I love it. And I am now even more bummed out that the tournament I assign for would not let me offer pink shirts to the refs. I had arranged with the vendor to provide pink shirts for $20 each if I could get 150 sold. Given that I have 200+ refs in the tournament, I figured it was doable. And I would buy them upfront and subtract the $20 from the final ref pay. For some reason, the tournament board decided it was "too complicated", even though I was doing all the work.
Now that the crew list is set, I can share that I will be representing South Texas at USYS Youth Regional Championships in Murfreesboro, TN!
Because if I can't laugh at myself every once in a while -- what's the point https://streamja.com/9ERaR
Blue could have waited a little before taking the throw-in. Two Red players are checking on you, with one pulling himself out of position. Did your center check to see if you were okay?
Yep - after attacking phase was over he shouted over "You good there, gaolin?" and I replied back with a thumbs up. He and I did a WPSL game the day before.
Imagine if they exploited that gap that the other guy left and scored from that while other 2 red players were checking in on me. Oh boy.
I’ll be attending the Midwest Regional Championships in Indianapolis as a referee mentor and the head of delegation for Kentucky.
Had a girls 15 game a couple weeks back. Ball is at the top of the box and pretty much the entire attacking team was in the box. Defending team wins the ball at the top of the box and there is a hard sliding challenge by the attacking team. Easy foul. Ball immediately pops out five yards to a defending team's player as she is running out of the box. Whistle was halfway to my mouth but I am looking up field and recognize the defending team (now the counterattacking team) have a 3 on 2. I was able to move my hands out to single advantage before the whistle made it to my mouth. I then thought I heard a loud "good, referee" come from the coach's sideline! I figured I was hearing things. The team ended up getting a good shot on goal (she missed about half a yard left) The best part is that I was able to confirm at the half with my AR that he also heard the coach commending me! It's ironic I got complimented for this advantage call because it was actually one of the easier advantages I've ever given... Even coming from the defending third.
The attacking third ones are nice but easy. When you play a good defensive third one because you're able to recognize that a true counter attack is on, it's a great feeling.
Yesterday in the adult rec league I solo, I RC'ed a woman for VC after slapping a male player she took offense to fouling her (which I immediately called) with extremely little force behind it, just thigh-to-thigh. The league/ref coordinator forwarded me an email the player sent to her where she barely acknowledged responsibility for her actions and proceeded to criticize my refereeing abilities and clearly is blaming me for the fact she did that. In my response email to the coordinator, I described the incident in detail and originally had pointed rebuttals to each personal attack she made against me. Before sending it, I cut those parts out (put it in a word doc in case I need it later) and instead just wrote "I will not dignify the personal attacks she made against my refereeing competency with a response". I haven't heard anything back yet but I am happy with myself that I contained my anger.
Last night, high level U23 ... red striker is a step in an offside position jostling w/ the CB for position. Ball is played towards him, he checks back to get it, I pop the flag. Crowd behind me starts moaning. Striker turns towards crowd and yells, "Nope, I was off." Everyone shuts up and we move on. Thanks, dude. Later attacking team is looking to level it up with five minutes left, shot cranked from outside the 18, deflection off defender, right to attacker who was off on the shot. My flag goes up, two attackers start yelling "he touched it, he touched it" and point to the defender. Another attacker says, "No, deflection doesn't count." The players head back up field. From far touchline Coach yells "that came off their player!" Center says "it was a deflection." I hear someone on the bench say "like in Champions League." Coach nods. Yup, that was me. I gave myself a gold ref point for that one. Good call, AR!
I always remember the very high level men's amateur game in which an attacker, in an offside position, sees his teammate with the ball looking at him. With an expression of total panic, he loudly says "I'm off!" The teammate passes him the ball anyway. I pop the flag. Dude, he said he's off.
That happened to me once, except the PIOP pulled up. I kept my flag down as he didn't immediately challenge for the ball. He looked at me, saw my flag down, then ran toward the ball. I then raised my flag. It confused everyone, including my center. But I stood by my decision to wait until the player challenged for the ball. The center said everyone expected the offside call so I should have raised the flag. But what if the player never challenged for the ball after looking at me?
I set my availability to "All Day" for tomorrow's games. My mistake. The assignor gave me four games, the first for 8:00 a.m. An hour plus drive and a time change from Central to Eastern has me up EARLY. But I set the availability, the assignor assumed it was set right, and I accepted the games. I will be there around 7:00. Or...maybe I won't. I just got good news. The first two games cancelled. Since I accepted the games, I would make sure I got there. But I am not heartbroken I don't have to be there until later.
This is my 18th season, and until today, I have never called a six second violation on a ‘keeper. U-17, very high level, ‘keeper has been warned a couple of times about slow play, and also holding the ball. Last straw, even as i tell him “let’s go” he continues to hold the ball. He ended up still holding the ball 11 seconds after taking his time to stand up. And, me saying let’s go. Nothing happened on the free kick. He caught it, and got rid of it.
I went to a small ECNL event that I had to drive an hour to and only got 2 ARs and a 4O. I thought it was gonna be a waste. The games for the most part were However, I got to take home a bunch of bananas, muffins, and eight halves of good sandwiches that were left. Made like $40 on those foods alone. Day was salvaged.
In my solo adult rec league this Spring, early May I stopped the diagonal and started running up and down the touch line basically like a dual just up the whole touch line all game in order to focus more on offside and less on fouls as fouls don't happen much. It made games significantly better. Finally, today, the last game of Spring season, I heard a player from the sideline say "wow look, this ref actually is close to the offside line and actually runs unlike basically all the other refs in this league".
I had one of these in the highest-level match I ever refereed. The advantage led to a goal too. It was a "dream come true" moment for my ref career. Those advantage calls are probably the best referee feeling possible during a match? Update: My recovery timeline was not overly ambitious and I was able to hit a decent standard of fitness in May (which was not a guarantee) and began refereeing matches again. I was also able to secure enough assessments to maintain my referee badge for next year too!
After a couple of fourths and a bunch of AR assignments to state HS championship games, I finally got a whistle yesterday. Teams ranked #1 and #2 in the state in their division. Beautiful, sunny day with temps in the low 70s. Perfect grass pitch (played at a Big 10 soccer stadium). Probably 3000 fans in attendance. Visitors scored on a cross in the 5th minute. Home converted a PK (one that my trail AR jokingly said he would have called if I hadn't) in the 6th, and we're tied at the half. Visitors score on a scrum from the 6 in the 58th. Home coach thinks there was a push in the build-up (there wasn't) and is demonstrative enough that I caution him for dissent (my bar, as I've said before, for coach dissent in HS is pretty low). On a throw in in the middle third of the field, I see a last tough by home, but my AR doesn't. I'm pointing visitor's way, AR is pointing home's way. I clarify who touched it last, and where. Home assistant coach jumps up, waving his arms and yelling. "Coach, it went off #12's shin right there in front of you" "But you can't overrule your AR!!" "Coach, yes I can, and here's your card for dissent. Don't make me come back" Under 10 minutes to go, I call a push from behind about 45 yards out. Home midfielder sends a laser to the top 90 to even things up. OT, here we come. With 1:21 left, the home team, on a give and go, slots one inside the right post from about 12. We get through that last minute and home storms the field. It's their first state championship in program history. Felt pretty good. I don't regret any calls I made or didn't make. Got hit by the ball once, when the correct play was to send the ball that way, not towards me, but it didn't create a scoring chance or a turnover, so I yelled "White ball, white ball. Keep playing". I did look around and all three refs on my crew were rubbing their bellies, indicating I got the buy the first round for my failure.
Good for you! I always wanted to go out in my career with a final. But, alas I don’t think I could do it justice now. also, your Throw-in story reminds me of a State final where the referee changed his call on a throw in, never allowed a re-set of the defense, and the defenders got caught flat footed for the only goal of the game on a breakaway!
How was your tournament in Murfreesboro? We had a good week in Indianapolis. I served as a referee mentor for 9 matches, including a semi-final and a final.