SoccerRef
Post 11/18/2024 16:40     Subject: Referee Abuse
If you have a kid that refs, make sure they know that they should be reporting any abuse of any kind to their state ref committe. If they don't know how to do that, make sure they ask their assignor.
It's simple to do.
Also, we're now advised NEVER to talk to parents. If there are issues in the stands, you talk to the coach, and if they don't deal with it, or if the problems persist, then you can card the coach, or ask the coach to remove the parent.
And also, let's make this clear. None of the refs at your games are professional referees. Professional referees do this for a living...all the rest of us do this as a paid hobby. So to think that it's OK to abuse the refs at youth games because they're "professionals" is uttery ridiculous.
Yes, it's frustrating to have bad refs...my son plays ECNL, and I'm shocked at how bad some of them are. But let your coach deal with it. Period.
Anonymous
Post 11/18/2024 14:54     Subject: Referee Abuse
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I suspect the push back here is from the abusive parent berating the refs, just step back and stop


For me at least you are wrong. I don’t know anything about the specific tournament that started this thread and tbh the actions of the coach that started this sound way inappropriate.

I’ve had excellent adult referees who did their best to protect the kids. Win or lose it is an absolute joy to have an adult
Ref who knows what they are doing.

And I’ve shown up to a game after a long drive and seen that we had a young kid refereeing us, and that kid has been persuaded to make calls by the players on the field and has been intimidated by the more aggressive team. I’ve seen kids get seriously injured because the young refs weren’t able to control the game. My kids have missed time from doing something they love because refs let other kids act crazy. I’ve received text messages from families at 3 am about how they just got home from the ER. I think all kids who participate in any sport deserve the respect of the adults who organize and profit from it. And when you put a young kid out there to ref you are taking a big risk with the safety of the kids who are playing. I don’t care about offside calls or throwins or any of that nonsense.

I’d gladly pay extra each game to only have experienced refs. The only reason we don’t have a ton of experienced older refs available for games is that the leagues and tournaments won’t pay enough. Every time a parent puts their unqualified kid out there to ref, it undercuts the market and makes it harder to keep the good adult refs.


There are definitely levels to the refs and the assignors don’t just let anyone ref certain games. With that said - maybe more parents should sign up and ref games that are not their child’s age group and maybe we won’t have to use so many child refs and maybe you’ll appreciate refs more. It’s a lot to watch when you don’t have ARs and you’re the only center ref.

If anything you shouldn’t be getting mad at the refs you should be getting mad at the clubs/tournament directors. There are way too many games especially at tournaments that they cannot get enough refs for and even then they give refs 5 min in between games to take a rest. WAGs alone had 10 brackets in my daughter’s age group… 10!!! 240 games to cover and that’s not even including the finals! It’s absolutely ridiculous!! The tournament directors are money driven and in turn cannot produce quality refs because they only care about the games played so they can create more revenue.
Anonymous
Post 11/18/2024 14:03     Subject: Referee Abuse
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Those aren’t laws. Those are rules. Do at least try for a bit of perspective.


Well maybe contact IFAB and have them change it to the Rules of the Game. I don't know what to tell you.


In the meantime, why does this matter to you so much that you are insisting these are laws, not just rules of a game.
And in the present context, a child’s game. Step back, sit down, enjoy the game.


Since you asked...someone came on here trying to be all high and mighty, so I poked holes in his post busting his butt. Then , someone challenged me saying they weren't Laws and they were rules so I provided the link and someone still wants to challenge it. To me, it sounds like it matters a lot more to you or whoever that they are rules than laws to keep arguing about it.


I was busting yours because you, along with so many on these threads, think the Laws are somehow something more than rules of a game. You take yourself so seriously. Perhaps not as bad as the parents who yell at refs but you’re close.
Anonymous
Post 11/18/2024 14:01     Subject: Referee Abuse


It's actually a Law, not a rule. And come on, no one yells "offsides!" every minute. Do people really see people "pointing" offsides? What does that look like? I think this is the worst post on the thread...and that's saying something.


and this is why Americans think soccer sucks because they think they are some sort of high and mighty law system; it's the biggest joke of a game when people suddenly fall down, out comes the magic spray and they are healed.

Meanwhile in hockey, a guy cuts his jugular, skate off the ice and returns to play once healed.
Anonymous
Post 11/18/2024 13:53     Subject: Referee Abuse
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Those aren’t laws. Those are rules. Do at least try for a bit of perspective.


Well maybe contact IFAB and have them change it to the Rules of the Game. I don't know what to tell you.


In the meantime, why does this matter to you so much that you are insisting these are laws, not just rules of a game.
And in the present context, a child’s game. Step back, sit down, enjoy the game.


Since you asked...someone came on here trying to be all high and mighty, so I poked holes in his post busting his butt. Then , someone challenged me saying they weren't Laws and they were rules so I provided the link and someone still wants to challenge it. To me, it sounds like it matters a lot more to you or whoever that they are rules than laws to keep arguing about it.


- the "confidently incorrect" posters are the worst.
Anonymous
Post 11/18/2024 13:40     Subject: Referee Abuse
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Those aren’t laws. Those are rules. Do at least try for a bit of perspective.


Well maybe contact IFAB and have them change it to the Rules of the Game. I don't know what to tell you.


In the meantime, why does this matter to you so much that you are insisting these are laws, not just rules of a game.
And in the present context, a child’s game. Step back, sit down, enjoy the game.


Since you asked...someone came on here trying to be all high and mighty, so I poked holes in his post busting his butt. Then , someone challenged me saying they weren't Laws and they were rules so I provided the link and someone still wants to challenge it. To me, it sounds like it matters a lot more to you or whoever that they are rules than laws to keep arguing about it.
Anonymous
Post 11/18/2024 13:29     Subject: Referee Abuse
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I suspect the push back here is from the abusive parent berating the refs, just step back and stop


For me at least you are wrong. I don’t know anything about the specific tournament that started this thread and tbh the actions of the coach that started this sound way inappropriate.

I’ve had excellent adult referees who did their best to protect the kids. Win or lose it is an absolute joy to have an adult
Ref who knows what they are doing.

And I’ve shown up to a game after a long drive and seen that we had a young kid refereeing us, and that kid has been persuaded to make calls by the players on the field and has been intimidated by the more aggressive team. I’ve seen kids get seriously injured because the young refs weren’t able to control the game. My kids have missed time from doing something they love because refs let other kids act crazy. I’ve received text messages from families at 3 am about how they just got home from the ER. I think all kids who participate in any sport deserve the respect of the adults who organize and profit from it. And when you put a young kid out there to ref you are taking a big risk with the safety of the kids who are playing. I don’t care about offside calls or throwins or any of that nonsense.

I’d gladly pay extra each game to only have experienced refs. The only reason we don’t have a ton of experienced older refs available for games is that the leagues and tournaments won’t pay enough. Every time a parent puts their unqualified kid out there to ref, it undercuts the market and makes it harder to keep the good adult refs.


There aren’t enough refs to cover every games period. Kids or adults. U might not have a game at all if these young refs didn’t show up. At the ECNL Finals in Richmond -we talked to ref and several of them were from Ohio and they are getting paid 1xx per game.

These “experienced ref” you mentioned have to get the experience from somewhere and just because they are adults - that doesn’t mean they are better than young refs.
Anonymous
Post 11/18/2024 13:16     Subject: Referee Abuse
Anonymous wrote:I suspect the push back here is from the abusive parent berating the refs, just step back and stop


For me at least you are wrong. I don’t know anything about the specific tournament that started this thread and tbh the actions of the coach that started this sound way inappropriate.

I’ve had excellent adult referees who did their best to protect the kids. Win or lose it is an absolute joy to have an adult
Ref who knows what they are doing.

And I’ve shown up to a game after a long drive and seen that we had a young kid refereeing us, and that kid has been persuaded to make calls by the players on the field and has been intimidated by the more aggressive team. I’ve seen kids get seriously injured because the young refs weren’t able to control the game. My kids have missed time from doing something they love because refs let other kids act crazy. I’ve received text messages from families at 3 am about how they just got home from the ER. I think all kids who participate in any sport deserve the respect of the adults who organize and profit from it. And when you put a young kid out there to ref you are taking a big risk with the safety of the kids who are playing. I don’t care about offside calls or throwins or any of that nonsense.

I’d gladly pay extra each game to only have experienced refs. The only reason we don’t have a ton of experienced older refs available for games is that the leagues and tournaments won’t pay enough. Every time a parent puts their unqualified kid out there to ref, it undercuts the market and makes it harder to keep the good adult refs.
Anonymous
Post 11/18/2024 13:14     Subject: Referee Abuse
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Those aren’t laws. Those are rules. Do at least try for a bit of perspective.


Well maybe contact IFAB and have them change it to the Rules of the Game. I don't know what to tell you.


In the meantime, why does this matter to you so much that you are insisting these are laws, not just rules of a game.
And in the present context, a child’s game. Step back, sit down, enjoy the game.

Anonymous
Post 11/18/2024 13:09     Subject: Re:Referee Abuse
Those are usually the same parents that trash talk their own kid on the field. I was at an all start game over the weekend as well. One parent kept yelling at his kid, sighing dramatically, waving his hands around…that poor kid. It’s rec soccer!! These people must be completely insufferable to be around.
Anonymous
Post 11/18/2024 13:06     Subject: Re:Referee Abuse
Anonymous wrote:I thought I saw it all but this one was good. I was at a game yesterday where they only had two refs. I guess one didn't show up. So they had one Center and one AR. The funny thing is that the AR didn't have a flag. He was just running up and down the touchline waving his arms when needed. How did neither referee have a flag for him to use? It cracked me up.


Did the AR show up late? I've seen one referee use it as a lesson learned for the AR. Right or wrong, I somehow doubt that AR forgot their flags again.
Anonymous
Post 11/18/2024 12:58     Subject: Re:Referee Abuse
OP, have her ref flag football. Both my sons used to referee youth soccer when they were teens, so I know it can be rough. My younger son now refs through this league, and it's great. I think new refs make $19/hr and it's easy peasy. The coaches and refs are all employed through the league, and the guys who run it are amazing. Fun and positive energy are the focus. No screaming parents, no negative coaches, none of that. It's a fun and enjoyable experience for my kid. He loves it.

https://www.flagstarfootball.com/

Anonymous
Post 11/18/2024 12:57     Subject: Re:Referee Abuse
I thought I saw it all but this one was good. I was at a game yesterday where they only had two refs. I guess one didn't show up. So they had one Center and one AR. The funny thing is that the AR didn't have a flag. He was just running up and down the touchline waving his arms when needed. How did neither referee have a flag for him to use? It cracked me up.
Anonymous
Post 11/18/2024 12:52     Subject: Referee Abuse
I suspect the push back here is from the abusive parent berating the refs, just step back and stop
Anonymous
Post 11/18/2024 12:52     Subject: Referee Abuse
Coaches/ Club can file complaints to the assignors that assign the games. Too many complaints, the assignors will remove refs off of the list.

But you gonna need some evidence before filing complaints. I've seen Refs filed a complaints against spectator to the club and got spectator banned from game. I've seen club/ coach filed complaints about ref and they didn't get that ref again.

There's protocol whether you want to believe it or not, Rec or Travel, GROWN ADULT shouldn't be yelling at Ref kids or not.