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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=RantingSoccerDad][quote=Anonymous]RantingSoccerDad Curious why you respond first to a joke post instead of addressing some of the real questions about bias and racism?[/quote]

What you're "asking" is more of an accusation (based on nothing, unless you've seen me ref and can cite some examples) than a question, but SoccerRef answered for me, anyway.

I think we as a society need to do a better job of treating people equally. We can certainly bear that in mind when we're reffing.

There are some cultural differences in what people consider "OK" in soccer, but there's a fine line between prejudice and sociology, so I'm just going to keep calling it as I have been -- shoulder-to-shoulder is OK, shielding is OK, pushing (especially from behind) is not. And if I ever see a dive in the age groups I've reffing, I'll probably be too busy laughing to call anything. (But don't test me!)[/quote]

No one is accusing you personally. People are asking how you deal with this issue and if you have seen it.[/quote]

This is not exactly a direct answer to the bias question but it raises the issue of how a referee can deal with another referee and frankly we are pretty limited. If I'm the center it's my call and the ARs can only make suggestions and vice versa if I'm the AR. If I notice something as an AR I can try to bring it up in the halftime discussion but most of the referees that have problems are not the kind of people that take suggestions positively. If there is something truly egregious I can report it to the assignor, but even that can only go so far, there are dozens of other assignors. In general we try to support each other and if it's at all possible to help a fellow referee improve in an area they need improvement I would prefer to support them that way. I have once let an assignor know about a problem referee who made some very inappropriate comments to players on a team he didn't like but that is the only time I have ever felt that sure that something needed to be addressed. I have also once been contacted by an assigner asking about another referee I had worked with about whom some concerns had been raised so I do know that assigners do pay attention to that and follow up on potential issues.

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