"Warnings? We don't need no stinkin' warnings." Fine, call over the center. Here's your card. Which warns you not to do it again lest you be dismissed. Edit: Almost makes it sound like Dad driving the station wagon: "Don't make me stop this car!"
I worked a preseason tournament this past weekend. I was AR1 on a U14 boys final and before we started one of the coaches, who missed the first game on Saturday when I'd been their referee, said his boys told him, "We like that referee! He was really fair." Can't really ask for better praise.
Couple of funny ones in a not so fun game. B JV and visiting team looks like a V team. Home team is 15 freshman and asst coach told me 5 sophomores had quit when they did not make V. So the home team has a bunch of talented kids, but are much smaller than the visitors. And it was 5-0 for the visitors at the end. There was one home kid who was big and tough enough to physically challenge and did occasionally manage to get the ball. One time he surprised his opponent, who then responded in kind, but by fouling (called by my partner - 2 man). And apparently an f-bomb was dropped. One of visitors defenders says "oh, that was a bad word. Did you hear that F word?" When I did not respond (I heard nothing), he comes up to me as says "did you hear that f word?". I just looked at him and then said "you're talking to a guy with 2 hearing aids...". "ohhhhhh" Late in the game, home team puts in an (apparently) special needs kid #14. At one point I stopped play for injury and was about to restart with drop ball to home team near their own goal. Kicker (best player on his team and one of my up and coming refs) is talking - "who am I going to kick this to?" And is looking around and no one is moving. "Hey, who's the wing?" #14 - "I am." Kicker - "what are you doing back here?" #14 - "I forgot where wing is."
I heard my first Ted Lasso reference at a high school soccer game last night. My dual partner and I were wearing our new neon yellow NCAA shirts. Every time that we made a call (or didn't make a call) that the crowd disagreed with, I heard someone in the stands yelling, "Hey, highlighter!"
AR1 in a tournament on a lovely morning in NoVa. A Team A forward practically runs into Team B's keeper as he's attempting to punt the ball. Center blows the whistle. Forward argues and gets yellow. Team A pulls the forward out. I'm running in front of their bench, so I can hear the whole conversation: "It's because you were in the 18! If you stand at the 18, you can do that!" I mean ... sort of?
I was working in a massive pre-season HS girls jamboree today. Probably about 8-10 teams playing 30 minute games. I bunch of us refs assigned to work for free as it is a cancer fund raiser. Mostly an opportunity for experienced refs to mentor newbies. I worked 3 games (dual system) and in all cases, my partner was doing their first games ever. I am on the coaches side and a girl makes a really nice play to tackle/steal the ball and is moving off down field on a break away and I hear from her team bench behind me "i LOVE YOU EMMA!!!!!" Not knowing the context, it was a wee bit shocking. But then a few other girls also were "LOVED" as the game went on, so I guess that is just their thing.
I got something like that in April and laughed out loud at the student section. Our crew wore pink shirts and socks as it was a state quarterfinal rematch from the previous season and one team wore all navy. Figured it was as good of a time as any to get some use out of the pink socks and shirts the state gave us for working the state tournament the previous spring. We were getting ready for the match, and one of the students yelled out, "Good luck, highlighters!!". I couldn't help but turn around, applauded the student section, and gave them a thumbs up.
Sometimes as an AR it's fun to hear what the soccer moms behind you are talking about. And try to make sense of it - is this the same conversation they were having half a minute ago when I was in front of them before?
High school boys varsity soccer game: White is up 4-2 with less than 5 minutes left. Green takes a shot on goal and the white goalkeeper saves and holds the ball. He rushes to the top of the penalty area and asks, "I have 30 seconds before I have to release the ball, right?" I respond, "No, you have 6 seconds, and now they are almost up." Goalkeeper immediately punts the ball.
That's always a great compliment. I had something similar a couple of weekends ago. U17 boys game on Saturday that I was able to control well. Next morning, I was AR1 for the same team. They asked me if I was in the center at roster check in, and I told them I was on the line. A couple of them, including a kid I cautioned the previous day, said something to the effect of "That's too bad. We thought you did a good job yesterday."
Riding shotgun for some new refs on U8G rec Saturday. Play has been buzzing around one half for a while, the other keeper says "Playing goalie is peaceful, until the ball comes at you." I can't argue with that!
Was AR for a game Saturday night. Home team had a couple old teammates of my younger son's going back to his youth soccer days (U9/U10). A couple minutes after calling a jersey pull just outside the box, I was chatting with one of those teammates during a break in action (it was his jersey pulled) and he looked at me with a grin and said, "You couldn't give me that one in the box?"
With the harsh ZT rules in place, coaches have to get creative. Girls U14. With maybe 15 min. left, a Team X player left the field crying, complaining of an elbow, after she collided with a opponent and one of her teammates. (Honestly can't say whose elbow she caught.) I had to laugh at the way the Team X coach yelled at the ref without yelling at the ref: with the ball in the other half, he briefly walked up to mid-field and hollered, "Team X girls, keep your arms down."
JV2 boys. I hear the home coach talking to one of his players on the bench. "You' can't go in now. You're not dressed like a player." short pause. "Coaches can wear watches. Referees can wear watches." another short pause. "Simple things, man."
8U may be an oversimplification; it's actually a 3rd-grade league since our in-house is by grade so kids can play with their friends. You'd have to check with the program folks but my take is they are "prepping" these kids for U9 Travel in the spring. The prepping seems very gentle, which is good, although probably not what the 'grups have in mind!
This could have been a Best Stories, but what triggered me to write is what I heard. I was doing a Prep School 3rds game. I thought this meant freshman, but turns out that some prep schools have mandatory sports involvement for every student. So there are a bunch of non-soccer players who are not good enough for V or JV, but need a team. Both teams had over 20 players on the bench and while there were some athletes on the field, about 3/4 were lucky to attempt a play on the ball and actually succeed at it. But the game was hilarious. Everybody encouraging their teammates and wildly cheering a good play or kick. And lots of goofs with good natured laughing. The final score was 1-0 and on that one goal, you would have thought they won the league championship. I was thinking, "act like you been there before", but realized, maybe they haven't. One of the better players was the left back, who was near me the entire 2nd half (dual ref system). And he basically doing audio play by play. Talking though the plays and saying things like "pass it to Johnny, ohhh, maybe next time". But what I heard the most was every time he went for a header, he would let out a really loud grunt. Like tennis player loud. Funny as hell. One time he yells as he approaches the ball, "watch the header!" and we all did. I noticed at the end of the game that his team did something like select the player of the game (they lost) and he was the one they picked. I approved.
Maybe not something we "hear," but it's a funny communication from AI, which isn't all that intelligent sometimes. This is from a Google Search on Law 12 ...
I was working a MS-B game at one of the smallest schools in the state. Home team has 12 players and the 12th only came in the game when someone got hurt. He was more interested in grasshoppers. I knew it might be interesting when I got there and I saw the coach teaching the goalie how to punt and throw the ball. And the first time he got the ball, had to be told he could go up to the edge of the box. Oh, and he was literally twice the size of his teammates - taller than me and not fat. So, with all that and a 5 man defensive line, he played great. Stopped a PK with a dive and only lost 2-0 to a far better team with tons of subs. But what I heard was.......during an injury situation, I announced "drop ball to the keeper". He was 30 yards away and I had to call him over to the spot. I told him I was going to blow the whistle and then drop the ball. He says, "what's that mean, I'm new to soccer. It's my first game." I told him again, I'm going to drop it and you can do anything you want with it. "Oh, can I kick it?" Luckily, the offense had no intention of pressuring the play and he got it done just fine. I am curious to see how he does if he gets some coaching. Seems like a natural.