Very interesting U11 match I had this past Saturday. I have not had a younger age group in a while and was happy to have what seemed to be a easier time for the game at hand. U11 boys, how hard can that be right?
Things started easily enough, during the check ins though, the local team (the Blue team) had many latino players, a latino coach and he made a comment that surprised me. When I was checking in the boys, I mentioned that to me, the most important thing was for them to be able to go to school on Monday and to make sure that they were safe, so if they felt weird or dizzy, etc. to please let me know. The coach interrupted and said that the boys were here to win and that they would come out when he said so. Okay coach, remember this is U11.
The game started and Blue started off well. The hispanic players had a different level of play, they moved the ball with grace and while there were some non-hispanic players on that team, most of the play flowed through these more gifted players. All fine and dandy for the first 10-15 minutes. Blue took an early lead and was up 3-1 I believe when I called a foul on Blue at midfield. Immediately Blue #49 gets in front of the ball, within 3-4 feet and prevents a quick restart. I hold up the game and publicly state that he has to move back and that I would be ok if he was 6-7 yards away and had to be moved back, but I said, even you know that 3-4 feet is not 10 yards. #49 moved back without a problem.
3 minutes later, #49 has a breakaway and when he makes a move on the keeper, he dribbles too hard and the ball is going out for a goal kick. As he passes the goalkeeper (before the ball goes out) he takes a spectacular sprawl. And then he turns around and holds up his hands like we see on TV every weekend from the Ronaldo's and Messi's of the world. Hmm, me not liking this #49 too much. And the coach piles on, "Referee, the keeper tripped my player, that should be a red card!". Again, U11. I just ignored them.
Later in the half, still 3-1 Blue when I called a foul close to the goal for white. Again, Blue gets in front of the ball, not a foot away. And sure enough, it was #49 again. I tell the kid, "Look, you have to move back. You can't stand there." To which he responds, "I can stand wherever I want. My coach said so." Ok, your coach just earned you a yellow for persistent attempts at trying to trick your way through a soccer match. Actually the yellow was for failing to respect the distance, but man o man, he was more complicated than some 15 year old kids I have had to work with. At this point, everyone knew that I was not going to tolerate getting to close to the ball on free kicks. And the coach yells at me "Don't yell at my players!". I don't think I was yelling, but rather talking firmly after having to explain myself on where not to stand for free kicks, but I apologized to the coach and the player and just said to him, "Look, you have to give them 10 yards. I don't need to get involved." Coach got it, kid got it. So we are good supposedly.
To make things worse, they line up for the free kick and right before they take the kick, Blue #10, who was one of the boys forming the wall, takes two giant steps forward and jumps just as they take the kick. I stop the play, reset the ball, whip out another yellow card and loudly proclaim to everyone "I hope we are clear that today we are going to respect the distance on free kicks." White scores on the free kick retake to make it 3-2.
Final score was 6-2 Blue as they really were the better side. At halftime, a fellow referee was sitting watching my game and he said that Blue had been taught the dark arts of soccer. And it was true, they did many of the things we see the pros do, go down easily, yell and grab their ankles at the slightest of contacts, pull shirts and of course, stand in front of the ball on free kicks. Hopefully they got a little wake up call when it comes time to play in tougher games that many referees will not put up with those shennanigans. And maybe I was too hard on them, but I feel that they brought it onto themselves when they try to bend the rules. Sometimes when you bend the rules, they hit you back when it snaps back into place. So be it.
3 comments:
Excellent article.
Your actions were spot on and the Blue team completely deserved to learn the lessons you taught them (hopefully they saw it as a lesson and learn before their next match).
Too many kids are given free reign by their coaches to act like primadonna's and strut around like professionals being paid $100,000 a week. The coaches do not realize that they are actually harming the kids by allowing them (an encouraging them in some cases) to adopt this attitude with other players and match officials.
Players need to learn to respect officials from an early age. Equally, referees need to communicate effectively with players and coaches to ensure the game runs smoothly.
I believe any soccer match is ONE team; that includes both sets of players, team officials and the match officials. If everyone communicates and works together, ultimately the game goes smoothly. If someone steps out of line, it is the referees' responsibility to get them back in line, working with the 'team'.
If the game ends with no yellow/red cards and no injuries, that is the perfect outcome.
I too enjoy the skill and talent that hispanics bring to youth matches, but I believe that hispanic coaches are ruining the youth game by tolerating/allowing/encouraging players to attempt to deceive officials. That coach that said they were there to win is not kidding. The players may be skilled but how much do they develop with a coach that plays kick and run and puts such a big emphasis on winning? Gotta love the passion that hispanics bring to the game, but it's really put me off U16+ tournament play because the prima donna factor of the players, combined with the el macho coaches have turned these matches from soccer into daddy daycare and it's no longer fun.
Personally, I think you handled it perfectly. There are games when I will let some things like standing in front of the ball go a bit longer and issue just a few more warnings because the teams aren't hostile and back up immediately. But there is nothing wrong with educating them on the rules, especially when they try to bend them too far.
Many hispanic players I know watch a lot of soccer on TV. That really helps them with skill and vision on the field, however they also see the dives and trickery used at the pro level as well. Unfortunately, these tricks don't work at the U11 ages!
Great work!
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