i've been having conversations with coach and ref friends. Ideally we get ourselves into the correct position in the dual system, but that is not always possible. How clear of a foul does it have to be for you (or the trailing ref) to make a PK call from 65-70 yards away from the play, especially when you realize that your partner didn't 'see' a call? For me, I consider that a really tough 'sell' that I have a clear view to make such a call. I need to obvious. The extended straight leg, the clear grab, etc. Have been involved and heard of such situations over the past few days. One where a PK is called (where it looked like it wasn't foul AND outside the box) and where the PK isn't called when it was pretty certain that the infraction occurred.
I'd use a VAR standard of "clear and obvious" for making that call. That should clear everything up, right?? In all seriousness, I'd just want to be 100% confident that I had a penalty. If I can explain what I saw and be confident that I saw it, I'll call it.
As a player and a coach, yeah, I can scream for a penalty because I'm pretty sure what happened. Yesterday, I was pretty sure, but 70 yards away from the play in front of the opponent's bench, blowing the whistle and pointing to the spot (while it takes me 7 seconds to run to the spot) is just a good look. Much better to tell the aggrieved coach that I didn't have a definitive point of view.
"And by the way coach, if you were dissatisfied with your experience today, consider asking your AD to pop for a third official."
Oh that conversation comes up often. Of course the fear is, suddenly the schools come up with the money and we are already desperately short referees.
I am a big proponent of duals at lower skill and age levels. But yesterday one of my kids and I walked over to the local HS to watch a very high level boys varsity game. 2 officials for the PIAA. They did the best they could but they did not do this game the justice it needed. Making significant calls from 50 yards away just isn't good at that level. This was a Monday night game. I'm pretty sure if they wanted 3 officials they could have got them.
This can be remedied if you're willing/able to run (to an extent). Just as top-flight referees will occasionally move towards the spot of a foul to sell the call with proximity, we should be doing the same in a two-man. Any time there is a team that I know is capable of controlling the ball in and around the attacking PA I'm cheating in as they start the attacking phase of play; if there is a decision to be made, I attempt to make eye contact with my partner, wait-and-see for possible advantage, and by the time I've called the foul and people are looking to me, I'm already near the top of the PA.
Yes, I cheat when time and play allows it. Unfortunately some boot and run teams will keep the field spread. Almost like two games. One game has the ball the other game awaits the ball. Possession isn't held long and its then coming back, so sometimes cheating is not possible and worse counter attacks happen over the length of the field. As far as eye contact, yes. Again I was 'pretty sure' and a bit dumbfounded that my partner, in a far better position didn't make the call.
The Dual system is getting trashed on more than one thread on this forum right now, overly so IMO. So let me start its defense by pointing out the number one problem with the Dual: There is NO training, And, for some reason lodged in human nature, the first instinct of a referee trained in the diagonal system of control, is to run it as an AR with a whistle. This is true even of good referees who only run a 2-man occaisionally. The good news is that it really doesn't matter. Any game with a low temperature, the players are just happy to play. It is only at the higher levels, like HS varsity, where all the issues being highlighted here come to the fore. Of course, since the other thread is pointing to just that circumstance, the lack of training is becoming more and more of an issue. The chapter in the back of the NFHS manual is a revelation only if you read it. (And no one reads it, present company excepted.) A good, mandatory, 15 minute video would do wonders. I remember when I first started Duals thinking "This system sucks. It is forcing me to be out of position." When I read a piece on how to run a dual that described the lead ref letting play flow past him in the attacking third, it was a revelation. The system is not forcing me to be anywhere. I can go where I want, and any call I make, out of bounds or offside, is what it is. Or rather, it is whatever I say it is. If 2 referees are running a dual freed from the touchlines, they can be close enough to play to keep the players happy. And they can be close enough to sell touchline and OS calls. Unfortunately, that is a big if.
This, I tell anyone who's new to 2-man to go where they think they need to be. I cheat into the pitch as far as I want and flow all the way down the pitch as I feel comfortable enough to be. Most of my method balances on how fast and how high the team attacking my end is and how comfortable I am that I'm fast enough to get back with them. Sometimes you get mixed into play like a CR, and an assessor told me that was fine as long as I could still eyeball offside. I usually just hang with the highest attacking player when my side's attacking team has the ball. It's really not that hard and I'm in position 90+% of the time to get the call right. As far as the PK question, I had one a few weeks ago, boys JV, where the player was clearly fouled and it LOOKED like he was in the PA, BUT, since I was trail and about 40+ yards away I couldn't say 100% and my partner had players between him and the play. Coaches were upset, naturally, but I said that I couldn't tell exactly where the player was when he was fouled. "I'm really sorry if he was in the PA, coach, but that's gonna happen sometimes in a 2-man." If I were ten yards closer and on the diagonal, I'd have had a clear view. I've had to explain this several times this year and everybody understands, but it's only a matter of time until something really important gets missed. I'm not perfect with 3-man, either, but I bet my "correct call" percentage isn't that much lower from a CR spot.
Love when one of the refs (either me or partner) blows the whistle and the players complain to the other about how they should "take the call back since they also have a whistle". Also the kind of awkward situation like I had today where a player had been called for a few fouls by the other ref, and on the first pulling foul he did in my quadrant I go straight to a caution for him for PI. Pi was absolutely warranted (had done a borderline SPA pull and then a late tackle) and I had him in my mind all game, but still awkward feeling
So I have a different question regarding those of you who run duals and those of you who keep track of your milage - how many miles do you usually do in a dual? Reason I am asking is because I finally got a garmin watch and started tracking it. So far, I have only done two varsity games with it, as I only got it yesterday. Nevertheless, I clocked in 4.34 miles in a somewhat low-level varsity girls game and I clocked in 4.84 miles on a competitive boys game - both in a dual. Does that sound about right to you guys?