10 Best of 2008: I should have had shinguards
I don't have a ton to say about this - I just liked the article, and sometimes this blog is just about games and shouldn't have a "point" behind them. Or maybe the point is that, I'm a referee, I still enjoy the games, even the ones I get hurt in (although thankfully minor in this one). That is the whole point of dealing with the rest of the crap I deal with, right?
I should have had shinguards
Sometimes when you're an AR, you're just going to get hit. If you're lucky, it's because a player decides to clear the ball out-of-play and you don't have time to react - that happened to me a couple of years ago. Today, not so lucky - but fortunately all I got were some nasty scrapes.
I'll discontinue the "still at the boarding school" routine - that's really the only place I'll be doing games until the outdoor season starts properly. The only other indoor I'd do in the annual futsal tournament, but it's going on the same day as the games today, and I already accepted these a while back - not to mention that if I'd have a choice, I'd still take these games, because of the length, dimensions and skill level.
Two lines today - no centers eeking out of them this time, but the first was a great game. Not much to say about the second game (U16 girls that was both a blowout and uneventful), so I'll stick to the first. Apparently on a blog about soccer in this state, this boarding school has quite the list of enemies - not sure why, and frankly, don't care - but there are a lot of people who don't like them. But the quality of the soccer is top notch (there's definitely one player in the youth national team program). In this case, they were playing the team that perennially wins the State Cup (the school cannot participate by some rule somewhere that the other blog would know about), and the competition was fast and physical. The center referee, itching to become a National Candidate, let them play physical, with the philosophy that the level they want to play at allows it, and they can play at that level, so it will be allowed - and there were no real complaints about that either - it was very appropriate for the level of play.
The club team scored mid-way through the first half, off a defensive mistake that was compounded by the goalkeeper, who overran a ball at the top of the area, and the attacker was able to soft-touch it in for an easy goal. Even though it's technically a scrimmage, nobody wanted to give anything up, and the goalkeeper made an effort to grab the attacker to keep him from going onward - it didn't stop the goal, and I knew the center saw it - so we let it be. The score was tied up maybe fifteen minutes later on a nice series of passes in the opposite penalty area, followed by a close-range shot the keeper really didn't have a chance on.
Second half I had the club team's end, and I had a lot of action, both in the game and physically. As the half moved on, the tempo kept increasing, as did the physical nature; grabbing became an increasing problem, and one player nearly yanked the shirt off another going down the line toward me and as I flagged for a foul, the grab-ee turned to break loose, causing both to go crashing into me, sending all three of us flying in different directions onto the turf. During the tumble I ended up getting cleats raked across both of my shins well enough that they scabbed up, although there's no permanent damage. It may have turned out for the best, because the grab-ee was so pissed, I could see a good shove or possibly more coming out of it if there was no crash; and after the collision, they were far enough away that it was easy to talk down.
The other big moment, with less than a minute left, was a scrum in the penalty area, where the ball slipped loose for a shot that hit the top of the penalty area, and almost made it all the way in. I was both really happy, and really fortunate that I was able to be in perfect position to see it, and see that only 3/4 of the ball crossed the line - because several players were already celebrating. It's one of the reasons that, even if you're not in great position, you continue to go to the goal line to sell it - it really adds to the credibility of your call.
It's too bad I did this chronologically - I think the collision would be a better bit to end on, but what the heck, I have two more games tomorrow.
30 December '08 - 17:03 - - default| - § ¶
10 Best of 2008: Baby, it's cold outside
It's often said that Law 18 is "Common Sense" (and you'll hear about that law being abused later in this series) - and I'm particularly proud in how I exercised it in this situation in the first game of this article. Like many things, there are unwritten rules to any sport, and one of them in soccer is, if you go after the ball right after you score, you will piss off the other team. I mean, let's face it - you will not get the game restarted sooner if you run in and grab the ball after a goal is scored - if the team is saavy, they'll just dawdle coming up to take the kick-off. The trick is that U15 and U16 boys usually don't know that; and sometimes you get the opportunity to actually show them how to keep things from blowing up, rather than just asking or commanding them (via a card) to.
Baby, it's cold outside
Someone, who I couldn't place at the time, told me that even though we'd had full-field (as in 120 x 85) dome games during the winter, that the first outdoor game is always different, always harder. And not only was he right, it makes sense; because even though the field is the same (because the grass would be far too soft this early - not only were there still piles of snow on the ground, we picked up a good five inches of the stuff not forty-eight hours later), the conditions aren't. Indoors, everything is perfect: no wind and comfortable conditions. Outdoors, at least for these two matches, it was cold and windy; I caught a glimpse at a TV with the weather being displayed when I was done, saying it made it up to 47 degrees that day, but I don't believe it. Regardless, it was cold and windy and not too far above freezing.
Another thing that's said, with much more frequency (probably because there are far more of these than first games outdoors) is that U16 boys are among the hardest to handle. Some wax on further by saying the tsunami of hormones going on in them makes any type of reasoning impossible - and I'm not inclined to argue against it. In this case, a team that's had only single referees all winter long should well know by now that line calls, and offside calls, when you have only one official, will suck. But complain loud and often they did, and like dominoes falling in line (or babies crying in an airliner), the other team quickly followed suit. Beyond that, there really weren't any other issues in the game, except one which I handled OK, but now that the game is done I think I could handle better (especially since I've taken other referees, even with National badges, to task for it).
The visiting team, late in the game, is holding 2-0 lead, and drop a goal with only a few minutes left. As I signal the goal, I watch the penalty area and spot a player from the home team starting to go after the ball, and I follow in-pursuit. I'm still a second behind, so there is a small fracas as the defender in the area attempts to wrestle the ball away from him. "It's our ball now, it's our ball now" he intoned as I tried to get him to back off. I attempt to reason with him.
"Let it go, they can't stop until I whistle." Then I get a second to address him more quietly, "now - watch me
walk up to center. Get me?" He didn't at the time, but at the next dead ball, I did a quick check-up on him, and then he understood: I knew the action of the attacker pissed them off, and I was going to make sure they didn't profit from it. In these situations the team that scored wants the ball back as soon as possible to keep the momentum going; and the team scored-upon usually gets really, really upset at it. And while I'm sure it happens, I've never seen the converse happen, where the defenders take an inordinate amount of time to restart the game - at least nothing that a quick word didn't fix. My view is this: we're at a kickoff, not a free-kick - there is no right to a "quick-kick". Further, everyone knows at this point that going after the ball following a goal is going to be seen as inflammatory by the other team - nobody who's played the game any length of time can claim ignorance to this, and I will not reward it. If I can get the other team with the ball out quickly, to deflate the situation, good - if I can keep them from getting the ball, better. But regardless of how I keep the parties from fighting, I'll also make a (small) show of slowing down the restart a bit - if nothing else to try to keep them from trying it again later.
What I should have done was start in on goal immediately, rather than the 1/4 - 1/2 second it took me to stop, notice, and restart toward the goal. Maybe it's nit-picky, but maybe it'll stop someone from doing something real stupid. And 15s and 16s are the age for it.
The second game was between the U18 squad I had a couple of months ago, and a college team (and it looked like the full college team, along with coaches - not sure how the NCAA allows it, but that's not for me to worry about). Very good, very close game. The thing I noticed was more about me than the game, however: I'm still having issues with positioning in women's games; it's not that I wasn't going outside, but instead getting myself boxed in. Basically, my decision on where to go to get a good view while being out-of-the-way still need some work. There's apparently a camera on the field, and I asked for a copy (after the home coach for the first team offered one to the visitors), but I somehow doubt I'll get one [note: I didn't] - I tried that a couple of times for recorded high school games and never got call backs either. The odd thing is that I don't recall having this type of positioning problem a couple of years ago - just last year, and in this one game this year. Hopefully I can work my way out of it.
27 December '08 - 12:54 - - default| - § ¶
10 Best of 2008: Fifth Anniversary!
Despite this being a blog about me - I actually try not to toot my own horn too much. But I just liked this article - it restated the purpose this blog very nicely. And let's face it, it is a bit of a big deal that I'm still writing this thing five years later - I've had emails from players telling me that the game from a ref's perspective is something they never thought of before, and countless other referees email in and thank me for repeating situations that are similar to ones they've had.
It's a big deal for me personally, because I know I would have quit - I would have been like 80-90% of all the other referees that quit around the two-year mark. I started writing when I was about ready to call it quits, and found this not only helped me vent the frustration I had, but became a tool to help me analyze my own work on the field.
So it seemed rather appropriate to have the fifth time we've had the annual slog through the ten best entries of the year begin with this entry.
Fifth Anniversary!
I scanned down the front page of the blog (to see if I needed to move
the sock review up to the Feature Articles section, and inadvertently glanced at the archives list and saw that I'd been writing on this blog for five years now. Not only that, that's five years on a consistent basis (OK, less consistently during the off season, but do I need to say this again: "I went to the gym. I sweated. A lot." ?)
For those who care, due to subsequent edits and various other hoo-hah, the very first entry of RefBlog does not show up in the June 2003 archives. It is,
however, here.
On more than one occasion I've been temped to claim that this is the oldest referee blog on the internet; I've seen a few older blogs that were written by referees, but the experiences of officiating weren't the primary focus. In any event, I'm very confident that this is the oldest blog on the internet about a sports official, in any sport, let alone soccer. The question of course, is does this anniversary mean anything? In and of itself, no. I hope that it's the content of this blog that makes it interesting for players, fans, and officials to read - the length of time only makes it a bit more visible. I also hope it's the content that sets this blog apart from anything available on the internet or in print: official USSF referee blogs are... nice. They tell you how hard it is to get to their level, how good the games were, how exciting it was - but none of the shit. And if you referee, there's a lot of shit to deal with - there's shit from players and coaches and fans and administrators, and let's be truthful: the USSF does not want us to hear about that. Books in print tell us all about the big leagues, but not as much as how they got there - when I read
Collina's book,
The Rules of the Game, I hoped to read how he marched up the ranks to become the most famous referee in the world - but didn't hear a word about it.
OK, that's fine. The USSF and FIFA serve many masters, and there are far more dues-paying coaches and players than there are whistle-blowers. If a FIFA referee goes on the public stage and says, "Coaches are prats and most don't the know the rules of the game from foosball," it's going to affect their bottom line - even if it's 100% true and buoys the referee corps to new levels of morale.
I'm not famous and I'm not going to be - I referee in the same leagues that most of us play in or watch in lawn-chairs. If it was baseball, we'd call it the sandlot leagues; I haven't found an equivalent for soccer, but it's youth and adult games with people who take the game seriously, even if they're only playing for a t-shirt on a crappy field. And because of that, I'm willing to say there's shit to deal with and what that shit is composed of. There's also a heckuva lot of good stuff in the game, too, which is why those of us who continue to referee keep doing it - the good and the beautiful far outweigh the bad, and I want people to know that too, although when the bad comes it often doesn't feel like it.
This blog has always been about two things: for myself to blow off steam, keep sane, and try to figure out what's going on (good and bad, my fault and not). I've always been a bit of a writer, albeit not a serious one; I've been venting steam and causing controversy since high school. But controversy or not (and there's been a fair bit of that about me and soccer, even before I started reffing - let's say even if I had the desire to get a National badge, there's too much of me "in print" for it to happen), writing is how I keep a both level head and analyze my own actions. Secondly, it's for everyone else who's not a referee to see what it's like wearing that third uniform; let me tell you: the game changes drastically when you put it on - and the more you understand about how we look at the game (because it is different from everyone else on the pitch), the better you'll understand why we make certain calls, even if you don't agree with them.
Basically, I wanted to thank those of you who have been reading this blog - I never knew if I'd get any readers as all, let alone people subscribing to the RSS feeds, writing comments, correcting my mistakes, and encouraging me to go forward. When I decided to write a journal (which came first), and then publish it on a website, it was mostly a "What the hell" type of deal (as in, "What the hell - nobody else speaks in public for the refs - someone should"). That "What the hell" deal is still happening five years later, which makes sense now that I think about it - I think I used the same phrase when I decided to become a referee in the first place.
24 December '08 - 22:10 - - default| - § ¶
Ten Best of 2008 Coming Up
Just a quick reminder - in order to while away the time while the snow is falling, I'm about to start reprinting the ten best articles of the year. If there was anything that grabbed you as a good one during this calendar year, let me know and I'll consider adding it to the list.
10 December '08 - 20:05 - - default| - § ¶
Not many games after all
I can't say I didn't expect it - nor can I say it's a huge disappointment, but it turns out that I only did a pair of high school games for the fall. Part of the reason is pretty simple: the season is very compressed, lasting just two months, and even then sometimes you get games played in sub-freezing weather and snow - and when I tweaked my knee and pulled myself out for three weeks, there went more than half of it already.
Another factor is not being able to work games at 5pm (because, as you might imagine, soccer doesn't pay enough to cover my mortgage), so the double-headers mid-week are all out. And schools here love double-headers: soccer is the only high school sport that does them, and schools pay
less for the second game than the first... which is still less than they pay the small army of officials who work pointy-ball contests! I also limited my availability so I could actually have a life beyond soccer (gasp!) - although it's mostly to avoid the frustration that comes with the high school game (there will be a homicide if I work high school games five days a week). Finally, after I was comfortable running on my knee again, I had a couple weekends where I was out-of-town, which really only left me one weekend open for a game (which I took), before the season went into playoffs.
And duh, I won't get any playoffs. Why should I? I worked two games, therefor I shouldn't be working playoff games. Not that I mind - since both games were in the city, it was probably the most pleasant high school season I've ever had as a referee.
I should get some games from the sports-oriented school this winter again, and maybe some ODP contests - those I look forward to much more than high school.
10 December '08 - 19:21 - - default| - § ¶
First after a long break
After my last game, I felt a little twinge in my knee and decided to take a break. I don't want to screw up my knee at any time, but certainly not over high schools games (which I tolerate at best, loathe at worst). So my hiatus ended up being nearly three weeks; and my second high school game of the year was one team's final home game.
The game was another inner city game - which I've also decided I enjoy more than suburban matches. It was a girls varsity game, and while there were no cards, it was rather competitive. We had some fouls, some contact, and some up-and-down play. Like my last game, this one was on turf, but was able to keep up with play going end-to-end without any additional twinges. I was a bit worried on the running; I'd kept going to the gym and did a little, but didn't feel winded after the game; it may have been different had it been a boys game, since boys high school games are notorious for being 80 minutes of long ball lobs - but that's something for another day.
It may also be the last high school game I do for a while, too - although this has more to do with my real-life scheduling rather than injuries or NFHS prejudice.
03 December '08 - 11:16 - - default| - § ¶
