I'm not a ref - I'm a fan and I coached for 20+ years. I lurk here to read different viewpoints and to learn. You folks do NOT get paid enough.
Friday night lights - GV senior night - chilly damp evening and it seems that every player on the visiting team brought a blanket to the game. Game is excellent and so is my partner in the dual. Several times, as lead, I look up and he is practically even with me. Near the end of the tight 2-1 game, I am lead on a corner kick and on the goal line and the CK is sent straight into the crowd and back to the kicker who puts up a high contested shot. My partner calls OFFSIDE!!! (I am still off the field and have no angle) Game ends a few minutes later with the visitors victorious. One of the subs goes sprinting onto the field yelling out "who wants a blanket?" Cracked me up.
Day after Halloween. Boys MS playoff game in my hometown - solo ref. Beautiful sunny afternoon for November in New England. As we take the field to start the game, one of the kids runs by and yells "hey ref, I trick or treated at your house last night"
Other things I heard in said MS game: Early in game, free kick for White around mid field. Black sets up about 6-7 yds from ball. I start giving him the hairy eyeball. Kicker starts his run up and defender takes a step forward and blocks the kick. Tweet - YC - FRD. Kid seems to have no clue why I carded him. From the parents side 1) you need to give a warning 2) they did not ask for 10 3) let them play I HATE FRD and DRS. When I see players moving towards the ball, I will generally start asking sarcastically, do you know what the rule is? Are you anywhere near 10 yards? I almost always get totally confused looks. And now they don't know what to do as they are obviously coached to DRS. It drives me nuts when other refs let players stand at the ball and then just start stepping out 10. We could end this crap if everyone enforced it. I have even made it part of the coin flip. A free kick for the other team is a free kick for the other team. We all know its 10 yards. You don't need to be told and you don't need to ask. And if you violate it, I might just card you. Many of my partners roll their eyes. One even said, I won't (arghh)
Amen. I am in the same boat. As soon as I see a kid creeping, I'm LOUDLY calling out "give them the distance!" If they don't, I'll card them and not think twice about it. I also don't care about the parents whining. It's a rule - I'm paid to enforce the rules. I had one time in a high school game where I carded it right away. Red is trying to take a quick free kick. White defender comes right up to the ball. I immediately carded, because Red was trying to play a quick free kick. With it being high school, I had to do the song and dance to inform the coaches. Surprisingly, White's coach offered no complaint whatsoever. He knew and I think he was actually a little surprised someone actually went right to the card for it, but he knew what his player was doing and accepted the sanction.
I've used "you don't want to do that" to the player moving toward the FK--players who want to stand on the ball tend to know exactly what I mean and back off.
Here we would get more grief for it from coach/player because it's a 5 minute sit out for a yellow. Nevertheless, it's a yellow all day long for me as well. But I haven't had to give it, I usually am able to manage it. One time a team would not move, another team took a quick free kick that went over the player and scored. So being those 5 yards instead of 10 yards maybe hurt them because the attacker was forced to go high which beat the keeper in the end. Karma?
I probably have told this before, but a few years back (pre-2019 anyway) I was refereeing a competitive U12 final and we had a free kick near midfield. The players had just about settled into position when one defender ran in from ~10 yards away and planted himself directly in front of the ball. I blew the whistle and immediately cautioned him with no warning. The player said "but coach told me to do it!" I responded with something along the lines of "he should have known better." If the player had started next to the ball I likely would have told him to back up, at least for a first incidence, but running in late from distance merited the card in my opinion. In fitting with the forum topic, as the player took the kick I heard the opposing coach tell the offending player's coach "yeah, that's a new rule."
I know I told this before, but it's been a few years. I did a U10 girls rec final. Two teams from opposite sides of the state. First foul, about where the buildout line would be today. Four defenders ran up and stood right in front of the ball. They then locked arms, and stepped back ten steps, audibly counting. I couldn't help but chuckle. I said "You see how far you are from the ball? Next time, move that far away without starting right up against the ball."
I, too, went straight to the pocket first time on a boys varsity game. There were no further shenanigans in the game. For me, it's one thing if the fouler is still right there but it's something else when the defender comes toward the ball. I have seen a significant increase in the number of times players move right in front of the ball, not just, say, five or seven yards away. At one time in my career, I was telling captains before the game that I wanted them to give 10 yards automatically. A captain tried to tell me "I'm from Germany. I don't know this whole feet and yards thing." "Nine Point One Five meters And, if you are from Germany, you already know that.!" But there was a time I gave a free kick close in, maybe three or four yards outside the penalty area on the side. The wall was at five yards, which left a big hole behind them. There was a second attacker a yard or two off the goal line just to the outside of the defending wall. Somehow, I knew not to get involved in moving the wall back. The kicker chipped the wall, the second attacker was right there when the ball came down and he volleyed it into the back of the net, as the goalkeeper watched the attackers on the other side of the goal. As he came back up field for the kickoff, I told the first attacker, "I knew you didn't want the wall moved back." "Thanks, ref." Or the time the coach complained, after the kick, that the wall was too close when his player took a free kick. I told him, "I asked him if he wanted 10 and he said no." QED.
My older son scored a goal years back when he was over the ball, never asked for 10 yards and the ref hadn't indicated that he needed to wait for a whistle. Other team was in the middle of setting up their wall and the goalie was way out of position so he just shot the ball into the half of the net that they left wide open. The other team started complaining, but had no leg to stand on. That was one of the few times that being a certified ref helped my son in a game situation. Quick question for everyone - would you normally card someone who is set up off the ball in that 5-7 yard range (assuming they hadn't been previously warned) or do you usually reserve that for the really egregious stuff (like standing on top of the ball or running into the play)?
I reserve it for egregious standing on top of the ball etc. If it's 5-7 yard range, more often than not, a team is happy to get on with it and I won't interfere. If they point to me and say something, and the defender is not moving, I'll make the defender move back. Often, the mere act of the attacker complaining will make the defender move back.
I would never card 5-7 yards, because everyone thinks that is 10. Sometimes, if the foul is above the 18, and the offense is not taking it quickly, I ask the kicker, "Do you want 10, you have 7?" About half the time, they say don't bother. The other half of the time, they don't know what I am asking. But in shooting range, I let them have 2 or 3 chances to take the kick before I say or do anything.
In my youth I took advantage of defenders thinking they had time to set up more than once. I also got very annoyed at referees who stopped me and started walking off the distance when nobody asked for it including when no defender was actively standing too close. This is still one of my big pet peeves even at the top levels. To your question, 7 yards you're getting into a range where they really think they're close (but know they may be a yard or two too close). 5 would likely not be a card unless they are clearly stopping a quick restart opportunity at that distance and certainly had time to move back further.
I almost sent off a 10U coach screaming that I didn't know the rules and had to show the defense where 10 yards was before the attackers could take the kick . . . As to the question of when to caution, for me it's really whether the defender is making a mockery of things. If they move to the ball to stand on top of it, yes, I'll card. (Though as noted above I'll say something as they're doing it so they have a bit of warning.) If they set up 6-7 yards away, I'm not looking to caution. Depending, I'll either just let things develop, or if it's clear nothing is going to happen immediately, I'll go ceremonial and move them back to avoid the scenario where the kicker waits until everything else is ready and then asks for 10--at a certain point you know the kick won't be taken until they are back, and there is not, IMO, any reason to wait for a specific request. The other caution I will give, whether I've marked 10 or not, is the player running in to try to block the kick from within 5 yards. If they touch the ball, it's a caution. If I don't think it affected the kick, I'll tell the player it would have been a caution and not to do it again. In between those, it varies.
Ugh, I hosed-up a similar situation late this season... CR, HSGV, tied game. Home had been asking for 10 anytime the opponent was within 10. Late 2nd, i whistle another foul 10 yds above the PA. I'm reading what home attackers might do as their striker is setting the ball. She mumbles "<something> 10 <something>", so I go ceremonial. She comes unglued. She was trying to quietly tell me that she didn't want 10 and planned to go quickly. I said sorry, too late, i thought you asked for 10. Next time, just play it.
I was AR2 in a 18UB State Cup game last fall. Blue's fouled by red about 35 yards out. I'm the trail, but I clearly see that Red's loitering - including the keeper. The kicker asked R if he could take the kick without a whistle, and the answer was yes. So he took the kick and scored past the unsuspecting keeper. Needless to say, Red was up in arms, but never once did R do anything that would have remotely indicated that it was a ceremonial restart. Red just assumed they could set up the wall, and Blue took advantage of it. R got a high mark on his assessment for allowing that play to occur like it did.
So what's the suggested protocol for these situations: 1. Defender(s) intentionally stand(s) within five yards of the ball. Does age group matter? 2. Defender(s) intentionally stand(s) 5-8 yards away. Does age group matter? Do you tell them to get back or wait for attacking team to ask for 10?
For me, it's simple. If a player doesn't move toward the spot or is at minimum making a move to back up, play on unless the attackers ask for 10. If a player moves toward the ball and is within 10 yards (nine for U12, eight for U10) I verbally say "back it up, red" or something similar. If after the first warning a player moves toward the ball and is within one yard of the ball, out comes the card. But I have seen other referees do other things. You will not find one protocol across the board.