I went looking for the "Dumb things players say", but couldn't find it. (I found the "Parents" and the "Referee" threads; still good for a laugh.) I ref'd a lopsided open division match last night. One 'keeper was over 40 and clearly not a 'keeper. On one of his clearing throws the ball slipped from his hands and landed on the ground inside the penalty area. A teammate ran by and dribbled it out. No problem. At the other end of the field I hear, "Hey ref, don't you know the ball has to leave the area before he can do that." I wonder what he would have said if the 'keeper had simply kicked the ball on the ground.
"Hey, ref! You're supposed to call offside when the player is in an offside position!" Keep in mind that the ball was 80 yards away from the offside player at the time . . .
"Hey ref, since when did we hafta wear shinguards?!" Since 1990. You look like you're still in pretty good form for not having played in 15 years.... (Player in question was probably in his mid- to late-20s and obviously had played some in the intervening years.)
Had a fellow ref call this in one of my kid's games. After a save, keeper muffed a punt, it rolls about 10 yards outside the PA and the keepers plays it upfield with his feet. Referee whistles it, call for an IFK for the opposition, based on his interpretation that this was a two-touch rule violation. I hate to think what he may have called if the 2nd touch had still been inside the PA. I tried to talk to him about it at half-time, but he dismissed me as a know-nothing parent. I didn't bother flashing my badge in his face.
Hey Ref, can my player that you sent off after his second caution come back on since it's only a friendly?
Although I'm a player and not a ref, I do run a league and this was quoted at a meeting: "How could the referee give him a red card for a fight if he never connected with the punches he threw!?" Pretty much every captain incredulously stared at him like he was a first class idiot.
I also had a high school coach once ask me before a game to card one of his players so that he could serve his suspension before the playoffs. Try as he might, that player just couldn't get a yellow in that game. I once jokingly told the captains during a coin toss that I had forgotten to bring my yellow and would be going directly to red for all misconduct. They must have thought I was serious, because it was one of the cleanest games I've done.
Ref, my player can get substituted! He was given a second yellow, not a straight red! Ref, you can't give cards in this game, it is only a friendly!
My last game this spring was on a wet, muddy field that was borderline on playability. We (ref team and coaches) decided to play since there was no time for a makeup if we called it off. I agreed, but made it clear that if a player slipped in the mud and went feet first into the ball carrier I would have no "mud sympathy" and would treat it like any other studs up tackle and card it. One coach agreed, the other looked at me and said "that's not fair, if he didn't mean the contact it should never be a foul, mud or not" I just sort of stared at him in disbelief and said "these are my conditions for playing, you get to decide whether we play or not, decide now" We played and the kids (U18B) did great not slipping in the mud, me however did go down in the mud
Sadly, this is true in matches (such as high school) ref'd under "National Federation" rules, rather than FIFA. As I was pointedly reminded at one of our association meetings two years ago after disallowing the sub in a match earlier in the season.
I don't know if its NFHS or just Iowa's implementation, but we no longer have a "SOFT" red. Taunting and second yellows no longer allow for substitution. This is a good thing. Iowa high schools also instituted a yellow results in sitting for the rest of the half(and overtime if applicable). This rule I'm less sure about, but last season there was a marked decrease in behaviour deserving of yellow cards.
Heh, heh. I went to hotstat after a game I recently centered and saw the following sentence in the written match report filed by one of the coaches: The first half ended with [player's name] unfairly given a red card by the referee after getting into a fight with one of the [opposing team name] forwards.
I know high school has them, belive me, I still am in high school, but I was talking about a USSF sanctioned match, which I should have said.
Player is in an offside position when another player shoots on goal. Shot hits the post and the rebound goes to the offside player. "Hey ref, don't you know you can't be offside on a shot!??!?"
This was many years ago and I was doing a parish league game between first or second grade girls. The ball is rolling around in the 6 for about 2-3 mins. and the center fullback is yelling at her keeper; "Pick it up Annie, pick it up" Well another teamate decided to do Annie the Keeper a favor --------- You guessed it. I believe that was also the same game when one of the little girls was following me around on the field for 5-10 mins during the game. I finally leaned over to her and asked if she needed something; "Mr Ref I have to go potty". Ahhh the good ole days...........
Yea, I have coaches tell me same thing. My answer to that is "a broken leg in the mud or wet conditions is still a broken leg."