I was playing in a rec league game this evening - two refs, each of whom seemed pretty inexperienced (not biased or anything like that, but had a few rather interesting interpretations of rules). Anyway, longball played towards the corner, and I go racing down the wing after it. I'm basically chasing after the ball and not looking too carefully at where I'm going when the referee, who I guess was running a diagonal towards that corner comes running into the picture between me and the ball. I try to get around him but we end up colliding as the ball continues and eventually goes out of play. I apologize for running into him and offer to help him up, and he replies by telling me firmly to stand back (I do), getting up, and sending me off. When I ask why, he simply tells me to leave the area (I do, recognizing that while I don't understand the decision, nothing is going to improve if I stick around and argue after having been sent off). The captain asks at halftime and is told that contact with the ref is an automatic ejection. Since I don't see this listed anyplace in the Laws, I thought I'd ask where he was getting this interpretation from; regardless I plan on appealing the card but I'd like to know whether I'm walking into something I was unaware of before I do so. I suppose I also might as well ask; in a two referee system is it normal for one referee to run so far ahead of the play that he actually gets between a forward and a ball played over the top? I've never seen a two referee system before, but if the referee was in an area that I should not expect to see him it would certainly improve my appeal. I can certainly tell you that the last thing I was thinking about chasing after that ball was whether the referee were going to get in my way. Thanks for your help.
Harsh... Accidental contact in no way warrants a red. I've bumped into players trying to get out of the way of play or to play and had players bump into me. It's part of the game, we're human. Purposeful physical contact is harshly frowned upon. You must have really cleaned his clock. He's probably still looking for the license plate and took your collision personally. I'm sorry about that. Shouldn't have been a card at all. You weren't giving him what for prior to this incident were you that might have lead to his belief that this collision could have been 'created'?
While it is nice to see a ref fit enough to get ahead of the play, the ref should NEVER get in the way of the play if he/she could help it. If anything, the ref should have been the one apologizing. Let's hope the ref learns from his mistakes.
Exactly. It's not uncommon for a player or I to end up in each other's paths. There is almost never contact but one or the other has to redirect our run. As the referee, I always apologize. It's their game. We just stay out of the way unless they give us a reason to step in.
from your description, this is a very odd (and unfortunate) incident. from your description, this was not an inadvertent striking of the referee (like in last week's Monday Night Football game where Rod Smith swung at another player and ended up hitting an official). obviously, in that kind of situation, i'd agree - inadvertent or otherwise, you're gone. at least from your description, this was obviously much different (although i confess that i'm not completely sure i understand how the two of you didn't see this collision coming). anyway, unless the ref thought that you ran into him on purpose (and that doesn't seem to be the case from the explanation that you say he gave your captain), i think this is a bad call. shifting gears slightly, can someone comment briefly on the mechanics of the 2 man system. if it occurred as described, wasn't this official out of position? i've never worked a game using the two person referee system, but my understanding is that you do NOT run a diagonal. not precisely, but, if this description makes sense, i have always assumed/understood that it primarily worked as if the ref from the 3 person system was removed and the ARs come onto the field with whistles. stated another way, each ref would be moving more like the AR under the 3 person system, primarily responsible for one sideline, one touchline, one team's offside calls, etc. i can't understand why a ref would make a diagonal run like the one described here.
I was recently refereeing the Carmel Indiana girls team -- the one that has been to the Nationals a number of times. I am generally pretty good at reading players intentions and being able to pick the proper way to move to avoid getting either pegged by the ball or getting run into. But there was one girl who was so unbelievably deceptive with her moves, that she faked me right into her path, not once, not twice, but 3 times. Honest to god, her hips were not connected to the rest of her body. I apologized after the game, but she wasn't too happy about it. Oh, well. I told the tourney assigner about it (she is a Grade 5 working on getting her National) and she said that she's had the same thing happen to her too.
The way that you describe it is the way that a 2 man system is most often run -- but in my opinion, it is not the way that it SHOULD be run. I call this having just 2 ARs call the game rather than having 2 CRs call the game. It leaves a huge hole in the middle of the field and in the corners opposite each referee (that area generally covered by the CR) where neither referee really has a very good view of play. The way I run a 2 man (of course hoping I have someone on the other end willing to work a little to do it properly) is to run it as 2 CRs. This means staying reasonably close to play -- moving into the other half and moving across the field. But it does mean that you're going to have to bust your butt to get back on counters to be able to make the offside call. It also means you're going to have to work to get back near the touchline when a ball is near to going out and that needs to be seen. But it definitely makes a more well called game. As to your question about whether this referee was out of position or not, it is not clear to me from the description where the ball was coming from and where it was going to (what corner / what angle / etc.) in order to render an opionion.
Actually, I bet this guy referees basketball or some other sport at other times, where officials are not on the field of play, where any contact is an ejection. He was just having a flashback. Sounds like he was out of position and/or just unable to get out of the way of play, and a bit touchy. Nothing you can do about it, since a send-off for Violent Conduct is ITOOTR, but he's wrong that contact with a ref is a mandatory red.
What I wonder is under which "Laws" are you going to file the appeal? Obviously you play for an unaffiliated league. That, or if the league is affiliated, they care nothing for directives from FIFA and USSF. Why was this game being run as a dual in the first place? You said it was a rec league, not a HS game. If you are taking part in a rogue league not affiliated with USSF, then maybe another part of their non-standard rules is that all contact with a ref is a sendoff. And you can only score goals in July on left-foot shots. My point is, when they start making things up, what would prevent them from making up any other rules?
Re: Harsh... Nope. But also, even if I were going to create a collision with the ref, as you might imagine I wouldn't choose a moment when I could be the first player to a ball played over the top.
It looked to me like each ref was taking a line when the ball was in "their" half and a center when the ball was in the "other" half. Which meant in this case that he was sprinting from midfield diagonally towards the touch line trying to keep up with the play and simply got directly into my path. I'll admit that had I decided, the moment I saw him coming, that he was going to block me from getting to the ball, I could have avoided the collision. However, I kinda assumed that the player chasing down the ball has the right of way since in past experience I've never had the referee cut me off from making a run because he was trying to get to another part of the field (at least, not without the whistle having been blown first). So I really didn't take the possibility of a collision seriously until pretty close to the last instant before it happened, and then tried to quickly swerve out of the way and didn't succeed.
I've done quite a few 2 man games (HS freshman games are always 2 man here) and can see very easily how the ref could have been in the way. When the team coming toward you has the ball, I try to stay even with the last defender. If the ball gets played over my head, the defender and attacker should be going for the ball. If the angle is right/wrong, I'm in the way. Still, it's the referee's responsibility to get out of the way. No clue what he was thinking, and if given a red card, you need to just leave. The captain or coach should be able to get an explanation, but it sounds like you got a bogus one.
Given the description, I can now see how he got in the way. But I agree with IASocFan -- the reason for the card seems bogus.
I mean, what could he write down in the game report (he did file one, right??) as for the reason for your send-off? Violent conduct? That is about as close as you could come for a reason, and if he writes in that "Player #7 ran into me during the course of play... and I sent him off for (VC)", he will be laughed out of the room. I'd appeal it and see exactly what he put into the game report.