Yup common here too; we'd expect to see the "guest" coach documented somehow, based on rules that the tournament committee... Oh wait...
Well, due to lack of HS officials (again) I get pulled back into doing more games than I really want right now. and since the contracts are flowing fast and furious and I am accepting what I can, I notice too late that I have this one team 5 out of my first 7 contracts. It is one of these schools that seems to have the population of a D2 or even D1 team, but is somehow a D3. They usually run rough shot through the other teams in the division, so they always seem a little cocky. Game one. They are the visiting team and we are 3 minutes in and they are up 2-0 already. Home team has possession and a player passes back to his defender, I am looking into the sun and I hear "I got it! I got it!" that wasn't coming from the defender. I block the sun and see it is a player from the Visiting team. I blow the whistle and call the player over and issue him a YC. He looks dumbfounded, I tell him it is UB to try and trick an opposing player think you are on his team. I tell the coach and he understands completely and as I line up for the restart both captains from visiting team come up and ask why I carded him. These are HS Varsity players!! Pretty uneventful after that they score 6 more at the 56th minute and I ask home coach if he wants to go until 60? (our state has 8 goal mercy rule now) he said yes and they finish 10-0 at 60 (which was the OLD mercy rule) Game 2 - A bit less controversial, They are visiting team and win 3-0 against a HOme side that told us afterwards they were glad we were reffing because their last match was a horror show. (I said lack of refs, brings out the not so good ones) Game 3 was pretty smooth sailing as well, but game 4 was a doozy. Small town is visiting team and they are really close to home team so a really big crowd (about 100 or so in the stands). They have 3 very good players and are coached very well. The home team I have watched them win pretty easily so far and have not been challenged so HSB cockiness is getting to eleven. About 20 minutes in Home team player is tripped in the PA, easy call and they score on the PK. No complaints. About 10 minutes later, visiting team in PA and player jumps for a header, is taken out from behind while in the air, another easy PK call. Player hits the post and goes OOB. Home team is cheering the miss but then give up a great goal from visiting team from about 25 yards out. Then about 5 minutes late Visiting team scores again and right before the half score again to make it 3-1. Home team is getting frustrated and yelling at each other as much as the other team. 2nd half, and visiting team scores again now it is getting serious. Visiting fans are cheering and about equal numbers then the home fans in the stands. I am sure they are excited about beating a team that has pretty much owned them for the last 8 years that they have had a team. Another lazy tackle in the PA from visiting team leads to another PK goal for home team then a bad misplay by visiting team keeper gives the home team another goal in the 64th minute. Now 4-3 and temperature of game has hit molten levels. Couple of YC's for some late/tactical fouls then in 73rd minute home player dribbles around 2 defenders and nets one behind the keeper. This is a turf field surrounded by a track and then the bleachers. Home player decides to run along the track by the visiting fans giving the "shush" hand gesture in one hand and the "yapping" gesture with the other. I am waiting for him at the center circle to give him his RC (which he was completely shocked to receive) much to the roar of the visiting fans. Last 6 minutes are back and forth high paced runs from both teams and ends 4-4. I put on 6 miles from that match and it was my 2nd of the day. I'm getting to old for this... Now I get this same team tonight, I would assume they played a game on Tuesday and I am wondering if I ask them how well #3 played in that game. He was the one RC'ed and wonder if he sat out his game. I will be glad if I don't have to see them again for the rest of the season.
Thank you for the report from the front lines, lckshter. Very well written. Positive waves for Tuesday.
Good on you. It seems to be a trend lately (e.g. the "shushing" gestures towards opposing fans and it's pretty obnoxious. The last couple games I've seen where it's happened, the player didn't even get a YC for it.
No idea why. It is textbook taunting which is a RC under NHFS. In fact if I remember, it is used as an example of the RC offense. So i had them again last night, the kid was in street clothes, I asked if his AD went hard on him (some have been known to extend a 1 day ban) He said no they actually didn't have a game on Tuesday and this was his one game ban. he was apologetic again and I said it is just a hard lesson learned. They beat another club 4-1. No cards needed for the first time this season for me, so maybe a "best story"??
Every time you think you've heard it all, along comes something else. We have a mercy rule in high school. Eight goal differential and the game is over, at halftime or any point afterwards. So Friday, JV2 boys game, one team is winning, 7-0. The referee announces that another goal and the game is over. (Not, perhaps, the best way to handle this.) Winning coach gets into it with him about whether the mercy rule applies. The referee decides that this coach needs a caution for dissent. But, OMG, he doesn't have any cards in his pocket. So he goes to his dual partner and borrows a yellow card. The coach won't let it go! He gets a second yellow card for dissent and gets to leave. The eighth goal is scored a minute later and the game is over. So I thought that game report was almost unbelievable, right. Today, I'm assessing an Hispanic men's league championship game. White scores in the middle of the second half, to go up 2-0. In the opinion of this completely neutral observer, there was no way that red was going to come back and get two goals or more in the next 20 minutes. Someone on the white team's bench gets a red card! I ask the referee about it afterwards. It seems that the red card recipient had previously played for this team but had been out of the country and not playing with them long enough that he wasn't eligible to play in this game. He wasn't on the roster and therefore wasn't eligible to be on the bench. But he lets loose with OFFINABUS language and he gets dismissed. White ended up winning, 3-0 and the referee did an absolutely amazing job.
Everything that players especially youth players do in "celebrations" is obnoxious copying of what they see top world players doing Another thread on here is talking about zero tolerance for poor spectator behavior. I want to suggest that all spectators who get banned for poor conduct towards the referee are forced to do a solo Hispanic men's league game. Since it was Cal South, it won't be hard to find. Throw an incompetent adult into the center of a Hispanic men's game and see if they don't come out crying with a newfound respect for referees.
This one is pretty low on the bad-stories-ometer. U13 Boys, (these kids are small! The field is humongous.) Some early pushing and grabbing among 2 or 3 players. The ball pops out about 5 yards and one of the aggreived players runs up and rams into the opponent collecting the ball, and halfway tries to throw him down.. Tweet! Yellow. Write in book, White #1, YC Reckless. (I am always disappointed during HS season, when the USSF players don't jog off after a YC. I would have asked the coach if they wanted to sub out the perp, but we were literally 80 yards away. (Literally!)) A couple of minutes later, I am standing next to White #1. "Are you the player I carded?" "No." "What is your first name?" "Parker" What is his first name?" "Parker." Great. Both White #1, both have blond hair, both named Parker. This one is taller, and the hair color is slightly different. I guess I'll deal.
Our area temps are most mid 90s-mid 100s today. I was signed up to do three HS water polo games and they were all cancelled, as were the games at every school in the area. Water polo. A sport with four 6-7 minute quarters, players in swim suits in a pool, a small bench of players and coach sitting under a tent. Even the indoor pool games were cancelled. Indoor. In a pool. I think I had soccer games moved once due to temperature, a summer tournament where it was going to be over 110 degrees in the afternoon so they moved all games to 7A-2P and then 6P-10P. Even games where the temps were mid 90s or 100 on turf I don't think games were ever cancelled. It was just water breaks and maybe reducing the half length. I really can't remember having games rescheduled or cancelled strictly due to temps. Despite being out for half lengths that are as long as water polo entire match and in much harsher conditions than being in a pool or on a pool deck. I cannot believe what has transpired today. I still cannot comprehend it. This was going to be my second day of doing legit water polo matches, and this is what I witness.
Update to my previous post: I was doing a water polo HS JV tournament today (yes, somehow that have regular Friday school day travel tournaments for HS students, something doesn't seem right) and it was still hot as hell, like 100 degrees, and they had to call the fire department because a player passed out from heat exhaustion while on the deck on a game next to ours. So I guess that answers that question. Supposedly will be mid 80s-low 90s for my soccer games this weekend, all on grass, so I'll see how that goes.
We had a professor in college for a mass and heat transfer class. He created a problem because the temp control of the pool was broken and he said 70 or 80 degree water is not safe to swim in because of the lack of cooling the swimmer will experience. Basically, if the water is hot enough, it is unsafe to swim because you can easily overheat.
New personal record 10 cautions in U17B NPL this morning. 2 to home players, 7 to visiting players, 1 to visiting coach, and probably rivaling the stupidest 2CT given in a game Visitors won 3-2. Home: 54' for extremely ridiculous SPA jersey pull, 90+2' for reckless slide from behind Away: 42' SPA/reckless. 47' for FRD standing in front of ball after being warned in the first half. 52' UB DOGSO playing ball PK. 65' PI for his 4th-5th straight arm push down. 73' UB SPA pull back player on way to box. 90', had told GK to use the close balls on goal kicks. Not only does he again go to the far ball, but kicks away the close ball as he passes by. 90+2 dissent to coach for yelling IT'S OVER IT'S OVER at me despite announcing minimum 3 minutes stoppage. Claimed he was only telling his players, yeah right. The 2CT was the player in the 42'. He was the team captain. Not only did I give a captain pregame expecting them to set an example, but I even went to him and warned him after their 5th caution in 73' about all his guys and potential timewasting that can get them sent of "Ok ref I get it thanks". 10 minutes later, he stands directly in front of a corner kick. Not 5-6 yards away, he stands right on the arc. I tell him "dude what are you doing? I just told you about this, now you're gone" 2CT FRD and he acts aghast that he's being sent off. Coach asking him what he did, I act proactively and go tell him that I literally warned him after their 5th caution about being mindful about their timewasting BS then he went and did that, he accepts it and calls his player an idiot.
My youth assessment was canceled due to rain delay so they're just gonna reschedule 23 seconds in. Oh I stopped the game because in the first 23 seconds, player needed ambulance
I can safely say in all my years, I have never had a player stand in front of the corner arc. Thats amazing stupidity.
I never had it happen to me either. Even sadder was him being captain and how I warned him about the number of players he had on caution to not try the timewasting stuff. Then he does that. Also today had a game with only 2 YCs. Both were to the same player. Another send off report for me.
A local club's U15B team played two hours away Saturday. I've known the center forever. He calls me to say a parent was dismissed from his game for "OFFINABUSing all over the place." He suggested I let the center know when they next play here. I looked it up and they indeed next play here next Sunday. The center (college student and a solid referee) is the son of the AR1 of Saturday's game, and was mentored by yesterday's center. I don't have a game and plan to watch from the spectator's side in my "civilian" clothes.
I did a high school girls varsity game yesterday on a field with black lines. There were white lines for gridiron football and red lines for small sided soccer games (going crosswise) but the soccer lines were in black. That was very confusing for the players. For example, there was a white line with a red line next to it at the 45 yard line, so players kept thinking that was the halfway line. And, with the football goal line behind the black soccer goal line, several times players assumed the white line was the soccer goal line and kept playing after the ball had crossed the black soccer goal line.
I did a HS preseason game once. The soccer lines were not well marked, and well inside the other lines. I called a ball out and a parent behind me "its not out". I'm thinking "Im standing in line with the corner flag - figure out which lines we are using". Of course we had told the players, but they still got confused. My first ever center for USSF I did on a field that had lacrosse lines (I think) on it as well. Maybe even same color. I was so lost that game as to where I was on the field.
School near here has white lines for football and some kind of silver for soccer. Turn on the lights, add astigmatism...I can't tell what is going on!
I was in the middle for a girls regional final on a field with lines for gridiron, soccer, men's lacrosse, and women's lacrosse. I had a momentary brain lock and thought the 10 yard line was the penalty area line. Foul is at the nine-yard-line, and I point to the penalty spot. Luckily, my AR1 immediately puts his flag up just as I realize what I had done. As I was outside of the football hashmarks near AR1, this was a pretty easy conversation. Me: "The foul is outside the area, right?" AR1: "Yes, outside" A quick mea culpa to the benches, and all is good. Fortunately, everyone was understanding and glad we corrected things before the restart.
In this situation, would it help to place a few cones along the lines to make it more obvious which ones are being used? Just a suggestion.