Call It Both Ways, Ref!

Yup, I hear that one a lot too -- both as a referee and as a parent or spectator standing along the side.

Most of the time it's a parent. Sometimes it's a spectator of some sort. It's amazing to me how much people only notice the fouls called against them. Another possibility, is when you've got two players who are working one another quite a bit -- with one that's more gifted/skilled and the other that's doing a lot of holdling/bumping/etc to try to keep his opponent under control. Obviously, the parent of the one doing the majority of the fouling sees a lot of contact, but only sees the fouls called against his or her "angel". So even though you've called 15 fouls against the other team and only 10 against his team, 6 of those 10 were against his/her son and none against the team were on the one his/her son is battling with -- so you hear the infamous comment.

I have seen and heard this exact situation from fellow parents of my son's team and I just laugh at the comment.

 

My dad tends to have a lot of fun with refereeing some of the lower level youth games (where, incidentally, I've found that there's more criticism --mostly baseless -- than the top level youth games). Sometimes, just for kicks, he'll wait for the next throw in and then point an arm in each direction and when asked, say "They told me to call it both ways."

His other standing joke involves responding to cries of "You can't be serious" by telling the player/coach, "I can assure you that I have absolutely no sense of humor".

Surprisingly, these actually work to defuse some tension most of the time. And like I said, he only uses them for rec-type games.

 

My approach to this is:

#1 Ignore it. If that fails, then #2A or #2B (as appropriate):

#2A With one problem sideline, stop play immediately (DB is restart so be careful when you do this), and RUN (you're not serious if you don't run) toward the offending touchline. When about 5 yards off the touchline loudly say, "I canNOT tolerate any more dissent/interference in this match from this sideline!" Then call the coach out on to our pitch/field and say to him in private whatever else is needed. If the parents are the problem, it's one speech (I've laid the groundwork for you to solve this problem); if he is the problem, it's another.

#2B With two problem sidelines, stop play immediately (DB is restart so be careful still), and call the captains and give them your speech for the sidelines. "We have a problem with dissent/interference from BOTH sidelines. Please inform your coaches that the dissent/interference must stop now!" This might not work so well with U-little (captains might not get your message across very well); then you have the captains get both coaches on the field for your speech.

If #2 fails, you can give one more [optional] quiet warning to the coach of the offending sideline. But after that, someone is leaving.

 

Re: Re: Call It Both Ways, Ref!

You are kidding about all of this, right?

 

This is one where I tend to just shrug my shoulders. Several years ago I was in the middle of a very hotly contested college intramural game which I had foolishly volunteered to referee. One team was basically committing all of the fouls, so they got upset that I was making most of the calls against them. All I could say to them was that they were committing most of the fouls so I didn't have much choice. It was a very bizarre game in which ended up sending off the goalkeeper for calling me an a-hole. I pretty much gave up helping out with intramural games after that. I decided to go back to youth games where I got paid for taking the abuse.

 

Nah, I realized I had become a veteran ref the day I was calling a college club game and the linesmen, after the game, came up to me and asked me why I hadn't yellow carded the goalkeeper fro the things he was screaming at me.

I had no idea what they were talking about...

I learned, the day you can't hear it anymore, you're a vet.

 

I find it quite interesting that you take pride in the fact that you have refused for so long to deal with dissent that it has degenerated to this level. I doubt you do college and if you do I doubt you have any semblence of control of a game if you allow abuse to go unchecked. I would be ashamed if I failed as openly in my responsibilities to the game as you appear to be so proud of doing. You are not being part of the solution with your attitude, you are being part of the problem......how is that for dissent??!!

 

Lighten up, grey.

There is garden variety "dissent" that is simply ignored because of it's lunacy and humour value.

There is also dissent (typically from the sidelines) that may be ignored because the referee has more to be concerned with in the play.

After a B15 State Cup match about 10 years ago, the assessor asked me why I didn't deal with the dissent from the coach of one team. He had no problem with my response that I was focused on the action in the field and really didn't notice it because it did not affect things on the pitch.

That said, I walked away from that match with a commitment to get myself into better shape. Dehydration and physical stress may have contributed to my "deafness". Much to the dismay of some coaches, these days I have no trouble keeping with play and hearing them.

 

It's interesting to point out that most European countries are appalled (sp?) by the amount of dissent we tolerate in the United States. I think it has to do with our society in general; we are just an overall abusively verbal sort I suppose. At least our fans don't do all the crazy things you hear about though

Anway, it seems a lot of the conversations you see on TV from foreign leagues are actually considered quite respectful. Passionate, loud, perhaps a little angry yes, but not disrespectful towards the referee. They don't insult or question his ability to call the match fairly, and they don't use sarcasm. Basically they will plead their case for a call or non-call and the referee will respond accordingly. The second somebody makes a comment outside of asking about a call they get cautioned, even if it is a comment like "Call it both ways, Ref!"

Maybe this is a direction we could aspire to in the USA?

 

I haven't heard this argument before. Do others agree that in general, we tolerate a higher level of dissent in the game than those on the other side of the pond accept? IA's suggestion that it grows out of our experience with baseball is an intriguing proposition.

 

I'm sure you know of Ricardo Valenzuela and his experience on the international scene. I overheard a conversation between him and a young referee one time where he also seconded the sentiment that dissent is tolerated more in the USA than most countries. I dated a young woman from Germany about 2 years ago who used to watch a few of the men's amateur matches I reffed and also thought I tolerated too much (which surprised me because I typically am very strong on dissent).

If you've seen Robert Evans do a presentation he sometimes has a video example between Hall and Suarez in a match where Suarez was sent off for DOGSO-H. Although Bob focuses on the necessity for a red card, I always remember the tantrum Suarez throws afterward and how much dissent Brian has to deal with. He has to backpedal away from the oncoming Suarez and then order him to leave rather forcefully before things start getting back under control. I think this typifies the verbal tongue-lashing we take as referees that goes unpunished that you don't see in other countries nearly as much.

Although I also saw a video clip of a young referee being picked up and slammed into the ground by a huge Syberian player too, so it isn't like other country's players are saints either

 

Watch an English or Scottish Prem game some time. I'm always able to count at least four or five F-bombs per game.

 

That's not dissent. That's conversational English.

I have no problem with a burst of emotion. Fine. Let's get on with the game, laddie.

The problems begin when a player (or coach) simply won't let go of some preceived slight that occured 20 minutes and 10,000 decisions earlier.

 

You put into words the way that I have been unable to describe why I preferr doing games with foreignors over the local stuff. Since I moved to small town america about 3 years ago I havent had much opportunity to do this before last weekend. A team traveled up from down state made up entirely of hispanic players. While they appealed just as much for decisions as the local kids thier approach was respectful and not attacking me. I had forgotten how much more pleasent this can be for an official.

 

dissent, historically

I can remember newspaper accounts of referees in other countries driven home in armored cars, or tanks, in the 1950's; stadiums in South America with moats and walls and lots of troops on hand for matches; hundreds killed by trampling in Turkey at a soccer riot; The Salvador- Honduras Soccer War in the 1960's; and the British thugs vandalizing Europe more recently. Dissent's been around.
Germany is historically very orderly- up to a point. Beyond that point, all bets are off. When I lived there, long ago, traffic on the autobahn was orderly usually. But if you ever passed on the right, all sorts of trouble ensued- like folks trying to run you off the road for being disorderly. Go figure.

 

If the goalkeeper's antics had any effect on the rest of the players whatsoever, I would have noticed it. But he was, so I was told, simply yelling at me, and the other players on the field couldn't have cared less.

 

I got so used to not hearing 'hey ref...!!!' calls that I instructed coaches that if they wanted to substitute they needed to start their 'ref' phrase with 'substitution' if they wanted to get my attention away from the game.