Soccer Referee-AMA

[Anonymous]

SoccerRef wrote:Any time a coach comes up to me after a game and prefaces his complaint with "I used to play pro ball..." I know he or she is about to demonstrate ignorance of the Laws. It's uncanny.

Hey, Taylor Twellman clearly doesn't know the Laws of the Game, and he's paid to do commentary on it. (And, far too often, he talks about refs more than he talks about the players.)

As a parent and rec coach, I mostly see parents who don't understand shoulder charges. I have to explain that the little bump they saw wasn't a foul.

Then again, I see plenty of refs who let shoulder-to-shoulder contact morph into elbow-to-rib or shoulder-to-face. Most of the refs who let all this contact go are younger and perhaps unwilling to assert themselves. I have never seen a ref in this area who called *too many* fouls.

One question: What do you do when you have a ref who appears to have had a blackout? I know this sounds like a sarcastic question, but we had a situation last fall in which 30-minute halves because 38-minute halves, and one kid was down holding his head (later diagnosed with a concussion) while play continued for 1-2 minutes. The rule of thumb I've used as a coach and parent is that I'll yell to draw the ref's attention to an unsafe situation like a player being down with a head injury or a goal becoming dislodged, etc. In this case, all of us parents were yelling, and the ref simply didn't acknowledge anything until the ball wound up back in that part of the field and he finally noticed the player was down. (Then he asked everyone who committed the foul and wound up giving a yellow card to what I presume was a random player.)

And another question: How are refs in this area preparing for the adoption of "buildout lines" in the fall?

[SoccerRef]

Anonymous wrote:

One question: What do you do when you have a ref who appears to have had a blackout? I know this sounds like a sarcastic question, but we had a situation last fall in which 30-minute halves because 38-minute halves, and one kid was down holding his head (later diagnosed with a concussion) while play continued for 1-2 minutes. The rule of thumb I've used as a coach and parent is that I'll yell to draw the ref's attention to an unsafe situation like a player being down with a head injury or a goal becoming dislodged, etc. In this case, all of us parents were yelling, and the ref simply didn't acknowledge anything until the ball wound up back in that part of the field and he finally noticed the player was down. (Then he asked everyone who committed the foul and wound up giving a yellow card to what I presume was a random player.)

Honestly, if I was the coach in that situation I would have run out on the field to check on the player.

Anonymous wrote:
And another question: How are refs in this area preparing for the adoption of "buildout lines" in the fall?

Not at all, at the moment. There's been no official word so far, and as far as I know the leagues will be deciding on an individual basis if they'll be starting the build out lines in the fall or not. I imagine we'll get the details in the summer at some point.

[Anonymous]

I was at a U11 game where one of our team's boys and a boy on the opposing team tripped over each other. The opposing team's boy went down on his back and my son said he reportedly blacked out briefly. He was down for a while and both coaches and the ref looked worried about him (I was on the side line so it was hard to see everything). Parents came over and carried him off after a couple minutes. It sure didn't seem like they followed concussion guidelines though as he was back on in the 2nd half, but I'm not an expert. What are they supposed to do in a situation like this?

[SoccerRef]

Anonymous wrote:I was at a U11 game where one of our team's boys and a boy on the opposing team tripped over each other. The opposing team's boy went down on his back and my son said he reportedly blacked out briefly. He was down for a while and both coaches and the ref looked worried about him (I was on the side line so it was hard to see everything). Parents came over and carried him off after a couple minutes. It sure didn't seem like they followed concussion guidelines though as he was back on in the 2nd half, but I'm not an expert. What are they supposed to do in a situation like this?

"I'm not an expert."...that's your key quote. Neither am I, neither are the coaches and neither are the parents.
All I'm supposed to do as a ref is make sure they go off the field if I think there's been any sort of hard head contact. Beyond that, it's all in the hands of the coach, and whatever his leagues guidelines and training are.
But since no one at the youth level actually has a qualified trainer on the sideline, we all have to be part of a team watching out for the kids.
As for your example, if someone had to be carried off the field because of a head injury, they are not going back in the game on my watch, period...even if I have to abandon the game and deal with whatever the consequences were.

[Anonymous]

So will heading eventually be removed from the game- i.e. banned at all ages?

Also did you see the Barcelona vs Paris game...if so do you think the ref gave too many calls to Barcelona or are they just that good?

[SoccerRef]

Anonymous wrote:So will heading eventually be removed from the game- i.e. banned at all ages?

Also did you see the Barcelona vs Paris game...if so do you think the ref gave too many calls to Barcelona or are they just that good?

I doubt it'll go that far, but I bet you'll see padded headgear being used more and more. All depends on where the research goes, of course.

And I thought that the ref in the Barca/PSG game did a great job....the criticism was way off base. The Suarez penalty was the only really close call, and there was a little contact, even if he did go down too easily.

[Anonymous]

SoccerRef wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was at a U11 game where one of our team's boys and a boy on the opposing team tripped over each other. The opposing team's boy went down on his back and my son said he reportedly blacked out briefly. He was down for a while and both coaches and the ref looked worried about him (I was on the side line so it was hard to see everything). Parents came over and carried him off after a couple minutes. It sure didn't seem like they followed concussion guidelines though as he was back on in the 2nd half, but I'm not an expert. What are they supposed to do in a situation like this?

"I'm not an expert."...that's your key quote. Neither am I, neither are the coaches and neither are the parents.
All I'm supposed to do as a ref is make sure they go off the field if I think there's been any sort of hard head contact. Beyond that, it's all in the hands of the coach, and whatever his leagues guidelines and training are.
But since no one at the youth level actually has a qualified trainer on the sideline, we all have to be part of a team watching out for the kids.
As for your example, if someone had to be carried off the field because of a head injury, they are not going back in the game on my watch, period...even if I have to abandon the game and deal with whatever the consequences were.

For the past few years, coaching license courses have included some concussion awareness content, including a video that's roughly the equivalent of whatever you may have seen in drivers ed to scare you to death.

We all get lists of symptoms to watch and so forth.

Not foolproof by any means, and I'm sure some coaches may stubbornly cling to the old ways. But sometimes, it's really not a concussion.

[Anonymous]

OK, you backed up the ref in the PSG/Barca game, but you can't justify yesterday's Madrid/Munich performance, can you?

[SoccerRef]

Anonymous wrote:OK, you backed up the ref in the PSG/Barca game, but you can't justify yesterday's Madrid/Munich performance, can you?

Nope...that was just all around terrible.

Luckily video review is coming, but even that isn't a panacea. You can't (under current experimental rules) review a second yellow card that results in a red, so Vidal would still have been sent off.
The offside goals though, would have been overturned in about 2 seconds.

[Anonymous]

SoccerRef wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, you backed up the ref in the PSG/Barca game, but you can't justify yesterday's Madrid/Munich performance, can you?

Nope...that was just all around terrible.

Luckily video review is coming, but even that isn't a panacea. You can't (under current experimental rules) review a second yellow card that results in a red, so Vidal would still have been sent off.
The offside goals though, would have been overturned in about 2 seconds.

What really burned me up was the lack of a card earlier. If you choose to eat the second yellow on Madrid ...fine, but don't pull it out on a non foul and send the Munich player off. You have to call a consistent game.

[Anonymous]

SoccerRef wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, you backed up the ref in the PSG/Barca game, but you can't justify yesterday's Madrid/Munich performance, can you?

Nope...that was just all around terrible.

Luckily video review is coming, but even that isn't a panacea. You can't (under current experimental rules) review a second yellow card that results in a red, so Vidal would still have been sent off.
The offside goals though, would have been overturned in about 2 seconds.

Bayern was hosed.

They outplayed Madrid the entire game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^really??? My travel coach used to get booted from the sidelines by ref on a regular basis. My son's old coach as well and the manager would have to take cover.

Same experience here - I've seen coaches carded many times, is this a new rule?

Once was at a game where a parent was so out of control, and the ref couldn't get him to stop (nor could other parents). The ref told the coach to calm him down. The coach wasn't able to from so far away, so eventually, the ref stopped the game and told the parent to leave the field. The parent threatened the ref as he exited the field, so the ref called the police. We all had to wait for the police to show up and speak to the refs before the game continued. I am fairly sure the ref ended up giving the coach a RC and assistant had to coach remainder of game. The worst part was watching these poor kids stand there and wait for this to all play out...and none of the players had done anything wrong at all.

[SoccerRef]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^really??? My travel coach used to get booted from the sidelines by ref on a regular basis. My son's old coach as well and the manager would have to take cover.

Same experience here - I've seen coaches carded many times, is this a new rule?

Once was at a game where a parent was so out of control, and the ref couldn't get him to stop (nor could other parents). The ref told the coach to calm him down. The coach wasn't able to from so far away, so eventually, the ref stopped the game and told the parent to leave the field. The parent threatened the ref as he exited the field, so the ref called the police. We all had to wait for the police to show up and speak to the refs before the game continued. I am fairly sure the ref ended up giving the coach a RC and assistant had to coach remainder of game. The worst part was watching these poor kids stand there and wait for this to all play out...and none of the players had done anything wrong at all.

I can certainly throw a coach out of a game, or a parent off of the field, but under FIFA law you can't card either one. Cards are just for players.
If you see a ref actually card a coach, it's in a league or a tournament that has specific bylaws allowing it...but by default, you can't.
I'm only talking about USSF games though...high school, and college have their own sets of rules.

[Anonymous]

SoccerRef wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^really??? My travel coach used to get booted from the sidelines by ref on a regular basis. My son's old coach as well and the manager would have to take cover.

Same experience here - I've seen coaches carded many times, is this a new rule?

Once was at a game where a parent was so out of control, and the ref couldn't get him to stop (nor could other parents). The ref told the coach to calm him down. The coach wasn't able to from so far away, so eventually, the ref stopped the game and told the parent to leave the field. The parent threatened the ref as he exited the field, so the ref called the police. We all had to wait for the police to show up and speak to the refs before the game continued. I am fairly sure the ref ended up giving the coach a RC and assistant had to coach remainder of game. The worst part was watching these poor kids stand there and wait for this to all play out...and none of the players had done anything wrong at all.

I can certainly throw a coach out of a game, or a parent off of the field, but under FIFA law you can't card either one. Cards are just for players.
If you see a ref actually card a coach, it's in a league or a tournament that has specific bylaws allowing it...but by default, you can't.
I'm only talking about USSF games though...high school, and college have their own sets of rules.

Good to know. thanks!

[Anonymous]

SoccerRef wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^really??? My travel coach used to get booted from the sidelines by ref on a regular basis. My son's old coach as well and the manager would have to take cover.

Same experience here - I've seen coaches carded many times, is this a new rule?

Once was at a game where a parent was so out of control, and the ref couldn't get him to stop (nor could other parents). The ref told the coach to calm him down. The coach wasn't able to from so far away, so eventually, the ref stopped the game and told the parent to leave the field. The parent threatened the ref as he exited the field, so the ref called the police. We all had to wait for the police to show up and speak to the refs before the game continued. I am fairly sure the ref ended up giving the coach a RC and assistant had to coach remainder of game. The worst part was watching these poor kids stand there and wait for this to all play out...and none of the players had done anything wrong at all.

I can certainly throw a coach out of a game, or a parent off of the field, but under FIFA law you can't card either one. Cards are just for players.
If you see a ref actually card a coach, it's in a league or a tournament that has specific bylaws allowing it...but by default, you can't.
I'm only talking about USSF games though...high school, and college have their own sets of rules.

My understanding is that yellow and red cards came into the game several generations ago when an innovative ref decided he wanted a non-verbal way of communication, and then FIFA (well, IFAB) incorporated them into the Laws. I haven't verified that info, though. (Not sure how I could.)

Given that, is there really any sort of Law AGAINST using yellow and red just to communicate to someone to "watch it" or "get out"?