Common Ignorance: Dangerous Play
Boy, was is strange to do the nonaffiliated league after doing USSF games all summer. First, these were small-sided games on a small field - oh, man. :)These with the first games of the session, so for the most part, they were pretty easy. One game was difficult (well, comparably), but it was the one I thought would be anyway. One team has one person with a really loud voice (he should be a ref) and tends to instigate things (we'll say he's on the blue team). The other team, white, which I didn't know about, quickly set the tone with one player, in the first five minutes, completely overreacting to some contact. He dropped to the ground, cried out, rolled around - well, tough taboogies, the foul was against him! White decided to just play, and quickly was ahead 4-1. In my mind, not a good thing, because this means blue will get mouthy, partially to jack themselves up, partially to game the ref, partially (mostly?) to piss off the other team and force them into making mistakes. A couple cards get shown, and I try to make it clear that they talk to me, not to the other team; with six minutes left, White's lead has dropped to 4-3.
Here's where the ignorance pops in, and it's a doozy because it resulted in the tying goal. One player from blue and white and both going after the ball a couple yards off the upper-right corner of white's penalty area. Blue player falls down - no foul - she starts to get up, and is on all fours, and the while player tries to go through her. I blow the whistle, but not on blue, but on white, much to the dismay of white; they want a dangerous play call against blue - no, I call a push against white. Why? If blue played it on the ground, given the proximity of white, I would have called it against them, but since she never made an attempt on the ball, she is entitled to her position. Since the white player (male, it's co-ed), tried to plow through her, the foul is against him.
White asks if direct or indirect, I say direct. Goalkeeper still doesn't move on the free kick, and it scores on the inside corner. Tie game at 4 apiece.