Mooseybaby
Retired big bad baldy in all black!
Son was playing in an 11-a-side youth tournament at the weekend and his U14s team won!
Tournament was played in mostly good spirit, official referees with CARs during the group stages and a team of 3 appointed for the finals. General standard of refereeing I saw throughout tournament was good, however there was one incident which caused some debate on the sidelines.
U14s - Blue team defending/Orange attacking. Blue fail to clear ball from corner, defenders still on goal line, orange hits a shot which is heading for the top corner with the keeper well beaten. One of the blue defenders still rooted to the goal line sticks out hand full stretch and makes a save most keepers would be proud of. The clearest case of DOGSO-H you will ever see!
Referee points to the spot and calls over defender, who trudges over very slowly, possibly because he knows what's about to follow. After a brief chat, referee shows him a yellow card! A few of the parents who know I am a registered referee, turn to me and say "shouldn't that be red?".
Obviously being there "off-duty" as parent, I don't know what the referees discussed pre-tournament regarding potential discipline issues etc and didn't get the opportunity to speak to the referee as to his thinking behind the decision not to show a red card. Unfortunately fate would have it that the decision was to have more serious consequences a few minutes later, when the same blue defender went in for a 50/50 with an orange attacker on the edge of the penalty area. Players collide with a clash of legs and orange player lets out an ear splitting scream. Referee stopped the game immediately, coaches called on and ref raced off to grab the on-site paramedics. Heard last night, orange player had broken his tibia which requires operating on! Sour note on what otherwise was a great weekend.
Tournament was played in mostly good spirit, official referees with CARs during the group stages and a team of 3 appointed for the finals. General standard of refereeing I saw throughout tournament was good, however there was one incident which caused some debate on the sidelines.
U14s - Blue team defending/Orange attacking. Blue fail to clear ball from corner, defenders still on goal line, orange hits a shot which is heading for the top corner with the keeper well beaten. One of the blue defenders still rooted to the goal line sticks out hand full stretch and makes a save most keepers would be proud of. The clearest case of DOGSO-H you will ever see!
Referee points to the spot and calls over defender, who trudges over very slowly, possibly because he knows what's about to follow. After a brief chat, referee shows him a yellow card! A few of the parents who know I am a registered referee, turn to me and say "shouldn't that be red?".
Obviously being there "off-duty" as parent, I don't know what the referees discussed pre-tournament regarding potential discipline issues etc and didn't get the opportunity to speak to the referee as to his thinking behind the decision not to show a red card. Unfortunately fate would have it that the decision was to have more serious consequences a few minutes later, when the same blue defender went in for a 50/50 with an orange attacker on the edge of the penalty area. Players collide with a clash of legs and orange player lets out an ear splitting scream. Referee stopped the game immediately, coaches called on and ref raced off to grab the on-site paramedics. Heard last night, orange player had broken his tibia which requires operating on! Sour note on what otherwise was a great weekend.
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