So this past weekend I refereed at my first soccer tournament of the season as a grade 7. It was a few hours from where I live so I had to get up early for the trip to be able to make it for my 9:15AM game. I arrived early; I checked in; and I went to my field for the day. I was going to be working on the field with the U18/19 boys matches and it was a nice turf field in a stadium. It was cold but I was ready to go. I was going to be the center for this first game. I had worked with and used to be refereed by one of my ARs (a grade 5) so I was confident in my crew.
We had Orange v. White for our first game. White took the kickoff which was intercepted early by Orange. As an Orange player was dribbling down the line in from of my AR, he was clearly knocked off the ball. The AR waved his flag immediately but another Orange player had received the ball and had an attacking opportunity so I yelled aloud “PLAY ON!” Some of the White players were looking at the near AR still who began to get back into position. The orange player took a few touches, shot, and scored. All of this happened within the first 30 seconds of the game. White of course was upset because they had stopped because “the AR called a foul.” As stated within the laws of the game the referee “allows play to continue when the team against which an offence has been committed will benefit from such an advantage.” The AR does not make calls. They advise the center as to whether or not they see an infraction, and the referee has the authority to act on their advice or not. So since my AR did not see the advantage and I did, I allowed play to continue.
So the game is Orange 1 v. 0 White. A few minutes later a player on white began complaining about a call I had made against his team by saying to me, “You’re f***ing kidding. You didn’t call that when they did that to me.” Since he was one of the main complainers about the goal and now was dissenting my call, I issued him a yellow card (DT) at the next stoppage.
There was one instance near the end of the first half that should have resulted in a goal. An orange player was attacking when a white midfielder challenged for the ball. The white player kicked the ball towards his goal and to the feet of an orange player standing in the offside position. As he is winding up his shot I see my AR raise his flag and I blow my whistle as the ball enters the back of the net. I run over to my AR to see what he saw. On my way over there I had a million thoughts running through my mind: White kicked it to Orange so he couldnt have been offside; Maybe my AR was judging white’s kick as a deflection; maybe orange had pushed off of a white player to gain positioning; well will the goal count; what should the restart be. So I get to my AR and he said that orange was offside. I asked if he was even though white had kicked it, if maybe he interpreted it as a deflection. He said he did not see who had kicked it because he was concentrating on the 2nd to last defender. So we agreed to disagree and ended up with a drop ball where orange had received the ball. I should have held my whistle and waited like I was so eager to do in the first 30 seconds. One of the things that my fellow referees, mentors, and assessors tell me is that I allow too much advantage sometimes. I decided to be quick with my whistle and it costed the game a goal.
So the second half starts and it’s business as usual. Until about 8 minutes into the half. The ball popped into the air around midfield. A white player jumped up to head it; an orange player jumped up to head it; and another orange player decided to run full force with his forearms into white’s back without even looking at the ball. Luckily I was right there when white got up quickly to go face to face with the orange player. I already had out my red card and issued a red card (SFP) to the orange player before things escalated. The orange coach asked why it was a straight red instead of a yellow. The reasoning for this is quite simple. The orange player had no intent to attempt to win the ball; it was beyond USB because it was reckless, intentional, and endangered the safety of the white player.
The game continued and remained Orange 1 v. 0 White after the send off. Things got crazy again with about 4 minutes left in the game. A white player was dribbling down the line and was challenged, shoulder to shoulder, by an orange player. Orange stole the ball and white ended up on the ground through a fair tackle. As orange dribbled away with the ball, white got up and was in pursuit. After orange has crossed midfield and distributed the ball, he was blatantly run into from behind by the white player in pursuit. Being only 10 yards away I had no doubt that this was a fully intentional retaliation by white. I blew the whistle hard and ran to the spot. I was about 5 yards awaywith my red card in my hand from the two players, now on the ground, when orange rolled over and hit/struck/punched the white player in the back. I first dealt with white, who stood up first. I issued him a red card (SFP) and sent him off the field. Orange was still on the ground, injured from the tackle. As soon as he rose, I issued him the red card (VC) because of the punch. As I was still writing all of this information down on my game card, I saw the orange player I had red carded being restrained by his team yelling back at me, “you want to see a real punch?” I will touch back to this after the game.
After the double send off I issued 2 more yellow cards (USB) to white players because the began desparately hacking orange to get the ball and tie up the game. The game ended Orange 1 v 0 White .
Now there are a few things that you soccer referees need to take with you from this. 1. Have a slow whistle. As I described, the “wait and see” tactic benifited me with the only goal of the game, and would have benefited me for what could have been the second goal of the game. 2. Cards are a tool, so use them properly and effectively. Since things can heat up rather quickly, you need to be able to adjust with the game. Remeber safety first. If a player is endangering the safety of an oponent, they need to be dealt with immediately. What if I had only given the first red carded player a yellow and let him stay on the field? He could become more aggresive; white could retaliate; etc.. 3. If you are threatened by a player, coach, or parent, your administrators will have your back. Just make sure you fill out a detailed game report. After I was threatened by the orange player, the tournament director banned him from the rest of the tournament and sent his player pass back to his state association so that can determine any more disciplinary actions.
My other games werent as hectic but I will write about them later as it is already past midnight.
Tags: ohio, red card, referee, soccer, tournament, yellow card
