When to end the match

AR1 on a u19 match and defenderwants to statue on a free kick to the losing team in their own defensive third. I say "14, get out of there." he looks at me like I'm speaking another language "14, get out of there, c'mon, let's go!"
14-"I don't have to"
Me-"Yes, you do, let's go"
14-"Do YOU have a yellow card?"
Me-"Yes, would you like one?"

Sheer stupidity..

Also had "Can I get ten?"
"That's more than ten."
"No, I want ten, that's not ten."
I count off ten and move the wall closer to him, I turn and say to him over my shoulder "You were right, that WASN'T ten."

 

My stride is very small - it's more like 14 steps or 10 clown-like movements - so I've learned to jog it out, so that people are less likely to notice.

 

I worked with a guy one season, kind of young and kind of new. He was a smaller guy, so his strides were also small. His procedure was to walk out 8 regular (short) paces, then 3 clown steps. I thought it was ridiculous, but no one else snickered, so I let it go. Since he was new-ish, I didn't want to rattle him by 'helping him out'. Frankly, I thought it would be self-correcting, but he did it the next game we worked, as well. I still didn't know what to say...

 

I had a similar thing happen years ago where a forward "demanded" that he get his full 10 yards for the free kick. I walked it off and moved the wall closer.

 

I got caught on this yesterday.

End of season tournament, so a lot of unusual situations like U12 teams playing U13 to get a feel for playing 11 v 11 on a big field. One of these examples was an all-girls U15 team playing in a boys division. This girls team is very good, but they played a very good U15 boys team and it was not pretty.

It's 12-0, and the winning team is setting up for a corner kick. They have completely switched their team except for the goalkeeper, so defenders are playing forward and vice versa. As they are setting up, we hit 70 minutes. I should have just blown for full time, but I let them take the corner kick.

The final score was 13-0. I apologized to the girls' team coach after the match for letting the corner kick play out. He didn't blame me for it - he said they have to mark better on set pieces. But I did let the kick off happen and let it play out for a few seconds before blowing the whistle on full time.

 

A colleague on a State Cup semi literally YC'd a coach for dissent as AR1. He'd been CR on a prior match and hadn't completely changed modes. Evidently the CR came over and showed his YC just to make it official.

He said he saw our SRA afterwards and 'fessed up about what he'd done. SRA laughed, saying just don't do it again and that the coach was a known PITA so don't worry about it.

We have a guy in our HS association who once pulled out and blew his whistle as AR2 to get play stopped. That was 10+ yrs ago, but to this day CR's that know the story will ceremoniously make him empty his pockets every time he's AR.

 

I was getting to this point in the U13 semi yesterday. Center heads toward the drop zone, so I'm the closest official. Red team tries to sneak a player about 6 yards from the free kick.

From the half line, about 20 yards away. "Red, back up to 10 yards."

Red coach - "That is 10 yards!"

Me - "That isn't close to 10, and you know it. Red, give him 10 yards."

Just another example of the s***house tactics these guys are teaching 12-year-old kids. Hope they're proud of themselves . . .

 

One of my son's games years ago, in a tie game, he's winding up to take a shot just inside the 18 when the ref blows the end of the game. I've never seen that happen before (aside from HS games when the game is over at 0:00 regardless of the play.

 

I've mentioned this one before. I did a B19 game with an R who is a good friend and his background is in hockey. Being in the "time is time" camp, he literally blew for full time as a ball was rolling into the goal. Gulp. (On the other hand, the attacker had fouled the GK before that kick, so I was able to tell the coach that there was no goal in any event, as without full time being called it would have been a DFK for the other team.)

 

I guess it's fortunate there was a foul to fall back on - I can only imagine the scene that could have unfolded otherwise.

My son asked the ref after that game why he didn't allow him to finish the attack and he simply got the "time is time" explanation. Ironically enough, he hit the shot wide of goal, which was commented on by the ref. Turns out, a whistle going off during one's shot can mess up your concentration a little

 

The ref is not technically incorrect. I've often said that if you ask two refs when to blow the final whistle you'll get three opinions. Your ref and my colleague were at one extreme--but the extreme is absolutely consisted with the LOTG. I *think* I have convinced my colleague to be a little bit less precise.

 

I don't disagree. It's just one of those things where generally speaking, the LOTG and the spirit of the law usually vary.

 

I agree. I think you will find very few experienced refs at that extreme. While I recall there was a PL ref a few years ago who ended a game with a shot in the air, the reality is that the overwhelming majority of refs see enough softness in timing that they are not going to stop the game with an immediate scoring opportunity. How "immediate" varies a lot. (And I think we have had more than one multi-page discussion about corner kicks . . .)

 

I am still kicking myself over a similar incident that happened a few years ago in one of my games.

It was a boys u14 games, and one team was up 3-2 late in the game. There were a couple injuries so I had significant stoppage time (4 minutes if I am remembering correctly). The winning team did commit a careless foul right near the top of the penalty area as my announced stoppage time was expiring. Not wanting them to get an advantage from the simple foul, I did award the DFK. Since we were deep into stoppage time, I thought I would let them take the kick and end the game as soon as their opponents got possession. One player takes a shot, and the goalkeeper caught it (or so I thought) so I blew the whistle to end the game. However, the goalkeeper's catch really went through his hands and into the goal. By the time I realized what had happened I was already at the center circle waiting for my ARs. Let's just say one coach was NOT happy.

If something similar happens again, I'm not blowing the whistle to end the match until I see goalkeeper possession for several seconds!

 

You end the game when your watch starts buzzing that time has expired. Why give an attacking team an extra 30–60 seconds to score when they've had 90+ minutes to do so?

 

well, since you started the watch before the ball was in play, if you’re really set on being precise, they still have a second or two . . .
But the answer is that soccer timing has never been that precise—and it isn’t if you watch the top levels. But 60 seconds would be way extreme at the other end. I think most refs are probably thinking more in the 5-15 seconds space, which accounts for the inherent imprecision of added time.