Passing the torch

This weekend was a wet one for many in the east coast. I had my fair share of matches and had some interesting things, but the most important one was working my first games with my son (who did awesome by the way).

To start off, I will go to the Sunday work. Two higher level matches (in terms of age). A U16 Boys match and a U17 match, also boys. I was ARing on the U16 match that featured a well known referee in our parts. He is somewhat of an interesting character, a lot of flair, a lot of other stuff as well.

To start it off, he was using an electronic whistle. I had never had one use it, but there is always a first. The problem was that it was not really audible. If you were in the vicinity (about 15-20 feet), you heard it, but farther away, it was difficult to make out what was going on. He later said that he needed to replace the batteries. Well, why didn't he? Or use a whistle...

To start things off, in the first 10 minutes, there is a ball played over the defense, keeper and attacker come to the 50/50 ball when there is a collision. Keeper had played the ball away and then collided with the attacker. No foul in my book (I was the lead AR) and the ball falls to another attacker who drops it over the defense for a goal. Center signals no goal because of the hurt attacker. Mind you that the time it took from the collision to the goal was 2-3 seconds at the most. Still, no goal for that team.

So what is the restart, since he stopped play for an injured player? Dropped ball, right? Wrong, for this referee, he decided to give the attacking team an indirect free kick from where the shot was taken that eventually resulted in a goal. When questioned at half time as to what he was thinking, he said, it was the fairest way to give the team a chance to score. But it is not in the rulebook, the other AR and I said. Well, but it was what was fairest, he said. We then suggested that this would be fair in high school, but not in weekend soccer.

Then comes a weak penalty for the other team at the start of the second half. It was really weak. Not something I would have ever called, especially not in a 0-0 game like that. The team converts the PK and then down at the other end, he calls for a free kick, close to the 18. As the players are lining up, the team losing try a quick free kick, which goes in, but alas, our great center decides that he was setting up the wall, though no one on the attacking team asked for 10, it was the defending team that asked for it. So for the second time that match, the same team had a good goal wiped off.

In the end, the match ended 1-0 but was not the result of the team, it was a bunch of hogwash. Silly actually.

The one about my son will have to wait until the next time, as I am out of time right now. But what a character he was.