IMO, this is one of the sacrifices of leagues using solo refs (along with quality OS calls). You need to pick the things of highest importance to watch for and to hell with the rest. Obviously impossible to do everything and if you try, you get situations like what you describe. I lobby leagues/clubs hard to get them to use 3 refs at all times, and if they still go solo, then I don't want to hear about any missed calls....
Had my 1st day of a state tournament today. Was only scheduled for 3 games (1 Ref/2 ARs on U12). Had my 1st game but my knee started going haywire near the very end so I dropped the rest of the games today. Very sad about it. Also dropped my HS games next week. Not sure about tomorrow, I have 1 center/1 AR but we'll see. Very sad about this...
This harkens back to the same injury I picked up on September 9, 2019 when I first started refereeing (I'm so new...) and didn't call it quits until Sept 22 when I fell down mid-sprint clutching my knee. From September 22 to October 9 (2.5 weeks), I did PT 3-times a week and PT at home. From then, I took it one game at a time until I could get more but on October 27, I finally had more than 1 game (3 actually) and was able to run pain-free. Same exact injury. But this time on the left leg. Kill me.
The forecast yesterday said "no rain" for today. My wife told me to bring my cleats anyway. "Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it" she often says. It rained in my break between my first and second game. Guess who didn't bring his cleats. After three games, guess who has his ankle wrapped with an ice bag on it.
Had the whistle for my first U14 game ever. I had to bow out during HT and give reigns to AR1 due to the knee injury I've been hanging on since Feb 1. My disappointment is immeasurable.
I'm not sure which category this one goes in. At 8:30 Saturday morning, I get a text. "Can you do a game at 11 this morning?" Okay. When I get there, two guys are just finishing a game and they're the AR's for the game with me. O-40 1st division. Last game of the winter season. Between them, these two teams have 0 wins and 1 draw this season. Haven't done the white team but I've done the red team already twice this year. Starts out alright, more offside than fouls. Then one guy from the red team is trying to control a chest high ball with his foot. Unfortunately, a teammate comes in trying to do the same thing and kicks him in the face. He's down for a while and leaves the field, holding his nose. No blood, though. About five minutes later, a player from the white team goes down after being hit in the back of the head. I stop play and he leaves the field, so the sub comes on. After the game, AR1 tells me that the guy was vomiting and said he was dizzy. !!! Classic concussion symptoms, right? I don't know what happened to him after he left the field, but he wasn't on the bench a few minutes later. The crazy thing was that he was hit by a goal kick taken by his own goalkeeper. Unfortunately, some of the players, from both teams, started taking the attitude that these injuries meant that the other team was getting too physical. I had to tighten things up quite a bit to satisfy the players. The last 20 minutes of a game that ended 1-2 for red had some players from white regularly asking when the game was going to be over and some other players from white whining that the other team was wasting time and wanting me to add for it. I ended up marking their behavior as average on the game report.
Yep, This counts as bad. Assaulted and Injured USA Referee will need several forms of medical care for two years, plus eye surgery... Just off one punch ! Referee Go Fund Me for Medical Bills and lost income.