man, good for her for attempting to defend herself: Shocking moment footballer SLAPS female referee after he's sent off before official is restrained by club chiefs | The Sun
In the end, good thing that she was restrained. It could have been a much bigger s*** show if she had actually been able to confront him directly. Hope he gets a nice, long ban.
AR2 came flying in...it looked like he might have wanted to escalate it...funny but I was at a Thai restaurant last night and they had news on live from Thailand when I saw this video...little did I know that this actually took place in Colombia and not Thailand...lol
Cal South Soccer · Cal South regrets the recent passing of longtime Cal South and U.S. Soccer referee Viet Truong. “We will deeply miss him, not only as a dear friend but as someone who lived with integrity and love for his family. His presence brought warmth, laughter, and strength to all of us, and his absence leaves a void that words cannot fill. He will forever remain in our hearts and memories.” - Ricardo Salazar “He was more than just a person in our soccer community — he was a pillar of dedication, passion, and service. Through his countless contributions, mentorship, and tireless efforts, he helped shape the lives of players, referees, and families alike. We are forever grateful for his legacy and the impact he leaves behind. Thank you for your service, your sacrifice, and your unwavering commitment to the game and to all of us.” – Juan Guzman, Jr. | Cal South State Referee Administrator & Cal South Board Member
This just dropped over on Slate: https://slate.com/advice/2025/09/parenting-advice-referee-soccer-insult-revenge.html Cheers, Mi3ke
Another U17B game. Another 6 yellow cards because of boys playing recklessly and stupidly. Unfortunately two were cheap FRD and DR. Included three penalties (one a GK DOGSO-PK, one a reckless stomp while the player was shooting). Had to have a captains meeting at halftime to tell their teams to cut the crap. One of the most disappointing games I’ve referees, was not very happy with my performance
This has been the weekend from hell. U19B ECNL today. I even tried calling the captains together at halftime to get them to use the halftime meeting to control their players a bit. Didn’t help. 14 yellow cards in 2 centered games. Just don’t know what to do anymore. New season, same shit. I guess the problem is me
HSB-Varsity, two second-tier teams. The visitors show up with 11 players. I'm checking in with the coach while they're warming up and he lets me know that he plans to use some JV players in the varsity game -- we have a "three halves" rule where a player can play in three different halves per day, so if they play in both halves of the JV, they can participate in one of the Varsity halves but not both. Not up to us to manage or track, but if someone complains, we put it in the game report and let the State Association sort it out. The JV player he used in the second half sets up for every throw in 10-15 yards from the spot where the ball went out. Every free kick is tossed forward 10 yards. And every time, I tell him to go to the correct spot and knock it off. We're down to about 1:30 to go in a 0:0 game, and he has a free kick at his defensive 22 (top of the "D"). He tosses the ball forward 10+ yards. Now, that far from goal I'm a little less concerned about precision, but we've already had 5,6,7 instances, and my patience is gone. Tweet, stop clock, caution (and I'm thinking "Is this DR or UB? Is 'Shithousery' a valid caution code?" Thankfully, we don't have to report it if there is no send-off). Coach "Was that really necessary?" Me "You should ask your player exactly that question." They had had an injury to one of the Varsity players, so they didn't have anyone of the bench to replace the cautioned player. In the "unexpected" category, the coach sends the cautioned player up to sub, but doesn't tell him to jump on in the flow of play, and he waits for a throw in to be beckoned on. Because I'm thinking "If he does, do I caution for E, 2CT, and now I *do* have to figure out what the first caution gets recorded as? Should I just card the coach instead?" Anyway, all ended well. 0:0 final, no send-offs.
I can't tell you the last time I've ever called captains over about "controlling their players" when today's teens can't control themselves. It is unrealistic. Save it for adult leagues. If anything, a 5 second chat with each head coach as soon as the half ends. I'm sure they still do it today, but we had referees here who wanted to get neutral and unbiased feedback and reached out to the state office. When I used to have someone evaluate my matches twice a year as a Grade 7, I can't lie and say all of them provided outstanding feedback, so you'd be at the mercy of whoever they send who happens to be free for the upper level match you think is going to be worth a lot of positive/negative feedback. A most likely scenario is that they're more used to having officials "talk" to them after a first or second reckless foul instead of doing the right thing and producing a caution.
The biggest problem with my refereeing (I hope) is that I am really terrible with player management. I’m just not good with knowing what to say to players, which is why I go to cards. I issue cards that I feel are warranted rather than “managing them with my personality” which frequently seems to go bad for most people. Yeah I know it’s pretty ineffective. But I figure that I can at least use it as an excuse. “Hey, I told your captains what the problems were, and told them to speak to all of you. Sorry, what else can I do”. I mean I hoped that at the U19 ECNL level, maybe the captains would actually have some sort of effect on their players behavior. I’m not sure if it did or not, but when I did discuss a few contentious situations with them mid-game, it seemed to calm things down and at least not have them completely in the dark about what was going on
Messed up the # of sub moments in a MLS Next game ... after the dust settled I think I recorded a blue sub moment as white. So when blue tried to sub I told them they were out of moments. 99% of the time when a team uses their final moment I confirm with the coach to head off an argument. This was one of the 1%s. Sigh. Coach was seriously pissed, not that I blame him. At halftime I went over to the bench and told him I screwed up. We moved on. During his first sub of the 2nd half I yelled super loud "FIRST SUB MOMENT" ... that got a big chuckle from the technical area.
Whistled 33 fouls last night in a JUCO girls game. Not sure what my record is but it felt like I broke it. Had to call all of them, these were plays where the player went down or lost possession due to the trip / pull / hold. No rhythm to the game with all the stoppages. Not sure I could have done much differently. Just one of those nights.
We haven't even reached the mid-point mark of September and I've already done 3 boys high school varsity games that have gone to two 10 minute overtime halves without anyone scoring. In two of the matches, no one came remotely close to scoring. My understanding is that our neighboring state (who also pays significantly better) did away with overtime a few years ago. I understand the American culture of wanting to decide a winner, but is this the right way to do it? We saw one of the FIFA competitions this summer go straight to PK's after a tie. If you're going to inconvenience the parents who are waiting to pick up their kids at a home game and further delay the ride home for student athletes from doing homework, then why not waste another 5 minutes on PK's since we already wasted nearly 30 on two senseless overtime periods where no one scored (I'm including the time between regulation and overtime and the switch of fields at halftime of OT). In HS basketball, they play a 5 minute overtime (yes, it becomes longer with the stoppages from fouls, subs, etc), but the chances of a tie in hoops after one overtime is probably only 2%. I can't understand how folks who serve on a board think this is in the best interests of student athletes who already spent nearly 90 minutes (including clock stoppages) on a field on a school night to go through overtime where games still end in a tie.
I wish. Few times in recent years it's been alleged/hoped that the state would bag OT in the regular season, but no luck. Up until...7/8 years ago, OT in the regular season was for section matches only, which was at least something.
I don't think we've ever gone to OT (or PKs) in regular season HS games (with the rare exception of a game where some in-season 'cup' is on the line). I have no problem with ties. ETA: This is Ohio
IIRC, Maryland only has OT/PKs for playoffs and finals. I also agree that OTs should be limited if not done away with at the HS level. It's fine to go straight to PKs. On a side note, When I played (many, many years ago), they didn't even have them for finals. I played for a team that tied for the State Championship one year.
Was going to edit that down to respond, but there are things in most paragraphs. In Michigan, there is explicitly NO OT in the regular season. If you are in some sort of tournament where you need a winner, you can go straight to KFTPM, but no OT periods. Period. In the state playoff, we do have two 10 minute OTs (no golden goal) if tied after 80. If still tied after the 20 minutes of OT, proceed to KFTPM.
In Texas each district set of schools can decide to walk to the bus, go straight to kicks, or play OT and then kicks as needed. Most everyone walks to the bus. We have one district we service that goes straight to kicks. And of course since districts here realign every 2 years, its a moving target every 2 years. Playoffs are 2x10 followed by kicks if still tied.