RefBlog

"Would you have made that call again?"

Case-in-point, my last game, where I badly blew an offside call, calling it when I should have let it go. It was a first-division men's game; I had them once last year, centering with a club linesman. They played hard, tended to get emotional, and often tried to provoke the other team into retaliation. I was scheduled to do that last game by accident - part miscommunication on the assignor, part my job's inability to check the internet on a regular basis (that's been changed this year by adding automatic text messages anytime a game's been changed), partially because the league changed fields without telling the referee assignors as well. Much of the game went along the lines of my center for them last year, except we had a National in the center, and could handle things much better, partially from his stature (he towered over all the other players), but mostly because of his experience (which includes demeanor, vision, anticipation, etc etc etc).

Having the National referee there as well was good for me, because I don't think I would have know I had blown the call otherwise: there was some jostling for position in front of me, about about seven yards down-line, the ball was headed directly toward a player in an off-side position. In the corner of my eye, I saw the head and what looked like a white jersey attached to it, I popped the flag, and the strikers went nuts. I held my ground, but knew something was wrong, because the center... well, you can tell when it's a player being bogus, and when he's not sure about a call; it's a bit of a pained expression... and he was pained over my flag. At half-time, he simply asked if I would have made that call again, and instead of answering yes or no, I explained what I had saw and he told me who really headed it. What could I say? "Damn." And I meant it; I don't want to screw up a call, but I did - I know it happens, the trick is going to be, when I'm in that position again, how to balance the two objects that can't both be in my line of vision. Clearly, the "thump" test (judging the offside from the audio of the ball striking a body part, the thump) isn't going to be adequate when it's crowded like it was - that's the reason I wasn't waived down, it's possible that I saw a deflection or came late on the flag. Maybe it was just bad timing: I saw the players jump to an off-side position, and my focus naturally turned to them, and the second-to-last defender, in case they jumped back (which they did a lot), taking away from the likely players to get the ball. On the other hand, it's just as likely that, had an offensive player headed the ball, and I was able to draw my attention in to that, I might have been out-of-position for judging offside.

Find someone to create little cameras that follow person's eye movement and field of vision, so I can see what National and FIFA ARs do in that situation. It'll be easier that my trying to learn on my own, and accidentally screwing over a team in the process.

30 May '06 - 10:44 - - default| - § ¶

A fun fun fun game... I just needed to card earlier

My biggest problem was that I should have carded one player much sooner than I did. He was definitely causing issues - mostly with his jaw, but I couldn’t nail it directly on him, so I had to make do with a stare-down (we’re talking face-to-face, Hollywood-style stare-down). It didn’t work, because I ended up booking him a few minutes later on a blatantly reckless challenge he didn’t hide from me. He started jawing again, and I was able to put that particular problem to bed with a warning about a second card causing him to miss the final. It would have saved me a lot of problems if I had been comfortable booking him sooner, but I didn’t think I could do so fairly (because if I was wrong, I would have sent the game straight to hell).

There was also a situation in the first-half where I called a foul for a player knocking an opponent skyward, but I was in the unfortunate position of being a straight behind the offender when the foul occurred (in my defense, I was trying to get into better position for the change-in-direction the play was taking… although it’s not much of one), and missed both hands helping the launch. It would have been nice if the AR called me over, but it didn’t happen (probably because I called the foul itself, and he though I thought the foul was sufficient), and we continued on.

Overall, I’m very happy with the game; I thought it was a good, fair game, I was able to keep it in control, while allowing the extra leeway they’ll need if they were to advance to Regionals (although neither team is a favorite).

I also had a line for a 16-girls Semi, which for the most part was pretty tame, except for one parent who kept calling for hand-balls, even if the ball hit a player square on the thigh. It became a bit of an amusement (as parents usually are for me) to get us through the game.

25 May '06 - 22:24 - - default| - § ¶

Didn't hobble too much

24 May '06 - 09:55 - - default| - § ¶

How will I hobble tomorrow? Only time will tell

The girls game, where I was center, was played much slower - almost like one team knew they were better and decided to save much of their energy. It didn't matter, I was pooped, and it took me 45 minutes to readjust my positioning to better see play and also get out of it's way; I was getting caught far too much inside of play; maybe if it was my first game, I could have gone as far inside as I wanted, and then gone outside, but I was forced out of necessity to ration my sprinting. In the second half, I ran a much more traditional diagonal, at least as far as going inside toward my ARs went, which allowed me to cover the field much better, and get to the opposite touchline when necessary.

It was a pretty clean game, and I felt pretty good, all things considered, once it was over. I even got through the first half OK, but if it was a faster game, I would have been sunk. I was rather surprised about two 18 games in a row - most of the time this doesn't happen, but they also cancelled two days worth of games, making it a necessity.

23 May '06 - 08:23 - - default| - § ¶

More girls, more nice exercise

I ended up getting the center for the second game, I was supposed to do the first, because one of refs was reassigned to a nearby field, but he would be late to ours. I ended up doing a 15-minute primer, for the remaining AR, who was probably 16 or 17, on the dual-method of control and how it relates to the DSC (how games are usually reffed) when one is a club linesman. For those outside of the US, club linesmen have absolutely no power whatsoever. They can call the ball out-of-play, and that's all; no offside, no direction, no fouls... nothing. So I essentially run a dual-like pattern, with my partner keeping on the line like a proper AR, but extending his view to cover my blind spots.

It all came for naught, because as I was about to blow the whistle, our third showed up, which is good news for us. Maybe my little lecture will help the kid later on.

I did issue a card, and I was a little hesitant to do it, because of the age and skill level (U14 girls third division), but it was the second time one particular player, making a good strong run that might have beat her defenders, was taken out. I don't think it was malicious, but the change of a clean challenge is slight, coupled with the fouler's team being up 1-0 with only two minutes left. I figured it was the only justice I could give out, so I carded the perpetrator. Nobody seemed upset by it, it kept others happy (well, coaches, I don't think these girls would get pissed at much of anything), and maybe it communicated something as well. Maybe, I'm still not sure.

22 May '06 - 07:28 - - default| - § ¶

Some nice exercise

20 May '06 - 10:11 - - default| - § ¶

I never took my eyes off the play

The biggest issue I had was positioning - every game I had done until this point (it's already seventeen!) had been boys, so it took a bit of mental prodding on my part to get wider; which I eventually did. I was glad I had experienced and trusted ARs, because with one team sending the ball from one touchline to the other, I couldn't go too far inside toward the assistants. Neither game proved to be any problem.

Funny moment from my game: I reffed the game in flats, which is my shoe of choice when I'm in the middle, but as the sun went down, dew collected on the field, and near the end of the game (within the final five minutes), I turned too sharply and slipped onto my side (no higher than my knee). Fortunately for me, all those years of stage-combat classes paid off, so I stayed in control of my fall and never good my eyes off the play, and was able to quickly bounce back up.

18 May '06 - 22:53 - - default| - § ¶

More rain, but at least we got the games underway

Anyway, getting back to soccer, I eventually made it to the games, which were my first adult games of the season (my first two were aborted), and I found I knew several people on each team, because I had them over the winter. That's actually pretty good news: I knew they liked me as a referee, even after seeing me on good days and bad days. And for the most part, it was a pretty good, pretty clean, very tight game.

I felt like I ran pretty cruddy in the first half, but got the job done. I felt much better in the second; the legs stopped complaining about the previous day (although as I write this, they're back). For the most part, people were pretty well behaved: I had one card that nobody complained about, and got between a couple guys starting to butt heads near the end of the game. I got between, yelled at both, and let play continue. It worked out nicely.

I had one incident early in the first half that I wish I saw better. Apparently a guy, a striker, got a boot in the face. There were a bunch of people crowded in, and I missed it; it sucks, but there it is. I told the guy, as the was on the ground, that I missed what happened and was going to talk to the AR, but I wanted to make sure that he was OK first. He seemed more OK (meaning less, but still, pissed that I didn't see it), but unfortunately, the AR didn't see it, either.

The second game was definitely prettier than the first; it was the same division, but it was a team of English players who just dominated the game. The other team had a couple of frustration cards (on that the English team, though the guy didn't deserve - how often does that happen?), but for the most part, it was also pretty clean.

Even though we got wet (mostly in the second game, although it started in the final minute of the first), it was good to get some games under my belt.

16 May '06 - 22:50 - - default| - § ¶

Another day, another cancellation

15 May '06 - 22:51 - - default| - § ¶

Games cancelled today

14 May '06 - 18:36 - - default| - § ¶

Why you do a field walk-though

Fortuantely, there was a nearby field we could use, and my assignor was able to call the other officials (I was there about an hour early) and alert them to the new field.

Unfortuantely, that was the only excitement in that game: it was cold, windy, and the U16 girls kept me from doing just about anything on the line. My biggest problem was the wind kept blowing dust and dirt into my eyes - in a more competitive game that would have been a serious problem, but here it was just an annoyance to myself. I'm supposed to do another two games tomorrow, and it's going to be much of the same: cold and windy, with a bonus of rain.

13 May '06 - 11:00 - - default| - § ¶

Why US kids are fat

It's because of baseball and american football. Yes, we can try to say it's lack of exercise, junk food, and whatever. But those are only the symptoms, it's baseball and pointy-ball. When I was a kid watching You Can't Do That on Television the kids stuck pillows under their shirts to imitate Fernando Valenzuela. Most recently, I saw on TV the rollout of new uniforms for a NFL team here. Who cares about the uniforms, if the guys walking down the catwalk weren't pointy-ball players, they'd be called "tubby" when they walked down the street. Let's face it, power-games, which is what we idolize in this country, don't do anything to glamorize overall health. Don't believe me? It takes over three hours to play eight-and-a-half minutes of pointy-ball; yes there are a few well-built players (wide receivers, quarterbacks), but everyone else is bulk, bulk, bulk; I'm seriously surprised that the NFL hasn't looked into Sumo Wrestlers for offensive linemen. And baseball, the only reason they haven't tried to clock the actual amount of playing time in a baseball game is because someone would make them do the same thing with Cricket, and we have Constitutional safeguards for such actions.

This whole rant started, because the sight of so many overweight parents pushing their kids into baseball today, also stirred a memory of the last time I was dragged to a Major League Baseball game (in Houston), and as I boarded the shuttle bus, I was the only person in-between the five-year old kids being dragged (and looking rather bored) and their mid-to-late 40's parents. When I listened to the announcers for the kids playing t-ball today, I realized that they cared more about the game their kids. Parents: it's time to stop being selfish, let your kids play soccer, basketball, hockey or lacrosse and release them from the athletic idea of body full of pudge!

12 May '06 - 09:01 - - default| - § ¶

Pretty game, not so pretty goal

The game ended 1-0, with about 15 minutes left in the game. The goal game on a ball kicked into a penalty area full of people - it bounced around a bit and then weakly dribbled into a corner. A fair result, I think the better team won, but a draw would have been fair as well, as both teams had some very nice chances (both keepers did a fine job keeping them in the game). This was more entertaining than some MLS games I saw last year (so far I've been pleased with this season).

I hope we get some more regional league games - this was a lot of fun.

10 May '06 - 15:13 - - default| - § ¶

Rethinking my decision

The first game was against one of the teams I centered last time, the team at lost, specifically. We had a little bit of a scare, because the center showed up a few minutes before the scheduled kick-off. He was reffing at the State Cup, which is on the complete opposite end of town (or, to be more precise, the opposite outer-ring suburb), and got caught in traffic somewhere.

The game went much like the last game, with the team I had previously (we'll call them "White") playing rather disorganized, and let in two quick goals early in the half, although they behaved better, not having a rivalry with the previous team... for the first half at least. The second half, as they got tired and frustrated, had a number of frustration fouls - not necessarily intentionally bad, but fatigue and frustration sometimes blocks the area of your brain that lets you think better of your actions and stop them before it goes wrong; and in effect lets people do things they wouldn't otherwise attempt. They also started whining, wanting ticky-tacky calls and generally trying to shift the blame.

They had one good argument, against a non-offside call I made. I'm pretty certain about my decision, but I can't help but replay it in my head (a futile effort this long after the game). The out-of-state team too the ball inside the penalty area, totally blowing past all the defenders, stuck at the eighteen, but with two additional players running ahead of him, and therefor in an offside position. The thing was, he passed it parallel to himself, away from the other offside players, letting a third on-side player shoot the ball on a one-touch. The question for me was, did I keep-track of those on and off-side properly? It made it very very difficult, but I tried the best I could. Not a game-killer by any means, but I do like to be absolutely sure - but sometimes you make do with the best you can.

09 May '06 - 14:28 - - default| - § ¶

"I'll get to see real signals and everything!"

The annual physical is always a time for me to be humbled. I may have been reffing six years now and am probably in the best shape of my life, but that still leaves twenty-seven years of inertia to fight. And because of my age, I'm stuck with all the new kids who just tear off, while I can barely make the requirements (They grouped everyone from 17-38 together). While my own goal as a referee is to get a State badge, and hold it at least long enough to get an Emeritus before I retire, my lack of progress in the Cooper Test is causing me to wonder if I'll just need to keep being the best Grade 7 (or eight) that I possibly can.

The good news is that I just had a Regional League game, which was guaranteed to be a fast and well-played game, that also would press me physically. The Regional League is just that: teams from the same US Youth Soccer Association region boundary to play inter-state games. The winners of the leagues qualify for a tournaments and a possible wildcard entry to the Regional portion of the national championships. I had the center for a 16-boys game, one of the first, if not the first, in their season, and they came roaring out. I was also fortunate enough to have two good State referees on the line, and a visit from a National later in the game.

And you know what, I may have run like crap in the Cooper, but I ran really good for this game, and for the entire game at that. I was able to go wide-and-deep like I wanted, and near the end of the game, when the ball went into the corner in that classing time-wasting manuver, I was there.

And the comments I had from my ARs at half and after the game were good and informative; I need to break the habit of looking at my AR when I'm unsure if the ball went out-of-play when it's still being contested for - once it breaks free, look (if nobody screams for me to look at the AR, which I'm sure someone will). One of them said they would have booked a guy for diving - I thought he went down on an OK challenge, but I didn't blow the whistle because the other team was about to score (which they did, which didn't endear me to the player, who stopped rolling around to complain about my not stopping the game... hmmmm). I think he was right, though, because it seemed to set the tone for some other flops periodically - I didn't bite, but they still tried.

I had another sitaution where the coach was complaining loudly about a card I just issued to one of his kids. He went in studs-up, I very nearly went red, and decided to try a tack I read on SocRef. Not something I could do every time, but since I had a few moments (while the other kid was being looked at), I walked over to the coach, and spoke very very softly. "Coach, we had very very different angles. He went studs-up, and you wouldn't have seen it from your angle. I did, it was bad." He tried to argue, but I just spoke softer - not in a passive soft-voice, but in the "Hush little baby" type of voice: hush little coach, don't say a word, I'm going to explain why your player got booked. Think about it: that lulabye is an order to the kid - said very very nicely, but still an order, and so was mine. The AR on his side said it didn't look bad from his angle, and I agree that it wouldn't have, it was something you had to be on the opposite side of the field to see just how bad it was.

The National referee popped up sometime in the second half. The team he coached, another youth team, was practicing on a nearby field. He said, as we all wanted to pick his brain after the game, that he ran over to see who was reffing the game. He apparently knew what kind of game it was, because he said, "I'll get to see real signals and everything!" He had some good points: I rushed a couple of calls where I should have waited a second or two and see if the players sorted it out themselves, and when I made that very nice move to the corner in the waning seconds, I should have found a way to get a player who disagreed with my call out of the corner. Instead, I went out to position to try to avoid conflict (thinking he would focus on me), but instead he went to the player taking the throw in, saying he shouldn't have taken two extra yards on the throw (I'm not going "blade of grass" that deep on a throw-in). I had to come back from my position and book him, where if I handled it better, I wouldn't have had to do it. Right idea in my head, he just had a couple of ideas that would have put that player out of that position to be carded, and kept me from wasting the time of coming back into the corner to card him.

I came out pretty pleased with the game, not only in how I handled it, but in how I was able to run it. All I need now is to stay healthy, and regardless of my grade, I'll keep trying to be the best ref I can be, regardless of the Cooper.

05 May '06 - 23:19 - - default| - § ¶

First doubleheader... cancelled

These were to be my first adult games, but with the season being so new, I'm not surprised that the keepers of the fields started nixing them. They have enough problems keeping them in shape, anyway.

04 May '06 - 13:17 - - default| - § ¶

A good line

01 May '06 - 16:06 - - default| - § ¶