i don't know if i've said this before or not, but while lying in bed before i go just think about referee stuff. sometimes i'm flagging offside, practicing my angles for far, middle, near...other times i'm signalling direct or indirect. but last night something occured to me. i referee in a co-ed only club...we're not big enough (yet) to have segregated teams. and during the U-teen years, hormones rage (being a teenager i know this ). do they laws say anything about what is to be done if a boy innappropraitely touches a girl? or even vice versa (more likely to be the former of the two)? i think it definately warrants a caution, possibly a send off, but is there anything that says i have the authority to do that? and i know that with this, you get into "what is inappropriate?" does the girl have to say something, or the ref just see it, etc? if the referee just sees it, then it's all ITOOTR, and you might have a hard time with consistency because some referees might be more liberal than others. any input would be greatly welcome.
Intentional inappropriate contact is at least unsporting behaviour (yellow) or serious foul play (red) depending on the nature of the contact. As part of normal play there is a lot of contact that can accidentally include normally private areas. I would handle any inappropriate contact that was obviously intentional as cardable.
I agree with IASocFan. My niece, a good looking 16 year old, plays in such a league you're talking about. She's been grabbed or touched a time or two during the heat of play and it's contact that occurred during play when the opponent was just reaching out to hold for space or some such thing. Wasn't looking at her or even consciously aware it was a girl coming up to him. She didn't complain about it. She mentioned it after the game -- "Did you see that guy touch my boob?", but she knew that it was an accident that occurred as part of normal contact in the game.
Refereeing Co-ed Leagues I have refereed co-ed adult leagues, and not only do hormones rage, but so do fragile male egos. A few things to keep in mind: 1) Is it a co-ed league, or a situation where a female is playing in an "open" league. If a female is playing open soccer, she should be treated no different than her male counterparts. 2) In my opinion, it is "unsporting" for a male to use his physical dominance to beat a woman. 3) I have seen leagues that have "local rules" that forbid slide tackling and unnecessary contact. 4) Male on Female contact causes fight, nip this in the bud with cautions if necessary.
Of course if the ball is out of play then serious foul play cannot be used for a send off. Seems to me it could be considered "violent conduct" or perhaps "uses offensive or insulting or abusive language or gestures". Although I'm not sure if touching someone would be considered a gesture, so perhaps violent conduct would be more appropriate. Either way, IMHO it should be a send off and not a caution.
During a High school pregame I was checking in a girls varsity team and in a momentary flash of brilliance said the following after seeing an eyebrow peircing on a player " Okay!!!! Does anyone else have any peircings I need to see.......I mean that I should be interested in......I mean...... my assistant will finish checking you in!" We all got a good laugh.
Here's what you do: Send them off for an early cold shower. Then file a police report for sexual assault.