A&H

Abandonment or Final Whistle? (Plus referee assault)

The Bstard

The Bstard

Active Member
What they call a 'challenging' game, euphemistically: dark blue lead 2-1 going into the second half. 1 yellow, a bit of moaning. Second half, early, corner for light blue comes in, bounces about a bit, and the big dark blue midfielder kicks the underside of light blue striker's leg as both challenge. Penalty all day long, but big midfielder is in my face and as he walks away calls me a ****ing cheat. Simple straight red, penalty dispatched, 2-2.

However, dark blue go straight up the end to score 3-2 then get a penalty themselves: centre back who concedes it mouths off, goes in the book. I could have done him straight off as he applauds my yellow, but decide to try and keep him on for match control. A word with him and the skipper when the penalty is scored (4-2) and I tell him to not say another word (which, to be fair, he doesn't). It goes 4-3 then 5-3, with another couple of yellows for a challenge and dissent, and the game is hotting up. Dark blue 14 is throwing his weight about in the middle and is on the edge of a yellow, but CB from earlier misses a challenge on him and catches him late for a 2nd yellow with 8 to play. Light Blue skipper, who thinks he was fouled before that is livid, despite already being booked. I try and calm him, without much effect. In added time for injuries and 2 reds, a poor tackle from dark blue 7 on light blue skipper (yellow card challenge) doesn't go down well and skipper stamps on his leg. 7 reacts, punches thrown.

I'm blowing my whistle as per, and the light blue keeper (who is skipper's brother) runs 40 yards to join in.

From there it descends into a melee and I'm gone - there are three groups of punching, kicking players, it's dpilt onto the sidelines. At the point in which there are more than 4-5 reds, the match is always abandoned IMO. HOWEVER, it's added time. So do I misconduct it as a match abandonment (league decided to uphold the result as though a final whistle, when I said that there was a minute to play) or as a melee? I don't have half the names as I wasn't hanging about, and no team sheets.

As it was, I started to walk back to the changing rooms. Next thing I know I hear a shout and turn to the light blue keeper running full pelt at me and pushing me straight over. He gets dragged away, and players from dark blue and the pitch next door to mine shepherd me to one side, and stop him from coming at me again.

So that was fun. Plenty of paperwork.
 
The Referee Store
@Padfoot - uncalled for.

We are a community of referees, we support each other. We do not attack each other without provocation.
 
@Padfoot at no point did I state I was above anyone. If you look over the thread in question at all points I was civil in disagreement, accepting other's points of view and accepting my own faults. And you know what? That thread has helped me by making me think (slightly) more conservatively, and hopefully made others on here more secure in their beliefs or think about things.

But that's beside the point. If like some advice...
 
Sounds like a tough match.

The only part I'm not sure about is the part where you had a word with someone who applauded a caution for match control? How blatent was it? It doesn't sound like you had much match control.

Maybe just one of them days. Games like this make you a better referee.

Hope you weren't injured from the push and get back on the saddle next weekend!
 
Just make sure you nail those reports for the push.

Sounds a nightmare game but you really should have sent the clapping player off IMO. If he was silly enough to show dissent after already being booked... And for me sarcastic clapping is about as nailed on dissent as you can get
 
A few thoughts...

1) This is an abandonment. If you havent already blown then it's always an abandonment. If you ever get the chance to blow up before it kicks off then do so, but otherwise go with it as an abandonment. This also helps you out with (rightly and understandably) not having full player details.
2) I agree with not doing a three card trick for the applauding player. He's got his yellow, and for me this is all part of the same incident. its impirtant to differentiate between frustration and dissent. Making it clear to him and his skipper that he's on borrowed time is right, and as you say, it worked.
3) Reading it as it's written i wonder if there might be something you've missed after this point though. For things to go downhill in the way you describe makes me wonder if there's a foul you've missed or called the wrong way, or whether there was a yc or rc that you missed, or maybe just whether you were still looking for advantages, or giving players the benefit of the doubt? There's something that's happened that meant by 90+ mins the players weren't listening. You seem like someone who works hard at reflecting on your games so give this some thought and see if you can work it out. If you can't then chances are they were just 22 d***heads!

Something that has worked well for me is "10 minute refereeing": change your tolerance level if things are getting tasty and kill the game. Once all the players are hacked off with you for a stop start game they stop being hacked off with each other and you can start to relax.
 
Sorry to hear about your experience. I've been pushed around a few times, but not that violently, fortunately.
First question - abandonment or final whistle? Screw them - it's an abandonment.
Sure, there's something to be said for minimising your stoppage time in certain circumstances, but IMO if you intended on playing further and the match erupted like that, abandonment (and not a coincidental final whistle) is the correct decision. Ultimately it only affects the reporting of the match, and the league can decide if they care that the match was abandoned in stoppage time.

I'm going to echo RefSheff's sentiments - when a game has gone this way, it's always good to reflect. I absolutely don't believe a match getting out of control necessarily points to the ref - players are responsible for their own actions, but it's worth looking back over it. It's called a 'Moment of Truth' - a pivotal moment that defined the match. It's easy to look at the first violent incident, or the first red card as that. But often it's more innocuous - it may be a comment by a player earlier on that may have influenced players around him, or a tackle that was missed or harshly called. Maybe there wasn't any more you could have done - but it's just food for thought.

As for the clapping - I think it sounds like you made the right decision, but I'm probably not the best with match control in these sorts of matches. Tough one.

I wonder if it would have been worth speaking to the captains at any point? Or if there was anything you could have done to slow the match down, if that would have been effective (or just made it worse)...

Echoing the above post, I've used 10 minute refereeing in the past - but sometimes I find that getting more involved just inflames the situation. Then I've noticed that the professional referees (at least in Australia) seem to step back if anything when the match gets heated, rather than get more involved - maybe the idea is that players at that level will get sick of hacking each other to bits. The catch-22 with '10 minute refereeing' is that it makes the referee more of the centre of attention.
 
People, a referee has been assaulted. Should we not offer some support BEFORE the "you should have done this...."?

100% abandonment. Sorry to here about this shocking behaviour, if you'd given 37 penalties in the match you still wouldn't deserve this.
To me they sound like a bunch of scumbags and this type of incident was always gonna happen.
As for the final incident. Send in a YC and a RC for dark blue 7. A RC for the stamper and anyone you saw commit VC.
A YC and misconduct report for light blue keeper.
And any other yellow card for any player so much as farting in another players direction once it kicked off (Get the clapper in there if you can). It doesn't matter that no cards were shown nor were the players informed, that was impractical. Absolutely hammer them!!
For future reference, with the way this match was going I'd be blowing for a free kick whenever players came within a yard of each other. Cautioning anything that even remotely resembled dissent/USB. Kill the match off completely. The player will hate it and you, but they had the chance to play football, they weren't interested.

Get that misconduct report on the blue keeper water tight. Don't want to see that little t**t on a pitch for a long time. I would also be going to a police station, but understand if you'd rather not.
I personally would bend over backwards to make things as bad as possible for scum like this.
Finally make sure the league, county and RA (if you're a member) know about this ASAP.
I remember an excellent read on "what to do if you're assaulted" on the RA forum. Perhaps Brian Hamilton or PaulPinner can recall where it was from?
 
Tough day at the office!

Hopefully you're ok after your game. I've never been assaulted but friends have and just be aware of how it might affect your games for the next few weeks. If you're a member of the RA, advise them this morning of your assault and get some support from them. Also phone your RDO for support.

Some thoughts on this one. In the past I have sent off a player for clapping after receiving his original caution. I've also seen L4s do the same while being assessed. It was the right thing to do in the circumstances. In your game it might not have been the right thing to do. You were there and only you can say whether it worked or didn't. He went shortly afterwards so maybe it didn't.

If the game tempo rises the way you describe the most effective method of control is to slow things down. Blow for everything and almost everyone receives some form of obvious chat. Often players will moan that it's not all about you referee at this stage but they need to know who is controlling the game.

On the matter of added time, sometimes we kid ourselves we can control this type of game and try to ride it out. Sometimes you finish the game bang on 45 minutes. After that game, I would have taken my time over leaving the field. I would have stood alone, watching the players and most of all, kept watching the losing team. It's time for the Spidey sense to kick in. Raise your awareness of your surroundings and the players in your vicinity. Don't turn your back on any group. Then make your safe exit, staying close to a group of the non-aggrieved players.

Most important of all ... get back out there next week and don't let THEM win.
 
CapnBloodbeard said:
'Moment of Truth' - a pivotal moment that defined the match.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys. There were two, IMHO, involving the same Light Blue Skipper (the stamper at the end). The first a hefty challenge that I played advantage for (see everyone's comments about killing the game, but at this point [65 minutes in] I've simply had the straight red for dissent and the two penalties) which resulted in a booking for dissent for a CB and the skipper and he moaning at me. Then the second yellow/red, again as the skipper was in the vicinity of the challlenge and thought it had gone the other way. He lost it there and then, you could tell, but there was no way of calming him down (I tried).

As a result, one dodgy tackle and he creates the MC with his stamp. The fact the three of those players on his team were his brothers really didn't help the situation.

All kinds of paper work.
 
As with everybody else, I hope that you are OK after it and will continue next week.

Apart from the individual misconduct reports you will be submitting, I would also report both teams for "failing to control their players" for the melee. The FA will be keen to get this report as it then can do the clubs as well as the individuals.

As you did not finish the game, regardless of how few seconds were left, it is an abandonment. The league will take a view on whether the result stands, it is replayed, etc. They will also probably deduct both clubs 3 points for the melee (as it seems they were equally guilty). While the league cannot fine, points deductions are within their scope of punishments.
The league may also be able to cancel his resignation with that league.

I would also recommend that the assult is recorded with the police. Whether you want to progress is a different matter, but if he does assult another referee they have a charge on file. If has been a previous bad boy, this could be what they want to do him. You don't ever to be the referee he assults next and realise that somebody did not take the necessary action.
 
Mild bumpety bump.

I got a text from the referee's secretary of the league this happened in yesterday informing me that the player had only got a three match ban for pushing me over. I rang him up in disbelief (which he mirrored down the othe end of the phone). Cue a slightly angry phone call to the county today, who wold me he only got done for punching the other player.

I asked them what the hell was going on and told them that if they didn't punish it they'd have one less referee. Turns out that the new Whole Game System lost the misconduct report. Useful that. Waiting on an email as to what is happening now.
 
Ridiculous. Hang tough mate and hopefully this will all be sorted out PROPERLY by your county when the facts become clear.
 
That's poor. You've been assaulted for the love of God, hope you keep on going. Don't fret about controlling animals like that - you clearly tried your utmost best and sometimes that's still not enough for the Sunday thugs out there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top