After completing the basic course last week (run by the excellent @ChasObserverRefDeveloper ) I finally had my first game this weekend after a couple of false starts due to weather.
U13s game in a decent standard league, 2 mid table teams. On the whole I was happy with it, wasn't helped by the appointments sec giving me the wrong ground meaning I turned up 5 mins before KO and out of breath but got myself together for the start.
The match finished 0-0 without major incident, coaches were full of praise at the end. A couple of penalty shouts but in each case I felt comfortable turning them down and was in a good position to do so. Started to get a little heated in the second half but I managed to marshal it through and a couple of quiet words avoided me needing to take any disciplinary action.
There were just a couple of things that happened during the game which were challenging:
- Firstly, red team striker, who I will simply call "Red 23", was clearly a little feisty throughout the game and I could see he had something of an attitude problem. When he wasn't moaning at his own players he was throwing himself to the floor in an attempt to win a free kick and looking exasperated as to why I wasn't pandering to his efforts. If he lost the ball he would frequently make an exaggerated effort to charge back straight into play and I could see there was a risk he was going to do something silly. I gave him a warning but at halftime one of the CARs came over and told me a player had said he had scratched him on the back (although assumed not deliberate). In the second half yellow team were frequently shouting to me off the ball things like "he just pushed me" and "he kicked me in the shin after I won the ball". Simply put I hadn't seen any of this because I was watching the play however I made it clear via a public rebuke that if I did see any of that I would be dealing with it appropriately. Luckily for me after this the red team started to get on top and so I think he calmed down a little because he was getting more of the ball and more chances.
- Secondly, and related, by the second half I was making an effort to "linger" on Red 23 whenever he was around the ball even after it had been played on. Unfortunately this came back to bite me because after a yellow player being challenged by 23 played what look like an innocuous pass into midfield I turn my head a little delayed to see the player lying on the ground clutching his head. I blew my whistle straight away to check he was alright (which he was) but I still have genuinely no idea what happened and how he ended up getting a boot to the head (I assume). Luckily the red team began retreating for a free kick and so it was easy to sell that however it just caught me out that one of the very few moments I didn't have my eyes directly looking at play all of a sudden I've missed what could have been an important decision.
Any advice on how to manage these situations appreciated. Still need to find the nack whereby I can keep my eye on problem players but also make sure to not miss anything important. I did think about cautioning Red 23 but was struggling to find a reason, the tackles which were fouls were only careless and there weren't enough in my book to warrant persistent infringement. Thought about aggressive attitude but then I was essentially relying on hearsay. Maybe I should have put him in the book for simulation but the 1 that could have justified it was a penalty shout and in terms of game management I didn't feel picking that hill to die on was the best approach, best to go with "I didn't see a foul" then "you tried to cheat" to avoid adding any controversy to what was essentially an uncontested decision.
Looking forward to the next one, hopefully this coming Sunday with a slightly older age group as I work my way up to OA football.
U13s game in a decent standard league, 2 mid table teams. On the whole I was happy with it, wasn't helped by the appointments sec giving me the wrong ground meaning I turned up 5 mins before KO and out of breath but got myself together for the start.
The match finished 0-0 without major incident, coaches were full of praise at the end. A couple of penalty shouts but in each case I felt comfortable turning them down and was in a good position to do so. Started to get a little heated in the second half but I managed to marshal it through and a couple of quiet words avoided me needing to take any disciplinary action.
There were just a couple of things that happened during the game which were challenging:
- Firstly, red team striker, who I will simply call "Red 23", was clearly a little feisty throughout the game and I could see he had something of an attitude problem. When he wasn't moaning at his own players he was throwing himself to the floor in an attempt to win a free kick and looking exasperated as to why I wasn't pandering to his efforts. If he lost the ball he would frequently make an exaggerated effort to charge back straight into play and I could see there was a risk he was going to do something silly. I gave him a warning but at halftime one of the CARs came over and told me a player had said he had scratched him on the back (although assumed not deliberate). In the second half yellow team were frequently shouting to me off the ball things like "he just pushed me" and "he kicked me in the shin after I won the ball". Simply put I hadn't seen any of this because I was watching the play however I made it clear via a public rebuke that if I did see any of that I would be dealing with it appropriately. Luckily for me after this the red team started to get on top and so I think he calmed down a little because he was getting more of the ball and more chances.
- Secondly, and related, by the second half I was making an effort to "linger" on Red 23 whenever he was around the ball even after it had been played on. Unfortunately this came back to bite me because after a yellow player being challenged by 23 played what look like an innocuous pass into midfield I turn my head a little delayed to see the player lying on the ground clutching his head. I blew my whistle straight away to check he was alright (which he was) but I still have genuinely no idea what happened and how he ended up getting a boot to the head (I assume). Luckily the red team began retreating for a free kick and so it was easy to sell that however it just caught me out that one of the very few moments I didn't have my eyes directly looking at play all of a sudden I've missed what could have been an important decision.
Any advice on how to manage these situations appreciated. Still need to find the nack whereby I can keep my eye on problem players but also make sure to not miss anything important. I did think about cautioning Red 23 but was struggling to find a reason, the tackles which were fouls were only careless and there weren't enough in my book to warrant persistent infringement. Thought about aggressive attitude but then I was essentially relying on hearsay. Maybe I should have put him in the book for simulation but the 1 that could have justified it was a penalty shout and in terms of game management I didn't feel picking that hill to die on was the best approach, best to go with "I didn't see a foul" then "you tried to cheat" to avoid adding any controversy to what was essentially an uncontested decision.
Looking forward to the next one, hopefully this coming Sunday with a slightly older age group as I work my way up to OA football.
