This is just a crappy coed recreational level league, generally it’s fine, it pays decently and is solo so I can laze about
I don't do Adult Sunday morning games that often these days. When I was Grade 7, I had to provide a list of 20 adult games at the end of the year to the State Office that I did to keep my grade. I'm sure if I put "Columbus Crew vs Colorado Rapids", they wouldn't even notice. Nowdays, there is little incentive for me to do it since the pay is still significantly lower in our area compared to other competitions. I hated having to continuously explain that I was starting my clock at 9:00 a.m. if guys were showing up late since I have other games line-up. The stress of not knowing if a game will even be played and if I'm wasting my time driving is not missed by me, since it's no longer a weekly assignment.
This was a big problem in this league because the players always arrive st game time, games start late, refs cut down half lengths and then players companion they don’t play full games. So I made them start doing exactly that. The clock starts exactly at game time (9 or 11). The first half ends at 945/1145. The first half is usually 35-40 min of play time, second half is 45 min. Games are over at either 1040 or 1240 period, as that’s 1.5 hrs game time plus a 10 minute halftime
My games were at 5 and 7pm so often these games would be delayed. Not to mention that these games weren't assessable because the league didn't properly follow the laws. (Ex. Players wearing jewelry and level of play was generally lower) Sadly these games were pretty high paying. $90 for CR and $70 for AR. Shame I don't them anymore but I love getting my Sunday nights back. Shame the assignor was a belittling jerk. Oh well.
Got another classic suspension report from this past weekend. U19B mass confrontation resulted in 7 red cards (5 for one team) and a total of 29 games suspended
JV girls game yesterday dual system. Athletic Director buzzing around before the game. He apologized for not greeting us earlier, but he was focusing on 'attendance' issues. With the team, I assume. We're doing subs and I'm R1, so I have my hand up in a 'stop' signal to my partner on the other side of the field. An exiting player comes near me as she's heading to her team''s bench. As she approaches me, she starts to raise he hand, and then gets embarrassed that she'd thought I was going to high five her. Home team gives up a goal and one of their players goes to take the kickoff. The first touch sent the ball slow rolling towards he center circle line, so she just goes after it and kicks it again. Tweet! She looks puzzled. Her coach and I are both telling her that she can't kick it a second time. So she puts the ball back on the spot to take it again. Sorry, white's kick. Five minutes later, they give up another goal. This time, she just starts to dribble the ball away. Tweet! I've occasionally seen double touches on kickoffs, but not even every year, but I've never seen it happen twice in the same game.
When does the “this is a low level JV team who clearly doesn’t know the rules, I should give them a break on a pretty inconsequential infraction and let them redo it while explaining the rule, especially since this is high school soccer which is supposed to be more about education, instead of repeatedly punishing them” come in?
They will remember the rule more effectively if they are penalized for it. Enforce it now so they won't repeat the offense someday in a varsity game where the result matters.
JV players are still high school age, correct? (Maybe a few are middle school students pulled up, but most are in HS.) We will let them start driving in a couple years. And they have to be excused from following the soccer rules because they are too young and inexperienced? These are high school players, not U8 or U10. If they don't know how to play the game, that's on the coaches. It's not for the referee to excuse their violations. The ref told them what they did incorrectly. And they still didn't learn. Sorry if that comes across as being harsh. I prefer to think of it as reality.
I had a middle school game yesterday. Really, really low level of soccer. Most of these kids barely knew the game. The coaches even told me that they were still learning the rules of the game and I told them I would try to talk them through things as we went along. There was some language barriers as well, as one of the teams was primarily a hispanic team, so often, the kids who spoke better English had to act as translators for their teammates. I was pretty laid back about most things (there weren't really many fouls anyways). Late in the game, the one team's kid turns around and kicks the ball straight back to their goalie. As soon as it happens, I'm running toward the goalie yelling, "Don't pick it up!" as loudly as I can. So, of course, the poor kid picks it up. I make the call, explain to the keeper that he can't pick up the ball when his teammate passes it back and then set them up for the indirect kick. I announce that it's indirect (get a bunch of blank stares) and look at the one kid on the field that I can tell plays a fair amount of soccer and say, "I think you're the only one on this field who knows what that means". He nods to me, passes it next to him to his teammate, who shoots it into the goal.
Perhaps I’m too forgiving with clearly inexperienced players with relatively minor infractions. If it was a big infraction, like passing back to the goalkeeper above, I would definitely call it. But a double touch on a kickoff leading to an indirect free kick at midfield which isn’t really going to lead to much besides probably a few dribbles and lost possession, I might have had them do a redo the first time and then definitely call it the second time. I dunno I just would rather let these kids redo some minor foul once to learn than just penalize penalize penalize. I don’t always believe that penalizing inexperienced people for things will make them learn. However, when it comes to experienced players? Penalize the hell out of them to act and a deterrent of future behavior
How much of a 'penalty' is it to give the other team an indirect free kick in the center of the field?
Not so much hurting their feelings but giving them a chance to do it right and make a body memory while the lesson is still fresh in their heads. Assuming a general low level of play
But that is exactly my point. It is a very minor infraction with a very minor result. You can say “well then who cares that you called it, it barely results in anything”, but I say the opposite, “exactly, it barely does anything, so why not just tell the low level player that they can’t do that and to redo it the first time rather than just penalizing them for it”. Anyway, just like arguing a subjective call with a coach, looks like we will have different views that we won’t change each others mind on.
For players (kids) who don't know about two-touch violations, IMHO a whistle and the ball going to the other team is a better instruction than telling them they can't do that. When you whistle this (well, when I whistle this) the player is going to ask "what's wrong?", which makes it more likely the info will stick, and also raises the odds that any unaware teammates will also tune in to your explanation. Information sought is more valuable than information offered.
“But last week the ref just let us take the kick again …” Call the infraction the way it’s supposed to be called. Enough people complain that officials are inconsistent in their calls.
Did anyone see MLB where Altuve fouled a ball off his fit that they called fair, he took off his shoe and socks to show the umpire his bare foot where he got hit and he got ejected for it This has happened a few times in soccer, where I’ve seen a player show a referee on their leg where studs hit or something, taking off their sock to do it. Do you guys think this rises to at least dissent if it happened in a game you’re in?
It can, if they do it in a provocative manner. We can be wrong, but respect the game. There may be a reason why we missed the call, and I may be willing to tell you how/why I missed it if you don't start immediately yelling at me.
I have also known players who attempted to pull off a pre-existing (usually from much earlier in that game) scratch or hole in their shirt as something which just occurred in the play they're complaining about. So I learned to highly discount this act depending on the exact game and feel for it.