The IFAB We are pleased to welcome four new members of The IFAB's Technical Subcommittee and Technical Advisory Panel: William Collum – Head of Refereeing Scottish FA Mike Riley – Head of Refereeing The Irish Football Association Phil Thomas – Elite Match Officials Manager FA Wales Howard Webb – Chief Refereeing Officer PGMOL Their expertise will be invaluable as we head into tomorrow's Football & Technical Advisory Panel meeting. What's on the agenda? bit.ly/FAPTAP2024_Agenda
Honestly no sure if this belongs here or in The Things We See, or Bad Stories, but for the first time in nearly 40 years of reffing, I had to include the words “a player making fart sounds” in my game report outlining why I abandoned a match this weekend
I had a recent AR assignment in which I was feeling gassy and all the parents were sitting about 3 feet behind me because the field was next to a steep slope, so there was nowhere else for them to go. I found myself thinking, "Don't fart, don't fart ..." They were already mad at me when I didn't put the flag up on what they thought was offside. I really didn't want to give them another reason to think I stink.
As I taught my daughter in 1st grade, if something loud sneaks out, just turn and stare with a look of disgust at some poor innocent kid (boys are usually best) next to you. She informed me later that it worked great.
No shame in crop dusting a sideline that's been giving you static. Between the sounds of the game, other fields, and the wind you get plenty of cover to let it rip.
U14 Rec boys. Team down 6-0 at half and they were playing short a player. Coach told them to go out and have fun and their idea of having fun was to run around making fart noises, drop down on the field and do pushups or adopt the namaste pose or otherwise lay face down on the field while the ball was in play. At 9-0 and after a generous cooling break even though it was only 80 degrees and a nice breeze, their antics became even more pronounced - as in half of the team doing it whereas at first it was just three players. The other team and coach were starting to get annoyed and when I tried to coax the players into being respectful of their opponents and myself, they made fart sounds. So I suspended the match bc and told the coach we could take a five minute break so that he and his assistant could talk to his players about having fun in a manner thats respectful of the game and he had no idea what I was talking about and then accused the other team of being disrespectful of them as his players started making up stories about being fouled or cussed out. Needless to say, this was a first in nearly 40 years of reffing that I abandoned a match because the kids were having too much fun.
Yikes. YC for UB. Specifically, showing a lack of respect for the game. I would have no problem doing that. It would end that nonsense fast.
Oh I told the players that and I told the coach that and gave him a lecture about how refs are responsible for not only safe and fair play but also for ensuring respect for the game. He didn’t get it. Another parent came over and apologized and said he was hoping the club would let him take over.
Happy Halloween... Well done here, @MLSist. We agree nothing is scarier than a 35-yard shootout... https://t.co/KZysWxt8n5— PSRA Officials (@PSRAofficials) November 1, 2024
Law 5 - The Ref · 2024 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup - Final appointments. Two CONMEBOL trios will referee the last two games of the tournament in Dominican Republic. Brazilian Daiane Muniz will be in the middle for the final between North Korea and Spain, while Bolivia's Alejandra Quisbert will handle third place game USA - England. Third Place Game 3 November 2024 USA - ENGLAND Referee: Alejandra Quisbert BOL Assistant Referee 1: Gabriela Moreno PER Assistant Referee 2: Vera Yupanqui PER Fourth Official: Jelena Cvetković SRB Reserve Assistant Referee: Ainhoa Fernández Ruiz AND Final 3 November 2024 NORTH KOREA - SPAIN Referee: Daiane Muniz BRA Assistant Referee 1: Maira Mastella BRA Assistant Referee 2: Fernanda Gomes BRA Fourth Official: Carly Shaw-MacLaren CAN Reserve Assistant Referee: Gabrielle Lemieux CAN
It is a story, and the fact that it is my only one, makes it 'best'. I had a double-header Saturday with game times of 5 and 7:30. Got there at 3:45 and we are in a lightning delay. Game ends up kicking off at 5:19. Everything is moving along with only a little bit of rain when we get lightning in the 60th minute (6:39). At about 7:15, coaches from both teams have wandered down to our locker room and are discussing options. Those of you familiar with college recognize that we are approaching the abandonment point for the game (3 hours after original start time to restart). That means the game is marked as No Contest and the visitors go from hosting a conference tournament game to traveling for a tournament game. They get someone of authority on the phone who gives them the okay to run the stats clock until the 75th minute then mark the game as suspended due to weather. Everyone is happy and the referee personally gets approval to do it and we are done with the women's game. We already aren't kicking the men's game off in time but it does clear and we kick off at 8:20. The game is a mess. Almost all NAIA games around here are bad soccer, but when you add in a delay and a water logged field, the game becomes an absolute mess. Players don't play the ball where they should putting me out of position. They play into pressure leading to very physical challenges that are unnecessary. Most of them aren't smart enough to not go into a 'shoulder' challenge when they are behind the opponent leading to numerous unfair challenges from behind. Game ends 5-0 for the visitors with 8 YC, 1 2-CT, and a player injuring himself on an 'orange' tackle that I could see coming as he lined up his opponent from 5 yards away.
Last five minutes of a G17 game, 5-0 for green. Game had its spicy moments but we are gliding towards the finish line. Before a kickoff blue striker tells me she's been called bitch multiple times. I told her I believed her but since I didn't hear it I can't do much about it except pay extra attention until the end of the game. She nodded. There's a throw in on the far side ... I can tell there's a commotion with a kid & parent ... AR is right there handling it. I ask AR twice if they need my assistance, they say they've got it covered. We play on and finish up. As we're walking off the field AR says green player called a blue parent a bitch and to STFU. (Getting to the point ...) We call the green coach / asst coach over. AR relates what happened and I mention the blue striker's complaint. Green coach is calm, nods, and says they will take care of it. Very cordial discussion with handshakes all around. As we're doing post game stuff / getting ready for the next match I can hear Green coach talking to their team. "You all need to knock that shit off, you're better than that, next time I hear it you're benched" and the like (from the vibe I got the sense this wasn't a one-time thing). Impressed the coach took what we said seriously, didn't get defensive, and addressed it with the kids. I deal with enough problems, nice to see a coach act like an adult.
Great job talking to the coach and the coach handling it well. My question is if that type of behavior is generally okay? The AR heard it and said he had it handled, but if they felt the need to discuss after the game, shouldn't they have called you over to handle it with a card during the game?
Perhaps ... I could see the case for YC (if I had heard it I probably would have given the yellow). At least a warning. Particularly after the complaint from the striker. As a one-time thing I'm okay with telling the kids to knock it off & moving on. With both things happening they likely add up to more, but neither of us knew about the other incident. It's a fair point.
Only a yellow?!? Are you serious?!? If I hear that interaction, the player is being sent off and the spectator is leaving. I just don’t understand how that type of behavior could be tolerated with a simple warning.
Amazon had headsets on sale so I finished the HS playoffs using my own set of comms. I got the ones with the wraparound earpiece, the sticker-inners don't work so well for me. Aaand... Also right before the end of playoffs (actually, lunchtime of the day of my last game) I went and got a new jersey* Guys in my chapter have crossed critical mass for wearing the yellow that's been allowed the last couple/few years. Boy was it easier to see my partners than in b/w stripes. *while the photo does in fact look like a non-OSI USSF jersey, to be used in PA the jersey has to have the PIAA emblem on the shoulder, so my non-OSI USSF jersey is no good. The ones you can buy have no velcro on them, I bet the state just cribbed from Amazon posts or something. And for playoffs overall, the weather was great. Only went long sleeves one time, other than that it was 65+ degree. A real treat around here in late October.
I was fortunate to be selected as the referee for the girls high school state final in Kentucky. This is significant because we don’t have different classes for soccer. All schools compete against one another, so there is only one state champion. Good game that ended 3-1 with 1 PK and 1 yellow card.
Happened a few weeks ago at our state's US Club State Cup finals, but had a situation where a youth AR absolutely nailed a "ball just over the line" goal call in both position and mechanics. 2-0 game, late first half, U16 girls group stage game. I'm mentoring the crew with a relatively new AR (long-time coach and player who is gaining experience as an official) and the youth AR (U17 high-level club player in our area who doesn't get to referee much because of his game schedule - he was only officiating on Saturday because his team didn't have games until their final on Sunday). Shot from just inside the area hits the crossbar and goes straight up in the air with backspin. As soon as the shot is launched, he's sprinting to the goal line. As the ball hits the ground and spins toward the goal line, he's standing at the corner flag. Ball just nestles inside of the far post as the keeper dives and knocks the ball out of the goal. AR has the flag straight up and waits for the center to acknowledge him. Whistle blows, and the AR runs up the touchline. OK, he did have a very small "open hand" gesture near his hip, but it was pretty discreet. But other than that incredibly small item, he couldn't have dealt with the situation any better both from a positioning and a mechanics standpoint. I was on a crew in a college game the weekend before this where one of our regionals was on the line and had to do this, and the mechanics didn't look a lot different between the regional and the youth AR. I immediately recommended him to the assignor to get a middle for an ECNL-Regional League U13 boys game next weekend. I want to see how he does with the whistle. He's done a few 11v11 girls games and a lot of 9v9 games to keep his legs fresh for playing, but I think he'll do very well in the middle.