Threw out coaches for the first time today. I think the decisions were correct, but my mechanics were off, which I'd chalk up to inexperience ejecting people. The controversy was early in the game. An opposing player at midfield played the ball, and it bounced up into his arm. My interpretation was based on this part of the Laws: "it is not an offence if the ball touches a player’s hand/arm: directly from the player’s own head or body (including the foot)." They could legitimately argue the "except for the above offences" clause in that same sentence, and I'd disagree but understand the objection. Naturally, the opposing team ran down the field and scored. The coaches' volume increased. I went over and explained the Law. They clearly weren't listening. I told them that's what it says in the Laws and started to walk away. One coach barked out one final word: "It's a bad call." I said, "no, it's not," and I restarted the game. As we restarted, I heard one of them say to someone, "Why does YOUR opinion matter?" Found out later he said it to the opposing coach, who was trying to sympathize with him and say it was a close call. A few minutes later, we had another ball-to-hand play by their opponents. This one, I could've whistled, but it happened quickly in a scramble, and no one gained an advantage. It was maybe 50-50. So the coaches were yelling. And yelling. My understanding is that if it's persistent, it's time to talk with them. At a stoppage, I walked over to talk with them. They weren't hearing it. I showed yellow. They asked, "TO WHO?!" I misspoke here. I wasn't sure who was worst, and I wasn't sure who was the head coach. (From now on, I'll find out before the game.) I said it was to the bench, which is certainly imprecise, and one guy started yelling at me, "TO AN INANIMATE OBJECT? HOW CAN YOU SHOW IT TO AN INANIMATE OBJECT?" I tried to explain it was to the adults on the bench, because I couldn't discern who was saying what, but again, he wasn't listening. Red. Then the other guy started baiting me. "You never played the game, did you?" I said I've written several books (and yeah, I shouldn't have said that). The guy kept going: "You never played. You're just a ref trying to show off by taking control. You never played." (I Googled both of these coaches. Can't find any sign that they played at any high level, either.) In retrospect, I'm only 80% sure I should've tossed the first coach. I'm 100% sure on this one. He was directly undermining my authority on the match. Red. And he kept going. And going. I asked for the ball and walked away. I gathered the ARs. I was prepared to go to the field marshal if needed. I should mention something here. This is an All-Star tournament for rec teams. Naturally, the coaches I was tossing were from the host club. Fortunately, no one on the staff gave me a hard time. In fact, the two remaining adults on the bench defused the situation. The opposing coach, who was no trouble at all, asked if I was adding time. I said we really can't do that because these fields are booked solid all day, but I went ahead and called the first-half water break. The coaches I tossed finally trudged over toward the parking lot. I took the ball over to restart. Then I noticed they had stopped at the gate, chatting with someone. "WE'LL RESTART WHEN THEY LEAVE!" I yelled. They finally did. Someone handed a piece of paper to the field staff at halftime, and I heard someone say it was a complaint. I inquired after the game, but whichever staffer had the paper wasn't there. So to sum up: - I'd give myself a B when it comes to avoiding escalation. I gave them opportunities to vent and argue. I walked away after hearing them out and trying to explain the initial call, and I walked away while the second coach was still yelling at me after the red card. - In a funny coincidence, I had just watched the clip of Efan Ekoku making an utter mess of the offside law in a World Cup broadcast, insisting that something shouldn't have been called offside because there was a defender on the line and missing the fact that the attacker was behind the goalkeeper, who was the second-to-last defender. "Playing the game" means diddly-squat. And if we limited the ref pool to people played at a high level (and for the record, yes, I've played a good bit of rec soccer), we'd have even more of a shortage than we have now. Fun way to end the season! Fortunately, this was the middle game of a three-fer, and the other two games couldn't have gone any better. Coaches and parents appreciated the fact that people came out and did their best while broiling on a turf field on Father's Day.
Sounds like, overall, you did do it for the right reasons (though, it could be argued you may have waited a bit long, but that's all good). In terms of your mechanics, now that there's a bit in the LotG that allows us to give the misconduct to the head coach if we can't identify who is committing said misconduct, I make a point of introducing myself to the closest team official before the game, and ask them directly who the head coach is. Once I've established that, we're off to the races. Something you can then use when showing that misconduct is to go over to the head coach and say something like "Coach, I cannot identify who from your technical area was dissenting, so unless you are willing to point them out, this caution is for you." Chances are high that they'll give up the GK coach. If all goes well, that should shut that person up. Repeat as needed.
id go a step forward. IMHO, you should NEVER let the game kick off before you introduce yourself to the head coach and shake his hand. You want to be a PERSON, not just “the ref.” I realized after some time that my biggest issues with coaches were cleaned where I was rushed and didn’t get the chance to do this—which really means didn’t prioritize it and make sure it happened. Even in a tight tournament schedule with back-to-back games, I won’t start a game without saying hello, even when it means running from touch line to touch line to say hello to both coaches.
Tossed my first coach this weekend too. Boys HS 1st division travel. Final game of the season. Home team needs to win to secure 1st place. Visiting team just playing spoiler. Hot humid day, visitors only have 11 players. Near the end of the first half, there was a 50/50 play in the visiting team penalty area, where a home team attacker, the visiting keeper, and the ball all arrived at the same time. There was a collision, but both I and my AR on that side saw it as a 50/50 play, no foul. It was neither reckless nor violent, just a collision between high school aged boys. The visiting keeper stated that he was injured on the play, so I stopped play and the coach came onto the field to tend to him. During that time he loudly expressed his displeasure at there not being a foul and a caution called on the home attacker, stating that "You need to protect the goalie!" I let him vent, and then asked him to go back to the bench as the keeper was fine. He eventually left the field, we resumed play, and the first half ended soon after. During our walk to the sideline, the same coach began yelling across the field that it was reckless, and should have been a caution. I stated "that's enough coach", which he ignored and continued to yell across the field. At that point I showed the coach a yellow card. He then immediately yelled "f*** you!, f*** off!, f*** you!". I then immediately showed the coach a red card and asked him to watch the rest of the game from the parking lot. I texted our referee association president, and then we talked about it that evening. Turns out, said coach is a certified (old G7) referee in our association. Unbelievable.
Hummm. Sounds suspiciously similar to a case we dealt with here. In our case, there was a little more 'heat' to the incident, since the coach threatened very specific bodily harm to the referee. U17 girls game, if I recall correctly. The coach was also a referee. The incident took place in an adjoining state but he was registered in our state as a referee. After a great deal of process, he was "dismissed" from the Federation (which means, in effect, that he couldn't referee, coach, play or administer any FIFA affiliated soccer). Days later, he died in a single car accident after a late night drinking session in a tavern. I was later told by the assignor, who just happened to be a police officer, that the coach was about to be arrested for spousal abuse.
Yikes. Yeah, I don't wish the guy dead, but some disciplinary action would be nice. He obviously has an anger management issue.
Well, the 'disciplinary action' was that he couldn't coach, referee, play or administer anywhere under FIFA. As I said, getting to that point required three hearings, after he appealed, the results of the first two hearings on procedural grounds. His appeal time after the third hearing's decision had expired about the time of his death. I will note that all of these proceedings were on the referee side of things. The youth soccer association under which he coached did a one game suspension and called it good.
Those associated with that decision needed to be banned from any sort of administrative position for a very long period of time. A one-game suspension for threatening bodily harm to a match official at any level, let alone the youth level, is a joke.
So, after Memorial Day weekend tournament debacle (freezing and drowning for 2 days straight) I decided I did not want to sign up for any more tournaments. I decided I would wait until a few days before the tourney, and if the weather was reasonable, I would contact assignor and offer my services to fill any gaps they might have. So on Fathers Day weekend, we have a tourney 30 minutes from home and I know the assignor and weather says sunny and high 70s, so I go for it. I told assignor I would be available 2, 3 games tops if she needed me. And I would be perfectly happy with none. She gobbles me up and puts me on 3 games each day. And I see that she has openings all over the place, so I offer my son and boom, he's got 3 games. We have games 6,7,8 on the schedule. And then there is no one assigned to game 5 after the first shift finishes their 4 games and would we be willing ............. So I end up with 7 games on the weekend. 60 or 70 minutes each, so not too bad, but I feel a little taken advantage of, but gotta help a fellow assignor out. Saturday, we have 2 games shortened by lightning. Didn't rain too much, but still a PITA. We go to Popeyes for dinner (which my son loves because of their spicy sauce) and they got no sauce. Sunday, not a cloud in the sky and temps soar into the high 80's. I have 3 U15B centers and we are on a pointy ball field where the goals are integrated into the goal posts. This mean the field is a full 120+ yds. Ugh... My AR2 is a 16 yr old, 1st year ref, who has no business doing 11v11 premier games. He is very heavy and can barely run. I watched him work the last 15 minutes of the prior game and then when meeting him asked him if he was done for the day - no, that was his first game. I spent the next 3 games trying to give him tips on things like where to stand on a corner kick and how to run without snapping the flag like a machine gun. After the first 2 games, we are scheduled for a much needed break as there is no game scheduled. But 2 U19 teams come trotting out on the field and the coaches/scouts start setting up the camera thingys. I ask the other 2 refs if they are scheduled to work and both say no. I ask the field marshall who the refs are and he has no clue. There was no way I could do this game and then come back and do a 4th game in a row, so I told the field marshall (after checking my email and texts to see if I was being asked to work the game - nothing) good luck and see him for the 5pm game. They pulled some poor schlub off of his 6th game of the day and had him do it solo. I told him I hoped they were paying him $100 bucks and he gave me a sad little laugh and limped off. So the best story part of the story is this. In the final game of the day, I have 2 decent U15 teams playing with a semi high level of skill and I am enjoying myself. I got my break and my 2nd wind and the end is in sight. Black is attacking and a shot is taken and ball pops high into the air and striker jumps high and does a beautiful bicycle kick from about 22 yds out, right on frame. GK does a desperate back pedal leap and just barely tips the ball over the cross bar. Great shot, greater save. I'm about to call for the CK and I see my AR (AR1, not my never called a thing all day AR2) has flag up for offside. And I was just so thankful for that save, because I did not want to have to overrule that beautiful kick and deal with all the noise that would have caused.
Anybody get extra pay for Involuntary Solos? I did a couple recently that were not that much fun, and left me with a bad taste that has lasted a while. If I had been compensated with just one of the AR fees, it might have soothed me a little...
I have a couple assignors who have padded my pay when I pick up an extra game. I had two games once and it was just me and one other. Two turned back a game unexpectedly so he asked us if we could stick around for a third. We did and he plugged us in for the empty AR spots on the first two. So it looked like this. Game one CR John Doe AR1 VoiceofLG AR2 John Doe Game two CR VoiceofLG AR1 John Doe AR2 VoiceofLG Game three CR Jane Doe AR1 John Doe AR2 VoiceofLG One of the reasons I don't mind answering his emails when I am free. He always takes care of his referees.
New York State West Youth Soccer Association 20 mins · Northstars Soccer Club: "I’ve seen a lot in my 18 years of coaching. But last night was definitely a first. The team we were playing against had a goalie with no shoes. When the referee noticed he stopped the game and was talking to the player. He then proceeded to take his turf shoes off and give them to the player to wear. He officiated the rest of the game barefoot. "
Do any old timers recall the law being that if all players chose to play barefoot it was allowed, but they all had to do so. It's always been in the back o my mind as a real thing from when I first got certified in the late 80s. Even then it was a little known and never seen law. Of course this was before shinguards were required.
The LOTG said nothing about shoes being mandatory, but had mandatory specifications for any studs or bars on the shoes if shoes were worn. The Decisions of the International Board (the precursor to the Q&A that was the precursor to the Interpretation of the Laws of the Game and Guidelines for Referees) that added the gloss that a player should not be allowed to go shoeless in competition if other players were wearing shoes.
I seem to recall a story about some game with a national team from some remote area (maybe an island country) showing up for an event, and they had to go out and buy shoes. Because they never wore them at home.
I seem to recall the team from India faced that... but doing some quick research now proved that story to be false... https://www.indiatimes.com/sports/k...-t-because-they-had-to-wear-shoes-258199.html Though, as the article states:
Here’s a couple of comments, and maybe you do these things. If a player is down injured, check, beckon, and get out of there. Nothing good comes from being around a coach with an injured player. On the GK getting whacked on a 50/50, if you can, call the foul going out. Builds some goodwill. Prevents overreactions. Not saying invent the foul, but the mix you described (boys, hs, final game) lends itself to trouble. Sometimes a cheap foul placates the coach/GK. If that attack was going nowhere, then call a foul and get them away from each other.
Again, not soccer related, but as our horizontal jumps crew marched (yes, marched) off the track the last three days, we have received a standing ovation from the spectators at the end of the track where our exit door is located. And, no, there was no other event going on at the same time that was the target of their thanks. And we still have a shortage of track officials.....
I assume they're applauding anyone going out in the heat at this point. Forecast over 110 tomorrow? Stay cool!
Shrug? When would I notice it? In pre-game check in, when I make them line up, bang on their shinguards, show me their cleats, and lecture them for 10 minutes about sportsmanship and how I will call the game? That's a negative, ghostrider. Even in HS, I ask the coach "Will all of your players be legally equipped by gametime? Ever answer 'No' to that question?" So I'm going to notice it when I notice it. From distance, it probably looks like black shoes and black socks. And yes, I have reffed barefoot. USA Cup, after the usual afternoon thunderstorm dropped the temperature 20 degrees and raised the humidity 30%. Fields were playable, but the AR "trench" was in 3-4" of water. We did our best, under the circumstances.
We had an athlete collapse in the heat on Sunday afternoon. We have an enormous medical support system in place for the athletes during the Trials but they can't do anything about 108 degree heat. The men's long jump final was postponed five hours after competition was shut down. One athlete was angry, accusing the organization of having known about the heat wave for two weeks and not done anything about it. Sigh. I barely believe weather forecasts for the next day. The rest of the guys wanted to just go out and jump anyway. The meet resumed about 8:30 and produced some spectacular performances on its last day.
Sometimes that is an issue that can be (at least significantly) addressed by running a reverse diagonal, as the ARs in prior games have created the trench. I may be on a shrinking island, but I think reverse diagonals are significantly under used. (I have a field where the sun angle during part of the year makes it an obvious candidate for a reverse diagonal in a morning game. I have a couple of colleagues as converts and others who look at me like I'm from Mars.)