RefBlog

I paid for it in the morning

Finally got a ref a couple of games, but it was in 41° weather, and they were two adult centers (no ARs). Considering it had been about three weeks since my last games, I really paid for it the next morning. The games were fun, and I did the running I needed to do, but for the most part were nothing special. I did have a couple fun moments in the first game, with one player who was playing like a maniac (at lease for this women's league): she let out a bellow just as a player was about to take the ball outside the penalty area, it didn't phase her victim, but when the ball went out of play, I held up the throw in, and addressed her.

"You know you can't do that."
"I can't?"
"It's considered Unsporting Behavior, and it's supposed to be carded."
"Are you going to card me?"
"Yes, I am."

It was rather funny, when she said in a comment to no-one in particular, "Boy this game has gotten chippy. How did that happen?" I wanted very very badly to say, "You made it happen," but I didn't because no good could come from that. And it really wasn't that chippy - she was just starting to get some payback, at the same just beneath foul-level that she gave out.

28 October '05 - 17:50 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Some more of the conversation

I thought it petered out, but there's more:

Oct 20 2005 5:32pm from Monochrome
***** -- you "disconcur"???? Nice.... You do bring up some very valid points, thank you. Had the tourney had a appeals method I would have used it. Anyway, you've given me something to think on.

Along those lines -- how/where does one take the referee test? I see some info the the ussoccer site about the certifications, but no information on how/where to actually get certified.


Oct 20 2005 5:38pm from wizard of aahz
Monochrome - You're certifiable. No worries there.


Oct 20 2005 6:22pm from Ford II

***** -- you "disconcur"???? Nice.... You do bring up some very


I'll disconcur you both an asskicking.
I wasn't going to say anything, but you brought it up.

(more)

22 October '05 - 18:02 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

An interesting conversation I'm having

I'm having an interesting discussion on a BBS (which isn't normally about soccer - this was on a subject called "Small Achievements"), that I want to share. I've mentioned on there several times that I ref, and make a comment or two about a good or bad game, but this is the first time I've gone in-depth. Here's the conversation so far:

(Note: I can't link to this, because the way the board I'm writing about isn't set up any way that a URL would work; I've also edited out some irrelevant content)

Oct 8 2005 2:52pm from Monochrome
My U7 soccer team won their first two games of the Columbus day tourney today -- games 3 & 4 are tomorrow. Since they're U7 this is indeed a _small_ achievement!

Oct 8 2005 2:53pm from Ladyhawke
Subject: Re:
Nice, Mono!

Oct 8 2005 10:22pm from arabella
w00t for Mono, and IG

Oct 10 2005 10:24am from Monochrome
Day 2 results -- boys won 1 lost one, leaving them 3-1, or second place. Um, and I almost got a red card from the ref -- then again the ref was so clueless that I don't think she knew what a red card was. I did have the tourney director come up to me and tell me to take it easy on the ref, but at the same time 4 field marshals appeared at the pitch to watch the rest of the game -- hmmmm, maybe I wasn't the only one to complain about the ref.

(more)

20 October '05 - 14:41 - - default| four comments, already - § ¶

Advice to Referees 2005

I'm back from my honeymoon, but it looks like no games until November. Damn.

I did want to share something I found on the SocRef listserv, regarding the 2005 version of the Advice to Referees. Apparently it's not going to be available online anymore, to protect its copyrights - which probably means I should refrain from updating the audio recording of it, too. Maybe I'll take a chance, email though another email account and ask if either they can do an audio copy, or if I could get permission to do it myself - but I doubt it. I'll still do the Laws, though.

SOCREF colleague Randy Harr has without fanfare performed a public service
and made available a comparison of the 2005 and 2003 editions of the USSF
Advice. There is a link to the comparison on Randy's http://socref.net
website, or one can go directly to the comparison at http://socref.net/docs/USSF%202005vs2003ATR%20unofficial.pdf.

The comparison provides a catalog of the areas where the 2005 version
differs from the 2003 version, without getting into the details of the 2005
text and violating USSF's copyrights. At least, though, we can mark our old
versions to show what has been superseded or modified, and thus shouldn't be
cited in SOCREF discussions.

Randy apparently contacted USSF and cites Julie Ilacqua and Alfred
Kleinaitis as saying that USSF's current plan is NOT to post the 2005 Advice
on the Referee pages of the USSF website. This and Randy's comments in the
comparison document would seem to confirm my suspicion that USSF wants to
sell hard copies and protect its copyrights. I have little doubt that more
copies of the 2003 Advice were downloaded than were purchased from USSF.
It's unfortunate that USSF has discarded the original motivation for
creating and publishing the Advice: to make available to referees, players,
coaches and others the most complete understanding of the rules of the game,
so as to improve the quality of refereeing and soccer in the USA. It also
removed a chance for USSF to show its stature as a world leader in soccer.

Oscar Wilde's criticism of a cynic applies to the making of this decision:
"A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." I know
that USSF's referee leaders know the value of lots of things, but as far as
the decision to provide only a hard-copy version of the 2005 Advice, it is
sad to think that monetary cost consideration has overcome concern for the
Good of the Game.

Great kudos is due to Randy, and a lack of applause for USSF.

Regards,

(Some editing for links, and the removal of the gents name - so he's no unfairly implicated in this site, have taken place)

19 October '05 - 10:48 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Could be the last entry for a while

In case you've had issues connecting to the system, well... it's not you. The system has been having issues, and while I've been trying to correct them, it's limited due to the fact that I'm getting married on Saturday. So, this will likely be the last entry I make for a while.

I also centered a game after the one I wrote about yesterday; I didn't write about it, because it just didn't seem to gell with what I already wrote. Partially because it really constrasted from what I thought was a nice entry, partially because I was tired and too busy to do otherwise, and partly because what I was going to write about just wasn't flattering to myself.

You already know I've done close to fewer games this year; counting high school, I've done something like 70 less (just under 40 in USSF play, more than 30 NFHS); and I haven't done a full 90 minute game since September 7 - more than three weeks. I was supposed to do a pair of 90s, in the middle, but those ended faster than I would have liked. So, when I was supposed to do a double-header with college kids (club soccer, not varsity), it became apparent to me that my muscles at atrophied. I want to work out, but just don't have the time; I did get in a regular schedule last winter, and maybe, once I'm back from the honeymoon, I'll be able to do the same.

I didn't do badly - my AR was nice enough to tell me that I blew two calls - both for restarts and not fouls - but kept the game in check. I think I did a good job with man-management; I just wasn't happy with my inability to keep up the way I wanted. I think I was in good position; I tried to substitute smart positioning for running, but it's not the way I want to do things.

Maybe if this does turn out the be the last message I have here for a while, it'll remind myself when I get back, to start getting back on the treadmill (because it'll snow season by time I return).

04 October '05 - 18:31 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

When reffing a childhood hero

When I was a young kid, being driven around by my parents, I first discovered soccer from a friend of mine, in the dying days of the NASL. I never played it, never watched it, but I liked it - really liked it. The NASL died after that season, and the team moved to play that special version of soccer in America called indoor soccer (actually, I think the progression was something like this: two or three teams in the NASL decided to also play indoors in this other league, the NASL suspended their franchises from playing in their league, then promptly folded). Back in the 80s, it was thought that indoor soccer might sweep the country; they had regular coverage on ESPN (back when they also had programming that wasn't centered on making the loudest noise - I even started to appreciate tennis, courtesy of Vic Braden); a few teams even made profits.

First my dad and I went to the games, then my mom joined in wondering what we were doing, and soon the whole family was attending every single game; we didn't have season tickets, because my brother was in a wheelchair, and we argued that because there were no handicapped accessible cheap-seats, we should haven't to pay a premium, which the team agreed for individual seats, but not for the entire season. One day I realized that I, totally inadvertently, memorized the entire team roster. No denying it, I was hooked. This was also where I gave Gino D'ippolito mounds of grief, of which I can now say I've gotten my comeuppance for.

The team I rooted for produced many coaches and players who've reached the US Hall of Fame; several who were on the Canadian National Team (one of whom I played against a couple of years ago - I was happy to say I stopped most of his shots), and six players who made it as coaches at the highest level of the game here at the time (I can think of three MLS coaches, one of whom won a championship or two, another who won the Supporter's Shield before losing his job). But strangely enough, after the team folded, the coach of this team stayed put. A couple of years ago he started coaching the men's club team for the big university in the state (there's no varsity program for men there).

I hadn't seen him since the mid 1980s, so my memories, despite all the pre-adolencent loyalty the team garnered, and withered. I know now, as a referee, what kind of coaches I like, and what kinds i don't; I've been fortunate that the local professional team here, who's first and only coach (and who just announced his retirement), is the kind I like: he does his thing off the field and during halftime (back when I had a media pass, I heard stuff that would make a sailor blush, but never on the field itself) ; but rarely does much during the actual game. He's not spotless, and I don't expect that (god knows I'm not, even after picking up the whistle), but not only does he do the game credit by his mannerisms, he gets results; it's always seemed to me that a coach that screams has run out of ideas.

I was only an AR on this game, but I'm happy to say that this coach, the one I watched all the time, in-person at home, or on television on the road, was just as well behaved. I was worried about crushing another childhood fantasy, but the man kept his cool, even when the calls didn't go his way.

God bless you for saving my childhood.

03 October '05 - 22:13 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶