You guys aren’t going to believe it (or maybe you will), but it hit the fan with this U19B ECNL team again. The game itself was fine. 0-3 at half with no cards, ended 1-4 with 5 cards, everything felt good and in control. However, for the first time ever, in the 83’, I had the “goalkeeper misplaying a passback” situation occur. Defender passes back to away keeper, he swings and missed, ball on its way with speed back to his own goal, he dives and smacks it off the goal line, gets cleared out for a throw in. Home team and coach going ballistic, REF HE HANDLED A BACKPASS, THAT’S A FREE KICK FOR US. I try explaining that a misplay on a passback is not punishable, they are still going ballistic WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT REF, IF YOU DON’T GIVE US AN INDIRECT FREE KICK I’M PROTESTING THIS GAME TO ECNL So you know what I did? I did what I’ve always said I would do if a rare situation came up and no one believed me. I called for the ball, both sides captains to the touch line with both coaches, and told them I’m going to the IFAB laws of the game on my phone. I ran over, got the phone, law 12, and showed them the passage about it’s an IFK UNLESS the goalkeeper attempts to put the ball into play [and misplays it], therefore it’s not punishable. All they could do was relent and say “ok ref, you’re right… throw in it is then” I’m sure people here will give me crap for doing that, say it made me look like an unconfident idiot or whatever. But I wanted to get the call right. And also, in 2 games with them it’s hit the fan 2 times, I’ll be taking that as a sign to not center referee this team again this season
I had that play today except the keeper shanked the backpass upward, then grabbed it. I awarded the IDK. Reading the guidance, I don't know whether the "release it into play" clause applies because if the keeper is attempting to kick the backpass the ball was never out of play.
While the language about release into play may be poorly chosen, this is exactly what it applies to. The concept is that if the GK tries to play it away and flubs it, the GK can handle to ball as this is no longer a tactic to get the ball in the GK’s hands.
Judging by the AR's reaction, I think it was more than an accidental bump. He doesn't just push the player, he grabs the player and forces him to the ground before being pulled up. I am not trying to justify his actions, but I'd like to know the whole story.
There is a reverse view on reddit. It does not make the assistant look good. https://www.reddit.com/r/youthsoccer/comments/1o8ijyi/ar_madness/
I knew I would only do it on a very rare situation and if it was necessary. I could tell that I couldn’t continue the game if I didn’t do it because they would be raving, and also this is a home club that I don’t want to coach to ban me from Not necessarily, I just won’t center them again. If it’s available I’ll just request AR
What in the hell… he rears back his flag like he’s going to hit the kid then just tackles him. Ban this moron from refereeing. We can’t have psychos like this around children
I have found my soccer nemesis, baseball fields. The lines in the grass aren't square to the field, the lines on this one aren't the same angle the same all the way across the field, the outfield isn't square to the field at any point, and, in this case, uneven. Watching the video and I'm still not sure about my positioning...
Background checks only check for past criminal activity (arrests) and not mental stability. I would find it hard to believe that fellow referees and AD's didn't complain to the assignor at one time or another that this guy has a short fuse and doesn't have both oars in the water. They're happy they had a younger referee in their ranks and looked the other way. I'm guessing they collided earlier and had words (conveniently left out on the video) and now he goes out of his way to step away from it to initiate the contact and assaults a minor. Many high school teams aren't used to a 3-man crew unless they're playing at a certain visiting location or in the playoffs such as here so they're used to having benches closer up and coaches coaching on the sideline. A failure of the CR (and AR) to even start the match in this manner. On things like this, we rarely hear the whole story. Video is provided by the schools, who will edit it and even silence parts of the audio that don't suit them. I'm not justifying assaulting a minor as he'll never officiate again, but we rarely (if ever) find out the root causes.
Never ever hold up play to pull out a phone to check rules. Even if there is someone out there who is willing to delay everyone to do it, there are dozens of people who you're going to piss off. If there is something you need to check do it during halftime or other long stoppage. If you feel like you need to do that to get a team to calm down, just abandon.
This was an extremely rare situation that likely no one has ever seen before, that would be the difference between an attacking IFK inside the PA (and in my case, the top of the 6 since the GK slapped the ball off the goal line) or nothing. At the ECNL level, I wasn’t going to wait until the end of the game when no change could be made. I “piss off” a few dozen people for two minutes to verify with everyone that I’m doing the correct thing in this extremely rare situation, I will take that over something silly like abandoning the entire match.
Abandoning a match over severe persistent dissent isn't silly. At a minimum, multiple dissent or OFFINABUS cards should be produced. Dissent cards should 100% be tried before going to a phone.
Oh, interesting. This angle shows a lot of space to the bench. It looked minimal from the cross field angle from the original story. What is the AR doing that far off the touchline to start with? The original news story talks about how he wasn't properly 'registered with the organization'. I assume he has the proper certifications but just didn't pay a fee to officially work for them. Who knows what this means from a liability standpoint up and down the structure.
Perfectly understandable. However, This is an extremely rare situation that also doesn’t logically make sense to people not versed in the LOTG (why should a keeper get bailed out of misplaying a passed back ball and be allowed to handle it?) Personally, I think taking a few minutes consulting the law book to make it clear that I’m judging it correctly and the teams cannot complain is a better result than letting my huge ego step all over them and possibly even have to throw out yellow or red cards while I stubbornly refuse to confirm it with them. But you’re fully in your right to not do the same.
Consider the possibility that the person writing the article was mistaken or confused. This was a district level playoff game - district winners advance the the round of 16 for their division for the state championship. If there's an "unregistered" ref on a district game, there's quite a bit more to the story. At the district level, referees are assigned by the district host, or the home team if the game is not played at the district host site. While this district was hosted by Marquette High School, the game was played in Traverse City, so TCSF assigned the referees. The state provides a list of referees that have met the requirements (registered, took the online rules training that year, submitted a schedule, and are a member in good standing of a local officials' association). If this referee wasn't on that list, the assignor is also in a LOT of hot water. We get a brief clip. Yes. it looks bad. No idea what else there is to the story. and I won't throw around accusations that the ref is psychotic. Let the process work. No need for that person to ref another High School game while that process works, since there are so few games left. And for yinzes that talk about riding your bike to games, TCSF won that game in OT. So they advanced to the district final, which was a 285 mile, 5 hour drive by car, with a toll to cross the Straits of Mackinac. I assume the bus took longer.
[ I don’t think you are going to find referee instructors who are going to support you on this. You know it isn’t soccer protocol. There are other ways to handle. For example, get the captain (or coach) and everyone else back. Let the captain (or coach) say his piece. “Thanks Mike. I understand what you are saying. They changed the Laws a few years back to allow the GK to pick it up after he miskicks it on a pass back.I can show it to you after the game if you’d like, but right now we’re getting back to playing.”
Well aware that it isn’t “soccer protocol” and that it wouldn’t be supported practice. However, I made the decision to do it, especially after my last time officiating this team was quite a debacle, and they seemed to appreciate that I took the opportunity to get and confirm the rare call correctly. I think doing “unaccepted practice” is worth staying in good standing with this team and club, not having the coach go to the assignor to say he doesn’t want me on his games anymore because one game was a shitshow and the other, I refused to confirm to him that my call was right (before a restart and therefore the decision can’t be changed) because my ego is too big I know none of you will have your minds changed, and you aren’t changing my mind, so that’s all there is to it.
For me, the part in BOLD is the best way (IMHO) to handle the situation. It allows the coach/captain to calm down w/o having to admit that they don't understand the laws. Plus, offering to show them after the game also helps to diffuse the situation.
FWIW, I've never heard of a phone or the the LOTG booklet being taken out during a stoppage of a match at any level... for the obvious reasons. The closest I've seen is someone showing the the "Advice to Referees" to a coach after a game that US Soccer used to have before they discontinued it about 9 years ago. A CR in his third year was trying to justify a horrible backpass whistle that led to the game's only goal. Before me and the other AR had a chance to talk him out of it, he had already whipped it out and warned him that we didn't want a part of his circus and warned him to leave with us immediately or he'd be leaving alone with angry folks nearby.
The link you provided does not state he wasn't "registered". I believe you're referring to the sentence in the second paragraph that says this?: The MHSAA confirmed Thursday that while referees are independent contractors, they must be registered with the organization to officiate games. It could have been worded differently, but it doesn't say he wasn't registered as an NFHS referee and doesn't state that he wasn't registered with his state. When I received my HS match assignments online in mid-summer, a mass email went out from the assignors that all prerequisites had to met (registration, registration fee, concussion test, mandatory meetings, etc,), or assignments would be pulled in late August. I suppose anyone could slip through the cracks, but that is not what the article states unless you're referring to a different article?