That is not one of your choices coach

Another one of those musings that start with "And here I thought I had seen most of everything". I am driving to a game with my daughter and wife. I was heading there right at kick off and knew that we would be short a referee. My wife and daughter were already there. The assignor tells me to be dressed and that she would let the Center know that I was on my way and that I was a parent of one of the players but that since I was the "only option she had" she was going to assign me.

On arrival, I change (into those new shirts I am not too fond of yet) and take the flag about 4 minutes after kick off. My daughter's team is attacking in my direction and in that first half I call my daughter offsides on a close play as well as declaring a no goal on a ball that ran the length of the goal line in a game where my daughter's team eventually would lose 2-1. What I am implying is that if I had wanted to favor my daughter's team, I certainly could have.

Anyway, at halftime, we go to tell the coach that I am a parent of one of the players and the coach goes ballistic. He tells the center that he had a perfectly good AR for him before I showed up and that now he does not want me on the match. I tried to explain that I had already made calls that didn't favor my daughter's team and he immediately cuts me off to say "I don't need to hear anything from you. Go to the sideline and watch the match like the parent you are."

At that point, the center official told him that it didn't quite work like that. He explained that the AR he had originally provided was not in uniform, no longer certified and was also a parent. He went on to explain that I was a State referee and all that it implies and that in the end, he cannot choose not to have me on the match as that is not his call to make.

He explained that his options were to bring his team out for the second half or not. He could not block my being an AR because I was the best option the center had. He could file a protest after the match if he wanted to but that was it.

I was really taken aback by how rude the interaction was at halftime. At the end of the match, the center explained to him that there was a liability issue as well to consider. Should the officiating crew have been sued because of what they did during the match, the AR that was not currently certified would have been part of the lawsuit and would not have been covered by the insurance that USSF offers officials. It was interesting, but in the end it all worked out, however it was testy.

Finally, as I was about to drive away, the other AR comes over and tells me that he was also a parent on our team and he just chose to not disclose that, particularly because he knew that something like what I went through at halftime might occur. To which I responded that he still should have made it known. The reffing dynamic is always interesting that is for sure.