You are correct. I'll clamber back into my hole. For the record, I didn't bring up the topic. I commented on it. I came, I observed, I commented. In the words of Steve Martin. "Excuuuuse me"
OK. But by not doing HS you're (a) missing a lot of fun (b) in a realm that really needs more good refs. Just sayin'.
Half the fun of doing high school is being able to blatantly manipulate high school boys, who think they're all that, into playing fairly, without them realizing what you've just done to them. Age and treachery can beat youth and vigor every time.
At a certain point we are all (hopefully) out there to serve the game. The HS version is different in some ways and some of those differences are quirky, but the point is how many times did the round thing go in the back of the ol' onion bag. There's a specialized subset of U15-U18 players who suit up for their schools during the fall, and attract more-than-typically ignorant fans to their games. While they are there, I am there. And duals are not the weirdest thing around; you haven't lived until you've heard PA HS refs blowing whistles in three-part harmony.
I don’t get all the angst over the differences between IFAB and NFHS. It’s still soccer and each has their own specific set of rules of competition. Most every league I work a game in does. They treat subs differently. Some limit them some dont, some allow it on any stoppage, some don’t. Some have no offside and some have a buildout line. Some don’t have throw ins at all. Heck, one even says corners must be below knee level. They are all modifications for specific competitions.
High school soccer is getting closer to the IFAB version as the years go by. Does anyone remember the yellow/red card or goalkeeper having to release the ball within both six seconds and four steps?
I had two incidents in my JV boys game last night that really brought home to me (as if it needed bringing home) how much I dislike the HS clock and prefer the traditional IFAB approach to timekeeping. Right at the end of the first half, with less than 30 seconds on the clock, there was a hard tackle foul by a visitor right in front of the home bench. In hindsight, maybe saying it that way suggests that stopping and carding would have been the right approach, but in the moment I didn't think the foul rose to the caution level, so I just blew for the foul and let the clock run out as the aggrieved victim was lying in front of his bench. Everybody unhappy, including the teammate I ended up carding for dissent. In a club match I could have just kept time running and let everything sort itself out, but not here. Then at the end of the second half, score 0-0, again less than 30 seconds to go, home fouls right at the top of their PA. With the seconds ticking away, home did what you might expect, i.e., not statue-ing, but taking their sweet time walking away from the ball. Visitors are yelling about it, then take a quick kick right into a defender, and the buzzer sounds. Very unhappy. If I'd had the time on my wrist, I could have let the free kick proceed in an orderly fashion, and again let everything sort itself out and nobody would have been mad. But not here. We made our way quickly to our vehicles.
Early in the season I was AR 1 on a VB match. Solid well played game, 0-1 with 40 seconds to go and there is a foul against the away team outside the area just at the top corner. The R is a much younger, fitter member of our chapter who also happens to be a USSF Regional ref who is working towards the next level. Of course the away team starts milling and and there is general havoc and mayhem from all the players. The R blew his whistle and stopped the clock and I'm expecting a card for either the foul or dissent or for delaying the restart. Except he didnt produce a card. He just calmly got everyone set. and the DFK went just wide of the net and I let out a huge sigh of relief. The GK would have had no chance and a foot farther over and its in the top corner for the tie. The away coach never said a peep and of course the home one didnt either. I asked him later what reasoning he used to stop it, and he said "that seemed a clean way to let everyone get set." I suggested that was a complete fabrication and he was lucky they didn't score.
See 7.4.1 "The clock shall be stopped ...and when a referee orders the clock to be stopped." You have absolute power to stop the clock when you think it should be stopped. In these situations it's an easy decision, IMHO. Call the game that the players expect.
To be frank, that’s a gross misuse of the rules. If the delay is enough you feel the clock needs stopped you needed a card. And if the same issue didn’t require a stoppage earlier in the game it doesn’t need one now. The only way to illustrate the stupidity of the NFHS timing system is to hang them by those rules.
There are so many ways to fix the clock issues. Being in line with FIFA is best, but, I would like them to end the game once the ball is out of play after the clock expires at least.
I’d be ok with that. And also add that if it expires on a dead ball that play continues until the next dead ball, unless it is another restart for the current kicking team. Or something like that.
WADR, it is not a misuse of the rules. The rule is written the way it is so that the referee can bring justice to the game in unusual situations like this. There is no other reason that clause is there in the rules. I won't comment on your suggestion that we should not stop the clock in order to punish NFHS for having a stadium clock.
I disagree whole heartedly. That section of the rules is not for a referee to arbitrarily decide that this free kick should be guaranteed to take place. The provision is for issue where referees have to administratively stop the clock. In the event of a needed conference with fellow officials. In the event of prolonged outside interference and the like. NFHS made this issue by using the timing system they do. If you weren’t going to stop the clock for the same issue I’m the 3rd minute it doesn’t suddenly become right to do so I’m the 80th.
Gosh, your arguing with righteous indignation with someone who was in the room where it (the writing of the law) happened about what the rule was intended for. I've certainly stopped the clock late in the game when I felt that the defending team was fouling to try consume the last of the time. You know what happens? They stop fouling and play defense. Did the foul *require* that I give a card? I thought not. My game, my call, my reputation. Prior to the "five minutes remaining" sub rule, I would stop the clock if I felt that the coach was substituting to kill time. While the rules permitted me to card the coach, I didn't necessarily see the need to always do so. By stopping the clock, I got the coach to stop the behavior. Isn't that the point?
Your can have whatever opinion you want on the matter but it’s a fact that if you aren’t doing it for every foul you’re playing favorites. NFHS wants the clock to be set in stone then so be it. Take the good with the bad.