That's a good one! What haapens when a parent on the OTHER side of the field says the same thing then???
Please start a new thread if you wish to discuss this. The purpose of this thread is to have some fun. Don't hijack it as you have other threads recently.
I can read this as the ref popping the flag on a player on the opposite side of the field as the play goes down the near side. In fact, I have seen this happen a few too many times.
Had a nice one today from a U16 girls game played between Premier 1 teams (very high level teams): Player: "What was that foul for ref?" Me: "You pushed her." Player: "You're allowed to push in soccer, aren't you?" Me: "Nope." Player: "Oh."
I had something similar happen. The coach got in a huff because I called his player for pushing. "But he was playing the ball at the time!" He was playing the ball with his arms? I don't care if he had the ball cradled in his foot at the time, you still can't shove the opponent who is challenging you!
Today's college club game. Player commits a foul, then stands a yard in front of the ball. Me: Back it up now, white! White: He didn't ask for 10 yards. Me: He doesn't have to. Get back. White: I'm allowed to stand here and give my team time to set up. It's in the rules! And so is a caution for failure to respect the distance on a free kick....
(Note: I got into refereeing because when my son was U10, I was frustrated by poor quality refereeing and decided to do something about it myself. So I still make it a point to do a U10 about every other weekend.) U10 player (after being warned about shouting at an opponent during a penalty kick, called for handling, and this time called for pushing (whiny tone that must work with his parents): "How many rules are there?" Me: "Seventeen." Oh, and I got this gem from a coach yesterday: "It's not a passback if the attacker was challenging for the ball!"
I'll usually give a very sharp "Back Off!". That usually sets the tone for the game. If not, cards come out. Part of the problem is a general unwillingness to caution for this. If more refs did it, there'd be a lot less of it.
From a U12G rec game today. I was AR - only 1 AR showed, so the ref was far from me. I called a foul for kicking. Coach wanted to know what I called - "She was kicked in the ankle." Oh, OK - "But she was going for the ball."
Heard a new one this week from a parent when I called offside. Are you ready for this?... "You can't have offside on a pass!"
At a local U8 game, 6v6 with one ref, I was watching to mentor younger refs who just got their badges, had to call a coach back OFF the field: Me: Coach, you can't go on the field, what's the problem? Coach: "I have every right to go on the field to question the ref" Me: "No sir, you don't" Coach: "you don't know what you're talking about" Me: "Coach, it'd be a real shame to get removed from a U8 "fun" tournament game for yelling at a youth ref" gotta love this job!
It's a good thing you were there! Coaches like that are one of the reasons it's hard to retain new referees long enough for them to get good at refereeing. Our association recently started having a mentor on the fields, walking around the different games, for our five U8 fields. We encourage the new refs (often youth refs) to sign up for those games, and help make sure the coaches and parents treat them appropriately. Our hope is that this will improve retention, referee performance, and referee availability.
From this weekend, keeper has the ball in her hands: "That should be a corner kick, she stepped on the end line!"
My daughter did a U7/8 game this weekend. She came back saying how cute they were (in that cutsie teenagner voice). The thing she liked the most was the questions: "What's a corner kick?/goal kick?" When the U-7 team, lossing badly, scored there only goal, the team went crazy and all gave her a hug. I have my first U-8 in about a year tomorrow. Been doing upper level stuff all last season and adults this summer. I'm really looking forward to it.
white player (in attacking 1/3) kicks ball forward; hits a red player and continues forward to an offside positioned white player. i pop flag. the offside white player looks at me and says, "you can't be offside on a ricochet." same game. white takes a long shot towards red goal. high lofting shot. clearly going to the keeper. a white offside positioned player is slowly running towards keeper (10 yards away). keeper mishandles the ball and it rebounds to the white offside player. i pop flag. an up field red player asks the cr, "why was the flag so late?" cr says, "wasn't needed until your keeper dropped the ball." player responds, "cool."
I hear this from young and old players alike quite often. I'm not sure if they are just trying to fool me into calling it or actually believe that a deflection resets offside.
Actually, as I understand, this was the standard interpretation of the rule in Days of Yore. And I think the confusion is understandable: sometimes, it seems to them, a touch by the defender's resets things (well, we'd describe it as a controlled play by the defense, but they're not quite as precise), and sometimes it doesn't. So, to play it safe, they'll complain when their team doesn't get the benefit of the call...just like the team that complains about how "it's when the ball is kicked" when they're flagged for OS never seems to remember that when they're on defense and the flag stays down. Napolean (I think) once said that it's usually a mistake to ascribe malice to that which can as easily be explained by incompetence. Here...I'd ascribe their confusion to ignorance, rather than a cynical effort to fool you. Jeff C. PS: Good game on Monday...
Since we are rekindling this thread yet again: U18 Athena Girls match. Attacker and defender challenging on the ball going toward the goal line. The attacker reached over the shoulder of the defender and grabbed the front of her shirt. Before I could slow down and get the flag up, the defender looked me in the eye and said "DUDE!!!"
I did the opposite as a player once. As a junior varsity player I sprinted past an opponent, and the opponent tripped me as I went past. I have pretty good balance, so I stumbled a bit but was able to regain my footing and had about twenty yards of green in front of me with lots of passing options. Just as I had regained my balance, the ref blew his whistle for the foul. ARGH! Ah well.
U11B rec game last night. Orange player whacks Red player in the ankle in the PA. I called for the PK. Orange coach wants to know the call - I told him the player was kicked in the ankle, hard. "But that's not a penalty!" And from this weekend, U11B select game. Keeper comes barrelling out of the PA to intercept the 1-on-1 attacker. Completely bowls over the opponent. I showed the yellow, caution USB for a reckless foul. Coach comes up with the inevitable, "But he was going for the ball." I think (hope) it was said in half-jest, non-dissent, the I-gotta-say-something mode.
Defensive player traps and controls the ball in the PA. She is trying to decide what to do with it, when the keeper comes up. She leaves the ball there and the keeper picks it up. I blow the whistle. Coach: "She didn't pass it! That's not a passback!" Footnote: an 07 who knows the coach was passing through the field before the end of the half, was asked about it, and said, "Of course it's a passback."