In the 20 minutes or so that I watched, it seemed to me that the referee (who I thought was otherwise doing very well indeed) was allowing an unseemly amount of guff from the players, including a disturbing amount of body contact with him. Thoughts? Did this fall under the rubric of "producing an event?"
when rakitic bumped him and then finger pointed, i was waiting for a yellow, and then about 10 or so minutes later, then was a real madrid player lying on the ground who made a play for the ball, that was studs up to the knee of a barca player. to me thats a red card
There is a reason why Marrufo got this game and why he gets all the big MLS games. He let's MLS players man handle him all the time and he does nothing and he keeps getting better assignments. You think he's gonna do something to Real Madrid and Barcelona players? It's a lost cause complaining about Marrufo's style of officiating.
If a player had actually pulled a knife and stabbed someone, there might have been a RC. Anything less, no chance. I'm sure the organizers were thrilled with his performance.
He bumped into Rakitic just before the "discussion" and things had gotten kind of shaky between the teams at that point. A "friendly" between these two clubs is never going to just be a summer friendly between the second team. I don't think the push was any big deal, frankly. There is a line, IMHO, between minor contact that simply expresses an opinion that the player doesn't like the decision(s) and an assault. Some players are just more physical in the way they express themselves. Northern Europeans tend to express their opinions with their mouth while those from southern Europe tend to use their hands more. Yes, that's a generalization and I know the old saying that "no generalization is worth a damn including this one." Maybe the line is drawn between the referee's understanding that this contact that says "I don't like what you're doing, ref" and, on the other hand, a "F.... you, ref." One's directed at the decision, albeit physically, and the other is directed at the referee's person, is one way to view it. As Bubba alludes to, these games are a different animal and the referee absolutely must understand what they are all about. "It's all about the Benjamins!" Coming over here for late summer games, before the league season starts in Europe, is a nice cash harvest for the top European teams. The stars are typically required, by contract with the promoter, to play for the first half and then the probable subs can try to show the manager what they can do in a game played in front of large crowds against the subs from other top clubs. There's no reason for a game like this to get real physical, EXCEPT that this particular game is between two huge rivals from the same country. This game was always going to be a little different than the others, have a bit more of an edge to it. In the end, though, the promoter is the boss here and he doesn't want anything to take away from the event. It isn't so much about soccer as it is about people seeing their heroes (individuals and teams) in action in person. We used to have a referee around here named Tom Reynolds. A FIFA from Wales back in the '70s, if I'm not mistaken. He came to the US to do the original NASL games. One day he's doing a NASL game in New York that was billed as honoring Pele. A player from the visiting team (sorry, I don't remember the name) comes to Tom during the game to complain that Pele is playing over the top physical against him. Tom gestures to the crowd and asks the guy, "You want me to send him off in his tribute game when 30,000 people came to watch him play?" The guy took his lumps the rest of the game.
Boy oh boy, is there a lot to learn from this video, especially for reffing Varsity boys and older. 00:17 Note that #5 grabs out at the ref as he walks by. 00:19 Rakitic #4 grabs Maruffo's arm complaining about the call. Marrufo takes offense. 00:25 Marrufo expresses his displeasure about being grabbed by buffaloing through the chest of Rakitic. NEVER EVER DO THIS. Maruffo tries to ignore what he just did, but Rakitic now needs to express his unhappiness, get an apology, and re-express his place above the referee in the game's machismo hierarchy. Marrufo walks away, back upfield, and tries to call on a sub while placing the ball. 00:40 Referee tries to mollify the player. He puts both hands on the player's body. AVOID THIS. Maybe this works sometimes, but if the player's temper is up, this is not going to settle him down. 00:45 Player matches the ref's two hands on the torso thing, in a bad way, with a two handed pushoff. But he is still not satisfied. Referee can't do anything because he knows he started it! 00:50 - 01:04 Rakitic re-engages, points his finger at the ref's face, saying you pushed me first. He forgets his initial grab, of course. Ref doesn't see things that way, denies it, still won't apologize, says you did it first; and they never come to a meeting of the minds. 01:05 Ref ends the video by blowing whistle loudly to refocus on the substitution. In the mail yesterday, I received the preseason newsletter from the NFHS. On the back page was an article entitled "Don't Match Players Emotions".* One of the examples was demanding a player return to you to receive his Yellow Card. Equally bad is running after a player who is walking away. The players are upset, you don't want to act like YOU are upset, too. Similarly here, players grabs your arm, you respond physically. NO, DON'T!! One way to avoid the above mess would be to make a rule, never touch the players. But, IMO, this would be missing the point. It wasn't the touch (or touches) that was the problem, it was the attitude and context that went with them. Touching the players is fine, if you are welcoming them at the beginning of the game, or showing empathy for an injury or even something like a shanked shot!. If you are trying to assert dominance, you are in trouble. Alpha males are not going to let that go--as we see here. If the players are getting physical, administer the rules. Don't get physical, too. * Initially, I was confused because I remembered reading, possibly in the same newsletter, an article saying referees should match the energy of the players. I think, the energy advice was encouraging hustle, not to get lost behind play, get in position. This is different. If the players are angry, mad or hostile, don't join them.
I'd be interested to read that article, despite being in Canada and not doing NFHS games at all. It sounds like good practical advice for everyone out there.
Well, not never... My first thought when I saw the incident this weekend was "he's channeling Collina." Problem is, he's not Collina and he doesn't have the respect of these players (to be fair to him, almost no referee has their respect and no referee doing this match for their first time would have it). My half-joking counterpoint aside, I thought your post overall was very good.