What have you forgotten to bring?

Discussion in 'Referee' started by voiceoflg, Jun 8, 2021.

  1. voiceoflg

    voiceoflg Member+

    Dec 8, 2005
    Love the idea.

    My most recent wasn't necessarily forgotten. I was assigned a U12 rec dual this year. Here, rec is non-USSF, so duals are allowed. My partner was 14 years old, never reffed above U8 and didn't have flags. The president of the association showed up because of my young partner and assumed the center. He didn't bring flags because Covid protocols require ARs to bring their own flags. Because this was to be a dual, and every other rec game here except the championships were duals, I intentionally didn't bring my flags.

    At 50+ years old, you would think I would know by now what assuming means. :oops:
     
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  2. Dayton Ref

    Dayton Ref Member+

    May 3, 2012
    Houston, TX
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Many years ago, I got to ODP and discovered that I hadn't brought referee shorts and I discovered it after I got an assignment on the first night and went to get dressed. I got home a week later and there were my 3 pairs of shorts where I'd left them, out of the dresser but not scooped into a bag.

    Lets just say I'm very paranoid now about such things.
     
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  3. Gary V

    Gary V Member+

    Feb 4, 2003
    SE Mich.
    Not forgotten, but ...

    When my daughter was u9 or u10, it happened often enough that there wasn't a ref for her games. Rec league policy was that someone from one of the teams would fill in. One day I had reason to email my ref assignor, so I also inquired whether there was a ref for her game or not. I was assured there was. I got to the field, and nope, no ref. But I didn't have any of my stuff, because I wasn't going to need it, right? The assignor had said so. I had to borrow a whistle from the coach. After that I made sure my ref bag was in the car. (One coach of another team said, "We like to play the Jaguars - we know there will always be a ref.")

    Then there's all those dreams where I couldn't find my equipment, couldn't get my shoes on, couldn't find the field .....
     
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  4. Pelican86

    Pelican86 Member

    United States
    Jun 13, 2019
    Shoes. Twice. Once I had to work in dress shoes, the second time I went with dress shoes before switching to bright green cleats (a shame we were wearing yellow and not green that day). Usually I keep an extra pair of ref shoes in the car, but I guess I'd worn them and forgotten to put them back in.

    Also, forgot a watch a few months ago. Thought I had an extra in the car, but nope. Now I usually have two in my ref bag and one in my car.

    And once, I was doing an HS dual and my partner had the whistle to start the second half. Within the first few minutes of the half I needed to blow the whistle to stop play for a throw-in, and then I realized my whistles were still in my pocket. Not as bad as leaving them in your bag (or worse), but it was still a split-second of panic.
     
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  5. ilyazhito

    ilyazhito Member

    Manchester United
    Spain
    Feb 9, 2021
    One time, I forgot to bring a red card. Fortunately, my AR lent me his for the game. I didn't have to give any cards, and I was an AR the rest of the day, so it didn't really matter.
     
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  6. El Rayo Californiano

    Feb 3, 2014
    Well, coaches tell me I left my cards at home, but I swear they’re in my pocket.
     
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  7. Rufusabc

    Rufusabc Member+

    May 27, 2004
    After my lovely wife had to bring me my shoes after a 50 mile round trip, she now tells me I have to send her a picture of the shoes in the trunk before I leave the driveway.
     
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  8. threeputzzz

    threeputzzz Member+

    May 27, 2009
    Minnesota
    I have a bad habit of taking the pen out of my bag for something and forgetting to put it back. Now I keep a couple spares in the bag but earlier this year I still had one game where I had to borrow one from an AR.
     
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  9. Kit

    Kit Member+

    Aug 30, 1999
    Herkimer, NY, USA
    Club:
    Everton FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    One time I had a game about ten minutes from the school that I teach at, but in a different district. I thought that I could take my time getting there, but when I got to work, I realized that I had left my cleats at home and didn't want to officiate in my work shoes. After work I had to rush home (20 minutes in the other direction) and ended up getting to the game just as the game was about to start!
     
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  10. cleansheetbsc

    cleansheetbsc Member+

    Mar 17, 2004
    Club:
    --other--
    Pretty much everything is kept in the trunk of my car besides socks, shorts and whatever under jersey layers I'm wearing. All the shirts are in the trunk, two pair of cleats and running sneakers also there.

    I have forgotten:

    A coin (usually its misplaced in the trunk)
    My badge (its ok, just throw an old one on, nobody checks)
    Sunscreen
    Bug spray
    Now with the advent of MLS Next and other leagues with digital rosters, bringing reading glasses or my IPad has become a need

    and naturally
    Forgetting my common sense.
     
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  11. Spencedawgmillionaire

    Mar 2, 2017
    Belleville, ILLLLLLLLINOIZE
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Dude in my area shows up to work a 2-man for my son's H.S. freshman match a couple of years ago.

    He forgot: Shorts, socks, shoes.

    So he worked the match in a ussf shirt (still allowed at the time), no HS patch, untucked, with khaki shorts, no shoes, no socks.

    And he was lucky it wasn't a hot day, cuz turf.

    Personally, I somehow always forget flags and occasionally have to borrow a patch.
     
  12. soccerref69420

    soccerref69420 Member+

    President of the Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz fan cub
    Mar 14, 2020
    Nat'l Team:
    Korea DPR
    Left back pocket of my shorts is what I use for most of my backup stuff in game. Yellow and red card and extra set of whistles. Keep extra pen pushed down in my sock. Basically right when I get to the field I immediately put that stuff in there.
     
  13. gaolin

    gaolin Member+

    Apr 21, 2019
    I was doing a U12M game and VC came out with 10 mins to go during a 0-7 drubbing and of course frustration got the best of the losing player. Easy red.

    The parents are roaring for the red card and I'm playing the "can't find my keys" shuffle because... I FORGOT MY RED CARD in my bag.... and my AR sees this and I see him pulling his red out of the corner of my eye but I quickly realize the book I write my report on has a red card in its back flap pocket so I use that.

    Good times.
     
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  14. Bubba Atlanta

    Bubba Atlanta Member+

    Mar 2, 2012
    Yep, Atlanta
    Club:
    Atlanta United FC
    I can attest that running a line in boat shoes really sucks ... :barefoot:
     
  15. roby

    roby Member+

    SIRLOIN SALOON FC, PITTSFIELD MA
    Feb 27, 2005
    So Cal
    I was sure you were going to say that you forgot your socks and had to paint your legs with a Sharpie. :whistling:
     
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  16. Bubba Atlanta

    Bubba Atlanta Member+

    Mar 2, 2012
    Yep, Atlanta
    Club:
    Atlanta United FC
    No worries there ... I look like I'm wearing socks even when I'm not. :ninja:
     
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  17. Pittsburgh Ref

    Pittsburgh Ref Member+

    Oct 7, 2014
    da 'Burgh
    Two stripes, or three?
     
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  18. Bubba Atlanta

    Bubba Atlanta Member+

    Mar 2, 2012
    Yep, Atlanta
    Club:
    Atlanta United FC
    Five. Vamos ATL!
     
  19. Pittsburgh Ref

    Pittsburgh Ref Member+

    Oct 7, 2014
    da 'Burgh
    Visions of argyle...
     
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  20. ptref

    ptref Member

    Manchester United
    United States
    Aug 5, 2015
    Bowling Green, KY
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I once forgot to bring my whistle to the field on a college game. Had to have the 4th official run back to the locker room to get it for me.
     
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  21. Law5

    Law5 Member+

    Mar 24, 2005
    Beaverton OR
    The one I most acutely remember was a high school boys varsity game. I go into the restroom at work to change. No shorts, no socks. Home is too far to the west to get to my game in the opposite direction in time. What am I going to do? Then I remembered that there was a soccer supply store about a mile away. I quickly went there, looking for shorts and socks. It was the middle of the fall season. Referee shorts? "The only size we have is XL." I wear medium. I bought them (and socks) and just cinched up the shorts, real tight. As luck would have it, my assignor comes to the game. My socks kept falling down during the game. The assignor noticed the socks situation, but not the baggy shorts.

    A friend told me about a particular referee that we both know who was doing a college dual (back when that was a thing.) A player right in front of him commits clear misconduct, has to be a yellow. He reaches for his pocket and realizes that he doesn't have his cards. He covered up for it amazingly. He yells at his partner "Charlie! Come over here and give this guy a card. I'm so mad at him that I can't even talk to him!" Charlie came over, showed the card, and the game proceeded with no further cards. The other players apparently didn't want him to get mad at them, too.
     
  22. MJ91

    MJ91 Member

    United States
    Jan 14, 2019
    So far, the only things I've forgotten were like my primary watch, whistle, cards, flags, etc. that i didn't put back in my bag right after the game or after getting home late... got in a hurry to start laundry for games the next day and get a shower... set them on the wrong table, dresser, etc. and forgot. But, i keep spares of everything in my bag, so it's not caused a problem yet.
     
  23. fairplayforlife

    fairplayforlife Member+

    Mar 23, 2011
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The list is nearly infinite but that’s because I bring just about everything but the kitchen sink to my games. (I bring face wipes to clean my face though so the sink is unnecessary :p)

    The worst instance was when I brought two left shoes when I owned 2 pair of the same shoes.

    That was a painful day.
     
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  24. Chaik

    Chaik Member

    Oct 18, 2001
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    I still have PTSD from this one.

    I woke up at 5:30 to walk the dog before work. Got back an hour later, ate some breakfast, and took my ref shirts out of the laundry and put them in my bag in the car which holds my shoes, whistle, watch, cards, pen, coins, etc, plus backup shorts, undershirts, jacket, everything you could ever want. Then I hopped in the shower.

    At this point my 15-year old learner's permit daughter, deciding that carrying the trash and recycling 50 yards to the end of the driveway was just too far, unloads my bag from the trunk, puts the trash bags and recycling in the car, and drives it down to the curb. She then parks my car in the same place. And, this is key, does not put my bag back in the trunk. None the wiser, I went to work for the day.

    I have a separate bag that I carry into my office with shorts, a dryfit undershirt, socks, and sandals. I changed into that gear, drove an hour away from my house to a rural school to do a boys freshman game, popped the trunk and realized I was in deep, deep trouble.

    My partner, who I had never met before, let me stretch one of his shirts to its breaking point, and borrow a whistle. She hadn't touched my golf bag, so I had golf shoes (which are blue), and I decided those were preferable to sandals or my dress shoes. I kept backup time on a gold analog watch. I'm not sure if my partner and I would have gotten along absent me showing up with basically nothing I need to referee a soccer game, but we absolutely did not get along in the circumstances we met under. I'm sure he's still complaining about my unprofessionalism, which is fair.

    My daughter's explanation: "I was already dressed for school and the trash really smelled."
     
  25. HoustonRef

    HoustonRef Member

    May 23, 2009
    And PTSD stands for Parent Tramtic Stress Symdrome.
     
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