USA Cup 2005 Day 6: A small army of yellow
I did three games and then picked up one; the first three (a U12 small-sided center and a line for the same and a U13) were pretty tame; the excitement came on another field.This is what I know: a referee I've worked with before (he's actually from my state) gave a red card for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity, and a pretty obvious one at that: she blatantly whacked the ball away with her arm with no chance of it being accidental. Another play goes nuts, telling the ref to fuck off; then the coach goes nuts, throwing stuff onto the field! He tosses the coach and terminates the game. I just finished my game, when my center and I notice the problems (the referee crew has now become surrounded); he says, "Let's go help," and we start running onto the field. We're not the only one, because two other crews head into the field as well, all converging around the referee WHO DID THE CORRECT THING IN THE FIRST PLACE, and escorting him back to the field manager's tent.
Meanwhile, parents are still swearing at him, and the team refused (again) to hand over passes, and continued to swear at him on his way back to headquarters. In many ways, he's quite lucky to have it happen here, because here we know that referees will protect their own here. This is a brotherhood, and all we ask is that your don't cause disrepute to the uniform; he didn't, and was given his own small army of yellow-clad people as his personal bodyguard.
Now suburban parents, THEY just disgust me right now. I didn't have any reactions with the coaching staff (other than escorting one of the ARs to get a signature on the game card - to the side that didn't have any issues, but you never know when the next lackwit from the burbs is going to make another run. Should I go as far as say hate? Maybe. Because those mostly conservative voters are the real reason that the society they say is going to hell, is going there. They're fucking hypocrites, and if there were such things are licenses to be considered a human being, they should be revoked on the spot.
I'm glad to say that the ref seemed to be doing OK. He spent nearly two hours on the paperwork, and even had another game which hopefully will put some of these bastards behind him.
My last game, which was a pickup (a U12-girls small sided game) was interesting and rather difficult, because frankly these girls were just too large to play on the field they were on. It made for a lot of bumping, quite a few collisions, and lots of calls for fouls that frankly, I just didn't see the merit in giving. I know that normally they get inexperienced refs that probably give those calls, but in all conscience I just couldn't. And I think I have the proof for that, too: early in the game, the coaches kept calling for offiside calls. The first two were easy to ignore, because they were kicks that never hit any of the players in off-side positions, and just sailed over the goal-line for goal kicks. The third time the ball remained in play, but the AR disagreed with the coaches, and kept his flag down - but all the players stopped! I had to say, "The ball's still in play," twice before things started going again. Amusing? Yes. But probably indicative to what they're used to. I actually had a nice chat with a parent about that, and he seemed pretty understanding; they were all colliding with each other, so I think it was pretty even on how many I let go. That game ended 1-1 and finished up in kicks from the mark, 4-2.
Sigh... I can't get rid of it. You crazy stupid suburban soccer parents who don't know shit about the game: You suck, you spoil the game, you have no business being parents. Put your kids up for adoption now and let someone with a sense of decency and responsibility raise them - you showed neither today.
Why am I so not surprised. Pitiful. I’d just ask you not to paint us all with the same brush.
Here’s my take: It only takes one or two parents to turn a game ugly.
As spectator parents, my husband and I are never rude or loud or a bad fans. We saw other parents behave that way, and we thought they were crazy but didn’t think much about it beyond that.
But now, as a referee, I see how it poisons a game. That crap finds its way onto the field and can set the tone of the game. Then it starts to permeate the other spectators. It’s time that we quiet parents (Usually in the majority) muster enough guts to tell them to shut up and sit down. Maybe it would work…
Lee () - 24 July '05 - 12:17