Best/Worst Ref Moments

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who do you people think you are? You lazy, spoiled, dried up hags have never tried to referee yourselves because you are cowards.

You should be kissing these refs' asses for reffing your pant shitting kids' games. For the amount of abuse you heap on these young officials and players and for how little they are paid, you should be grateful that you even have referred games.

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to come to your work and follow you and point out all the mistakes you were making and then scream and yell at you and call you names. That would be lot of fun actually.

People who treat sports officials like shit, like waitresses and bell hops, are truly vile scum who reveal their true colors when it matters most. Parents who heap abuse on officials at childrens sporting events need to be incarcerated.

Touched a nerve did it?

[Anonymous]

^^Um, no need to be sexist here. All of the parents I’ve seen ejected for games for abusing the refs have been men. But anyhoo, to your point, I agree there’s way too much ref-bashing. It can be really out of control.

[Anonymous]

Am a ref myself and I've seen a lot of really bad stuff from officials. The parents in this area are some of the worst about abusing refs so most of the good ones have quit and most of what we're left with is the rest.

- ref in Stafford who never left the center circle and never called a foul against the home team--turned out his daughter was playing for Stafford on the next field over
- ref who claimed to be an instructor but argued with me at half time about why the defender in the wall heading the ball didn't count as playing it for offside
- sexist a-hole ref who warned my daughter's coach he was going to send her off when she shouted in frustration and slammed her clipboard on the bench though her male counterpart had said and done much worse all game
- ref who overruled me twice on obvious calls in state cup match to give home team a one goal victory on a clearly offside goal
- the moron ref who cautioned me for telling him he can give the players who ran forward from the wall a caution if he wants
- the ref who got frustrated at the long celebration and let the other team kick off while the whole team was still in the other half celebrating
- the assignor who put that guy last week on a d1 college game who was so slow he was 25 yards behind the girls by the time the got to the penalty area
- the sexist a-hole HS assignor who puts all the good refs on the boys games only

That said I've seen a lot more bad behavior and ridiculous failures from parents and coaches than from other referees.

Hard to call out the highlights because most of those are when you don't notice the referee at all. There are some great referees around here like Fateh and Costigan who are a joy to work with every time.

Parents, the things we see from you the most which are annoying:
- yelling offsides (sic) every time a player coming from an onside position receives the ball
- yelling hands every time the ball hits a hand
- yelling foul every time players trip themselves
- yelling foul every time legal contact is made
Maybe some of you on here are exceptions, but the vast majority of parents in this area have never read the laws of the game and every time they open their mouths to the referee they may as well just be shouting, "I'm an ignorant buffoon!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So we can probably all agree that being a ref takes a pretty thick skin. There are some really good ones. But man, when they’re bad, they’re bad. DS was in a tournament and the dude actually answered a call on his cell DURING the match, on the pitch. Tournament officials were alerted by both teams’ coaches and the guy was fired after the game. On the other hand, we’ve seen numerous refs keep their cool when being screamed and cursed at by crazy parents and treat the kids with respect. One took a quick second during a match to show the kids (10 year olds) a proper throw in after at least 6 of them did it incorrectly. Curious to hear your best and worst ref moments.

Wow, I think everyone overreacted on this one. It could have been an emergency or important, or answered out of habit. A 10 second phone call during a little kids soccer game is no big deal IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So we can probably all agree that being a ref takes a pretty thick skin. There are some really good ones. But man, when they’re bad, they’re bad. DS was in a tournament and the dude actually answered a call on his cell DURING the match, on the pitch. Tournament officials were alerted by both teams’ coaches and the guy was fired after the game. On the other hand, we’ve seen numerous refs keep their cool when being screamed and cursed at by crazy parents and treat the kids with respect. One took a quick second during a match to show the kids (10 year olds) a proper throw in after at least 6 of them did it incorrectly. Curious to hear your best and worst ref moments.

Wow, I think everyone overreacted on this one. It could have been an emergency or important, or answered out of habit. A 10 second phone call during a little kids soccer game is no big deal IMO.

Well he the ref shouldn't even have a phone in his pocket to answer. So there's that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am a ref myself and I've seen a lot of really bad stuff from officials. The parents in this area are some of the worst about abusing refs so most of the good ones have quit and most of what we're left with is the rest.

- ref in Stafford who never left the center circle and never called a foul against the home team--turned out his daughter was playing for Stafford on the next field over
- ref who claimed to be an instructor but argued with me at half time about why the defender in the wall heading the ball didn't count as playing it for offside
- sexist a-hole ref who warned my daughter's coach he was going to send her off when she shouted in frustration and slammed her clipboard on the bench though her male counterpart had said and done much worse all game
- ref who overruled me twice on obvious calls in state cup match to give home team a one goal victory on a clearly offside goal
- the moron ref who cautioned me for telling him he can give the players who ran forward from the wall a caution if he wants
- the ref who got frustrated at the long celebration and let the other team kick off while the whole team was still in the other half celebrating
- the assignor who put that guy last week on a d1 college game who was so slow he was 25 yards behind the girls by the time the got to the penalty area
- the sexist a-hole HS assignor who puts all the good refs on the boys games only

That said I've seen a lot more bad behavior and ridiculous failures from parents and coaches than from other referees.

Hard to call out the highlights because most of those are when you don't notice the referee at all. There are some great referees around here like Fateh and Costigan who are a joy to work with every time.

Parents, the things we see from you the most which are annoying:
- yelling offsides (sic) every time a player coming from an onside position receives the ball
- yelling hands every time the ball hits a hand
- yelling foul every time players trip themselves
- yelling foul every time legal contact is made
Maybe some of you on here are exceptions, but the vast majority of parents in this area have never read the laws of the game and every time they open their mouths to the referee they may as well just be shouting, "I'm an ignorant buffoon!"

You are a sexist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Refs that don't know how to call off-sides. FYI it is not off-sides if the player is on-side when the pass is made.

It's 'offside', not 'offsides'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who do you people think you are? You lazy, spoiled, dried up hags have never tried to referee yourselves because you are cowards.

You should be kissing these refs' asses for reffing your pant shitting kids' games. For the amount of abuse you heap on these young officials and players and for how little they are paid, you should be grateful that you even have referred games.

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to come to your work and follow you and point out all the mistakes you were making and then scream and yell at you and call you names. That would be lot of fun actually.

People who treat sports officials like shit, like waitresses and bell hops, are truly vile scum who reveal their true colors when it matters most. Parents who heap abuse on officials at childrens sporting events need to be incarcerated.

Totally agree. Lame thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Refs that don't know how to call off-sides. FYI it is not off-sides if the player is on-side when the pass is made.

It's not 'offsides' it's 'offside'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Multiple instances where the ref doesn't move box to box. Stays close to the center circle. Probably due to fatigue. Even if it is first half.

Then when there is close call on the goal line, can't see whether the call actually crossed the line or if there was foul on the goalie or handball.

Refs generally do three or four games in a row.
It's probably not their 'first half'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am a ref myself and I've seen a lot of really bad stuff from officials. The parents in this area are some of the worst about abusing refs so most of the good ones have quit and most of what we're left with is the rest.

- ref in Stafford who never left the center circle and never called a foul against the home team--turned out his daughter was playing for Stafford on the next field over
- ref who claimed to be an instructor but argued with me at half time about why the defender in the wall heading the ball didn't count as playing it for offside
- sexist a-hole ref who warned my daughter's coach he was going to send her off when she shouted in frustration and slammed her clipboard on the bench though her male counterpart had said and done much worse all game
- ref who overruled me twice on obvious calls in state cup match to give home team a one goal victory on a clearly offside goal
- the moron ref who cautioned me for telling him he can give the players who ran forward from the wall a caution if he wants
- the ref who got frustrated at the long celebration and let the other team kick off while the whole team was still in the other half celebrating
- the assignor who put that guy last week on a d1 college game who was so slow he was 25 yards behind the girls by the time the got to the penalty area
- the sexist a-hole HS assignor who puts all the good refs on the boys games only

That said I've seen a lot more bad behavior and ridiculous failures from parents and coaches than from other referees.

Hard to call out the highlights because most of those are when you don't notice the referee at all. There are some great referees around here like Fateh and Costigan who are a joy to work with every time.

Parents, the things we see from you the most which are annoying:
- yelling offsides (sic) every time a player coming from an onside position receives the ball
- yelling hands every time the ball hits a hand
- yelling foul every time players trip themselves
- yelling foul every time legal contact is made
Maybe some of you on here are exceptions, but the vast majority of parents in this area have never read the laws of the game and every time they open their mouths to the referee they may as well just be shouting, "I'm an ignorant buffoon!"

Agree with all of that. The only thing more frustrating than the refs who have only read the rules but obviously hardly ever watch a real game, are the parents who have done neither, but insist on running their mouths constantly without being even remotely aware of how much they are embarrassing themselves.

It's why I usually bring headphones and listen to music now during my kids games. I just can't take it anymore.

[Anonymous]

To me, the best refs are the ones who take the time to explain their calls, while the worst ones just repeat the call in a slightly louder voice when anyone objects or asks for clarification.

[Anonymous]

I can respect a referee if he/she is consistent throughout the game. Call it on both sides and we are good. What I really hate are these big tournaments like the Jeff Cup where they have so many games they end up bringing on board some real inexperienced refs. Some don't even know the basics of what constitutes a hand ball or offside.

[Anonymous]

Best refs are the ones that you don't notice much during the game. You can focus on the game and not on the sideshow.
By the way, most parents are OK with ref mistakes, but refs must show consistency in their calls (i.e., same calls are made regardless of which team makes the same infraction) and some level of protection for the players from dangerous or violent play (e.g. studs up tackles over the ball or hacking at players ankles from behind).

[Anonymous]

Agree with the others. I am an assignor covering 3 clubs for both travel and rec games. I do not have enough refs in my pool to cover all the games, and am usually, as a result, filling in games myself from 8am to 8pm. Last weekend I refereed 14 games, and still had holes that the clubs (and thus, the coaches and parents) were salty about not being filled. Being an assignor is not my "regular job" but it is nearly a full-time job (for which I get "paid" about $8k a year). If you aren't happy about the quality of refereeing, or think you can do a better job yourself, I strongly encourage you to take the 8 hour course (and the 2 hour re-cert every year) and become one of my referees. We would greatly appreciate your assistance, and it would increase the liklihood that your kids' games would always have coverage in the future. And I bet you'd see that in the vast majority of cases, your referee is doing the best job they can out there, often under very trying circumstances.