Seeing as we officially released this today, I'm taking advantage of every viral social media tool I can to get the word out. After a long clinic season I finally had time to sit down and put together a project that our SRC has been talking about for a few months... the Minnesota SRC Podcast. US Soccer certainly is providing lots of nice information too, but we felt that there is demand for educational material that covers a really wide spectrum of interest. US Soccer's split in coverage (Chicago for the masses, NY for PRO) makes logistical sense for them, but let's face it, there are folks out there who want to watch and learn higher level stuff in addition to the simple memorization and application of the basic LOTG. That's where we decided to step in with the pod... So the first one is below. Understand, this isn't my private project, and the opinions shared in the pod are not mine and mine alone. Because I'm the guy with the technical know-how, I usually collect and edit the video and write the basic script, but the final product is extensively reviewed and critiqued by our SDA and a FIFA Inspector because I publish online. I won't ever put something out there that goes un-reviewed by Bob and Steve. We will always be very selective with both the clips we select and the way they are presented... we're not out to throw anybody under a bus, only to cover aspects of soccer officiating that are of interest to a wide variety of skill levels. We felt that there was a void between yearly certification clinics and wanted to provide more information in a high-quality format that was helpful to a wide variety fo audiences.
BLESS YOU... this is awesome! I hope you continue to show a variety of clips from all kinds of youth matches as this is where 95-99% of us are in our regular games. I wish the CSA was allowed to do something similar to this, but where I am, you run into child protection laws, plus assessors/instructors don't want to through the senior referees under the bus. Look forward to seeing the next POD cast!
First of all, good work and I'd like to see more of it. Now, let's dissect it bit. On the U11 tripping call (~10:00), the narrator says the blue attacker trips over the white defender so it's not a foul. However, what I'm seeing is the white attacker's trailing leg taking out the blue attackers feet. This is evidenced by the blue attackers feet moving out from under him towards the touchline and the player falling towards defender instead of the direction he was moving. Does anyone else see this or am I all wet?
Good job, MN! I really like the format and its something that Chicago honestly should be doing. Especially using youth clips since the speed is what 99% of our referees are used to. I think you're see the contact correctly but not interpreting it the same way they do in the video. The attacker does trip on the defenders feet, but that is after the defender makes a fair play on the ball. The point being, the defender was not careless in his challenge even though contact resulted. Restart with a throw in. I'll add that the referee's angle here probably had something to do with the call.
This is great! Is there a web site we can go to, to view these when they come out? Will they be kept up on the site from month to month? Mark.
I don't expect any issues with either of the aforementioned issues for several reasons... 1) When we use pro footage, it will typically be drawn from public broadcasts. Officials are generally considered from a legal standpoint to be "public officials" and therefore open to criticism. However... 2) We made a commitment to not throw anybody under the bus. For example, we used clips from Elias and Fotis' games. There have been other incidents that were learning tools in games worked by them. Elias had a caution upgraded to a suspension in PHI vs. VAN (Atiba Harris) a few weeks prior to this game. In Fotis' own game, a caution was upgraded to a suspension by the DC. As referees, we all know we make mistakes from time to time. But we don't want to increase scrutiny in our podcast by creating critical evaluations of officials at the highest level. So when you see pro footage, you're probably going to see game management-style decisions that can be justified (Fotis not cautioning Parke) or calls that were correct due to high-level scouting and techniques (Elias sending off Olave). 3) When we use youth footage, the emphasis will be on getting basic calls right. This means we have to show incorrect calls and correct calls, because it's easier to learn if you can see the difference. Whenever we show incorrect calls, the footage will either leave the referee not in the frame or the referee will be blurred out to be unidentifiable (I think the PK decision at the end I opted to not blur the referee because his appearance is very brief). When the referee gets the call right and we want to give credit, I won't edit it because that referee deserves credit. This is pretty unlikely to make anybody angry. 4) No youth clip will ever identify the time, place, teams, or player names. Search "youth soccer" on YouTube and you get 38,500 results. I am betting that almost none of those 38,500 clips involved the author contacting the parent of every child in the clip and requesting permission to post. They are all in the public domain, however. -- You're not going to see things like coaches faces being shown when they lose it, massive fights in youth games, etc. The focus of this pod is to make people better at recognizing things they are likely to see in their matches, while also giving those with the desire to view "higher level" stuff some insight to how pro officials work their games. And by having it reviewed by four people on every release, not only will I make sure that my own personal opinions (wrong as they often are!) don't leak out as "official" SRC position, but any one of the four of us can see something and say, "Wait, I don't think we should use that."
We'll post the embedded YouTube version on our website when one is released (www.minnesotasrc.com), but you can also subscribe to our YouTube feed (Minnesota SRC) AND I have submitted a podcast feed to the iTunes store which should be approved within the next few days, at which point you'll be able to download a version to your computer/iPhone/iPod/iPad. And we will keep each episode on our server and on YouTube for review at any time.
Awesome idea and execution! Though, in the final clip, why did the referee blow the whistle if he didn't give a penalty?
It wasn't crucial to the topic of foul recognition, but believe it or not, he called the attacker for impeding because he told me afterward he thought she was laying on the keeper after challenge. Essentially, he didn't recognize the foul, saw a collision, and pulled a Coulibaly. But red was up 3-0 at the time, so it didn't affect the game result, just made the red coach really angry. Which was also amusing, because while she was right, there was no way white was going to come back.
I thought this was expensive. Do you have a cheap solution? Or does it severely limit what you can do?
That would be where my role in this project comes in... "technical know-how." I use Sony Vegas (the full version, not the retail store MovieMaker version) for all of my video editing. It's a full professional video editing suite within built-in filters and masks that allows me to do things like the blurred faces. I have a high-end desktop I built myself for my video editing... i7 Pentium, 8 GB RAM, 5 TB of hard drive storage. I am a bit of a computer geek, if you couldn't tell.
i7 or Pentium? Or did Intel come out with a new processor I missed? Just messing with you... As far as the concerns some have had regarding the use of youth videos, there really is little concern in this context. When you are in a public setting the expectation of privacy is lowered. Therefore, permission is not required to film someone in public. Yes, I know there are some exceptions to that but that's the general principle. One that my company had to extensively research recently.
Just so everybody knows, iTunes has posted the feed and you can now download it from there. It's not available yet on their search engine, but you can access the download page form this link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/minnesota-state-referee-committee/id533804079
I thought the commentary on stopping vs. allowing the quick restart in the MLS match was fascinating and very insightful. The two youth match examples on tripping were also very well explained. I'm looking forward to next month's installment already! I forwarded the YouTube link to the USSF Instructor who does our monthly meetings and he was so impressed with the quality of the presentation that he forwarded it on to our SDI. Great stuff!
Great work. I've had two emails from Iowa referees with links to your work! I think the one from the SDI went out to all referees in his contact list.
This is great. I wish our referee association would do something like this. I am curious about the ruling on one of the throw-ins. On the 8:15 one, yes, the kid clearly lifts his back foot, but as far as I could tell in real-time, he did so once the ball was gone, and pausing the video confirmed that. I've got freeze frames here. Thoughts?
This is absolutely great stuff. Like others, I can't wait to see more. The pro scenarios keep me humble (I'll never be able to think that fast), and the youth clips are incredibly instructive. What does a fair shoulder-to-shoulder charge look like? Here, let me show you. What about a quick sequence involving physical contact, in and around the penalty area? That can really challenge a referee, and here's an example from a youth match. Because I like it, I have a comment or two about how I think this could be even better. Pixelating the referee faces but not those of the youth players feels a bit awkward. While the refs are young, the players are even younger. The refs make mistakes, but so do the players. Making only the referees anonymous highlights the tension between officials and teams, which can already be a sore point if refs are perceived to abuse their authority or hide behind their badges. I know referees are the target audience, but frankly, the video is so good that non-ref players and parents are bound to see it also. Most of the youth clips don't show the call or non-call. Thus, you could probably use those same clips without blurring the faces if you tweaked the voice-over to focus just on improving the viewer's skills. Rather than "This referee should have called the bad throw-in" or "That referee failed to award a penalty kick," the sequence could end with, "The correct decision here is a penalty kick; would YOU be able to call it?" Sometimes, showing a bad call is useful, and the blurring is fine in that case -- or get some footage of a beginning adult referee who doesn't mind looking clumsy on the podcast. I agree that clips of actual games are preferable over staged re-enactments, and actual mistakes are more effective than experienced refs blundering on purpose to make a video. Since most referees spend twice as much time as AR, I imagine some of your future clips will focus on how to be a good assistant referee. The natural camera angle is from behind anyway, which avoids the issue of showing the AR's face. I hope you are already working on a July installment! - QC
Its always been something I've noticed. Law 15 mentions the five things needed at the moment the ball is thrown. I'd wager most foul throws are called when the foot comes up on the follow through. Although I'll admit I would call this a foul throw because lets face it, everyone expects you too.
Yep, to me looking at it game speed, first thought was "foul throw". Wish we could have freeze frame on a lot of other, more important game decisions.
Wow. Interesting video. I've got a couple questions. Regarding the young goalkeeper putting himself between the attacker and the ball at 9:35, at what point does the GK commit a foul when contact with an attacker is involved? Is there a rule of thumb for this? Obviously the example later in the video shows a GK bringing down an attacker without playing for the ball, but I can see a big gray area between these two examples. Second, the card for tripping says "Differentiating a trip from a legal tackle can be done by watching how the ball comes out of the challenge!" This isn't clearly explained in the video. Can someone explain what to look for in with the ball order to differentiate between a trip and a legal challenge?
Here's my take. Under the Laws, when the GK lies down on the ground without the ball, placing his body or head in the attacker's way, and the attacker manages to stop before contacting the GK, the GK should be penalized for PIADM (IFK going in). If, as in this case, the attacker does not back off but kicks or charges the GK, that constitutes a foul (DFK coming out, or maybe IFK coming out if the GK didn't have the ball). Similarly, if the attacker attempts to kick the ball when the GK is in the process of releasing it, that's PIADM (IFK coming out). For young refs working U-Little matches, all that is far too complex. In the name and spirit of safety, we usually tell them to regard anything like this that looks dangerous as PIADM. When the keeper has the ball (even if only loosely, and even if it slips out of his hand), and one or more attackers continue to go after it (whether or not there is contact with the GK), the young ref should whistle right away and award an IFK coming out. - QC