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Interesting night last night - lots of talking with the soccer coordiantor and another referee; most of the talk had to do with how this league lets problem teams (and more specifically, problem players) remain playing year after year. It's taking a big step next session by finally doing some card accumulation and enforcing red card suspensions, but man things can get ugly.
It's troubling in a way, because one of the reasons I do this league is because is gets ugly; I give out more red cards doing this league during the winter, reffing one night a week, then I do all sprint/summer/fall reffing four to five nights a week, at higher competition levels. I figured out last year that one out of every four games is a "problem game" - and when I say problem game, I mean if the red card doesn't get pulled out, it's only a few ticks away. Don't get me wrong, I like work working for this league, I like working with the people that run it; they always stick up for the referee (myself or otherwise), but I felt I was in danger of physical harm last night.
The best way I can describe this team is via the other ref who works with me: "They play like it's life and death; like it's more than life and death." Trust me, he did not say it in a good way, either - he meant that they whine, complain, and scream and every little thing like their immortal soul depended on it.
They were complaining before the game started (the goalkeeper didn't want to change his shirt because it confilcted with his opponents - it was like pulling teeth to get that out of him for something so common sense). Less than a minute into the game, goalkeeper dribbles the ball into their attacking third and complains about a hand on the back - no pressure; he's whining - trying to get a call, that I can't let them do that because he's out of position (meaning out of the penalty area. Let's make this clear, there's only one answer to that: He's full of crap. Outside of the penalty area, he's another field play wearing a funny jersey. Every call is disputed, every call garners yells of anguish, every call is just an insult to the game they're playing. Here is the list of referee's tools:
Whistle for fouls: nothing was satisfying enough if it was against them, everthing was an affont if they were called.
Talk to the players: This worked for their opponents, but they would listen - there wasn't a possibility to explain jack without getting interrupted.
Strongly talk to the players (not yelling, but projecting loud enough that everyone knows you're not happy): Wouldn't work - only escalated the situation. This led to...
Yellow Carding the players: Here's the situation in a nutshell
: if on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the boiling point, how do you calm things down when they start at an 8? Usually the previous two are it - but they were going nowhere. So do you let it go, let them escalate, or do you try to assert control? If not the later, why have a referee? If they want to fight, do it outside; if you want to play soccer, you play by the rules, and if you won't play within them yourselves, you have to have someone enforce it. So, cynical foul at mid-field; out comes the outburst again, I tell him loudly to shut it up, he doen't, he starts swearing at me!
Red Card the players: to continue, out comes the red card, and I order him out of the building. He starts off, continuing to swear, and then detours the the soccer coordinator, who's watching. I tell him, "You can talk to him later, you do not swear at me and stay in the building." The coordinator concurrs and he leaves the building. We resume the game.
Orange Card: Basically yellow card with an ass-chewing. I didn't use because there's no ass-chewing when the ref gets sworn at, you get ejected - period.
The oppoents understood pretty quickly; I never heard a peep from them after option two, and then after that all they needed was a quiet reminder to keep from escalating. For the team who considers the game more important than life or death, it was clear who wanted to play and who didn't. Even their own players (those who don't suffer from testosterone poisoning) were saying how embarassed they were that they were acting that way. Does that mean I was doing the best possible? Does it mean that even if players on the aggrieved team think their own players were the problem (and after the game say they thought I did the right thing, ifyou can believe it), I was in a no-win scenario? In the title I made reference to the Kobayashi Maru, partially because I happen to like Star Trek; partially because it's a neat title; and partially because if you're famiilar with the phrase, you know that Captain Kirk responds to it by cheating, because he doesn't believe in a no-win scenario.
Several more yellow cards; several more whistles to just stop play and get people to calm down; and two loud requests asking if they would rather me just terminate the game, I did just that - terminated it. Another player (again on "that team") does a football tackle - litterally runs from behind, grabs the guy around the waist and pulls the player down; tackled player comes up with cleats showing, and the thoughts in my mind are simple: "It's not worth it, people are going to get hurt." The words out of my mouth are equally simple, "This game is OVER."
I immediately leave for the scorers table, away from the benchs, goalkeeper follows me. "No. If you want to talk, come back in five minutes." He won't do it. All I can do is ignore him, saying "Five minutes" and giving the visual clue. He eventually gives up, because I will not engage - there is no point. He wants to complain; he does not want to have "a discussion" like he says - it would be no different than on the field. So he goes and complains to the coordinator instead, for about 20 minutes (like I have that amount of time before the next game, anyway).
Needless to say, first chance I get (halftime of the next game), I talk to the coordiantor, the referee from the other field, and another referee who was just there to watch. I also talked to some of the people leaving from both teams who have either calmed down, or just wondered what nature had in mind by creating a Y chromosome in the first place, and the answer was unanimous: I did all I could, there wasn't a thing more I could have done, they were glad I ended the game, and they think I did a good job. The coordinator and other referee (who aren't assessors, but know the league and the people in it well enough) concurred - they went as far as saying I did a "beautiful" job; I'll take their word on it, because that was one hell of an ugly garden. They said I tried working with them, I tried disciplining them, I tried ejecting them, and made an appropriate decision to end the game. There are things I could try, but even in hindsight, would they work? Bring out the cards sooner? Try talking more? Try humor (oh, wait - tried that with a disputed line call, that didnt work, either)? They apparently said they like the other ref's style better (well, duh), but you don't get to choose that - the coordinator also pointed out that there's people who don't like his style, so what can you do?
One thing is certain. There are only two refs in the league, and lots of games left. Both the other ref and the coordiantor point out that the best teams in the league don't foul; than in four games they've had maybe three fouls - because they just play the game; and teams that don't, take the consequences. They WILL have to get used to me, or drop out of the league; I'll make sure they have a few weeks off from me, but they're going to have to grow up. I will have to make adjustments myself, but the reality is that the only one I can decide on before hand (remember, refs can train, but they can't practice) is to tighten up on them. If their captain chews their ass, and they play like human beings, I can adjust accordingly, but until then, I have to assume a worst-case scenario the next time I have them.
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