The things we hear is back - 2021,22 and more edition

Seriously? I love that rule.

Me (in a USSF game after several HS games):
Showing YC and thinking to self, Happy to be rid of you for five minutes.
Oops, I guess not.

 

Yep. With boys, five minutes is usually enough to chill 'em out.

With girls, five minutes is usually enough for me to evaluate and rank the likely retaliations after the player comes back in.

 

i know people do it, but in my 18 years as a referee I only have come across 1 illegal player. And, only because the referee on Saturday was the referee on Sunday and the same kid was playing for 2 different teams under 2 names. The referee had carded the player the previous day! So, when I was checking him in, he apologized to the ref ( my AR) for the bad behavior from the day before. Crime does not pay.

 

I had a player in a men's league game that I recognized and I was sure he had not been checked in before the game. At halftime, I asked him for his card. I said, "I gave it to you." "No, you didn't." He disappeared and did not play in the second half. The reason I knew him was that he was the son of a previous SRA. I put it in the game report, of course, and the league sent me an e-mail thanking me for recognizing him and telling me that he had pulled the same thing previously.

 

Maybe 5 years ago, I did a U18B game at the end of the spring season in a league of what I would call town-based travel teams. AR1 was a 40ish guy in his first season as a referee, having just graduated from coaching his son's U14 team. AR2 was a girl aged at most 14 who, I suspect, hadn't officially been assigned; she was filling in for her older sister, who had a conflict with her high school lacrosse playoff game. Both did OK.

I checked in team 1: roster, but no player cards. Coach: "I didn't know we needed those." In the last week of the season, he didn't know that he needed player cards? I told the coach that since he had what looked like a valid roster (from an era before photos were on rosters), I'd let the kids play but would also report the absence of player cards to the league.

I checked in team 2: everyone had a player card with a miniature photo that looked like a human within a few years of 18, so all seemed good.

At half-time, AR1 informed me that team 2 had a player who was not on the roster. How did he know? Turns out that the coach was his next-door neighbor, and playing on the team were both the U18 and U14 sons of the coach. The younger son's name was not on the roster. The coach had obviously used the player card for some other kid for his younger son.

After the game, I emailed the league. The game was declared a double forfeit.

 

The competitions I do with player cards (which are all AYSO) or all black-and-white: no pass, no play, no exceptions. When everyone knows there is no game unless the cards are physically there, they have a way of showing up . . .

 

I've told this story once before. At last year's SoCal State Cup, I was notified that a player in my next U17 game had a suspension for a red card. While checking the team in, I notified the coach about the player and he stated he wasn't here. One of the players looked like him (roster showed small pictures from when they were like 13) so I asked his name and he claimed to be another kid. Since the pictures were grainy and outdated, I decided he could be that kid. While playing, the other kids began calling him the suspended players first name so at next stoppage of play, I again asked his name and one of the other kids said that they use his middle name. So at half time I reported my suspicions to the CalSouth staff and they confronted the coach and he admitted to playing his banned son. Bad enough the coach lied but he had the other kids lie as well. I heard he received a long ban.

 

My only claim I can make with suspended players is that 3-4 years back, I got our league's rule book amended to say that a player who received a red card could not participate in another game until the red card suspension had been decided. I had given a player a 2CT RC on a game Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon she was going to be playing again for another team in the same club (legally played an age group up one game then for her regular team the other), so I was the only referee who would have known she got sent off earlier in the day. I advised the coach to keep her out and I wrote up a red card suspension served note on the back of the game card and it was approved as her 1 game 2CT RC suspension.

Got special recognition from the league disciplinary coordinator for the thinking on that one.

 

This is actually something I said. U14B that kicked off at 10AM, it is 1-0 in the second half and the winning team has started slow playing a few restarts. The problem was parents thought that every throw that took longer than 2 seconds was delaying the clock. At one point I signal for a sub and the parents start in on the thrower taking to long. I loudly announce that we won't be restarting while the sub is going on. The opposing parents applauded. A few restarts later, the winning team is actually slowing ball retrieval and restart. I announce, "I've got plenty of time, I'm going to be here until 6 tonight."
After the game the site coordinator said, "You are hilarious when you ref."

 

Women's league game. Even early in the game, the goalkeeper is walking to retrieve balls well behind her goal line for goal kicks. I loudly announced, "Take your time, keep. I've got the clock stopped." Her teammate says, "Just get the ball, Jen. He's on to us." There were no further problems.

 

I'm not going to start a new thread for the things we find, but recently I had a middle school boys game. I walked the field before the game and picked up sticks, pine cones, an old surgical mask, and this.

 

^ Just what the referee needs, a third eye. Too bad it's not in the middle of the back.

 

Red up 7-0 early in the 2nd half, I'm AR1. Red gets whistled for a foul which I thought was a little soft. Coach mumbles, "That's soft." A few minutes go by, minor contact against red player, no whistle. Coach now says louder, "Hey, score doesn't matter, we're getting called for ticky tack fouls and they aren't!"
In my head I said -

"Foul. Singular. You've been called for one foul."
"Um ... score kinda does matter. It's 7-0, take the win and let's move on."

 

My state initiated the cooling off period long ago enough that I was a player at the time (20+ years at this point). I was serving my (then) 10-minute break for FRD in overtime of a state playoff game when our opponents scored. That sucked.

 

U19 boys rec in a public park. Someone has a dog inside the fence around the field, and he interferes with a throw-in during the first half. The owners reasonably take the dog back behind the fence.

At halftime, I went behind the fence and showed the dog a yellow card.

He bit it.

(Well, more precisely, he did that "I'm clamping your wrist in my mouth to get you to play with me" thing that big young dogs do.)

 

B16 game today. Parents from the losing team, while upset about perceived time wasting, were yelling “six seconds” when the winning team was preparing to take a goal kick. I almost laughed out loud.

 

Final ten minutes of B11 game recently, 1-0, non-winning parents positively incensed that subs weren't "being organized." Sir/Madam, you ever try wrangling 10-year-olds? Get a grip.

 

Gave a YC for a reckless slide from behind that attacker had to jump forward while passing to avoid most of the contact from. YC'ed player teammate comes 10 yards over to me to complain about the call, saying "why is it a YC if he got the pass off". I explain the reasoning. He won't quit. I tell him "you aren't changing anything, it's a reckless foul, please step away"

Then he says "ref I'm only 16 you shouldn't be arguing with me". Classic.

 

B U-16, bunch of awkward kids running into each other awkwardly all game. Two players get tangled, and White ends up putting his hands around the opponent's waist and kind of falling to the ground with him. It was weird looking, but it didn't really rise to the level of VC or anything, so I went YC. Call it game disrepute I suppose. I showed him yellow, and the following exchange happened:

White: "He was going for my nuts!"
Teammate: "No he wasn't, no one wants your nuts."

 

GK16 game. From player on be bench following an OS flag by the other AR. “Don’t worry Sophie, you weren’t offside” (my ears prick up) “in my heart.”

 

Coach: You can't tell me that that play was a foul (against his player) while the play at that end was not (by opposing player)?

Ref (Me): That's EXACTLY what I am telling you.

As a follow up, coach tells player "don't worry, you made a great play. That was no foul". U-14 match. Anyone willing to give the coach a yellow card for dissent? Gave it a moment. Low level U-14B match, last of 7 games over the weekend and I was like "do I really want to go home and type up a report on a Sunday night?" The answer yesterday was 'No"

 

Card depends on the game. I would at least say something to the coach.

 

Yeah, depends. Like 5 more minutes left in the weekend where I've accumulated over 19 miles on the soccer fields. Lets see this one out, go home and have some dinner.

 

As I was settling in for my O50 game last night, the preceding U16 coaches and refs were finishing up. Home coach asked the CR about I think positioning and involvement related to an offside (no-)call, and on hearing the answer exclaimed rather pissily, "Well, I didn't see that at all."

That's fine, coach, but in the end, who cares? One, you were in the opposite half, and two, your glaring absence from my roster tells me you probably get your instruction from NBC.