This weekend, one of the local clubs had a huge tournament. Advertised as a massive tournament with many teams, it turned out to be more of a fizzle instead of a celebration of soccer. The reason, the weather.
At the start of the day on Saturday, we arrive to see my son's morning match and find out that the start has been delayed 30 minutes because the field (which was really the outfield of a baseball field) had a part that was not ready for play (the small part that was dirt infield along one of the touch lines. The county workers were dropping a ton of sandlike substance that was called something like Game Ready sand and promised to harden soft infields soaked in water. It was not raining, but rather a light drizzle. And to boot, all matches were reduced to 20 minute halves (which was enough as the final score was 6-4).
We went home and then I headed out to my field for my 4 matches. I arrived, met the field marshall and got my assignments and my gift (a shirt from the tournament). I then met up with my counterparts for the four matches, a father/son duo. The father was certainly a stand up guy, very good at maintaining control of matches and an all around good guy. His son was doing his first tournament and he did better than I expected given that it was his first tournament.
To note on the four matches I did:
Match one, I was an AR, and it was nothing terrible, except that I fell due to the field and the line being in such a muddy shape. I actually fell flat on my back and the game had to be stopped for a minute or two while I caught my breath again (it was really embarrasing, but it also hurt too!).
Second match was my first as a center and it was a blow out. 4-0 in 40 minutes of soccer and it was evident that one team was outclassed. Still I got a lot more gamesmanship from the winning team than from the team that should have been looking for an advantage.
Third match I was an AR again, and fell again. It was a weird game, the better team started winning with two goals and then the other team just pushed hard forward and got the tie at the end. At the end of the game, the team that tied had a breakaway and the ball gets stuck in the mud. The attacker, who had a step on the defender, fell on the ball, and the defender caught up. The ref called dangerous play as the ball was under the player and his crown jewels. The coach went ballistic, but the center was right.
Finally, the fourth match was an entertaining 0-0, but the first thing of note was the cards. One player on the red team was good but he threw his body around and around. I cautioned him with 10 minutes left in the first half. He had commited 4 fouls up to that point. 5 minutes into the second half, he took down someone from behind and so it happened, I pulled out my yellow again, and then the red. First time I ever had to do that. Then white commited a couple of stupid fouls, and had to caution them as well, but it was a good game in the end.
To conclude, the field was unplayable by the end of the day. To the point that Sunday schedule for all non-turf fields were cancelled despite being a beautiful day. So one day of soccer ruined fields for all season all over the area. I am sure the organizers of the tournament are proud (the reason it was played to begin with was to not have to refund teams their money).
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