It always starts easy
Weekday indoor leagues always start easy: new players, new type of game, new referees. But later on the players learn about the other players, aren't tentative about the transition from outdoor anymore, and begin to know the referees. As the season goes on, the first and last from that list can be for good and for ill - but ill is always louder than good.I had my first three games from the weekday league, and there wasn't much to write home about. I had mostly new teams and players, but for the first two games, I saw some solid play, but nothing that screamed, "Contender". The first game was a walk through the park; the second started out with a bunch of fouls, but settled into foullessness (oh, the word police are going to hate that one). The third game had only a smattering of fouls as well, but the level of play was also much better than the previous two games. The Contender Light did perk up a bit, during that one.
One team started out short-handed, and fell behind 1-0 early; but thing was, you couldn't tell they were short-handed, and once their sixth player showed up, they tied up the game, and then had a 4-2 lead with ten minutes left. The other team poured on the offense, tied the game with a few minutes late, then took the lead on a call that was bound to make some miffed: the striker took a ball inbound to him at about head-level, with his feet - there was a defender right behind him, and I had to make a quick choice about calling a dangerous play or not, because he immediately dropped the ball, and in a fraction of a second, scored the go-ahead goal.
Is there such a thing as "high kick"? No.
Was a defender in close proximity? Yes.
Was the defender in imminent danger of being hit? Actually, no - the foot went outside and around him, then up.
Can a player safely play the ball with a high boot? yes.
Would I have whistled a defender in the same situation? No.
So I let it go. I was fortunate that there was only a little grumbling - I explained the call quickly, that the foot wasn't going toward the guy's face, and mentally noted that he didn't flinch, either. The difference between a call and no-call was razor thin; I wish I didn't have to make a call like that in so close a game, but that's what I'm supposed to do - either one would have miffed someone.