RantingSoccerDad wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is centering his first game tomorrow. Please be supportive. : )

How'd it go?

It went very well. Did a very good job and it was a great 1-0 game.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a whole rec season and tournament games all day and always had referees, including sideline flag kids for our older ages. Not sure why travel with all its $$$$ can't find referees.

The complaints about the lack of refs are mostly B/S. I have several kids who play travel and in all these years, we maybe had one game when the refs did not show up.

Not b.s. I've been at a few travel games this fall with parent or sibling refs or no refs. We are not referring to previous years, just this year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a whole rec season and tournament games all day and always had referees, including sideline flag kids for our older ages. Not sure why travel with all its $$$$ can't find referees.

The complaints about the lack of refs are mostly B/S. I have several kids who play travel and in all these years, we maybe had one game when the refs did not show up.

I would have agreed with you prior to this fall season. In the last 3 games my kids travel game had 1 ref with no ARs followed by a game with a fully staffed crew followed by a cancelled game due to no refs

Its a problem, maybe you havent seen it but no doubt its a problem. I have never seen a game where we had only one ref nevermind a game actually cancelled due to no refs.

Anonymous wrote:We had a whole rec season and tournament games all day and always had referees, including sideline flag kids for our older ages. Not sure why travel with all its $$$$ can't find referees.

The complaints about the lack of refs are mostly B/S. I have several kids who play travel and in all these years, we maybe had one game when the refs did not show up.

We had a whole rec season and tournament games all day and always had referees, including sideline flag kids for our older ages. Not sure why travel with all its $$$$ can't find referees.

We don't allow second chances for throw ins for our rec league. How else will they learn?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teenage kids shouldn't be reffing anything higher than rec soccer anyway.

I prefer the teenagers assuming they know the rules and don't let the coaches bully them. I've never seen a 16 year old ref camp at midfield for an entire game, but I've seen plenty of geriatric refs do it

We were in a rec tournament of 4th graders. The teen ref said there was no second chance on throw-ins which was not the rule. He held his ground even though both coaches told him he was wrong.

Maybe the rule is different for rec. But for u10 travel (3rd and 4th grade) most refs do NOT allow a second try. I've seen maybe 1 ref allow. They allowed more, about 75/25 last year at u9. (2nd/3rd).

What will the leagues/clubs do with all the money they saved on paying referees season? Any idea how much some leagues/clubs saved?

Anonymous wrote:Is it acceptable for a referee to bark back at a coach. Maybe saying something like "There have been many more coaching and player mistakes than referee mistakes made today."

I can't count the number of times I've wanted to say something like that and it would have been very accurate, but as a referee I would never stoop. Once I put that uniform on I am in a role and that would not fit that role. If I saw that coach again in another environment where I'm not the ref...

Is it acceptable for a referee to bark back at a coach. Maybe saying something like "There have been many more coaching and player mistakes than referee mistakes made today."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teenage kids shouldn't be reffing anything higher than rec soccer anyway.

I prefer the teenagers assuming they know the rules and don't let the coaches bully them. I've never seen a 16 year old ref camp at midfield for an entire game, but I've seen plenty of geriatric refs do it

We were in a rec tournament of 4th graders. The teen ref said there was no second chance on throw-ins which was not the rule. He held his ground even though both coaches told him he was wrong.

So? It’s a tournament. If the ref gave a second and third chance to the team who can not throw the ball in it’s an advantage to that team. Should the ref give a goalie who picks up the ball outside the box a second chance? Refs just have to be consistent.

My kid is centering his first game tomorrow. Please be supportive. : )

Where have all the referees gone?
I think they’re all smokin’ a bong
I said, where have all the referees gone?
Makin’ more mowin’ some lawns.

C’mon, the refs have all left the game
Parents are all goin’ insane
You know y’all it’s just a game
But officiatin’ just ain’t the same.

Anonymous wrote:There’s gotta be a YouTube channel or Instagram account that is all about posting videos of awful soccer parent behavior. Is there one or a few? Can ppl share if you know of one?

That could be sad and entertaining all at once... Lots of videos to be had on youtube if you search for "poor parent behavior youth soccer" but not seeing a channel dedicated to that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teenage kids shouldn't be reffing anything higher than rec soccer anyway.

I prefer the teenagers assuming they know the rules and don't let the coaches bully them. I've never seen a 16 year old ref camp at midfield for an entire game, but I've seen plenty of geriatric refs do it

We were in a rec tournament of 4th graders. The teen ref said there was no second chance on throw-ins which was not the rule. He held his ground even though both coaches told him he was wrong.

Well at least the ref was consistent. And 4th graders should be able to keep their feet down on a throw in and, if it was an issue, then most likely the other team gave you the throw in right back. Of all the issues, this is not one of them.