New DOGSO

Before I comment on the new DOGSO and my brush with it early in the new rule process, let me start by asking, where have all the referees gone? This weekend, which was the start of many leagues as well as State Cup, was brutal. My son had a center and two ARs that probably could even get a learner's permit in the state of Virginia. And that game was covered at least.

Ok, back to the DOGSO chat. As mentioned last week, the laws were altered a bit to reflect the need to eliminate the triple whammy when there is a denial of a clear chance to score and the foul was committed in the penalty area and resulted in a PK. If in your eternal wisdom, you believe there was an honest attempt to play the ball, but it resulted in a foul and not the result of pushing, pulling, handling or some other ill conceived attempt, then after the whistle, the person who committed the foul should be shown a yellow instead of a red if inside the penalty area. No change outside the penalty area, the red card is still shown in these cases.

The Labor Day weekend, I worked 6 matches. 2 centers and 4 ARs. And I got very lucky. My 4 ARs had the final scores of 6-0, 6-0, 9-0 and 6-0. My 2 centers nestled in those 4 lopsided matches were 3-1 and 5-3. Both very evenly matched and challenging in their own right. The first match, on Saturday was a U15 match. The game was not a hard match to call until the moment of truth. With White up 2-1 they were playing a very high line in their defense. It was something I couldn't really grasp why they were pressing so hard with the lead. The only way Red was generating chances was when white messed up their possession in the defense, so I wasn't too sure why white insisted in having their back line so far away from their keeper. Sure enough, with 10 minutes left in the second half, white lost the ball and red put a nice through ball to an attacker who outran the defender for a clear one on one chance with the white keeper the only defender standing in her way from tying up the match. The white keeper had been playing at the edge of her 18 all game since she had to clear a couple of balls before. She sprints out and the attacker and keeper meet about 25 yards from goal. The attacker makes a great cut to her left and the keeper sticks her leg out. She misses the ball and trips the attacker. Clear attempt to play the ball, but sadly, outside the box, and therefore a red card. It ended up working out in the end for white as the free kick resulted in nothing and then white ended up scoring an insurance goal.

In my other game, it was a U18 boys match. With the match 2-2, blue makes a great string of passes on white and leaves the blue attacker essentially one on one with the white keeper. As blue is about to take the shot with his right foot, a defender came in from the left, went through the attackers legs to get to the ball. It was a tough call in my head but I felt the attempt was "honest enough" where he tried to play the ball, albeit in a low percentage type tackle. It was still DOGSO but inside the box and it resulted in a PK, so I showed the yellow. In truth, I really didn't think it was that much of a DOGSO choice until a referee observer told me that he thought my new interpretation of the DOGSO was spot on. Funny how things work out like that sometimes.