i like to do solo u10 matches at tournaments. I get to stay at one field, make decent money, and do 5 matches and not have to worry about other members of my crew. Usually, the matches are fun, and mostly competitive. Today, not so much. Since, most of the games were blowouts it gave me the opportunity to count headers. Most of the matches had between 10-15 headers, but the one skilled team touched the ball with their heads over 25 times for a total of 38 for the game. The majority of them were the nodding type because the ball would bounce and they would nod it to their feet. In the 38, there were Only a handful out of the air on Goal kicks. A decent goal was scored off a header from a corner. This new rule will take some time...I thought there weren't that many headers, but was i surprised!
Speaking of which I did first u10 rec game in years today. One of the kids heads the ball and the coach yells he can't do that. So does anyone with connections know how they are going to implement that rule.
The only thing I had in any of the games was a coach yelling at me when her goalkeeper came out and an attacker came in and the attacker won the ball but the goalkeeper got clipped because the 'Keeper was late to the ball. She raised the kids shirt to show me the marks. Yep.
I did have an unusual thing happen this season. I had the whistle in Midwest Regional League game for U12s as I recall. It could have been u13 or U14. A player headed the ball with proper technique during the 1st half....he was not doing very well afterwards. He was clearly in pain. I stopped the game, and we got him a sub. A few minutes later the same thing happens to an opponent. I was close enough to both players to see exactly where the ball made contact on the head. Both were square on the forehead. Both players were among the most skillful on their teams on pretty highly skilled teams. My AR suggested we double check the ball. It felt firm but not rock hard. We took the ball out of play for one a bit softer and had no more incidents. I don't know if the boys were concussed, but the firmness of the ball relative to the age of the players is something worth keeping an eye on. I know I have found some teams that want to play with balls as hard as rocks.
Have you checked with a gauge? Balls actually inflated to the minimum official pressure are harder than most people think.
Another weird occurrence yesterday. Working in a facility that has indoor fields the size of outdoor fields, and we use outdoor rules. I was on one of the little fields for a set of U9/10 boys' games followed by a set of older games a little later. I get to my last game of my little kids' set, and have a game that sees a true rarity at this age group, a straight red card! What happened you may ask? We're about halfway through the game, and two players are challenging for a ball in a corner. Player from red gets a little too aggressive (he'd been a little heated in an earlier game too, but nothing like this) and fouls player from black. No big deal, I blow the whistle. Player from black runs around and offers a nice two hand shove to red's chest, as I'm already blowing the whistle. Red decides he doesn't like the shove, grabs the front of black's jersey, and punches him in the face! U9! Seriously?! I separate the two (verbally) and inform red that we can't have people punching each other on the field, and show him a red card, to which he starts crying, and walks off. I let the player from black know his behavior is not ok either and showed him a yellow for the shove. I then talk to both coaches, who agreed with my handling of the situation btw, and we all agreed at this age and level the best thing was for both teams to continue the second half of the playing time with a full 7 players, minus our little boxer. No complaints from the parents, coaches, teammates, or facilities managers. Still, what kind of world is it where we have situations with U9 players where a straight red card really is the only option? (I did also discuss it with the assignor, as to other means of handling this, and we ultimately agreed that this was probably the best, although he would have been ok with me "ejecting" him without showing the card as well.)
I think I died a lil inside. A U9 player PUNCHING an opponent... that shows how much faith I have in humanity now lol...
Not unsurprising. I think we have all had matches across a spectrum of ages where we have run into stuff that will have you shaking your head for weeks. Getting back to the original premise, I did 4 girls matches Sunday. Went up the scale, starti ng with u11, then 12, then 2 13's. Moderate skill. Not very many headed balls at all. I'd be interested in your observances.
You can be pretty sure that hitting is a regular event in this particular U9 player's life. Whether it is parents, siblings, or someone else close by, this kid has learned that hitting someone is a fairly normal response when you are angry. Sad, but not necessarily an indictment of the age or our culture.
Last year, I got assigned to a two game set at a facility. A U16B Premier CR, and then a U11B "Directors' Academy" SAR on the adjacent little field. The CR for the U11B game was a Grade 15 State Emeritus, former D1 college ref, et c. et c. who was doing the U-littles since age had slowed him down enough that he felt that he really could do the older barbarians the game they deserved any longer. And God bless him. There was a kid on the visitors that was going in on challenges late and aggressive. The CR gave the kid a quick "settle down" on the first one, and a stern talking-to on the second. On the third, I was tapping my badge; clearly, the talking wasn't having the intended effect. His coach asks if he can sub the carded kid out, and I tell the CR "I think the kid is injured. Can we please sub him out?" The kid comes over to the sideline with tears running down his face at having been carded. I was shocked that the kid acted like it was his first card. The way he played, he was card machine. Point is, a caution is a warning that the player had better change his behavior if he wants to continue to play today. And a send-off is a warning to everyone else that this is behavior that they can't emulate if they want to stay. I can totally see that as appropriate at all levels.
I haven't had to issue any cautions in my lower level select games this season. Yesterday was an exception. BU13. It started with the parents whining about every little bump and tug. Mostly from the away side. Once the parents started, that spilled on to the field. There is nothing more annoying than whiny twelve year old voices. I basically just ignored it and it went away. The first card, away team was working out of their PA. A defender was coming on an arcing run to intercept the attacker with the ball. A defender threw himself in front of the smaller attacker with a hard hip check the upended the attacker. No doubt reckless. The second and third were DFR in the last two minutes of the match. Away team had a free kick in the penalty arc. Two defenders did a statue about a foot in front of the ball. I cautioned the central defender and moved the wall back. When I blew the whistle. Another defender ran up with two yards of the kick and jumped in the air before the kick was taken. The kicker skied it, but I gave a caution anyway for distracting the kicker.
USSF would like you to not change what you are doing now. Instruction will be delivered later, I assume within 30 days, not so coincidentally during down time for much of the soccer world in the USA.
I was AR on a U13 girls travel squad game, one of the lower divisions. Early in the second half an attacker comes in and cleans out the keeper. Apparently the referee didn't have a good view, so I tapped the shirt pocket to clue him in. I'll honestly say I considered back pocket, it was one of those orange plays. So he cards the girl. After the game the girl's dad came over and asked if the card was really necessary. The referee and I gave dad a quick review the levels of fouls. His response is that she didn't mean to run into the keeper, she was just running so hard she couldn't stop. We tried without luck to convince him that the lack of control pretty much defined reckless. He kept saying "Are you saying she shouldn't run hard?" Mom finally got him to leave, but I'm sure we didn't convince him. The part that I wondered about was why he thought the yellow was such a big deal. I'm guessing it was the first card she'd ever gotten, but it was just a caution.
In my experience for girl's games below the top level cautions are uncommon up to about U14, so it probably was her first and may have been her team's first. U13 is the youngest age group I can remember issuing a caution in a girls game, whereas I've given a couple at U11 on the boy's side. Among the younger age groups the boys don't seem to be bothered much by it but girls can get very upset over it.
I coach a team like the one you're describing. The players are "nice girls" (and they really are) who I am teaching to play hard (not dirty, just hard, as in "it's ok to contest for the ball and even get called for a foul"). They are NOT used to drawing any kind of negative attention from an adult in charge. So to them, there is no such thing as "just a caution".
We had a U-14 girls game this last weekend with six cautions. one and only one of them to a coach for dissent. Yes, I know, TLOTG and all, but the league doesn't word it this way, but, essentially, they want "tell" recorded as a caution. The referee's comment in his game report was that both coaches seemed more interested in managing the referee than in coaching their players. I believe two serious injuries also reported.
That would probably be OK, as long as you really did send him off, just didn't show the card. Other times you could play "let's make a deal" with the coach where the player is done for the day, but you allow him to be subbed out. But not for violence.
There have been times when after the game I take a girl aside and tell them a yellow card "doesn't mean you're a bad person," and not to worry about it. And then there was the time after a game when a girl's mother asked to borrow my yellow card for a minute so she could take a souvenir photo of baby's first caution.
It used to be okay to use thump pressure to check that can't push the ball in with your thumbs a half an inch you let air out until you can. No one does that anymore?
Yes new players can get messed up after being given their first booking. Or when good players see they are being defended by three players there game goes out the window. Until you tell them you can beat all three of them if you don't that get into your head, and just play your game.
Some parents have bough the pack with a yello and a red card. Then show them a card in the house when they get a little too wild
I was watching a game with under 19 girls I think the team was called Long Island United. They were very good. I was off the touch line and she had words with the official. I was wear eye glasses she calls to me sir can you lend this official your glasses he obviously has bad vision. I started to laugh the official laughed then gave her a yellow card.