http://www.usindoor.com/ Are there any refs on this forum certified by US Indoor. They are coming to certify about 16 refs at the indoor facility that I work in and I'm wondering how many other facilities are affiliated with them. Since Massachusetts Youth Soccer no longer recognizes the indoor boarded game, my facility took the initiative to align themselves with US Indoor. The only real benefit I see is the ability to get insured. Anybody with information about this organization???? Scott
I've reffed indoor here, but there is no affilliation with anybody. There is also a futsal facility which opened within the last year. They did some education, and the refs are futsal certified. Me, I like the boards (except when I'm smashed into them).
There's no certification here in our area. Most of the refs (about 75%) are also USSF refs, but several are not.
I broke the 12 commandment(thou shalt not participate in indoor soccer) for the first time this year. I have about 8 games under my belt and while I still preferr outdoor I have to say I have also enjoyed staying warm AND being around the game in a month with 1 degree temps and 2 feet of snow in northern michigan............while taking a shower with a raincoat on is not as fun................it beats not showering !
Indoor reffing is good to keep up on your game skills, but with the rule bending they do at a lot of indoor facilities, I always feel like it takes a couple of outdoor games before you get the funky rules out of your system. At the facility I ref at, there is a no sliding rule, a three-line rule, and all fouls are direct kicks. You end up calling some things you wouldn't normally call outdoors, not to mention that the clarity of indirect vs. direct fouls is lost.
I am a certified US Indoor referee and have been reffing the game for about 3 years now. Indoor Soccer may take the style of soccer but it is not the same game by far. When you ref indoor you have to forget a lot of things you learned about outdoor. It is difficult to break old habits but you have to learn to compartmentalize the rules of outdoor and the rules of indoor so you can recall either of them when the need arises. Referees who try to find the similarities between outdoor and indoor have a very hard time succeeding in the new sport. Here are some rules in Indoor: 1) Three line violation -- prevents cherry-picking, same as Icing in hockey except infraction occurs when ball passes forward over all three field lines in the air with no contact. This is the indoor equivalent to Offside, since that rule does not exist indoor. 2) Goal-keeper and free kicks have only 5 seconds for restart -- indoor is a very fast game and time wasting is devastating when you only have 23 minutes in a half to play. 3) Free kicks -- all kicks from anywhere are direct, but you only are allowed a 10 foot non-interference halo (as opposed to 10 yards). This makes it very difficult to score directly from a kick due to opponent interference anyway so indirect kicks really serve no purpose. 4) No sliding, or playing on the ground at all -- the game is extremely FAST and the players all in very close proximity of each other, you don't want one person wiping out 3 or 4 people or having others step on him. The potential for injury is much higher than in outdoors. 5) Substitutions occur at any time -- Again like in hockey, players just exit and enter the field on their own no matter what is going on. 6) Boarding -- you cannot charge somebody fairly into the boards, and likewise they may not use the boards to stave off a challenge. You can, however, simply stand along the boards in front of where the player may be attempting to go to cut them off -- if they plow into you it is a pushing foul. 7) Foul severity -- Indoor has another tool for the referee to deal with fouls that are very rough without sitting somebody on a yellow: the blue card. A blue card indicates "TIME PENALTY" for that player in which they must sit out and their team play down a man for 2 minutes or until their opponent scores a goal (a power play). A player is allowed 3 time penalties in one game, but the referee may issue however many time penalties at once that he desires. For example, a simple single time penalty the player is shown the blue and sits out for 2 minutes. If the player does something with the potential for injury but without ejection then you may show a blue and then straight to yellow -- worth 2 time penalties. Although he gets 2 at once the player still sits out for 2 minutes. If the player needs to be ejected you can simply go blue straight to red in which he no longer may participate and cannot be replaced for 5 minutes. Likewise, a player can commit 3 time penalty fouls independently -- first time is a blue, second a blue and yellow, third a blue and red. The problem right now is that there are arenas not affiliated alongside those that are, and thus they are not bound by the rules of US Indoor. This is where you see major discrepencies such as direct and indirect free kicks, sliding, and the number of players. Even field markings can be incorrect. However, what US Indoor does is first certify an arena as an affiliate and THEN work with them on updating to the US Indoor rules. Sometimes getting field markings to change can be a hassle so some leeway is allowed Ultimately the benefit of US Indoor is the same as USSF -- your badge shows that you are a 100% certified and capable referee of handling the game, and you have the association backing you up should something happen. A non-US Indoor facility may have untrained refs which causes a lot of problems for such a fast-paced, high impact game.
Just took my course on Saturday. Very informative, almost too much info at once. I'm looking forward to some of the rules that are possibly going to be implimented next fall by the dome I work in. Among them are: *No more goal kicks. Referee will signal that the ball is out of play as usual but, instead of a goal kick, the ball is in play as soon as it is given to the keeper. He/she may then punt, throw, or dribble the ball (within 5 seconds) *No more PKs. For any plays that would have normally been a PK or for any penal fouls committed by the 2nd last or last defender in the attacking half, there will now be a "shootout". Offending player goes to the penalty box, ball is placed at the center of the red line in the attacking zone, all attacking players but the shooter must stand in the center circle behind the halfway line, all defensive players must stand outside the center circle behind the halfway line, the keeper must have at least one foot on the goal line...GOT IT??! Then, the ref blows the whistle and play is started with a breakaway shooter v. goalie with all the other players from both teams springing back to get into the play! *Use of cards. My dome have been going BLUE, YELLOW, RED progression as USIndoor does but we've been giving 2 minutes for blue, 5 for yellow (no re-entry after a goal) and ejection for red (team plays short for the rest of the match. The card system (as described by my instructor and Stateman) seems to try to punish the player, not the team. I'm looking forward to see how the players enjoy the changes next season. Scott
Actually the two rules about the goal keeper possession and the shootout are currently in place for US Indoor affiliated leagues. It's important to note that a shootout only occurs when the goalkeeper or last defender commits a foul to prevent a good chance of scoring a goal (almost like a DOGSO) regardless of whether it is in the keeper arc or not (keeper arc is same as the penalty area but without the penalty part -- its just a measurement around the goal for the keeper to know when its ok to handle the ball, and where to restart). All shootout fouls result in a blue card. If a foul happens inside the keepers arc then the ball is placed at the top of the arc for the restart with all normal rules in place. There is a "penalty kick" in indoor soccer but only for one circumstance -- where the keeper fouls the attacker on a shootout. If an attacker kicks the ball into the netting above the goal within the confines of the keepers arc, then the restart is a "goal clearance." The keeper just releases the ball with his hands to a teammate -- he may not place it on the ground and play it himself or would be in violation of the two-touch rule. You also can't bounce the ball as a keeper for the same reason on a restart
Interesting to note that the Pro indoor league, the MISL does not use referees from US Indoor. The referees wear their USSF (or FIFA) badge.
Re: Re: Indoor Referee Certification This is incorrect, MISL is part of USIndoor and the referees are indeed USISA certified and wear that badge. Futsal is not the same as indoor soccer, and it is part of USSF/FIFA. This is what you are thinking of.
Re: Re: Re: Indoor Referee Certification Don't tell me what I am thinking. ;-) MISL is NOT part of USIndoor. It is a USSF league: http://www.ussoccer.com/league/basepage.sps Here are some pictures from this season's MISL action. Look at the referee badge, it is USSF. http://www.clevelandforce.com/upload_images/G1Butcher1.jpg http://216.55.177.78/msoccer/misl/sdmi0160.jpg http://216.55.177.78/msoccer/misl/sdmi0150.jpg http://216.55.177.78/msoccer/misl/sdmi0128.jpg Watch a few MISL games on Fox Sports World on Friday nights. You will see even more USSF badges on display. ;-) I DO know that Futsal is not the same as indoor soccer. The USFF (US Futsal Federation) is indeed under USSoccer and FIFA: http://www.futsal.com/ Have a nice day. ;-)
After reading your post I looked up what happened. The original MISL was formed in 1978, not 2001. That is the one I used to follow with my buddies, who were all professional MISL referees. It was never a part of the USSF. They folded and in 2001 the NPSL renamed to MISL and became affiliated with USSF. Sorry for the confusion, it happens with old age.