Coaches and Rules

I am sure I have covered this many a times before but man, sometimes, even the most experienced coach boggles my mind. Case in point, during a recent U17 highly competitive match, I call a foul committed against the keeper and the team took the kick in between the 6 and the penalty spot. The ball did not clear the 18 before a teammate touched it and headed upfield.

As I begin to whistle, a player from the other team said that the ball had not left the box. The coach for the team that took the kick then goes bat crazy. "How do you not know the rules?" "Only on a goalkick does the ball need to clear the box." "Where did you learn how to ref?" and more of that nature.

I should have pulled out my 2013 rule book and showed him that on Page 41 of the Laws of the Game, it states:

Free kicks inside the penalty area (direct or indirect free kick to the defending team):

- All opponents must be 10 yards away from the ball
- All opponents must remain outside the penalty area until the ball is in play
- The ball is in play when it is kicked directly out of the penalty area
- A free kick inside the goal area may be taken from any point inside that goal area.

So I guess he skipped over item #3 above. And to think that he was a U17 coach, and their team played well means so this means that he knows his stuff, but then again, he doesn't. Why do they try to overplay their coaching. Stick to coaching, something I know little of and do not get into it with the coach, and leave the reffing to me (not that I can't make mistakes, because I can and I do). But I am going to want to hear it from my two ARs or someone impartial. Even if it is the worst call in the world, you are not going to change my mind.

I behaved

Don't need to go into too much detail but the game went fine the other day. Took a hard foul at the top of the box that in previous weeks would have been something that I would have complained about, and possibly brought up a stink about, was just a foul.

I did get up and try to score on a quick restart when they were not looking but it didn't work out. Still, I have to be proud of myself that I did what I thought I needed to do to make it a better place and not be so antagonistic. There is one team that boils my blood though, so not sure how I will react to them when the time comes to play them again. But for now, I was a good citizen. Because I know that sometimes referees make the worst players like players sometimes make the worst referees.

Referees make bad players

Or at least, I make a bad player. I mentioned that the local league started an adult league. The league has different levels and teams based on genders, etc. I play on a coed team and have realized that I am more trouble than some of the other players. Since I know the rules quite well, I have a hard time when I feel the rules are being misapplied. This past week, it was offside that set me off. At the time, I thought I was right (and still think I am right about the actual application of the rule in this case) but I realized, I am not the ref and nothing I say can change what the ruling was at the time the action took place, so I better just can it instead of getting in the head of the referee. I don't like it when other players do it to me and so now that the table has turned, I have to be able to live with the occasional (or with some of my fellow referees, more than the occasional) missed call and just move on.

Tonight I have another game and will focus on my behavior more so than the referee decisions. Let's see how that plays out.

Referee Links

I hadn't noticed until today that some of my links were either no longer valid (like the home made cards I use, that site is no longer up) and the referee blog that got me started with reffing to begin with (the author has moved on to officiating another sport and has since stopped really blogging about his soccer related frustrations).

So I did a little housekeeping and got rid of them. If there are any links you all think should be up there instead, let me know and I will try to get things added. I especially would like to replace with more reference related links instead of other ref blogs as that seems to be the best way to hone our craft.

Hope everyone had a good 4th and that the summer is going well.

Working with Adult Soccer Players

Throw away everything you thought you knew about soccer and then try to relearn it, because that is what happens when working with adults. The same rules apply, they just apply differently. As adults, we complain more, we talk trash a whole lot more, and we cheat more if given the chance.

Case in point, the local league where I am also one of the officers has finally gotten an adult league off the ground and playing. It is fun, family friendly and creates a spirit of community. That is until you blow the whistle to start the match, then those nice guys you thought you knew off the field become a mix of puberty laced adolescents with a penchant for foul language and a shot of demonic tinged pitbulls coming off a hunger strike. And as full disclosure, I am a player as well as a referee in this league, so a lot of this applies to me also.

We dive, we complain, we use unrostered players, we use gamesmanship to the extreme and we chest bump opponents when someone else has the gall to stand up to us.

Now that the league is in its second season, things seem to be settling down a bit. What was all nice and dandy that first set of matches has become somewhat of a stale truce at this point for many teams. Especially those that play each other a couple of times during the season and then again during the following season. After the third or fourth time you face the same opponent, you know what they are going to try more or less and you aim to take that away, be it by word or action.

Personally, the jury is still out in terms of whether I like working with adults. So far I will say it is different. The tolerance level is not the same. Some have very short fuses. And in the end, it is all about going back to work on Monday, regardless of the score so even if you score a beautiful goal and then get knocked unconscious, the main thing to remember is not that you won on Sunday night 2-1 thanks to that last minute header, but rather the 2 weeks off you need to take from your Monday to Friday job because you now have a concussion for example. Perspective, I guess.