So, we (same crew) decided to do another tournament this past weekend as well. The tournament is at the same fields as the prior weekend, but hosted by a different club. We couldn't make any Saturday morning games, so we ended up with 8 assignements (4 on Saturday and 4 on Sunday).

Now, we definitely felt a little abused at this tournament. Unlike last weekend where we had 12 games, we felt good - not just unabused - we felt appreciated and slightly pampered. At this tournament the assignments were crazy! and there were absolutely no breaks or people bringing us goodies (or even water). Here was our Saturday schedule (note the 2:00 was added when we checked in):

1:00 pm - U12 Boys - Field 1
2:00 pm - U14 Boys - Field 8
3:30 pm - U14 Girls - Field 8
5:10 pm - U12 Boys - Field 1

I know we reviewed the rules, but I accidentally left them in the car. Figured they would have them at the fields, plus I just went and checked in with the lady at the referee tent and asked her if U12 halves were 25 minutes long (5 minutes shorter than regular league games, like last week). She answered in the affirmative.

So I thought - Geez! If the 1:00 game ends on time 1:55, we have only a few minutes to get across the complex (at this complex there are only eight fields and they are all in a line, so field 1 and 8 are as far apart as possible). First game went fine and I reminded the field marshall to get a cart over here at the end of our game. Surprise, no cart, so we hooved across the complex and arrived 10 minutes late. I centered both U14 games since the other two are only 15.

The U14 boys game involved two very skilled teams. The first half went well - until - I blew the whistle for halftime (at 30 minutes). Geez - the whole place erupted claiming the halves should be 35 minutes. I calmed everyone down and went over to the field marshall to double-check. Sure enough, they were playing 35 minute halves (and the U12 game was supposed to be 30 minute halves, but because it was their first games, they didn't know any better). So we played an additional 5 minutes... unbelievably, two more goals were scored in that 5 minutes! The only other excitement in that game was a stoppage by me to have the coach calm his parents down. They went from just yelling in general, to yelling a a specific player on the opposing (winning) team. Suprisingly, he was happy to do so, and he remained with the parents the whole rest of the time. I didn't hear much at all from the parents after that. Thanks, coach!

After making it to the 5:10 game at 5:25 (finally, a ride this time), the more experienced 15-year-old started that game. It was a decent game and ended 5-2 with the winning team definitely dominating the whole game. Only one bit of crazines happened here, and I missed it until it was already full blown. Definitely another learning experience, though. This time I was AR1 (team side) and the keeper on the far goal was injured (cleanly) in an attempt to win a 50-50 ball. CR whistled a foul for the keeper, ran to the player, turned back toward the bench and motioned for the coach to enter the field. Then the craziness happened. I was watching the rest of the field, and then I heard some commotion. The coach that just entered the field was yelling, quite angrily, at someone carrying the keeper off of the field. My reaction was this:

What the? - why is he yelling at his assistant? - wait, there wasn't anyone with him on the sideline - who the heck is...? - oh, crap that's a parent!

Of course the CR (my son) had no idea what to do, and just let the parent continue to carry the player off of the field while the coach still yealled at him (the parent). I tried to motion for the CR to talk to me on handling the situation, but he waved me down and just started play. The rest of the game was uneventful. The coach came up to the CR and complimented him on a good game, but told him he should have kicked the parent out of the game. The coach was right, and I discussed it with the CR. I was wondering how I (or the closer AR) missed the parent coming on the field - and how did he get on the field so fast? The CR knew... It turns out that that parent was behind the goal the whole second half, giving instructions to his daughter. AR2 was too far away to stop him and CR had turned away to motion the coach.

Definitely a learning experience!

Well, I decided (along with my son and one of his friends) to travel to an out-of-state tournament this past weekend. That makes it sound like we traveled a very loOoOng way for this tournament, but really we are only one hour away from the state line (and one hour away from the in-state tournaments). So I made it sound dramatic, but hey it's not like there's not any drama on the soccer field?!

Turns out we ended up with a total of 12 assingments for the weekend. Seven U12 assignments on Saturday and 5 U13/U14 assignmenst on Sunday. Turns out it went ok. The tournament staff had great support for the referees. We all had a 70 minute break around lunch, and they kept us stocked on essentials.

There was only one incident that seemed all that notable - and one that was a good learning experience. The least experienced of us was assigned as a CR to two lower level U12 girls games. He called a great game based on the LOTG, but ended up not holding his ground to one of the coaches. The situation was in the last 15 minutes where a player from team B was injured during a non-reckless foul. The CR assessed the player and called for the coach/trainer to enter the field. After a few minutes, the player and coach got up. The coach told the CR that her player is ok now and would not need to come off. The CR instructed the coach that her player must come off, but the coach replied with "no, she doesn't". The CR repeated the direction to the coach, and the coach yelled back: "I don't think so... You're gonna have to show me where it says that!" and he stormed off the field. The CR looked rattled and just whistled for play to begin with the player still on the field. Since AR1 didn't back up the CR and I was AR2 (parent side), I didn't feel it appropriate to enter the field. The game went on, but the coach from team B gave the CR heck the rest of the game.

We discussed the situation after the game. The CR said he was just rattled and did not know what to do, so he just "played on". I reminded him that he can ask us the ARs for assistance and to be persistent in his calls. I also reminded him that he probably should have directed the instructions to the player and not the coach. We agreed that he shouldn't have resumed play until the player left the field, and if she didn't, then show her a caution. We also thought it may have worked better to let the coach leave the field first, then give instrustions to the player. Then the coach is off the field, and if comes back on, it is an offense.

Ahem... If you have not run across this podcast yet, I do believe you'll enjoy it.

It's called Referee POV and you can find it on iTunes or by searching in Google.
Just download it already...

He also has a blog to go along with it:
http://refereepov.blogspot.com

Thanks, Jonathan, for such an enjoyable podcast!

Made it to the high school match 30 minutes prior to game time, and the other two referees were already there. All three of us there 30 minutes before game time - something I have never seen in a HS match yet! Turns out I wish one of them would have shown up late.

One of the referees I knew from a previous game where he was the CR. Nice guy with a lot of experience and does a great job. The other referee neither of us knew, but I think he was more local than us. The referee I knew immediately came up to greet me and we briefly talked non-soccer. The local referee joined in and we poked a little fun at his collegiate logo hat (which he wore during the match). I briefly discussed centering with the familiar referee, but I knew he would want to center since I've never seen him do therwise. The other referee got very upset that he didn't discuss centering with him as well. At first I thought he was jokingly being sarcastic, but I was dead wrong. He ended up letting him center, but he nagged the center about all the pre-game activities that he should have done, and I think even made up some that I had never heard. Once we decide on a center, the ARs need to shut up during the pregame conferences with the players/teams. I got bad enought that I thought this referee and the center were going to have a physical confrontation. I changed the subject and it seemed to help. We started the game at least!

The match went well with minimal interference from coaches/fans. The winning team won 4-0 so there wasn't much we could do to affect that outcome. However, the other AR tried to control the game from the side - calling fouls, warning players, etc. Luckily, the field was designed with teams and fans on all on the same side (opposite to him). So he was too far away for the fans to really see what he was doing.

The JV match was after the Varsity match, and I was sure the local referee wanted to center. Wierd though, he told me to center. Go figure... maybe he was just pouting. Everything went well in that match, and it was probably good that we ended on a JV match at least for the referees' sake. These two referees have to work together again this weekend. I won't be there, but I'm thinking about coming to watch!

Centered a varsity HS boys match today. Home team ended up winning 4-0, but it was 0-0 at the half with the losing team being big underdogs. Definitely a situation like that can lead to some high emotions by the losing team - a high by having a scoreless first half, and a fast low by allowing 4 goals in the second half. Still, there are certain situations were a player's time on the field should end.

Before the match, the other referees let me know that the visiting team tends to play too rough out of frustration. They wanted me to watch for contact and call it early. Turns out I thought the match went well - probably because they were keeping the match close when they should be losing. There were one 2 players on the visiting team that looked like they could be ready to play dirty, but they kept it in check. First half was clean with only a few fouls and no cards.

They second half started with multiple quality attacks from the home team in the first minute. The visiting team couldn't push past the half, and a home team player finally broke free 1v1 straight to goal. He was taken down with a hard hip check just inside the box. PK and they capitalized just two minutes into the second half. About a minute later, my AR tried to call another PK in the box, but I waved him down as I had a better angle and thought it was a fair challenge (shoulder-to-shoulder). Ticked me off a little since my pregame included that I will call fouls in the box. This AR also signaled offsides by placing his hands on his hips (as they do in football). Good communication, but that's not soccer.

Anyhow the red card came with about 15 minutes left in the game, but the score was already 4-0. An attacker on the winning team was working for position on a cross - only minimal contact - and ended up losing the challenge to the deender - no foul. Ball was cleared, but I watched them for a second more. I think the defender thought, ball away so I wasn't watching. He ended up getting in the attackers face, tuanting him and then verbally threatened him with physical harm the next time he came close - and he did all this using profanity (s*** once and f*** twice). Didn't even have to think twice on this one. Clear cut red.

Visiting coach wasn't happy at the time, and he came up to me at the end of the game. He told me his player told him what he said, and the coach apologized for yelling at me and that it was the right call. Wow - nice to have a coach like that. Visiting team played very well, in fact just as well or better than with 11.