I am in my first season assigning. Let me go at this from the opposite side of the argument. I am truly stunned at how stupid referees are. I cannot tell you how many times I have explained the assigning on line program to them asked them to keep their availability up to date, confirm their games in a timely manner, get back to me with problems. I must have been a model referee for the previous guy in my job because I never did anything that these guys pull ON A DAILY BASIS. If there wasn’t a tremendous shortage, I wouldn’t bother with half of them. Really. And, I’m a nice guy.
The primary reason I don't want it to be an option is because I worry it will become the standard when clubs need to cut expenses and not for emergency use only.
Geez I felt bad that out of 42 games in our club's rec league today 23 had no referees. Not so much now.
I believe you. The early returns show the increased fees isn't going to solve this problem completely. I got an email via Game Officials last week by mistake for these games for ANOTHER state (perhaps everyone here got it as well). I know guys who got burned in the fall and showed up to an empty field. They lost out on a full days pay by turning down other matches and swore never to do another MLS Next match...it took them weeks to get something back. Others (including myself) got less than 24 hours notice for canceled games. I know guys who are fed up with the emails they receive three hours after the game is over asking where their referee report is. Why?...are the game stats going to be reported on ESPN? Many refs are doing other games afterwards or live quite a distance from the field, so it's not being very realistic.
Finished my 7 games I had this weekend. All except two had ref shortage issues Saturday Game #1: U13 MLS Next. Had to solo. Actually wasn't that bad. Sent an email to the MLS Next Game Officials contact to see if I get a rate adjustment nudge nudge Game #2: U14 MLS Next. Had to dual (they said it was ok). Game #3: OK Game #4: U17 girls comp CR. AR2 dropped Thursday, not filled. Sunday. Turf field for all three, temp in high 80s/low 90s Game #1: OK Game #2: U15 boys comp CR. Only had one AR, and it was his third game ever. Game #3: U19 boys comp (NPL/ECNL level). Had a full crew but I didn't want to subject myself to asking their experience. One AR had on gray running shoes and black soccer socks with a Nike logo. The other asked how long the half length was and used a plastic stopwatch to keep time. These should have very experienced refs on them and this is the crap hand I got dealt. Luckily I called the game tight and no issues, Great start to the season. This is going be a horror show. I see people talking about higher pay for solo young matches, but I don't think I have the temperament to deal with those games anymore. In my opinion, leagues should be offering CR+1 AR pay slot to any 11v11 solos, and CR+1/2 AR slot for any 11v11 with only 1 AR.
I'm sure this will be an unpopular opinion, but I would rather a club AR that I can't trust over someone who should be an AR now having a whistle to wreck havoc on a game that I could probably call solo. I get it, my experience is my own. I'm a Regional Referee who worked U13 solos or using a club AR since my second year of USSF (Thursdays in the fall in OH-S were congested). My tips for 'success' Remember, you are doing them a favor, don't take crap from the anyone. Predict through balls - most kids take a pretty good windup so turn to look at offside when that happens. Don't forget to look back in case the kicker gets whacked late. We know the offside calls won't be perfect and deep down so will the coaches. Try to adopt a strategy of close is off or close is on and stick to it. When someone invariably complains about a call, vaguely indicate to where an AR should be and say something deprecating a la, "Let me check with other official refs." Then shrug. Suerte
I called one of the game day contacts who specifically said we could use either. Of course today I get an email from the lead assignor asking who centered and then he said that under no circumstances are we supposed to do a dual system even though their guy approved it. This year they changed it to the new official US Soccer policy of "no comms if there are any grassroots on the crew". Absolutely agree on not wanting a dual system if you don't know the other's experience level putting him in the center. However, the other ref with me is very experienced, I've worked with him before, also does adult semi-pro games. And yeah I do the same thing. If the players complain about a throw-in, GK/CK, I'll say this out loud to myself: "Okay guys let me check with my AR. What do you think? I think it's a [whatever decision I made]. Me too. Okay guys he agrees with me" Oh, and to top it all off, looks like I won't be getting any extra pay for soloing the U13, and on the dual game, they are giving the other guy the center rate and me an AR rate. Unbelievable.
You jest, but this weekend the two refs who worked dual at a big BV game I was at used comms (or at least were wearing them, not sure how much they used them). They’re both college officials though, and worked a DII game the very next day. In New Hampshire, almost all HS games use the dual, except for the semis and final of the tournament. Occasionally trios are used if the school is willing to pay more and there’s availability, as I understand it.
Since NFHS is completely different from high school, the USSF rules about comms don't apply if I understand everything correctly. And I completely agree with those who say comms are a lot more valuable for two-whistle crews than traditional three-person crews.
Yup. Perfectly fine if you hear "Obstruction!" over comms but woe unto you if your crewmate says "Impeding!"
"Their guy" does not have the authority to do so. Under no circumstances is a dual system ever approved on U.S. Soccer sanctioned matches. You get a club linesman. They can only indicate when the ball has left the field of play. They can not call offside, fouls, provide direction on throw-ins, goal kick/corner kick, provide information regarding misconduct, etc. All they need to do is stand at the corner flag. They don't even need to move. They can see the entire touchline and goal line from there. Also, I just realized that touchline is one word while goal line is two. Fascinating.
When we deviate from the standard procedures, we have two things occur. We obviously violate USSF standards, putting ourselves in potential liability. We paper over the real issue, which is that we need more officials. Only by having these shortages and (eventually) cancelled matches will people finally get the hint that this is a problem. In a different thread, I've talked about how I held my ground and turned back two games where the assignor wanted me to run an AR for my son's games in Midwest Conference. I understand the bind my assignor is in, but nothing good's going to come out of me being in that situation. We need to hold firm and make the problem the clubs' issue for how they treat officials.
The game day contact you are referring to is not a certified assignor. No respectable assignor in the country would tell you that the dual system utilized in high school is acceptable.
Yes, the ban on comms only applies to USSF games. High school and college soccer, which are under different governing bodies, have not banned comms. In fact, one of the points of emphasis for NFHS this year is communication, which includes the use of comms.
That is because the touchline is unimpeded from corner flag to corner flag. The goal line is broken up with the goal posts between the corner flags. I don't know if that is true. I just made it up. But it sounds good
Yes and now I know. I honestly thought that it was only our state's youth league that were sticklers about forbidding duals. I even asked the game day contact "are you sure you guys don't ban duals?" and he said "yes, in this situation refs have done duals for MLS Next before". But regardless, everything went okay. We actually asked the coaches if they would prefer we do a dual or the CR/AR/club and they both immediately said dual.
Bear in mind, the same coaches might likely advocate restarting play 5 minutes after lightning since the sky was clear. I'm not trying to pile on, just sayin', coaches gonna coach.
These are just from today, 36 hours before games. I love being able to choose where I want to work. LOTS of opportunities within a two hour drive. No clue who these eight referees who declined the Blackburn games are. I have six easy 7v7 U-littles girls games Oct 3 there. More pay per hour than the other locations.
Did a HSBV (Senior night) solo last night. Best option for a dual was a ref a little over an hour away. If his game was a mercy, he might make it by half-time. If it went full time, he might make the post game handshakes. Went OK. Had to keep reminding the guys that I was all alone, and couldn't see everything.
In the fall and spring weekends, anywhere from 20 to 30 games are uncovered. Most of them are U-9 through U-12, but it's pretty standard. We're also getting to the point where we cannot cover our high school games. Between 9/7 and 10/13, I have 2 days when I do not have a game. And NONE of those games are USSF. They are high school and college. And it is getting worse. Yesterday was my first time when I had 3 HS games in a day. Showed up at 3:45 for a 4pm and left at 10pm. JVG, Varsity Girls and Varsity Boys. All of them duals, so A LOT of running. And of course the last game goes into OT and ends 0-0... and it's a local rivalry from neighboring districts, so it's very intense. I don't know where we'll go as a HS chapter from here, because it is becoming unsustainable. Something will have to change, either schools have to stop scheduling so many 4pm games, or we have to ship middle school soccer to the spring (we tried that as voluntary thing and very few schools did it) or something. But in the long run, this is unsustainable.