Ban parents from games. Stream it online and let the kids play.

My sons ref. One is almost 18. We started out doing rec and he was my AR. Eventually, he started centering and I became his AR. He turned 17 and started driving and was a confident ref and now he centers ECNL, EDP, whatever. He's fearless. Thick skinned. Much thicker than mine that's for sure. I don't worry about him too much. He likes the money. He only does games where he makes $80-$100 each center. My 15 year old...we are still in rec where he centers up to U12 and I'm his AR. It's good money for him. You just got to take it slow and know what you are getting into.

Wouldn't it be nice if writing on this forum that parents shouldn't yell at refs actually did something? Or saying that Rec didn't matter made it not matter to kids playing rec and their parents? It's like telling countries at war that people should be nice to each other. Of course people should be nice to each other, but that doesn't mean that they will. And everyone thinking there is a way to report bad referees or bad parents or bad coaches AND anything is done about it? You are HORRIBLY mistaken. Horribly. The absolute worst refs you can imagine get assigned games every week. For NCSL, you have to fill out a report after each game and you rate the players, parents, and coaches. I think the teams with the best score at the end of the season gets recognized but the teams with the worst???? Not a word to them. Play on!!!!

My kids wanted to ref when they were younger. I said, hell no. I'd be fighting parents at every game they ref.

Anonymous wrote:We get it reffing is hard. That's why on the sidelines we like to help out especially with off sides calls. But here's the thing if you are a young teen trying to do a "job" to make money. You need to actually be doing a job. That means blowing your whistle and being assertive. Standing there barely moving and basically hiding away the entire game benefits no one. This happened several times to our team this year as low level travel. No we didn't berate the refs, but we knew from watching the game before no calls would be made all game. If your 13 year wants to make money they should pick something they are able to do.

LOL

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thirteen year old children should not be professional referees. It's just a really bad idea. Obviously these coaches should have behaved better, based on your description. But you are just asking for trouble to force the coaches to pretend like the child referee is a serious authority figure on the field who has the judgment and knowledge to call the game fairly and-more importantly-ensure the safety of all the other children playing the game.

Yes, the coaches should be submitting to the authority of a teen referee. If not, they should be carded and ejected.

Exactly. They know before the game who the ref is. If you aren’t going to respect their authority, forfeit. Simple.

And here we have this week’s thread on soccer parents behaving badly. So many parents behaving badly. Every week.

Love the soccer parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We get it reffing is hard. That's why on the sidelines we like to help out especially with off sides calls. But here's the thing if you are a young teen trying to do a "job" to make money. You need to actually be doing a job. That means blowing your whistle and being assertive. Standing there barely moving and basically hiding away the entire game benefits no one. This happened several times to our team this year as low level travel. No we didn't berate the refs, but we knew from watching the game before no calls would be made all game. If your 13 year wants to make money they should pick something they are able to do.

GMAFB. Are you "helping out" by calling out when its YOUR team offsides as well?

Glad you got the joke. But the point still stands.

Anonymous wrote:We get it reffing is hard. That's why on the sidelines we like to help out especially with off sides calls. But here's the thing if you are a young teen trying to do a "job" to make money. You need to actually be doing a job. That means blowing your whistle and being assertive. Standing there barely moving and basically hiding away the entire game benefits no one. This happened several times to our team this year as low level travel. No we didn't berate the refs, but we knew from watching the game before no calls would be made all game. If your 13 year wants to make money they should pick something they are able to do.

GMAFB. Are you "helping out" by calling out when its YOUR team offsides as well?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We get it reffing is hard. That's why on the sidelines we like to help out especially with off sides calls. But here's the thing if you are a young teen trying to do a "job" to make money. You need to actually be doing a job. That means blowing your whistle and being assertive. Standing there barely moving and basically hiding away the entire game benefits no one. This happened several times to our team this year as low level travel. No we didn't berate the refs, but we knew from watching the game before no calls would be made all game. If your 13 year wants to make money they should pick something they are able to do.

Doesn't matter if the ref is terrible, you don't get to yell during the game. Take it up with the organization or ref organization afterward. There are always official channels to complain about legitimately bad officiants, and you know it. And there will always be bad officials, so your young low level travel player should get used to it now.

Finally, someone with information we can actually use! Can you please provide us with the "official channels to complain about legitimately bad officiants." How do you contact the "ref organization"? Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:Thirteen year old children should not be professional referees. It's just a really bad idea. Obviously these coaches should have behaved better, based on your description. But you are just asking for trouble to force the coaches to pretend like the child referee is a serious authority figure on the field who has the judgment and knowledge to call the game fairly and-more importantly-ensure the safety of all the other children playing the game.

Sicko. It's time parents get a grip and realize these games don't matter and this isn't the World Cup.

Get a life and some perspective you ahole parents.

Anonymous wrote:We get it reffing is hard. That's why on the sidelines we like to help out especially with off sides calls. But here's the thing if you are a young teen trying to do a "job" to make money. You need to actually be doing a job. That means blowing your whistle and being assertive. Standing there barely moving and basically hiding away the entire game benefits no one. This happened several times to our team this year as low level travel. No we didn't berate the refs, but we knew from watching the game before no calls would be made all game. If your 13 year wants to make money they should pick something they are able to do.

Doesn't matter if the ref is terrible, you don't get to yell during the game. Take it up with the organization or ref organization afterward. There are always official channels to complain about legitimately bad officiants, and you know it. And there will always be bad officials, so your young low level travel player should get used to it now.