In my case, I'll probably just quit. If I'm living in a country that's hostile to me and my family, then that's enough negativity for me. I don't need to compound it by listening to ignorant, entitled coaches, players and parents.
Look, I'll be honest. I'm barely functioning. I've got people taunting me about my transgender daughter losing her rights, calling her mentally ill and delusional. I wake up and see RFK Jr. taunting FDA workers and telling them to clean out their desks to make way for people who are going to rubber-stamp every horse tranquilizer and mystery meat. I've been contacted by someone suggesting there might be a story about whether the government would use US Youth Soccer registrations as a means of tracking down people to deport. I don't have the heart to get out on a soccer field now. I hope I find it again someday.
Beau, while I agree that rudeness and incivility became more normal in society with the victory of one individual, most Americans made it clear in this election that they're willing to overlook it since the other party has done nothing to address major concerns most Americans have (too long to list here). I've been in your state of Virginia where people are SO pleasant compared to where I live. We've had your academy teams play here where one of the MLS Next teams offered the referee crew pizza after a match. That would NEVER happen among the tri-state teams I officiate. I traveled in your state two years ago and asked several teens for help in locating a place my GPS wasn't helpful in finding and they couldn't be nicer. You do that here and they'll purposely give you directions to Georgia. In other words, nothing will change for you as a referee. As others have already stated, the fans who were rude are going to continue to be rude and you address it accordingly. The fans and coaches who were polite will not change as a result of this week. In the interests of full disclosure, I don't vote on party lines. In this specific election, I did NOT vote for either of the major parties for the first time. No matter who won on Tuesday night, this was headed for the "Bad Stories" thread.
Last night, I was scheduled to do a high school girls playoff game in a relatively small town. #1 seed home team v. #16 seed visitors. I left the office, with the GPS telling me that it would take me 45 minutes to get there, right about what I had planned on. I get on the freeway and, about nine miles later, we are dead stopped. Move a half car length and then wait a couple of minutes, rinse and repeat. I called the assignor to let her know. I finally arrived exactly at scheduled game time, the same time as one of the AR's arrived. The AD was completely understanding, even waiting for me at the entrance to the stadium, even carrying my bag for me while I made a pit stop. It too me 1.75 hours to get to the game. Game went fine, 4-0 for the home team, no cards.
Beau that’s all really terrible. But I think your problems and concerns are going far beyond needing to worry about where refereeing falls into your life. You have other priorities to deal with and I don’t think you’re in a good mindset to referee games right now. You need a break and to deal with real life issues, not our silly game
Beau, don't let other people control how you think about yourself. No matter what you do or where you go in life, there are going to be people who don't like you, you don't like them or both.
Our high school association had a referee drop dead during a game last night, probably from a heart attack. What a horrible tragedy this is
Yesterday, I had a college club women's game. As I walk up to the field, there are six or eight people on the field, standing around someone on the ground. The two men's teams were playing before the women's game. According to the referee, one of the players had been kicked in the upper chest area and was now having a hard time breathing, possible broken bone penetrating the lung. It seemed like an enormous amount of time before the Fire Bureau showed up. Not surprisingly, the teams agreed to end the game, with 15 minutes left.
State Cup - U16 Boys Division A - Final 3 reds to one team (AL, DOGSO-F, SFP) loudest F-bomb in the world on the first, 1-on-1 breakaway and foul on 2nd, and player on touchline standing still gets trucked with a shoulder to his face/chest and falls right under his parents for the 3rd. That was a fun game. (Not.) After the 3rd red in the 48th minute, I had the field marshal to radio for someone from the SRC to watch the rest of the match. The SYRA took a few minutes and was like "Yeah, with the way white was flying into those challenges, I can see why."
Former Turkish club chief imprisoned for punching referee https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_...urkish-club-chief-imprisoned-punching-referee The court in Ankara convicted Koca of "intentionally wounding a public official" and sentenced him to three years and seven months in prison, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
I was scheduled to do three solo adult games today starting at 9A. It rained very hard on Friday, so I was concerned the park would be shut down by the city since they are grass fields, but it wasn’t, so I figured all was good. This morning as I prepared to leave for the park, the league director tells me that my games are cancelled because of the condition of the field with mud and standing water. None of the other three fields are cancelled, they are in fine shape, just mine. Said that they are going to try to reschedule them for next Sunday. Weather is fine today, was ok yesterday, so all other games get to be played except mine. Didn’t hear any email alerts of other local grass field games being shut down either, so it feels like literally my single field may be the only grass soccer field in the area that is unplayable. So from a fun group of games and a decent payday, to nothing, because of course it’s too late to sign up for anything else.
https://www.sounderatheart.com/2024/11/local-upsl-match-abandoned-after-referee-chased-off-field/ Team defends its conduct by saying the referee deserved it because he was bad. I'm telling you, adult amateur UPSL/NPSL refs need to carry personal protection on them in some way while on the field to protect themselves.
Your suggestion is ridiculous, honestly. But my word, the behavior and attitude by the losing team is atrocious. Obviously severe repercussions (both inside and outside the realm of soccer) should come to several of the people involved. And this incident goes to show the unfortunate dark side of adult soccer. I do agree with you that more must be done to guarantee the referees’ physical protection on the field of such games. It seems like it’s always UPSL where this happens. I think leagues that experience these problems frequently should be required to pay for a police presence at all games.
Here’s another one same channel of a referee physically assaulted at UPSL match who needs surgery https://www.instagram.com/reel/DC-gYZKux41/
Yes, that was a decade ago in Brazil where the referee stabbed the player to death. I’m not talking about that psychopathy. I’m saying just having something to show that you mean business. You also did have this referee in Honduras who pulled out a gun to prevent a mob from getting him, but again, these are crazy south and Central American countries.
Yeah it is always UPSL. But good luck expecting them to ever pay for police presence at these games. There are high schools that do this for certain games, but don’t expect anything from the wild west of men’s amateur soccer. So if you recognize that it’s terrible how unprotected referees are, but know that a regular police presence likely isn’t going to be there, but then think the idea of referee protecting themselves is “ridiculous”, what do you want to have happen?
Really? Aren't we beyond tarring a whole country based on the behavior of a few? Should be: "These are crazy people in South or Central American countries."
I meant in terms of these being crazy for soccer countries where stuff like this happens. This is also the referee board where people talk about how difficult the “ethnic leagues” they referee in are because of the people who participate in them, so I don’t think it’s worth getting bent out of shape about
I once worked with a woman referee from the San Francisco Bay area who had been the first female FIFA Referee from her country, Costa Rica. When she got her badge, she started doing the men's pro games in her country. She told me that her first game the crowd was yelling "whore!" "lesbian!" "tortilla lady, go home." And that was what the women were yelling. As she is walking out onto the field, she was hit in the head with an orange. She hadn't even made the first call against the home team yet! And a few of you may remember the name David Albany. David was not his real name but he had done some absolutely amazing things in his past in the Middle East. Very aware of what can happen in third world games. He used to say that you read the rule book until you pretty much know it cover to cover. Then you put it in the trash and go out and just referee. Living in Miami, he went from entry level referee class to State One in five years, the minimum time required in those days. He was the guy the assignor would send to do a night game between the Haitians and Dominicans when the assignor knew there's be a couple hundred spectators who would be drinking and betting on the game. No linesmen, either.