref, because I realize that I might be wrong. But those other 99%, oh my goodness, many of them do like to vocalize.