Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Warning, soccer post No blogging this weekend. I spent all day Saturday and Sunday at the Warrior Soccer Classic and then again a chunk of time on Monday for the finals. Almost 500 teams invaded Dayton. As a referee assessor, I have seen a couple of instances of assistant referees destroying a game for the referee (and the kids) by signaling picky things behind the referee's back (waving a flag). Well, I had it happen to me Sunday. I was referee of a boys 15-year-old semi-final match. We sat out 2 lightning delays--the game ended 2 hours later than I expected at about 6:30. If you don't know 15-year-olds, these games are slightly organized frenzies of energy and testosterone. They kick the ball as hard as they can (sometimes even making contact in their energy rush) then run as fast as they can. They'll put their bodies into situations that sane people wouldn't. I knew one of my ARs had had three bad experiences with the coach of the black team, but my other AR was 14 years old and had just taken the referee course in March. Went 80 minutes of regulation and 18 minutes of overtime with most people thinking I was doing a pretty good job of keeping the right amount of reins on. Then the black team scored with about 5 minutes to go, going up 2-1. White drives down the field with the goal keeper making a great save stopping the ball on the goal line. Thank god for mechanics, I was standing on the goal line about 10 feet away so I had a perfect view. Keeper gets up and I notice the AR (man) waving his flag. I think (expletive). Blow the whistle to stop play and run over to the AR. He loudly announces that I need to caution a player for leaving and entering the field of play. It so happens that the player is one of the better players on black, he already had a caution (which the AR and white coach standing behind the AR knew), so this would have resulted in an ejection and indirect free kick for white right in front of the goal. So I ask what happened. Well, about 80 yards from the play (the play which the AR should have been watching, the boy went over to talk to his coach and stepped over the line and back. I told the AR and white coach no way I'm ejecting a player for that. I was disgusted so much with them even stopping a great play for that that I cautioned the coach then gave a one-person drop ball to the keeper to restart play (since I took the ball out of his hands). Then I had to add 2 minutes to the match for stoppage time. Needless to say, the game went into the toilet. I end the game and bear the abuse from the white parents and coaches for "not having any balls." Actually, I think I did. Hey, Jarrett and you soccer people out there--what would you have done? I ran it past a couple of high ranking referees and they thought I handled it about as well as I could have. 7:26:01 AM    comment []