In a youth game if a kid gets a yellow they should sit out the rest of the half but allow for a sub. If a kid gets a red then out for the game and the team should play a man down.

If a kid then gets a second yellow it has the same effect in drawing the red for the second yellow but the initial sit out sends a very different message to the player and hopefully that second yellow is never needed.

Anonymous wrote:Refs call the games the way the tournament and leagues want them called.

In a 40 minutes u10 game if you issued cards you can take up 2-3 minutes each time you issue a card. The league will make general rules asking Refs to card particular conduct. Using a racial slur for example. You could stop the game clock when issuing a card, but look at your league rules. Does it allow for that? What happens when your early game runs over 5-10 minutes? Is it holding up the start of another game?

What happens under your league rules if a red card is issued? Look it up. Often the rules call for a full game suspension. Is that appropriate for what happens in a u10 game? Did the kid slug someone or did the kid make a bad tackle? Did the kid commit a handball in the box?

I actually was on the sideline years ago for a handball in the box call in a u11 girls game. The Ref, thankfully, was obviously pretty experienced. He whistled the play and trotted quickly over to confer with both coaches. His suggestion (later related to us) was to allow the PK but not Red Card our team's player if both coaches agreed. They did -- who wants to have a 10 year old kid sit out a game for a handball in the box?

If you want more cards -- have a plan to deal with the time they take, and have a plan to deal with the penalities. It really is not that difficult. You could go with the high school rules for example on cards -- have to sit out until the next restart when Ref allows subs. Leagues already commonly make adjustments to the card rules -- for example cards are not issued to coaches under FIFA rules. Most US youth leagues provide for issuing cards to coaches.

And, anyone who thinks US youth soccer is rough is an idiot who does not watch professional soccer. Watch what goes on with any corner kick in an EPL game and think about how US parents would lose their minds.

So much wrong with this.
First of all, refs usually work for many different leagues, and have no idea how each individual league and each tournament wants them called. There's a little guidance from the State Ref Association, and that's about it.
Second, cards to coaches is approved by FIFA now.
Third, you're really comparing youth soccer to the EPL? Really? Takes apples to oranges to a whole other level.

Anonymous wrote:Refs call the games the way the tournament and leagues want them called.

In a 40 minutes u10 game if you issued cards you can take up 2-3 minutes each time you issue a card. The league will make general rules asking Refs to card particular conduct. Using a racial slur for example. You could stop the game clock when issuing a card, but look at your league rules. Does it allow for that? What happens when your early game runs over 5-10 minutes? Is it holding up the start of another game?

What happens under your league rules if a red card is issued? Look it up. Often the rules call for a full game suspension. Is that appropriate for what happens in a u10 game? Did the kid slug someone or did the kid make a bad tackle? Did the kid commit a handball in the box?

I actually was on the sideline years ago for a handball in the box call in a u11 girls game. The Ref, thankfully, was obviously pretty experienced. He whistled the play and trotted quickly over to confer with both coaches. His suggestion (later related to us) was to allow the PK but not Red Card our team's player if both coaches agreed. They did -- who wants to have a 10 year old kid sit out a game for a handball in the box?

If you want more cards -- have a plan to deal with the time they take, and have a plan to deal with the penalities. It really is not that difficult. You could go with the high school rules for example on cards -- have to sit out until the next restart when Ref allows subs. Leagues already commonly make adjustments to the card rules -- for example cards are not issued to coaches under FIFA rules. Most US youth leagues provide for issuing cards to coaches.

And, anyone who thinks US youth soccer is rough is an idiot who does not watch professional soccer. Watch what goes on with any corner kick in an EPL game and think about how US parents would lose their minds.

US youth soccer at the higher levels is incredibly rough. Maybe you're not watching ECNL matches...it's borderline rugby at times.

Refs call the games the way the tournament and leagues want them called.

In a 40 minutes u10 game if you issued cards you can take up 2-3 minutes each time you issue a card. The league will make general rules asking Refs to card particular conduct. Using a racial slur for example. You could stop the game clock when issuing a card, but look at your league rules. Does it allow for that? What happens when your early game runs over 5-10 minutes? Is it holding up the start of another game?

What happens under your league rules if a red card is issued? Look it up. Often the rules call for a full game suspension. Is that appropriate for what happens in a u10 game? Did the kid slug someone or did the kid make a bad tackle? Did the kid commit a handball in the box?

I actually was on the sideline years ago for a handball in the box call in a u11 girls game. The Ref, thankfully, was obviously pretty experienced. He whistled the play and trotted quickly over to confer with both coaches. His suggestion (later related to us) was to allow the PK but not Red Card our team's player if both coaches agreed. They did -- who wants to have a 10 year old kid sit out a game for a handball in the box?

If you want more cards -- have a plan to deal with the time they take, and have a plan to deal with the penalities. It really is not that difficult. You could go with the high school rules for example on cards -- have to sit out until the next restart when Ref allows subs. Leagues already commonly make adjustments to the card rules -- for example cards are not issued to coaches under FIFA rules. Most US youth leagues provide for issuing cards to coaches.

And, anyone who thinks US youth soccer is rough is an idiot who does not watch professional soccer. Watch what goes on with any corner kick in an EPL game and think about how US parents would lose their minds.

Anonymous wrote:I have seen full on fist fights and no cards. In the same tournament, a kid yells "crap" when he does something wrong and gets carded a yellow. So much inconsistency amongst refs.

I've seen a U8 pull out a knife, go on a stabbing spree, and the refs ignore it and keep playing. And once, a player smiled after scoring, and the ref gave him a red card, a yellow card, and blew his whistle at him for another 10 minutes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m noticing that refs are quicker to give yellow cards to the black and browns girls on our team. Anyone else notice that?

I've never noticed it with refs, but I have definitely seen that in parental screaming for fouls on the opposition team.

Should be "opposing" team.

Anonymous wrote:I’m noticing that refs are quicker to give yellow cards to the black and browns girls on our team. Anyone else notice that?

I've never noticed it with refs, but I have definitely seen that in parental screaming for fouls on the opposition team.

I have seen full on fist fights and no cards. In the same tournament, a kid yells "crap" when he does something wrong and gets carded a yellow. So much inconsistency amongst refs.

I agree more red cards should be shown for bad fouls but it is a physical game.

Anonymous wrote:Shoulda seen one in our game Friday when a breakaway player was brought down hard by two defenders and wound up with a concussion.

Well that's nothing compared to the sin of making a rude comment about ethnicity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Youth soccer needs refs who are willing to pull a yellow or red card whenever necessary. Some teams know refs will not pull yellow and red cards and abuse the system. In my opinion not enough yellows or reds are called in the youth games I've seen. Games would still be physical but a lot of the malice would dissipate over time. I speak only for U11 and below.

+1

Both kids just wound up and kicked him as hard as possible in ankle after getting beat.

Yeah, I'm totally sure that happened. Sigh.

This season (U10), there was definitely 1 team we played where not one, but almost all players played very aggressively and would also get even more riled up when frustrated. The ref did call fouls but considering how often they were doing it, I lm surprised he didn’t pull more yellow and red cards out. That kind of play is intended to draw out fouls from the other team and for the most part, our team kept their cool prob bc the ref was calling the fouls but it can be tough and tense to watch.

We also played game where one defender kept getting outplayed by a striker. Both were very physical but play stayed with the ball so no calls were made. However, at one point, the defender thought the ref should have made a call and he just wrapped his arms around the striker’s neck and tried to pull him down.

There are definitely kids who play rough intentionally and are also hotheaded. The ones where the coach and his parents are telling him to calm down. Usually it’s just one or two players on a team but occasionally it is the entire team.