Why it's difficult for us to card dives
As I was doing one of the games in the second-to-last week of the indoor league, I ran across one person who started giving me trouble in the last five minutes of an otherwise trouble-free game. I had two playoff games that night, one given to me specifically because she wanted me to handle the teams (both had potentially explosive players that I've handled before - in fact, I had their last regular season game, and the coordinator was equally worried then as well) - both playoff games were fast and for the most part clean (I got to do a little yelling, as well as a little joking, in the game the coordinator was worried about, but it was otherwise just a slightly more difficult than normal game).I'm writing about one of the other, bonus games, that I had that night. It involved the second-to-last chance for an 0-7 team to pick up some sort of point. Then a female player, who was big had a nice touch on the ball and surprising speed caught the other team by surprise in the first half, getting off several nice shots; unfortunately, and this happens a lot with co-ed teams, the men didn't pass it to her all that often - especially the other man on the team who provided any type of offensive spark (he was much faster than her, but didn't have the same ball skills). One has think the woman was wondering why the hell she plays - when she's trying to support her teammates, she doesn't get it, and when she had possession of the ball, she didn't get any support, either.
In any case, she got a little feisty near the end of the second half, probably when it became clear that they were still going to remain win-less in the lowest bracket with only one match to go. She started playing much more physically, which as a player and observer I like, but as a referee I need to watch closely because all too often guys can't handle a girl playing the same way they do. Then she took a dive. It was a good dive, too - I'm pretty sure I would have bought it if I were anyplace else on the field; she was trying to box in a defender with the ball near his corner and I ran to cover it from in-touch near her bench in order to be very close as it's very common for elbows to be thrown when that happens in that area. I saw it clearly: no contact whatsoever, and down she went crying for a call, I waived her to get up in the fashion that trainers tell you not to do, but you see MLS refs do all the time, and let the game continue. Her bench even joked about the dive, "Can't you give her something for her effort?" She was too close for me to joke back, so I stayed neutral, said no, and went back to play.
I should have carded her. The USSF said I should have carded her. FIFA says I should have carded her. Collina says I should have carded her. But I didn't. I could have said it was because it was late in the game, would have only inflamed the situation (in fact, any tension on that team pretty much evaporated at that point - not sure why, maybe it was my showing that I really was on the ball even in such a slow game as that), but I would be lying to myself. I can't speak for every referee, but I think even when we "know" it's a dive, there's something way back in the back of our minds that asks, "But what if it's not? Would the caution make the injustice of a non-call, worse?"
It's really easy to sell a call for a reckless challenge. There's contact, it goes further than you want, and it doesn't matter if the player got the ball or not - it's simply a crossing of the line, issue the card. OK, there's grey areas too, when you can at least try to get away with a stern talking-to because you'll get more milage out of it than flashing some plastic. Diving is cheating of the worst sort, and as referees, we, I, aid it because we want to be 100% sure before declaring that this player is of the worst sort; because when it comes down to it, I don't think there's anything referees fear more (aside from assaults, injuries, lawsuits, and others) than carding someone who doesn't deserve it.
The downside is that we (I) have erred too much on the side of caution, and have let things get away from themselves. Yes, a card for diving should be something you're very very sure about, but I think we (I) need to drop the bar a bit, from that 99.999% to simply 90%. We have to be willing to face some heat for making the call, and not just get by with the path of least resistance, because that action will be repeated. I saw it earlier in the season, when I let a dive go (albeit with a warning to a teammate who also agreed with me that it was a dive), and I'm certain she'll try it again, too.
Just testing new methods to fight these asshole spammers.
TheRef - 18 March '06 - 07:30
Ask yourself one question: “What do I gain from issuing this caution”? Will it stamp out the behavior later? Will it keep the player from doing it in a later match cause she got caught? And realize that your credibility is on the line if you give it once, but don’t give it the next time.Don’t give cards out like they are candy, treat them like money and use them when you need to get something in return.
Ref - 24 March '06 - 14:04