When a red card back-fires

O.k. I encountered a situation that I thought might be beneficial for the discussions in this forum. I am not a ref, so please forgive me for any Referee Forum decor myshaps...

Red cards and how in some instance they can actually elevate tension on the field…

Last weekend in a co-ed rec game, I got my first ever red card. 20th minute, my team’s up 2-0. A very physical opposing player shoves his ass in my crotch as he “protected” the ball. No foul called, and I, like an idiot, chased after him to try dispossess him. Whoops, I clipped his ankle in an attempt to get the ball. Whistle blown. No surprise until the ref brings out the red card. I was shocked, as it was not a malicious foul, but I kept my mouth shut and walked off the field. It is, after all, a rec league and it was obvious I was going for some payback, albeit not malicious. At most, it was a yellow card, and even that would have been a bit much. But it was my mistake.

My team was stunned, as it wasn’t even one of the worse fouls committed up to that point.

In the 2nd half, things start to escalate as we were trying to protect the lead and they came out w/ guns blaring. The same guy that started the sequence that got me my red card, takes out one of our speedy forwards from behind. Foul was called, no yellow. Same situation happens 4 minutes later, although not as harsh of a foul. No card.

By now things are starting to escalate mainly b/c the opposing team saw that it had carte blanche and nothing was going to be called. Finally, one of their female players gets dispossessed and ensues to trip on purpose the lady that did so. Yellow. Big mistake, b/c I had received a red card for that exact same offense. A few minutes later, one of their female players gets dispossessed and proceeds to shove our player and get in her face.

Red card! The first red card to a female player in the league in over 4 seasons! The game is now way out of control, as fouls are happening every 30 seconds. Minutes later, for the third time, our speedy forward gets taken out from behind with a hard slide tackle (slide tackles are illegal in the league). No yellow card. And a few minutes later, one of our female player dispossesses theirs, the ball rebounds to one of their players, who can’t control the ball, so one of our players clears the ball. Both these players simultaneously shove our ladies to the ground. No cards!! (for those keeping track, that’s 4 ladies w/ red-card-able offenses in a league in which ladies getting yellow cards is newsworthy.)

Instead, whistle blows, as the ref calls the game despite over 10 minutes left. (We won 3-2.)

As an observer on the sideline, I couldn’t help but notice that the game got out of hand b/c the ref had not been consistent in doling out punishment. From the perspective of our team, he had been severe in handing out a red card for a foul that was ticky-tack compared to the fouls that he was allowing. And to watch him allow 2 separate players shove 2 others to the ground after the ball had been cleared just cemented the fact that the ref was inconsistent in his punishment. He did make the right call in finishing the game early, but those ladies deserved direct red cards. I at least was trying to make a play on the ball.

And from the other team’s perspective, they saw that they could get away with more egregious fouls and took full advantage. By the time that he started calling things evenly, it was too late, b/c he had called it one way for 60 minutes (carte blanche) and then all of the sudden changed (no, you can’t shove opponents to the ground).

In this case, if he had given me a yellow card, there wouldn’t have been that glaring gap in severity of punishment and it wouldn’t have led to confusion for both teams. The least he could have done is to make a concerted effort to show that he was even-handed. But the time he did so, it was too late.

 

What was the nature of the game up to that point? Was it a physical match? Had there been fouls called? Had there been any cards issued?
My red was the first card. Up to that point, there had only been a few fouls, all against us. He hadn't called a foul on them yet, although they were by far the more physical team. Typically my team is in the bottom third in the league as far as cards received, i.e. we're one of the more mellow teams. This new team is already the most carded team. We really wanted those final 2 reds b/c it would be more justification for the league not to ask them back for next season. (Plus, it would have at least been consistent w/ the previous 2 reds and would have screwed them up big time for this weekend as a direct red gets a 1 game suspension.) We don't expect the ref to know what's going on in a rec league, but it took him too long to figure out that the other team was the instigator in the physical play. If he had carded the fouls from behind, and if he had given a direct red to the yellow described, the game would not have gotten out of hand.
Was this a 1 referee system, or were there assistants the referee could have concurred with?
One linesman, whom he ignored quite a bit, was there for linguistic purposes as well as to ref. The carded fouls all ocurred far from the linesman.

 

Yeah, not every team can communicate w/ the ref, and vice versa. I didn't want to go into that b/c it's an entirely different thread (culture/language barriers). But yeah, good catch on a subtle hint...

 

I didn't want to get into it, b/c my main point is that doling out a red-card early in the game sets draws a clear line, which can get erased if one isn't consist. Then with the line erased, things spiral out of control b/c of confusion.

But here's how the linguistico-cultural issue played out:

The ref and the opposing team were both Hispanic. The main problem was that they were begging for fouls in Spanish, and he was giving them the calls. But when I asked (not begged) for a call in Spanish: nada. When my teammates asked in English: nada. I kind of think that b/c I'm a whiter latino w/ a Spanish accent, that that seriously played into the whole dynamic, which to me was a shock b/c I had never been made to feel white b4, but it happens up here a lot. None of the Latino refs treat me the same as they do the more mestizo players. I've been working on my Dominican accent, maybe that'll get me some street cred.

Apparently, this is a pretty common issue in the Bay Area: teams and refs of one culture are less objective as the soccer field becomes a theater (finally that they control, at least for 2 hrs) for larger social issues.

And I'm sure it cuts both ways, that the non-English speakers feel excluded when the ref doesn't speak their language and feel impotent in the situation.

But given the shortage of refs, I guess we can't be picky and do what they do at the international level: refs come from non-participating countries.

Isn't it amazing how soccer and concepts of national identity are so intimately linked?

 

What, moi, wrong?
Yeah, I thought about that, but then again, if he didn't enforce it, and the other team didn't either, then I figured what the heck. I did stay relatively quiet, just cheering my team on.

I'm glad I did that (be quiet), too, b/c low and behold, we were assigned the same ref this weekend. (I was forced to sit out a rain-out make-up game this past Sat.) And to his defense, there's a method to his "madness". In short, our team had already adjusted to his style of reffing. The opposition was having fits and whining about the non-calls. The main difference is that the original team we played went overboard in taking liberties w/in his style of arbitration, and that escalated into a dangerously physical game.

I think my original point stands, and a ref needs to be aware of how his/her style is received by the players and make necessary adjustments, just like any form of communication. After watching him for 2 games, he's a decent ref.

 

I totally agree w/ the adjusting for "roughness" depending on the league, game, etc.

The league's not that bad. The vast majority of players are like you said: everybody has to work the next day. But there are players (especially former rugby players) who are a bit more physical than the average player. From there arise the tension. Also, we have rules in place that if you get 2 red cards in one season, you're subject to expulsion from the league. And the league enforces that pretty well. It's led to the disbanding of a couple of teams.