Woe is me, Referee

[coachray40]

Long sigh--after another weekend of tournament play, I have to just shake my head about the continuous lack of growth in quality that our referees in LA are showing. Now before I go farther, let me make sure the record is straight--I am a referee and a referee assignor, so its not like I am just hammering away without some back ground.

Now, rant continued. It is distressing that so many clubs continue to create these monster tournaments and forget that they need to make sure they have an ample supply of qualified officials in order to ensure the quality of play will be upheld. Sticking new, inexperienced refs on u16 games as ARs when they might have just passed the test isnt accommodating to us who just paid $425 to play in a tournament. Case in point:

I knew I was in trouble in my second game in Gator Classic, when our ref crew walked up and I saw what going to be the AR on our side--18-22 year old, looking very dishevelled, like he either had a late night of beverages with his buds, or that the night befores Xbox session ran well into the wee hours of the morning. He was wearing old black and white hightop New balance tennis shoes with a knee length pair of black New Orleans Hornets basketball shorts, shirt untucked, one sock up and the other down, and no patch. Right from the beginning of the match he firmly planted himself midway between the midfield stripe and the end line, and didnt even think of moving. At about the 8 minute mark I put a man up to midfield as a substitute, and after 3 opportunites to make that substitution in about 4 minutes, I look up and still see my player standing at midfield. I call for a sub, seeing that Mr Xbox hasnt moved from his initial planting, and the ref starts yelling at me to tell the AR. Well, I have gotten a tad perturbed, so I step onto the field and holler back to the center that I HAVE done that( yes I know that stepping onto the field tends to piss the center off--thats why i did it). My center then comes running on over to me (see--that stuff always works), and begins to berate me about being on the field and asking for subs, and I explained to him that I have done exactly what he asked, but havent gotten the proper response from the AR (not raising his flag to signal the substitution, not even popping the flag-nothing). Xbox AR then says (i love this one) "Dude, I'm just trying to keep up man". Classic. The ref takes a look at the AR, and realizes almost immediately that I am right and his face drops, and he then begins to counsel the young AR. This is what I dropped four and a quarter for?

Next case--we get a spot kick late in our Sunday game and us with a 1-1 tie. My guy takes the shot, the keeper saves it, then my shooter buries the rebound. We are all hyped, but then the ref blows the play and gives the other team a kick from the goal area and says "The shooter cant finish his own rebound" I am livid, and I again come out onto the field to explain to the center that Yes the shooter can finish a rebound if it came off the GK. Center runs right over (see--worked again) and begins to argue with me, but almost like a light came on in mid sentence, he realizes he is wrong. his next sentence: "Well, Im pretty sure one of your players encroached anyway" UM, WHAT? Which one I asked. "Dont worry about it coach, its my call" Oh so you blew it big time because you dont know the rules, and that costs my team a well deserved win instead of a draw, and that what I get? Not impressive.

Final case--Having completed our games in New Orleans, I head back to the house for a little RnR before my 2 u9 Teams play in the evening. Between games, two of our young refs here in GSC come up to me to settle a debate. Young female ref contends that all handling calls are direct, whereas young male ref says, no, he was told in the ref class that all handballs (I know its handling but lets speak so everyone understands) are indirect kicks. I asked him if he was kidding me, as this guy is 18 and has been playing his whole life. I explained to him that a hand ball was a direct kick. He then proceeded to ref my U9 games and do a pretty good job.

Could we please try to educate these young refs better so that they can come onto the field ready to go? Also, could we maybe make the tournament hosts understand that fewer teams rather than these enormous cattle herding events could be better handled by the limited pool of quality and ready officials that we have? Bill Rushing has been complaining about this situation for years and it continues to fall on deaf ears. Our level of play is increasing statewide, but our refereeing isnt. We have to get our referee hierarchy to understand they have to take on some acoountability

[wildcatsoccer]

Coach,

I feel your pain. I have a U17 team and we played this weekend and also had some of the same issues. Our first game was decided on a PK at the end of the game. The other team had a corner. We cleared the ball and were pushing at midfield when the foul was called that "someone" was pushed down in the box during the corner. The PK was awarded and made followed by the final whistle. Again like you I was told that it was his call because he could not tell me who did the pushing or who was even pushed.

Our second game was a rough one. Elbows to the head, tackles from behind, tackles with cleats up and no ball etc.... 10 yellow cards issued to one team. No one was sent off until they cursed out the center for the third time.

I think one thing that also hurts was that even before we played our second game, one of the teams had completed their third and the group winner was already decided. The refs did not even want our player passes for our last two games. Going through motions to get it over with. Education is the key to improve soccer all around the state.

[futbolislife]

Ray, I know you were waiting on me to respond. To some of these comments I will respond, others I feel I cannot.

Referee training and recruiting is an area we have sought to improve and have done a few things to go in that direction. One of the things we have started recently with some success is the Referee Academy. We held one at this tournament at Lafreniere. At that location, we had a group of 21 referees working together all day Sat with 4 instructors watching and assisting all day. For the most part, all were better at the end of the day. We do have more of these planned but certainly we cant touch every referee in La.

As a former coach, I feel your pain with Mr Xbox. This past year, I did three presentations on "Professionalism" and the attire was certainly discussed. But I doubt Mr Xbox was there.

In the past few years, we did require a re-certification process that at least requires every referee to retake a referee test to at least show some level of understanding. Is this enough? I would be hard pressed to argue it is. It simply is not. But it is perhaps a small step.

What can we do more in the initial referee class? Unfortunately not much. More and more, everyone wants the 16 hours in a weekend. Already, it's diffi- to cram all that info into 16 hours much less expand it. All that info just cant be absorbed in that time frame. USSF is working on a scheme to revise the entry level class on how it's presented. What's being discussed is a 8 hour online presentation that can be watched in pieces and supplemented with an additional 8 hours classroom. Will this help? Not sure but cant make it worse.

The real problem with referee training is in several areas.
Continuing education, We have begun to offer more and more but cant force the horse to water. This summer, we held two classroom in-service training sessions, one in the north and one in the south. All total, about 100 referees statewide attended. That is less than 10% of the pool. So where is the remainder. Well, honestly, many think they know it all and cant learn anymore than they already know. The State Referee Committee (SRC) has discussed ways of getting more info out there. In addition to our two referee academies in the fall, we have sent field trainers to one tournament and two more headed to Slidell this coming weekend. I think we are getting out there more and more but cant force people to drink from the trough.

And from other directions,we are discussing but haven't figured out materials for an assignor re-certification program. Traveling all over, I certainly see many cases of wrong referees assigned to wrong games. But certainly I also acknowledge that in most cases, the assignor's choice is assign someone not ready or leave a spot vacant. And when that happens, coaches come screaming about so and so is not used, put him on the game. I cant tell you how many times I have seen coaches run into a tournament tent complaining they have a ref missing and point to some body in uniform and ask "why not him?". That is of course, until there's a problem. And then here come the complaints.

we also need to ensure that our instructors and assessors are using current information and not info from 20 years ago. One of our academy referees used an "old school" technique which is currently outdated and obsolete. When we discussed it, he said that Mr XYZ told him to do this, which was wrong. That process of making sure our instructors and assessors are current is in the works.

What is not surprising is that all these issues are common to every single state. I can certainly tell you that all the Region 3 SRCs have all discussed these problems. We often share our ideas and try to implement with a twist that is more suitable for our pool and numbers.

I know this is very long but I wanted to acknowledge that we know there are issues. We are taking what I would suggest are some steps towards improvement. And we know that they are small steps. But not long ago, we had no referee recert for ALL referees, we had no field trainers, no academy, no training sessions that people attended. We have a La Academy facebook page that allows referees to join this group and look at some game scenarios/situations. And now we have an email system that allows us to email every referee in the state (provided they gave a good address) and communicate effectively. In the last three years, we changed the ways referees are assigned to state cups. In most people's opinions, the refereeing at state cups has improved while the number of complaints has dropped dramatically.

I think we are headed in the right direction. Just wish we could get there faster.

[tonygalinto]

Sept 27, 2010 5:46:55 GMT -6 coachray40 said:

Long sigh--after another weekend of tournament play, I have to just shake my head about the continuous lack of growth in quality that our referees in LA are showing. Now before I go farther, let me make sure the record is straight--I am a referee and a referee assignor, so its not like I am just hammering away without some back ground.

Now, rant continued. It is distressing that so many clubs continue to create these monster tournaments and forget that they need to make sure they have an ample supply of qualified officials in order to ensure the quality of play will be upheld. Sticking new, inexperienced refs on u16 games as ARs when they might have just passed the test isnt accommodating to us who just paid $425 to play in a tournament. Case in point:

I knew I was in trouble in my second game in Gator Classic, when our ref crew walked up and I saw what going to be the AR on our side--18-22 year old, looking very dishevelled, like he either had a late night of beverages with his buds, or that the night befores Xbox session ran well into the wee hours of the morning. He was wearing old black and white hightop New balance tennis shoes with a knee length pair of black New Orleans Hornets basketball shorts, shirt untucked, one sock up and the other down, and no patch. Right from the beginning of the match he firmly planted himself midway between the midfield stripe and the end line, and didnt even think of moving. At about the 8 minute mark I put a man up to midfield as a substitute, and after 3 opportunites to make that substitution in about 4 minutes, I look up and still see my player standing at midfield. I call for a sub, seeing that Mr Xbox hasnt moved from his initial planting, and the ref starts yelling at me to tell the AR. Well, I have gotten a tad perturbed, so I step onto the field and holler back to the center that I HAVE done that( yes I know that stepping onto the field tends to piss the center off--thats why i did it). My center then comes running on over to me (see--that stuff always works), and begins to berate me about being on the field and asking for subs, and I explained to him that I have done exactly what he asked, but havent gotten the proper response from the AR (not raising his flag to signal the substitution, not even popping the flag-nothing). Xbox AR then says (i love this one) "Dude, I'm just trying to keep up man". Classic. The ref takes a look at the AR, and realizes almost immediately that I am right and his face drops, and he then begins to counsel the young AR. This is what I dropped four and a quarter for?

Next case--we get a spot kick late in our Sunday game and us with a 1-1 tie. My guy takes the shot, the keeper saves it, then my shooter buries the rebound. We are all hyped, but then the ref blows the play and gives the other team a kick from the goal area and says "The shooter cant finish his own rebound" I am livid, and I again come out onto the field to explain to the center that Yes the shooter can finish a rebound if it came off the GK. Center runs right over (see--worked again) and begins to argue with me, but almost like a light came on in mid sentence, he realizes he is wrong. his next sentence: "Well, Im pretty sure one of your players encroached anyway" UM, WHAT? Which one I asked. "Dont worry about it coach, its my call" Oh so you blew it big time because you dont know the rules, and that costs my team a well deserved win instead of a draw, and that what I get? Not impressive.

Final case--Having completed our games in New Orleans, I head back to the house for a little RnR before my 2 u9 Teams play in the evening. Between games, two of our young refs here in GSC come up to me to settle a debate. Young female ref contends that all handling calls are direct, whereas young male ref says, no, he was told in the ref class that all handballs (I know its handling but lets speak so everyone understands) are indirect kicks. I asked him if he was kidding me, as this guy is 18 and has been playing his whole life. I explained to him that a hand ball was a direct kick. He then proceeded to ref my U9 games and do a pretty good job.

Could we please try to educate these young refs better so that they can come onto the field ready to go? Also, could we maybe make the tournament hosts understand that fewer teams rather than these enormous cattle herding events could be better handled by the limited pool of quality and ready officials that we have? Bill Rushing has been complaining about this situation for years and it continues to fall on deaf ears. Our level of play is increasing statewide, but our refereeing isnt. We have to get our referee hierarchy to understand they have to take on some acoountability

So Ray, how was the refereeing at the Baton Rouge Tournament this weekend?

[coachray40]

Actually it was fairly good, though a few small complaints. I had Joey Imarata as a center for my first game on Saturday and he did his normally good job--dude is a very solid official and always does a quality job. Rest of his crew was solid. Second game Saturday wasnt bad. Teams knocked heads a bit but that was normal. Could tell the refs were getting tired late in the game as we played a driven ball down the field, the defender from the other team hit it out of bounds with his head, and the center awarded that team a goalkick. I immediately asked him if he just saw the ball hit of the opposing teams head, and he said "Oh...yeah....that should be a corner" and then gave us the kick.

Sunday was different story. Had the same ref on two games (first game as an AR, second game as a center) who just wasnt that solid and who once again didnt know the rules. In game 1, 3 times right in front of me the guy watches us play a ball through the defenders, and my forward runs past the last defender AFTER the ball is played only to have this guy put up the flag EACH time for offside. I spotted him the first two, but on the third one (which saw my forward on OUR side of the field when the ball was played through) he once again held up the flag. As he was right in front of me I asked him why he called my player offside and he told me "Because he was behind he defenders when he got the ball". I calmly tried to explain to him that it wasnt where he was when he got the ball, it was where he was at when the ball was played to him that mattered. He then turned and told me "You dont know the rules coach so go back and sit down with your team." Thank goodness for my non confrontational demeanor, or perhaps I would have been more inclined to disagree with him further! This is becoming a more and more prevalent problem for refs in this state--please make sure you make the judgement on offside based on the position of the receiving player AT THE TIME OF THE PASS!!!!

Second game of the day brings us to have the same misinformed guy doing my center, and for the most part he does a pretty good job until about 12 minute from the end when he sees that one of my players is bleeding from an abrasion on his knee. He notices this at a deadball situation(the Jackson MS team we were playing had just been awarded a throw in and were retreiving the ball from the next field over), and motions my player to go to the sidelines to get the bleeding stopped. I immediately get another player up and send him to the midfield stripe, to take the place of the bleeding player, where the AR immeditely lets him on the field. The center turns and yells at my player coming on to go back as we cannot substitute. I then voice my displeasure from the sideline that the bleeding should be treated just like an injured player and a substitute be allowed on, especially since we had a restart. He kept waving my player off, so in order to discuss it more fully with him, I (you guessed it) stepped 10 yds onto the field. Center immediately came running over (worked again!) and began to argue with me that bleeding was just like not having on shinguards, and that the player had to go off with no substitute. I immediately asked him what would have happened if the bleeding had been caused by a foul on my player, to which he replied "Nothing". I asked if my replacement player could now go on, and the center turns, looks at him and gives him a yellow card. Im now borderline ballistic, and asked him why his AR allowed him on. No response. At the end of the game--which turned very heated at the end and saw the two teams starting to get more confrontational, the center spent more time trying to note who got yellow cards on the score card rather than securing the field as the teams left. Twice small verbal skirmishes took place on the sidelines while I waited almost 10 minutes for the card. Both time parents from the next field over had to step in to keep the two teams from squaring off. Just a poor job of game management at the end.

I'll give the folks at BRSA a B+ for the weekend. Refs were on time, dressed correctly and professional, and seemed to have been assigned correctly for the matches they did. Having 1 centralized location helped a lot with that I am sure. I would still like to see the refs be more consistent and work more to manage the game, but It was considerably better than Gator Classic.

[Deleted]

Great posts, ray! I can see that the offside calls are an issue everywhere apparently.

It seems the AR's never are proactive enough to check the receiving player's position when the ball is played.

Worse, I have seen flags go up (and whistles blown) when an onside player is played the ball when a teammate happens to be in an offisde position. Despite never being played the ball!

It doesn't help help when the AR's are too far up the pitch to get back on time and make the correct call. We were at a Little Rock tournament and there were 12 yr old AR's! For a competitive tournament?

Fouls? Every ref had their own interpretation of 'excessive force' and overall there was little consistency even among the individual refs.

We had a hispanic ref in the 3rd game that seemed to reward the 'dives' that were made. (Cultural bias in this case I'm guessing.)

If there is a crackdown on reckless tackles then diving (cheating) should carry the same stiff penalties!

Although I've yet to see a player ejected for simulation.

There's a difference between a bold challenge and a reckless one! Soccer is a contact sport! And the game gets more physical as the players get older. I find most refs end up calling a "basketball" game. That is, any advantage gained by a defending player's physical challenge is punished with a foul.

That's not how it's supposed to work!

Calls get missed. Sometimes you get inexperienced refs. Sometimes you get incompetent ones.

I'd be happy with a little more consistency.

[Steven Gerrard]

Can I add just one thing here? A kinda "woe is me, coach" type of complaint. When your game is over, the first thing you should do is get your players to clean up the bench area and then LEAVE. If you feel the need to have a post game chat with your team, do so down by the corner flag. Do not do it while sitting on a bench that another team has been waiting to use.

Game ends at 1:10. My team's game starts at 1:30. When does the other team finally get up and leave? At 1:28. Even worse, in the past I have had coaches have post game chats with their team that lasted up to the point that the ref blew his whistle to start the next game (my team's game). When your game is over, please clean up the bench area and leave so that the next team can use it.

Sorry, I just had to get that off of my chest.

[coachray40]

Oct 11, 2010 12:53:23 GMT -6 Steven Gerrard said:

Can I add just one thing here? A kinda "woe is me, coach" type of complaint. When your game is over, the first thing you should do is get your players to clean up the bench area and then LEAVE. If you feel the need to have a post game chat with your team, do so down by the corner flag. Do not do it while sitting on a bench that another team has been waiting to use.

Game ends at 1:10. My team's game starts at 1:30. When does the other team finally get up and leave? At 1:28. Even worse, in the past I have had coaches have post game chats with their team that lasted up to the point that the ref blew his whistle to start the next game (my team's game). When your game is over, please clean up the bench area and leave so that the next team can use it.

Sorry, I just had to get that off of my chest.

ABSOLUTELY__I AGREE 100%. Not only the coaches, but the parents come over and want to mill around and talk. I have upset many a coach off by walking over and saying as bluntly as possible "Coach, do you think you could move your team so we can play?". I make it a point to try and move my team, its gear and our trash as quickly as possible after completeion of a tournament match out of respect for the next team coming in. To just sit there and do match synopsis for 15 minutes and have the parents milling around is just plain stupid. Show some respect for other teams. Good post Stevie G!!!

[Deleted]

I agree guys. Great that you pointed that out.

[Deleted]

Had a premier league game here in Shreveport Sunday morning.

Game was with La Fire Red '97.

The game was close. And very physical. Second half began with some very 'unsporting behavior' from the Fired team. One player in particular.

When i say "unsporting" that is being pc! F-bombs, "suck my...." you get the picture. Then there was the shirt pulling and flopping. This unfortunately becomes part of the game at the higher levels.

But not with 13 and 14 yr olds! Any self respecting ref would have handled the situation properly.

Instead this guy did nothing! No way he didn't hear and see what was going on.

Consequently things got worse.

When the ref failed to act, the Shreveport players did.

Fire ended up winning the game. Two Shreveport players were ejected and of course have sit out the next (important) league game!

All because this idiot was incompetent.

This is becoming a pattern with Shreveport officials. There is no consistency. No standards being applied. A general lack of critical judgement being used.

Worse, there seems to be zero accountability!

We expect our players to behave in a proper manner. To exercise sound judgement and fair play.

Are we to expect less from our officials? To do what they are actually paid to do?

These guys must be sleeping through their required 12 hour course! Apparently there's little to no continuing education for these people.

It is time to disrupt the built in complacency.

This is yet another area of the game that definitely needs a serious overhaul!

[tonygalinto]

Oct 19, 2010 9:20:50 GMT -6 @hall97 said:

Had a premier league game here in Shreveport Sunday morning.

Game was with La Fire Red '97.

The game was close. And very physical. Second half began with some very 'unsporting behavior' from the Fired team. One player in particular.

When i say "unsporting" that is being pc! F-bombs, "suck my...." you get the picture. Then there was the shirt pulling and flopping. This unfortunately becomes part of the game at the higher levels.

But not with 13 and 14 yr olds! Any self respecting ref would have handled the situation properly.

Instead this guy did nothing! No way he didn't hear and see what was going on.

Consequently things got worse.

When the ref failed to act, the Shreveport players did.

Fire ended up winning the game. Two Shreveport players were ejected and of course have sit out the next (important) league game!

All because this idiot was incompetent.

This is becoming a pattern with Shreveport officials. There is no consistency. No standards being applied. A general lack of critical judgement being used.

Worse, there seems to be zero accountability!

We expect our players to behave in a proper manner. To exercise sound judgement and fair play.

Are we to expect less from our officials? To do what they are actually paid to do?

These guys must be sleeping through their required 12 hour course! Apparently there's little to no continuing education for these people.

It is time to disrupt the built in complacency.

This is yet another area of the game that definitely needs a serious overhaul!

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with the incompetent referee. I'll be the first to admit that there are some referees out there for no other reason than to make the $35 or so dollars. There is no shame in being a referee for the money, as long as one is also competent and does there best. The real problem is that there just aren't enough referees and assignors have to make a choice as to tell teams they won't have a crew for their game or send Joe Blow who we all know isn't the quality that should be on the game. Would you rather the assignor simply tell you that there are no qualified referees available at that level or send whoever they have? I personally think it would be better for the assignor to say sorry, we can't field a crew for your game. You can ppeak to your assignor and tell him/her "either send a qualified crew or just tell me we won't have referees for the game". That way a parent or one the coaches can do the game.

Now that I have said that I want to ask you a question. Are you a referee and if so how many games do you work a season. How many of the players on your team are referees, how about parents, how many of them have taken the referee class and currently referee. It's like the old saying, "you're either part of the solution or part of the problem".

It's very easy to complain about the quality of referees but you also need to be part of the solution. Coach Ray complains but I also know he's a referee (it's been a long time since I have seen him do a game) and a number of the players on his team are also referees. Not to say that gives Ray open season on referees but then again he and his team are trying to do something to become "part of the solution".

[coachray40]

Tony--Im also an assignor!! I like reffing, just usually too busy coaching to get many games in.

Quick complement on refs for this weekend at Midnight Madness--officiating was superb for all of my games. Was especially satisfied with my center in the finals. Was young kid who did a great job. game was well managed, his communication and prefessionalism throughout the match was excellent and he called a good consistent game. The mandeville people really did a great job this weekend, and I made a point of thanking each crew and complimenting them on a job well done.

And tony--I make it a point to have my players go to each referee after all of our games and thank them for thier efforts. We cant play without them.

[brsc15]

If y'all want to see poor reffing... go to a high school football game

[Steven Gerrard]

Oct 11, 2010 12:53:23 GMT -6 Steven Gerrard said:

Can I add just one thing here? A kinda "woe is me, coach" type of complaint. When your game is over, the first thing you should do is get your players to clean up the bench area and then LEAVE. If you feel the need to have a post game chat with your team, do so down by the corner flag. Do not do it while sitting on a bench that another team has been waiting to use.

Game ends at 1:10. My team's game starts at 1:30. When does the other team finally get up and leave? At 1:28. Even worse, in the past I have had coaches have post game chats with their team that lasted up to the point that the ref blew his whistle to start the next game (my team's game). When your game is over, please clean up the bench area and leave so that the next team can use it.

Sorry, I just had to get that off of my chest.

So, playing a game in a tournament. Final whistle blows, both teams line up and shake hands. As my players head towards the bench (remember, they have not yet left the field of play), the players for the next game have already started to set their stuff on and around the bench, which is underneath my pop-up-tent. I asked the girls to move their stuff and give us a chance to clear out our stuff. I also told them that they were risking myself taking their equipment (water bottles mostly), because I would think that it was ours. Where was their coach? Standing right there, not saying a word, waiting for his girls to drop their bags and get out on the field to warm up.

Just get your players to line up their bags along the touchline, about 2 yards back, and get on the field to warm up. That will give the other team plenty of time to clean up the bench area. There is no reason for players to just pile up their bags on and behind the bench, especially when the other team is busy shaking hands after the game.

Sorry, just had to get that off of my chest too.

[Deleted]

Well Tony, I would think that any ref who has taken the course, and has any inkling of common sense would know how to handle 13 and 14 yr old boys dropping f bombs and other unsporting behavior.

I mean, this isn't an offside call, or whether a player went into a tackle with malicious intent.

This was not a tournament either. Can't use the fatigue excuse. This was the first game of the day.

This is COMMON SENSE!

So, if they can't handle that, how can they have any credibility at all?

So, your "solution" is for everyone to go and become licensed refs? That is a copout if I've ever heard one.

No, what really needs to happen is a system of checks and balances be implemented.

If we expect players to be accountable for their behavior then how can we expect refs (presumably adults) to be above reproach?

The people that actually pay for the service deserve a better product than what they're getting. Period.

[ohmysocker]

I like everyone else need to air a little frustration. I was at the Mandi tournament this weekend and watched alot of games. Different age groups boys/girls and agree that they did a great job. Only one thing that caught me off guard. Watching a U17 game got out of control early. Both teams started taking advantage of the center ref not being able to move to quick down the field. Hard tackles from behind, to much pulling of jerseys and everything else you can think of. At one point there had been 8 or so yellow cards. Punches were thrown (missed the target) and pushing continued. No cards at all for the two boys that were about to fight. A pat on the back and told both players "we dont need to do that. be nice to each other" Could not beleive that one. Same age group different teams I heard the younger AR tell a team that the center ref had a heart attack in the past so not to say anything upsetting to him. During the game the center never made it past 10 yards of either side of mid-field. Lucky for everyone the two teams played a good game. Maybe next time us him as and AR or a younger age group. Overall tournament was a good experience and saw alot of good soccer. Next stop high school and middel school season. Hop ethings get better.

[nsideinfo]

We must have been watching the same u17 game. Was it the finals?? The center had NO CONTROL over the game at all. And yes, he could not run the length of the field if his life depended on it. There was no possible way he could keep up with these kids. Things did get out of hand in this game but for the most part, the teams played on. It certainly could have gotten a lot worse. Thankfully, his over-zealous foul-calling and sometimes lack of foul calling did not determine the outcome of the game.

[JB]

Coachray I would agree that you had good refereeing this weekend as I watched your games and would have been happy to have the same referee’s for my games.

Out of the three centers that my team had one of them was a young lad no older then 20, he did a great job! The other two not sure were they learned the game of soccer but it was evident that they not clue. In our second game foul occurs center gives player an advantage which was the right call as player was in the box with control of the ball player misses shot and then after the miss the center gives team a PK.

Our third game of the tournament on Sunday the center ref made one bad call after another, it was not one sided as to who the calls were going against as it was a whistle fest. There was no flow of the game as he called so many pointless fouls, but the icing on the cake was a player kick the ball to the goalie which he called handling. He then goes to is AR to discuss, he then states that was not handling by the keeper and then plays a two player drop ball about 10 yards out in front of the goal. My team wins possession and scores.

In my third game as I’m giving my kids instructions at half I look over at the crew the egg head is sitting on my game ball!!! I yell at him hey ref what in the heck are you doing sitting on my game ball, we check the ball and it’s warped. He looks at me dum founded….enough said!!

[tonygalinto]

Oct 25, 2010 8:01:57 GMT -6 @hall97 said:

Well Tony, I would think that any ref who has taken the course, and has any inkling of common sense would know how to handle 13 and 14 yr old boys dropping f bombs and other unsporting behavior.

I mean, this isn't an offside call, or whether a player went into a tackle with malicious intent.

This was not a tournament either. Can't use the fatigue excuse. This was the first game of the day.

This is COMMON SENSE!

So, if they can't handle that, how can they have any credibility at all?

So, your "solution" is for everyone to go and become licensed refs? That is a copout if I've ever heard one.

No, what really needs to happen is a system of checks and balances be implemented.

If we expect players to be accountable for their behavior then how can we expect refs (presumably adults) to be above reproach?

The people that actually pay for the service deserve a better product than what they're getting. Period.

No one said the referee was above reproach, in fact I stated at the start that there are referees out there strictly for the money.

Have you called your assignor yet and told him/her that if they don't have a qualified referee with credibility to assign to your games then you don't want a crew at all. To me that seems like the common sense thing to do. At least then you won't be having to complain about a do nothing referee that worked your game.

I'm sorry to hear that you think it's a copout to want to see more players go to the class and become referees. Where do you think future referees will come from, (that is the ones that aren't run off by coaches and parents). YOU could also take the assignor class and register for $10 and then you could could become the local assignor for your area. Most areas are always looking for suckers, I mean assignors. Most assignors quit after a season because of all the complaints.

In closing, maybe if you became a referee then you could provide a better product or service for the people that actually pay for the service. But don't be surprised at the amount of complaints YOU will hear about the calls you do or don't make in a game.

BTW, please explain in detail what would be your checks and balances you want to see enacted for the referees?

[parkwaydad]

Really Tony Galinto, "You are either part of the solution or part of the problem". How is someone who justifiably complains about a poor quality referee in a game part of the problem? And why is that when a ref does a horrible job, someone like you states that the complainer should be a ref? This is rediculous. Nobody goes to a restaurant and receives poor quality food and then the management asks why they don't go cook their own food. This unaccountability of refs never ceases in this state. If you are going to be a professional ref who receives compensation then be commited, study the rules, quit making up your own rules, watch and learn from experienced refs, quit being so arrogant and admit when you've screwed up. And if you are supposed to be monitoring refs then do your job and hold them accountable.