RefBlog

Is she, or isn't she?

Lately I've had a couple games where I've been on the line, and guys I know from Regionals have had their first adult centers - on D2 and D3 women's games, respectively. Neither game was a big deal (although I found out later that one team that mouthed off quite a bit does that on every game), but the last one had one issue that both the center and I skittered a bit on. It was your typical easily offside player, who drops her speed, lets the defenders go by, so you wait on the flag. The thing was, after I decided to hold the flag she started speeding up again and it's "Oh, crap, I have to bring the flag up after all!" So I did, and she once again she slowed down again. She was still a ways from the ball and the center was just about to waive me down again, then she once again started back up, and the center agreed that we just had to stop play lest everyone get more confused.

29 August '07 - 16:09 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

A series of mini-thoughts

I've had some more thoughts on the last "game from heck" (it definitely wasn't a game from hell - I've had those, they usually involve police), and I've decided one other thing: I've gotten too concerned about keeping players on the pitch. On the send-off, I asked the AR for his opinion - and it was right in front of him, so he had the best view, so I should have. Except I went in assuming a yellow card, and wanted to know if the second player, the one who was fouled, went in with a closed fist. Again, nothing wrong with the later part, but the guy was fouled and kicked - I should have assumed red rather than yellow, because of the obvious breach of conduct.

High School rules meeting again - ugh. For those who can't do college, and there's no more club. Is it me, or does the refereeing pool in general not getting any younger? There are a couple of good young referees, but when I looked around the room there were only three - and I've known all three for a couple years at least. The US is used to having three referees on the field for youth games, and at least by my own unscientific look, we may be in trouble in 5-10 years.

Speaking of high school meeting, my insult meter only registered two cheap shots against referees, versus none against coaches. Last year I attended a clinic (which they didn't have this year) that specialized in the differences between NFHS and FIFA, and was instructed by someone else (and the year before I skipped high school soccer entirely) - but I used to keep track of insults from this guy from my first few years of doing high school, because it got so bad. So maybe the guy's having an off-year, or he mellowed over the last couple years. Still sad that he feels he needs to score cheap points.

Also, the high school assignor changed again. Apparently the guy who was going to do it, isn't recovering enough from his stroke, and now my current youth (USSF) assignor is doing it. At least I'll have a good working relationship with the person in charge of the games.

I ran into a guy I know who's worked the USA Cup for many years, and he was apparently not very happy this year. A long time ago he decided that he doesn't like doing boys centers, and just won't do them. Nothing wrong with that, it keeps him in the game, and he's a good referee - but apparently something got mixed up this year at the cup and he got the run-around. Apparently he ended up turning back all his games and going home out of frustration. I haven't heard much good nor bad this year - usually I hear something on SocRef, but so far it's been quiet.

I saw the updated USSF referee logo on a pair of shorts the other day: the referee worked on an invite-only out-of-state tournament for adults; I don't know if she got them for the tournament, at the tournament, or just because she needed logo-shorts (OK, few of us actually need logo shorts, but it's nice to have the referee crew look identical, and it seems the more serious, if not the more ambitious, the referee, the more they have all the variations.). I would imagine the logo socks are next.

28 August '07 - 08:27 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Not my ideal recovery game

If I had my way, I'd have a couple easy centers before going back to do another second-division men's game. But the women's season is done, except for a few in the third division (I have a line one of those next), and all there are left is men's - and soon that'll be over, too.

So, I came in the game still a little tired, still with a nagging feeling that I'd rather be doing something else - but there I was, and the game was... good. I tried to work in a few of the things others had suggested, the first being talking more - or more specifically, using my voice to add that little extra stamp to my whistle, and to try to keep the complaints from happening before they started. I also tried to position myself differently - I think I have been anticipating where the play had been going in previous games, but I'd gotten there by waiting for the play to develop first, then moving; so instead I tried to get into a decent spot before the pass or run - honestly, I didn't move that any more than I had before (my pedometer said I was under 4 1/2 miles for the game, which is a bit less than I'd been averaging this season) - I got burned a couple of times as I mis-read play - but not too bad.

The game itself was fine - it got tenser and more physical as the match progressed; no cards in the first half, and three in the second, and as the game worked on, and the game became closer, some players started going down a lot easier, to get the call - one guy purposefully kicked the ball, point-blank, into a defenders arm and had a full-blown spazz attack when I refused to award a PK (of which I say, "Duh"). Near the end of the game I started getting a bit hoarse, too - something that hasn't happened to me in a long long time.

I'm not sure if I'm "back to my old self" - but it is nice to get a contested center out of the way and still feel good.

27 August '07 - 14:20 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Keep me away from cars

I think people tend to forget that referees are affected by work, home, and whatever else just like players. I think part of it is because you don't hear much about them, and because it's easier to just blame the referee as incompetent than actually think of him or her as a human being.

I have had a very bad car week. Two days ago, I had a flat tire. Yesterday, before the game where the teams wanted to beat each other senseless rather than play, I had someone drop a car radiator on my ankle. Today, I was rear-ended on a freeway exit ramp. What's that, you say? No, I was nowhere near I-35W lately, why do you ask?

2nd division women's game, on the line, and I'll just be honest. I just didn't want to be there. I was still friend from last game, and feeling more than a little burnt out. No, the game was no problem, although the other assistant so ripe I tried to stay upwind of him whenever possible. No, that's not true. He reeked. Not the, "I need to wash my uniform" reeked, but "I've been rolling around in dogshit" reeked. He was a good official, though - definitely cared about his job - but something just didn't seem right with him. Smiled way too much.

Then again, I'm fried.

24 August '07 - 22:36 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Crappy game, or an inevitable situation?

I'm writing this entry about a week after the fact, because this game just frazzled me. I've done a few games since (all lines), but just haven't felt the desire to ref yet. This game burnt me out.

It was not my best game, either - no doubt about that, but the question is, was a bad game my fault, or because the teams were better off in a cage match than soccer pitch? Here's the quick recap:

Second-division men's team, day after my assessment, second-to-last game until the playoffs (which either team may or may not make). Before the game, one of the players tried working me over saying how bad certain referees were this season, and how he used to referee himself (but wouldn't do it again). I told him what I usually do, that I can't guarantee that anyone will like me, but that I'll do the best I can for this and every other game I get. Probably not a good sign, because he was yelling and screaming all game. Early, within the first few minutes, a hard foul and the person fouled is yelling - I run over to try to diffuse the situation, and he won't hear any of it. I ask a teammate if he could say anything because, "he doesn't want to listen to me." The reply was, "Oh, he never will." Not, good, either.

First card comes about 20 minutes into the game, when a white defender bear-hugs a player from trying to make it through; no DOGSO , but a definite yellow card, of which I heard an earful quite a bit. This should be the biggest "Duh!" of the game (the only argument I expected was from the fouled team wanting a send-off), but instead I hear about how it's an awful call. Lots of fouling by both teams, but the opposing blue team is doing more. Every call has white screaming for a card, and I start looking for one, not because they're vocal about it, but because Persistent Infringement is a legitimate card at this point. I chose unwisely, and carded what I thought was good situation, but turned out not so well - I think I got a little jumpy, and bit too soon.

Halftime and both teams weren't happy at each other, or me. Since we had lights, I planned on giving them as much time as they wanted for the half, and let them cool down. Problem was they were all, both teams, back on the pitch in three minutes - before we get back to our bags and water ourselves. I drag it out a few more minutes, but it's clear they want to keep playing, and PLAY. RIGHT. NOW. Or should I say beat the living crap out of each other. So anyway, my senior AR, who is a better referee than I am, wants me to run to extreme positions (meaning all the way to touch) on both sides to see hand-fouls - I've done it a few times, but it's been drilled into me for several years to not do that (or at least not make a habit out of it, which is what my assistant wants) - I'm not fast enough (he can run 3000 meters on the Cooper Test) to make a habit of it and recover to a good position - I go wider, but not to his satisfaction. He also says there are a bunch of little fouls, and I exhort him to start flagging more if I don't see them, but I don't get a lot of help in the second half (apparently all the traffic was in the other half for the second forty-five), although a few calls, which brought out the same grief I had received in the first half.

So what happened in the second half? A PK my senior AR didn't agree with, a red card for a player who kicked an opponent who was face first on the ground, after he (the kicker) just fouled him, and a dissent card for words toward my junior AR. So my question is, did I really muck this thing up? Or was this another situation of a game at the end of the season, and both teams are going to vent their frustrations out on each other, with soccer being the excuse? Even a week later, I still don't know.

I do know this, I've had two games in a row where I've been told to talk more, instead of just whistle. Maybe I'd been overcompensating from when I thought I talked too much, but chances are it's not. Both my senior AR and the assessor said I need to talk about the foul (even if it's just "This way") after the whistle, to emphasize my position to the foul and make myself a bit more visible to the players. My next center is a game in the same division - I'll be using it and will have to see what happens.

23 August '07 - 23:00 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Assessment

I got the assessment in, and I passed. The game was pretty good: a primarily Somalian team versus a primarily Russian team. The Somalis had better individual players, but the Russians a better team, and they ended up running away with it 5-0. It looked like it might be more even, because at first he Russian team was playing short, but kept adding players. They may have still been short on their first goal - a really stupid PK, almost like the discussion we had here about NY vs Houston when Dwayne DeRosario grabbed a ball coming back away from the goal but inside the penalty area. The area was a bit more crowded than in the MLS game, and the player wasn't nearly as cynical as DeRo. Like the referee on the MLS game, I gave the guy a yellow and a PK. The assessor said, at higher level games I should have went red - I brought up the situation where I based my call on, and he said the official probably got reamed from it. He said it wasn't really the wrong call for this situation, but there was that implication. When I get a moment (which is unfortunately not right now), I'll review the Laws and the ATR on DOGSO-Handling. (Note: I did review both the Laws and the ATR prior to publishing this entry, and I'll stand by my judgment - I didn't think the ball was going to go into the net because of his handling (or anywhere near, for that matter); but it could be argued that such a blatant handling violation could be considered Serious Foul Play)

The main issue was the Somali team getting frustrated, especially when the score was 3-0; players wanting PKs, player hacking others - it was a bit of work to keep control, but it stayed without additional cards.

Assessor made some good comments on positioning (I'm getting caught behind one person where two are lined up, when I should be lined up between them, to see both), and where my fouls were (I wish I had another assessment to see if it's my positioning or where the game was). He also said to just go ahead and put in for the upgrade, regardless of game count (He asked when we were setting things up); if they think I'm ready, they put me up; I've heard that the people in charge have been really anal, but what the heck.

22 August '07 - 21:42 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

No Game

The assessor who was assigned to me had a family emergency and had to leave the country - and I have only recently gotten ahold of another assessor, now that there's only a few weeks left in the season. I actually wanted to get it done early on; I emailed the person in charge at the beginning of the season (while I was getting centers for U17 and U18s in the State Cup), but he said there would be no maintenance assessments for Grade 7s this year. A month ago, I got an email saying that this person would be performing my maintenance assessment - and then he had to leave the country... and we've come back to the first sentance of this entry.

So, we've been doing the last minute scramble: giving the assessor the games I have that are worthy of being assessed; maybe dropping things down a notch so we could get something in, and he suggested this game. So, I emailed the other two guys in the crew, informed the center that I'd have to bump him, and let the assignor know as well. A few minutes later, I recieved a reply from the assignor saying it wouldn't be a good game, because one team never has 11 players on it, and it would be a poor game for an assessment (and if a game isn't competitive enough, an assessor can say it won't count).

Good call. The team she said woulnd't have enough players did (barely), but the other team did not. So, no game. The teams would have had an all-star officiating crew, too: a State 5 in the middle, and the same Brazilian national-grade referee I worked with earlier on the line (and me - I don't consider myself any all-star, but I work hard). They actually said they wanted to keep me in the middle, to give me some pointers. But after 15 minutes, with one team with only six players, I had to call the game. How'd I do, guys?

21 August '07 - 23:29 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Find the two sprigs of grass

I thought the last field I had was bad - it had an entire section that looked a bulldozer came through and scraped up the field (there was a perfectly straight rectangle of bare earth, pounded flat with a half-inch lip rising above it). But it had nothing on this one.

The grass was dead. All dead. I joked that our yellow jerseys would blend in too much with the color of the pitch. Where there wasn't grass, there was dead grey dirt which was hideously uneven. Even on a line where I didn't have to do a whole lot, my ankles and knees ached before the first half was over. Oh, and one end of the field was higher than the other.

Game? Oh yeah, there was a game. Third-division women's - three fouls the entire game, but the small quantity was make up with quality. One had the potential to be a nasty tackle from behind - the fouling player just got lucky. The second had the grade 5 referee issue a warning after a player turning the corner to make a cross was cut down hard; the third was a push in the back out of frustration.

19 August '07 - 10:49 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Unexpectedly fiesty

The game today was unexpectedly feisty - even though the season is winding down, it's still not something you expect in a second division women's game. The center was one of the guys who went to Regionals with me, who admitted at half-time that he had never done an adult women's game before. I think things got hotter than he expected, but I'm not sure if it was him or not - there were a couple of players who would argue with any call that went against them, no matter who called it. The game itself was pretty close - I see the... more aggressive of the two teams later on. May be interesting to see what happens.

17 August '07 - 08:41 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

What is referee control?

An interesting game yesterday - another foray into the middle of a first division men's game (although this was in the "B" bracket of the first division). For a period in the second half things got very chippy, I issued four cards in ten minutes, including one that was very nearly a send-off - but after that, things went well. And it brings up the question of just what is control. I see similar situations at the professional level, and players and fans think the referee has lost control, but ask my AR (who assessed me when I wanted to upgrade to a seven), and the cards are a method of keeping the control.

This is where it all started: A white player about to go into red's penalty area gets tripped up but stays upright, takes the ball into the area and scores. In the process of getting his footing, he has contact with one of red's defenders, who's leg is outstretched (in my humble opinion, no foul); what sets off the smörgåsbord of cards is what happened after the goal - or what may have happened. A white player said he was nailed after the goal - it wasn't the goal-scorer, so it was off the ball and I didn't see anything - the AR didn't see anything either (actually, he said that there was nothing there - but I'm willing to acknowledge that something happened that neither of us saw). White player starts arguing about the lack of a call - since I saw nothing that even looked like a post-goal confrontation, it's clearly a one-sided argument, and red gets steamed because they want a call for the guy with the outstretched leg, and because they think the guy's a prat for complaining after they scored a goal. The white player refuses to disengage, and he's keeping me from restarting the game - I end up having to book him, because it's the only way to get him to shut up. The AR, my former assessor, said I was being awfully nice, but knew a card was forthcoming - I did, too - but I gave him several chances to save himself from a booking, but nonetheless he was shocked - shocked I say, when it came out.

A few minutes later, another white player, coming in on a hard run into the area, purposefully jukes into a defender, looking for a call, which there is no way I'm going to give. Frankly, it was pretty pathetic, but it sets off the team in a rage, and another attacker on the other side makes a late tackle in his offensive third, claiming that since it wasn't a foul on one side, that shouldn't be either. You know, most of the first half they whined, but now it shifted from whining to acting out. And if it sounds like I'm using childish terms to refer to these "adults", you're correct - they were acting like kids having a tantrum.

So we now have two bookings for white, but it's apparently not enough for red, because they want to get into the action, and one of their players has his own very late tackle, earning a yellow card; and another where the player just plowed into another - and I very nearly went red. The tantrum continued, however, because in the last case, the guy's out-and-out saying that there's nothing in the Law that says a "too hard" tackle can be fouled, let alone carded. He was lucky I ended up going with "reckless" (which is in the book, in case you read this), instead of "excessive force" (which is a send-off). Strangely enough, and this is more sarcasm, he didn't take me up on my offer to show him in the Law book after the game. Funny - they almost never do that.

What's really strange is, even though the fouls (and cards) have been escalating, suddenly the game goes back to normal - almost like a switch. Even the PK my AR called (the keeper went off his line to snatch a lose ball, but apparently grabbed his opponent first - the AR said he knew I didn't have the angle for it, which was probably true - and I've known him long enough to know he wouldn't call a PK from the line unless he really deserved it) was pretty calm. The keeper wasn't happy, especially when I didn't explain the call (because I wasn't sure, as I said above, but trusted my AR), but the kick was taken (and scored), and the game moved on.

So after the game, I asked my AR, the one who assessed me, for suggestions, and he brought up that I used the cards to control the match when things started escalating; that the players saw it as a match going out-of-control, but he saw it as me drawing the line, and booking those who crossed it. I supposed it's another instance of how referees see the game differently. (more)

15 August '07 - 12:10 - - default| Only one comment - § ¶

"Raise the fucking flag, ref!"

Sometimes games just surprise you. In this case, I was surprised because of what the game was: a cup final. The only clue I had was a different type of game number when I was given the game (the assignor uses a web-based system, as do most of them now) - but apparently at the game, I found out that it was the final for a small tournament for the top ranked teams of the league. All the sudden my day because quite a bit busier.

The center was a visiting referee from Brazil (he comes in to visit every year, and is the equivalent of a National Referee, working the top games in his country. Apparently he likes working women's games in this country, because there's so few of them in his native land. This wasn't a women's game, but it's a nice chance for referees like myself to work with an international referee (and without going to the USA Cup - which was a real bummer to miss), and for the players as well. He even brought out the spray paint in the second half, after booking a couple of players. The game turned out a lot tighter than expected - the two previous times the teams met, they were all very one-sided, but for this game it was tied 1-1 and very close.

Referees love close games just like everyone else - of course, it makes everyone hypersensitive to our calls as well; one one side, the team wanted more offside calls, on mine, they wanted a ball out-of-play, and were really unhappy when my lack of a call led to a goal - of course, the ball was only half-out, and there's no way I was going to call it, but still it led to a, "Raise your fucking flag, ref!" To which I responded, "I'll raise my fucking flag when it's out of fucking play." I wasn't really angry with them, but it lets the players, and the center referee know what I saw, and where the situation could be heading, if I have to make another "controversial" call (although the ball was nowhere near over the line - it's only controversial because a faster player beat them to the ball and it's easier to use the one-armed defense) - in the language from me was more flippant than angry as well.

All-in-all, a very enjoyable game.

13 August '07 - 16:47 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Slump?

I have to admit, I've been feeling like I've been it a bit of a slump lately. Things just haven't been going the way I want since that big amature game; I haven't been running the way I want, I haven't been handling things the way I want, I even made what I think is a pretty big error in my last game. It took some digging to actually determine if I made an error (and apparently it's still up for debate), but it's not something you want to do in any event ever. Still, it just goes to show you that no matter how long you ref, you still see things you've never seen before (or contemplated).

Slumps happen - we're human being, just like players; although slumps with players seem to be more forgivable. So it was awfully nice to have another game the next day, at a higher division, too, where things just went right. It was another line, but everything felt good: I was in good position, confident about my calls, and overall feeling pretty good.

Of course, ask the other team, and we're all awful, because every call for them should have been been reinforced with plastic, and every call against them a travesty. It was a good game: after a team of mostly African immigrants pulls ahead of a mostly Caucasian team 3-0, the Caucasians fight back to 3-2, and miss two great opportunities in the closing minutes before time expires: one hit the inside of the crossbar, and the other an empty net from 15 yards out skied over it.

Future games will tell me if the slump is actually over or not, but it's nice not to have to question myself for a bit.

12 August '07 - 22:19 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Starting in a hole

I don't know how I did it, but I managed to hook my shoelaces on one of the nubs from my turf shoes early in the first half. That happens, although considering how short my laces are (and that I always double-knot them), it really shouldn't, but what was really stupid was when I tried to fix the shoelace, so I wouldn't trip over and make a fool of myself. Problem was, I misjudged when I could, and ended up looking like an idiot, and starting a hole that made my job (and the center's) a lot harder in the second half.

The game itself was pretty one-sided. I seem to be cursed with having short-sided adult games lately (and until the high school season, that's probably all I'll have for this year); this game was no exception - a full team versus eight players. It was also the first game I've been at where the field was next to a cemetery; you could tell by the headstones that it was an old one, and the sign up front confirmed it (1875 - old for this neck of the woods, anyway). Walking though it was probably the last peaceful thing I'd have before I left for the day.

Oh yeah, I learned something very important today, too: don't go immediately from the gym to the soccer pitch. I have a standing appointment with my personal trainer to meet at a particular day and time every week - but because of the soccer schedule, it's difficult to have a constant time. Normally Sunday in the early afternoon (2:30 pm) works well, because I have a few hours to recover before going to the game - but this game was earlier, so I went straight from the gym to the game - I was still there about an hour early, but... well. My trainer apparently works me harder than back-to-back soccer games.

Still, fitness wasn't my issue today. It was judgments - my own and how I was perceived. Because the game was one-sided, most of the game was in one half. The second half was the half where I would be worked, and I had three calls that could be called controversial.

The first one I understand - I made a judgment call, and I'm going back-and-forth if it was the correct call - it was "by the book", but I could, and maybe should have, bent the law. Team with the full squad (and all of these start with offside calls that others wanted against them) sends a ball upfield - they have two players clearly in an offside position, by five or six yards. Ball is trapped by a defender - badly. The ball then skitters upfield, collected by one of the players in the offside position, who then takes it up further for a shot (which, for completeness, went wide).

The second was easy: another ball sent up-the-middle to a player who's in an offside position, who stops and makes no movement to the ball; the ball is collected by a second player, who is on-side, for another shot on goal (also missed).

Third was also easy: another break away, past the second to last defender, drops the ball back and to his left for another player, who takes the ball and scores. The argument? He's also behind the second to last defender. The reason he's still on-side? He's still behind the ball. This is the second time I've seen this happen in this league this year, and in both times cautions had to be dealt out.

Back to the first issue. The question at hand is did the defender play the ball, and is mis-playing the ball enough to negate offside? I've gone through the ATR again to look for guidance, and I'm not finding any. Normally, we made the deciding factor "played" versus "deflected". Played badly doesn't enter into it - and the other players were so far away that I wouldn't put them into the area of "interfering with play" or "interfering with an opponent" which would normally be grounds for a flag - they were just too far away. There's nothing mentioned in Law 11 or the ATR on Law 11 regarding mis-played balls. So am I right?

As I started writing this, I decided to look into the more common area of played versus deflected versus mis-played: and that's goalkeepers. Keepers are not allowed to pick up the ball after have it played by his or her teammates, but can if it's misplayed or deflected. I think I should have brought up the flag. (more)

11 August '07 - 09:55 - - default| seven comments, already - § ¶

When I warn you about "taking a walk" I mean it!

Early on in the season, when I was reffing an adult game, I could hear on another field the sounds of vigorous dissent, and a lot of it. At the time, I thought two things: the first was, that I hadn't had a game like that in a very long time; and the second was wondering, given how long it had been, how I would handle it. As referees we all get games like these, sometimes they're avoidable, sometimes they just come with the game and what you do won't matter one bit.

The game I had wasn't like that, but it did have two things I hadn't done in a long time: carding a player for dissent, and ejecting a coach. In these situations, I always like to go over the game, the good and bad points, to see if or what I could have done better. Here were the things I couldn't control:

The Teams: 19-boys, probably the last game of their regular season. Both in the middle of the table, and if you look at the numbers, matched pretty evenly. The winner of the game might get some benefit going into the district tournament, but maybe not.

The Field: Small. Really small. Unfairly small for 19-year-old boys. This means players will be bumping into each other a whole lot - probably more than they're used to, and it may not be foul-worthy. It also presents a serious problem with my positioning: if I get caught too deep, there's no wiggle room for me to catch up to play on a quick turn-around and long-ball. It's also harder to cross the field to the other side, given the same ease to switch as there is in a long-ball, and trying to dodge players as they try to get into their own positions.

The Coaches: One set of coaches were not happy with one of my ARs, who added a minute and-a-half of stoppage time at a tournament game that weekend; during that 90 seconds, their opponents scored, knocking them out of the tournament. They made a real show in front of their players to point him out. The other set of coaches weren't that old themselves; I had one player-coach on a U19 earlier this season, they looked like they could easily do the same if they wanted.

The History: I centered the home team once before, issued a card and had some temper issues.

What I did good: Despite the last entry about positioning worries I had from the last two games, I didn't have the same problems this game. Yes, there were issues in positioning - but that was from issues I already knew of. I didn't get in the way of players or the flow of the game, like last time - I just had to delay my own runs and positioning myself from time-to-time out of necessity.

What I'm unsure of: I'm not sure if this is controllable or not - because in a field this size, contact is going to happen. So things either happened off the play, intentional or not, that I didn't see; and there were a few things that I didn't get as good a look as I would have liked, because I could see no good way to get into the position I wanted to be at, short of cutting off passing or dribbling lanes. There were several calls I would have liked to take a second look at, but had to make a decision based on what I saw and where I could get to.

What the players didn't understand: Advantage. On several occasions for both teams, player starting having a fit, as I waited for advantage to materialize. I'd even tell them I saw it, and I'm waiting, then either call the advantage or blow the whistle. Neither team seemed to "get" it, even though one of those situations resulted in a very pretty (and game winning) goal. There also seemed to be ignorance on when and where you could charge another person. Charging another player 10 feet away from the ball? Foul. Charing another player 1 foot from the ball shoulder-to-shoulder? Not a foul. One team didn't seem to get this - and this lead directly to the ejecting of the coach.

What I blew in the middle: I opened my mouth once when I should have. One of those delayed whistle situations, with no advantage. One team wanted obstruction, one team wanted (and I gave them) holding when the defender was all over the attacker; I ended up explaining the wrong thing - no matter how I try to correct it, that's not going to help my credibility at all.

The coach ejection came after two calls for impeding that were pretty textbook: ball nowhere near playing distance, and a player trying to shield the ball from an opponent. Then, inside the penalty area, where the attacking team is always going to want a PK, a defender from the visiting team make a hard but clean shoulder charge, dispossessing his opponent. The home coach goes bonkers: the defender hadn't actually touched the ball (but was in clear playing distance) during the challenge. How can I put this? It doesn't matter. He had a reasonable chance to play it with the charge, and didn't - that doesn't make it illegal. In any event, the coach was starting to go over the top, and was getting pretty close to saying something that might require an immediate ejection, so I ran by, and simply said, "Coach, this ends, or you'll find yourself taking a walk."

Of course, it didn't. He actually ramped up the language a knock, and my mental switch flipped from warning, to "goodbye coach". I actually delayed it a bit - I was not going to interrupt the game for a coach's rantings, but once the ball went into touch, I held up the throw in, and simply said, "Coach, take a walk."

There's a tendency for people to think that when a referee ejects a participant, be it player or coach, that he's lost control of the game. And maybe in cases that's correct. But in this case, I would have to disagree - the decision on the play (right or wrong) had been made, and the coach had overstepped his bounds. The coach was warned and he chose to continue. Maybe I could have let it go when I decided to let play continue rather than stop it and eject him immediately (if it was a player, I would have stopped it), but that would have just given the coach further license to go off; same with issuing him a further warning (maybe he ratchets it down a notch - he's still being abusive, but not as much - what then?). No, if you issue a warning like that, you have to be willing to back it up, and he was at the point where it wouldn't take much to cross the line, which he did.

I ended up carding another of his players for dissent, but that again is mostly crossing the obvious line of decorum (you'll notice from a couple of games ago, I'm willing to let some slide, given the game - this was not the game from a couple of days ago) and keeping control. The visiting team took the first card of the night early on, with kicking the ball away after a foul to prevent a quick restart.

So my questions are: could I have gotten in better position? I didn't think so at the time, but it that true, or was my own visibility off? Maybe if I was in better position for some of those tough calls I could have avoided this, but that's a big maybe. Just as much a maybe, maybe this was the last game for these players before the playoffs, before taking on a team that's ranker higher than they are in the standings. A winnable game that they ended up losing by shutout.

This helps me separate out the issues a bit, but I'm still hazy on a conclusion.

10 August '07 - 13:01 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Short Again

What looked like an action-packed week, with three high-level centers in a row, has turned into something a bit odd. First the short game yesterday, then another short game today: ninety minutes of 11 v 7 - and the accompanying blowout.

The team that was short, was also short the game I had them before on the line, and we almost left, because after a player was hurt, it put them down to six players (later, three more showed up before the game was called). I checked up on them, and they said the player had a third degree sprain - it may not be as bad as a break, but she's probably done for the season.

I worked hard on the game, but as expected, a team with a sub, even if just one, versus a team playing four players down, quickly becomes one-sided. They put up a good fight in the first half, and even had their own offensive changes, but ended up going down by double-digits.

One thing that is troubling me: positioning. I haven't done as many women's centers this year, and I've gotten in the way of players in the last two games. Maybe it was because the game was more random than a fully-manned game - but it should have also had much more space, due to lack of players. As soon as I noticed it during this game, I tried to correct it, but still had a problem. I'd like to have a 11 v 11 game with women and see if I have the same issue. (more)

06 August '07 - 13:50 - - default| Only one comment - § ¶

Almost didn't start, one player definately didn't

I just had one of those odd situations where a team, that barely got seven people in before game time, had a player that couldn't play.

I was expecting a good women's team - it was the very top division (in a league that splits up division one into A and B brackets); I recognized one player who starts on a Division I NCAA team - but I wasn't expecting the game to maybe not even start. Apparently one team, the one with the NCAA starter, has only had a full team one this season. Apparently my U19 bit from a few days ago also applies to the early 20s in adult leagues.

Even the other team was short - by the time we had a legal number of player on each side, we were playing 10 v 7. Shortly into the first half another player for the home side (the one with seven players) came in. I specifically told my senior AR in my pre-game that if a player showed up late, that I would wait for him to check any latecomers on a dead ball - it's a pet peeve of mine when I'm on the line - when a center ignores me checking in a player, it keeps me from doing both of my jobs properly: checking in that player and being in position for when the game restarts. So, when she came in, I waiting for the AR, and then he waived me to begin play again - without the latecomer coming in. I was a bit confused, but nobody was screaming, and I figured I could ask at half-time. Apparently this is what happened: the pass she presented was for another person, and when the picture didn't match, the AR asked the player her birth-date, which didn't match the pass. So, no play and I get an extra pass and report to fill out after the game is over.

03 August '07 - 08:39 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

19s with fire

Is something no longer ironic when you write about something not happening, and it happens - but you already expected it to happen because of what you wrote?

In a recent entry, I wrote about all the U19 teams I had not playing with a lot of fire, which of course means the U19 boys I just had actually played with some. What I learned is that all it takes is one team; I had reffed the other team twice before (maybe once in the center, I'm not sure), and in both previous cases they were a bit lackadaisical, but this time their opponents came in looking to play hard, and they stepped up physically and emotionally.

I think the visiting team should have won; but they only came in with eleven players (and one late entry), and they ran out of gas. For the first 60 minutes, they consistently beat the home team to the ball - but they blew a number of good chances on goal (including three goals pulled back for offside - all within 10 yards of the goal). But by the end of the game, they lost their ommph, fell behind and just couldn't recover.

I ended up issuing three cards in the game, one on the soft side for encroaching on a free kick; the guy stuck his foot out from a single yard out to stop a free kick - call it a pet peeve if you like, but I know they know better than that and I never feel bad about issuing that card. The second was for a tactical foul, and the third for a reckless studs-up challenge. I thought of red for the last, but it fell short of excessive force - it was just really dumb to show cleats when the area was already crowded.

The odd thing about the game was the visiting team had a player-coach. Even through it's U19, they still play under youth rules, which requires an adult with a valid coaching pass be with the team; but we didn't know if that meant that the "coach" must be on the touchline on the bench, or if the "coach" could also double on the field. It's just something I'd never run into before, and I'll have to look up for future reference. *

Following the game was a U17 girls fourth division (the lowest in the competitive bracket). What was odd about this was that none of them looked like U17; I realize that this was the lowest level of play I'd seen all year, but they looked, almost all of them, like they were 14 and 15. But, the game was 90 minutes, just like the first - but unlike the first, I never had to run anything faster than a slow jog.

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* - I looked it up in the league bylaws, it says youths (meaning persons who are of playing age) can still coach, if they're listed as a coach on the team roster, and they must have a coaches pass (the player had both a coach's and player's pass). While there's the usual bit about coaches remaining in the technical area, there's nothing that says they can't also be a participating player, which would make the technical area bit be moot. I think we're OK on this, but it's also possible that the league may want to consider things further.

02 August '07 - 08:45 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶

Not quite 90 minutes without a foul

It looked like I might make it past 90 minutes without a foul, instead I got four. Late in the first half of this women's D3 match came in the first in the "spat" - the first was an unfortunate trip-up among several other player vieing for the ball; the second another trip-up, this time self-inflicted, that ended up taking out the ball-carrier; the third and honest-to-god foul, outside of the penalty area; and the fourth came immediately after the free kick, a boot up near the face by the attacking side.

Most of the women's games are at 6:45 pm, and I'm having an issue with finding the right amount of food and at the right time, to keep me from, on one hand, being preoccupied with being hungry, and on the other feeling like I'm bloated from food. Part of the problem is when I normally have lunch, 10:30 am (because of work, mostly). I try to have something light before the game, but it's still turning out to be too much or not enough. I'll have to keep at trial-and-error, I guess.

01 August '07 - 23:04 - - default| No comments yet - § ¶