Our local Futsal Association is sponsoring a clinic for USSF referees to get certified in futsal. I thought it might be a good off-season pasttime. Have any of you refereed futsal? I'm not very familiar with the game and am curious as to what you think -- how it compares to soccer, pros and cons from a referees perspective, etc. I assume I would need to get a pair of court shoes, but do I have to get a new uniform? Any info appreciated....
Futsal is actually closer to true soccer than indoor soccer played in a hockey rink. Our local league used USSF referees, who wore their regular USSF jersey but did not wear their badges (I believe the Futsal leagues are not USSF sanctioned). Rules are slightly different than the outdoor game: kick-ins vice throw-ins, keeper throws vice goal kicks, etc. Plus some leagues add their own rules. In our league keeper clearances could not be thrown directly into the opposing penalty area. Prior to this some of the games in older age groups were deteriorating into a game of catch between the two keepers, as they each tried to score directly. One of the pros (or cons, depending on how you look at it) is that there is less running for a ref. You can pretty much handle a game standing at mid-court. Also the ball moves a lot faster, your decisions have to be that much quicker, since all teams want to take advantage of a quick restart. Since there are so many indirect balls shot at the goal you have to be really be on the lookout for slight deflections. Many teams use the strategy of banging an indirect kick right at the keeper, hoping for a bobble of deflection. It's a lot of fun, I would give it a shot if I were you. I didn't think there were any separate certifications for Futsal, our local league just has a rules clinic and as long as you were USSF certified you were good to go.
Thanks. This league is sanctioned by the US Futsal Federation, which I think is affiliated with USSF. It is a four-hour clinic, and requires a $25 registration fee, so it sounds like there is some specific badge for futsal refs. I'll probably give it a shot, at least see if the league has their act together.
I referee USSF and USFF. USFF is under the USSF, although quite loosely. The USFF runs their own show pretty much, but the national team is under USSF. BTW.. the US National Futsal team and one of our referee's will be at the FIFA Futsal World Championship in Taiwan later this month. http://fifa.com/en/comp/futmatches/0,3919,FUTSAL2004S12,00.html US Futsal has a great comparison chart: http://www.futsal.org/publications/laws/comparison.htm As for uniform's.. we wear our regular (USSF) uniform with USFF patch. Good post season activity, I think. Fast pace for the brain, slow/no pace for the legs.
I refereed 6 Futsal tournament games over the past weekend and by far the toughest calls I had were the indirect kick-ins from the sideline (I guess we can't call them touch lines for Futsal). I disallowed two goals for balls which, in my opinion, went directly into the goal. Of course, in each case there were complaints from the kicking team that someone deflected it and it should have counted. In either case I did not notice a redirection of the ball or a change in the spin of the ball which would have indicated a deflection. I felt that in both cases I was well positioned on the far side of the goal from the kick-in. This is an easy call if a keeper steps away from the path of the ball, throws up his hands and intentionally lets the indirect kick go into the goal. But a driven ball through a crowd of up to 9 players is much more difficult to follow. I approached this situation with the attitude that if there was any doubt in my mind as to whether the ball had been touched by anyone, I would call the goal back. I would rather disallow a questionable goal than give a team an undeserved goal. A little like calling offside in the outdoor, if there is the slightest doubt, err in favor of the defender. I also saw one team make this type of call a moot issue by treating the kick-ins as a true indirect kick by having one player touch the ball and the second player banging it on goal. Even though, the defending team did complain to me that the tap did not satisfy the "kicked and moved" rule, and that the ball did not enter the playing court as a result of the tap. Just wondering how others treat this situation.
It looks like FIFA is also ivolved with futsal. Here are the LOTGs... http://www.fifa.com/en/regulations/regulation/0,1584,13,00.html
My understanding of USSF guidance is that questionable calls (like offside) should go to the attacking team. If the ball is on the touchline for the kick in, it should be in play as soon as it is touched (tapped). If an opposing team were doing this I would be charging the ball as soon as the ball is touched.
Heres a call I got caught missing because you never see it accept on PKs in the outdoor game: On free kicks the chance exists that the ball may return to the kicker without touching another player first. I assume this would be a double touch and an IFK for the opposing team. Happened twice to me and really threw me off.
I saw that in an outdoor pro game once, shot off the post right back to the kicker who then buried it in the net. Called back, correctly, by the CR and AR. I have missed it indoors with U17 boys, when the FK came from midfield, hit the wall, came right back to the kicker, I totally missed it due to never imagining it could happen.
A little off the Futsal topic, but does anyone know if this is written anywhere? I've always treated it in favor of the defense, since I'd rather not allow and undeserved goal. Back to Futsal and the posters that talked about the 2-touch violation on an IFK being hard to remember in the indoor game. I can see this being a problem in an off-the-wall indoor arena, but Futsal works the same as the outdoor game with goal lines and touch lines, so it's not that hard to spot.
I would a assume that because offside is a foul that it should only be called if you are certain (or at least think you are certain.) You wouldn't call a handball in the box if you weren't sure, why would offsides be any differen't. I'll keep looking for a memo or something that supports this.
At this years recert they were very adamant about delaying the offside call until you were sure the player was involved. To many ARs call it to soon they were saying.