NFHS 2024-2025 Rules

I must be misunderstanding what happened in your game.

NFHS rulebook 9.1.2 states "Play is restarted with a drop ball where the ball struck the referee".

 

it does indeed...but if player one (defender/away team) plays the ball directly into player two (attacker/home team) before hitting me, why should player two get the drop ball and not player one? All player two did was get in the way, she did not control the ball and therefore the home team Coach I think is wrong in demanding the drop ball to them, no?

 

the away team played the ball, home team player deflected the ball and then it hit off of me...then away team player cleared it, so in my estimation the ball actually did go back to the original player who first played it...we were at least 35-40 yards from goal along the touchline...nobody was remotely getting a chance at goal from there.

 

It's a bit of a sticky wicket how this provision is written. The DB is warranted if possession changes, but the DB goes to the team that last touched. In the example here, the home team never had possession, but was the last to touch. [Edit: I just realized this was posted in NFHS; my comment is re the Laws—I don’t know if HS is the same language.]

 

In NFHS you drop it to the team that last had possession. IMHO a deflection like this isnt possession. If you want to drop it, it goes to the away team that possessed and played the ball, not the team that deflected it.

 

We have been tracking yellows for 4 years now in my part of the state (same state as metro). It’s not perfect, but the schools also share a responsibility for tracking yellows as well.

If I’m @MetroFever, file that reportable red card and don’t look back. There will always be a team that will benefit getting into the tournament if the third red knocks them out.

Also only certain reds are reported. 2ct and dogso are not counted towards the elimination from post season.

 

Thanks! Since the ball went back to the team last in possession, I decided not to drop it as the ball went back (after hitting me) to the player who I deemed to be last "in possession" of the ball. I will bring situation up to our Chapter Interpreter and maybe he can address at a higher level.

 

So here's an odd one. High school boys varsity. Home school has more yellows and reds than any other team in our metro area. Late, very late, in the first half. The referee (not me!) blows the whistle for a reckless foul by a home team player. As he does so, the horn goes off for the end of the first half. He then shows the yellow card and informs the benches of the reason.

But the player was supposed to have to leave the field, right? Strictly by the book, the referee should have put one second back on the clock, since the clock didn't stop fast enough for the caution, and required the player to leave the field, sub optional. Then give the free kick and the horn would go off. What he actually did was to tell the coach that the player couldn't start the second half. The coach was fine with that, actually, and said that they'd just play short and the player could come on at their next sub opportunity.

Unrelated, later in the 0-0 game, a home team player, standing on the goal line and not wearing the funny shirt, just sticks out his hand and deflects the visitors' shot on goal. He immediately knew what he had done. He's actually hiding his face in his shirt and is crying. The referee said, "hey, I'm sorry, but there is just no way I can make this a yellow.' He shows him the red and the visitors score on the PK. But the home team, playing short, of course, comes back and wins 2-1. The player will still have to sit the next game but the school does not have to pay the usual fine for a red because it was DOGSO-H.

 

I didn't answer you back yesterday since I reached out to someone at a "higher level" than us and just received a response. You handled it well (and could have done a drop ball if you wanted to as well to the team who was clearing the ball or making the pass because it was a deflection and no clear control).

The NFHS rulebook wording implies that you are handcuffed by being forced to call a drop ball. I learned that this is not the case and that the play would be handled no differently than a USSF sanctioned match.

Only thing to add is that you could have said "nothing there" upon being hit by the ball, which may or may not have minimized the coaches response. It's possible you did, but wanted to keep the post brief and on point.

I was curious as well since I wanted to know if the procedure differs than that of a USSF sanctioned match and the answer I received is that it does not.

 

I did not say anything as I was rather confused as to what I was going to do, but I knew that the defender was the last one to actually play the ball and that the defender maintained possession by clearing it off the touchline. So in reality, I did get a bit lucky and guessed correctly, but I knew that the home team Coach was definitely incorrect.

 

If an official is hit by the ball, it only becomes a drop ball if one of three things happens afterwarda: a promising attack starts, possession changes, or the ball goes in the goal. If none of these things happens, no drop ball.

 

I'm aware of that and already posted yesterday that it's handled no differently than a USSF sanctioned match.

I've been hit by a ball several times in the short time I've been doing HS soccer and handled it no differently than any other match. For some reason, after I saw the post of a fellow referee, I went to see how they address it in the NFHS rulebook. The way they word it implies you are handcuffed as a referee and forced to do a drop ball, regardless of what happens to the ball afterwards.

After reaching out to folks, I found out that is not the case. It appears the rulebook is written by those who are multi-sports referees instead of dedicated soccer officials (I could be wrong). I can't see most of the regular posters here following the format and wording that they chose.

 

MetroFever, the NFHS rule book is written by a mixture of administrators, coaches and officials. The current committee chair is both a referee and a state administrator. The wording of rules is somewhat done to make things clear to the wide diversity of referees and coaches doling high school games.

 

are you a magnet???

 

Let's just say that I'm not the trail refs we watch from the stands who are standing at midfield on a corner kick.

Seriously, the schedule was already out by the time I decided to do this last year. As a result, there were quite a few bad games my first month where you have zero idea where the player is going with the ball or what they're going to do with it. Not an issue this year, but a very humbling experience.

 

so years and years ago I had a rather senior soccer referee who never moved from the center circle...as a naive newcomer I made the mistake and asked him about his field coverage and he responded...why should I run all the down to the end line if eventually they will come back my way. You ask a question that has no reply, then sadly you get what you asked for...lol

 

It’s called the circle of excellence for a reason. Work smarter not harder

 

aka the referee containment area

 

Or the pre-game that starts "Now the center circle is mine...."

 

On assignor fees for High School, I get paid by the schools. I don't charge referees anything. I'm not a chapter, so I don't charge those dues, either. Referees can (and, starting next year, must) join a local chapter.

The state high school association pays the per-referee Arbiter fee for high school. So every year, I have a conversation with Arbiter to figure out what % of my games are Middle School, and I pay Arbiter a fee based on pro-rating that into my referee pool. That comes out of the fee that I've charged the schools for assigning. The downside of that model is that I have a bunch of referees that do a handful of games, and a significant portion of the fees I get from schools for assigning those referees gets eaten up by the Arbiter fees. If I charged referees $5/year for the Arbiter fee, this problem would go away. Since the minimum game fee for a ref is $70 for a middle school dual, this really wouldn't impact referees much, but it would certainly add to my administrative time.

The referees get paid by the schools directly. I don't want an extra $300K+ sloshing through my bank account, thank you very much.

I have (so far), 1662 games across about 75 schools for the fall season. I'll have another 1200-1400 in the spring. Its' not a full time job, but it does take a couple hours each day, dealing with schedule changes from schools, making initial assignments, and replacing referees who need to be taken off games due to injuries or work schedules.

Of the ~250 refs in my group, less than 10 are HS-only, and a couple of those are long time USSF referees who no longer certify. About 25% of my refs are 20-39 years old, and another 25% are over 60. I tend to assign the slower/less fit refs to middle school and lower level HS games. All Varsity games are 3-referee, and all subvarsity/middle schools are duals.

 

In 1.5 years, I've only done only one match with someone younger than me (and I'm no spring chicken) and he's not likely to return next year due to job reasons. I'm wondering if one of the reasons you guys have so many referees in the younger age demographic is the reason Law5 gave for his area. The USSF guys I know in that age range are career focused once they graduate and getting out of work early for a HS game is not on their Top 500 list of priorities.

Less than 10% of the varsity matches have a 3-man system. All 3 referees get paid the same, which is a hard sell for AD's to justify paying so much on an early season match. From the list I saw in our chapter, about 70% are "HS-only" referees, some who have no idea what USSF means and are not interested in officiating on weekends.

I am guessing you are also giving a diplomatic reason on why time is being wasted even though your schedule went out months ago. Just last week, my partner called me while I was driving to our game asking me where the game is. The assigning platform provides a system generated email the morning of your match providing the location of the field.

When I asked what he typed on his navigation before driving, I got no coherent explanation. If I didn't answer, no doubt the assignor would have been the next person he calls to guide him to the field. Here's a guy who claims he's been doing this for 18 years and has no idea how to get to a game, even though he's already on the road.

 

Thank you for confirming what I remember from when I reffed more than 10 years ago. Almost all HS refs were already USSF refs. And usually only the better USSF refs went on to to get do HS.

I was considering getting HS certification, but that was about the time my knee started going bad. And I got enough club games that I didn't need to give my knee any more grief. My assignor's (*) husband said that was too bad, because I had the mindset for HS, if only I would have had the physical ability for it.

(*) assignor was Cindy at the time; now it's Erich for my area

 

To be fair, the players in those games probably had no idea where the ball was going, either.

 

Everyone's experience will be different, but mine is that high school colleague's, compared to folks who do exclusively USSF sanctioned matches, will never admit to any wrong doing.

Yesterday, I had a game where there was an indirect free kick because of a back-pass to the goalie and the opposing player shot it into the goal without it touching anyone (yes, it was two below-average teams). Obviously, the goal didn't count. The partner I referenced a few weeks ago mentioned at halftime that such a play is a mandatory ceremonial free kick to give the opposing team a chance to make a wall and defend against such a play.

I've gotten texts or emails from folks the day after our games saying "hey, I just had a chance to check the LOTG...thanks for calling me over before the restart!" or "I didn't even know such a rule existed....thanks!". Instead, here the answer on the field was "I've been officiating high school soccer for 40 years and that's why I know".

If this sort of play is handled differently in HS and is buried somewhere in the NFHS rulebook, I'm all ears, but can't see why it would be.

As soon as the game is over, he walks to his car without even waving or saying "goodbye" (that is what they are "instructed" to do, along with being told not to bring anything with them, including a phone). Just minutes before, he pulled out his wallet threatening to give a teen his second yellow card after a careless foul. Very amateur for someone who was a state USSF assessor.

As an aside, I'm shocked at the stories I'm reading about fans in mostly HS matches in the "Bad Stories" thread. Other than the first year or two during COVID when most people had to be back with the public and forgot how to be civil, I'm not seeing or hearing this stuff any longer. After my match, I chatted in the parking lot with one of the coaches since I coached against him when he was a kid and have known his father forever. During this whole time, the players from the losing team went out of their way to say "good game ref", even though the match ended 5 minutes ago.

I had a match on Saturday morning which drew a large crowd with two good teams in a one-goal match and fans, players and coaches of both teams went out of their to say "great job guys" in front of our cars. I am now beginning to think that my state is not that much ruder compared to the rest of the nation as I originally thought (at least not on the soccer fields).