Padfoot
The Persecuted One
There is definitely a safeguarding issue here, irregardless of the size of the pitch and whatever the league or the LOTG says.
If the pitch is indeed way too big then hopefully it can be managed by roll on/roll off subs at that age, although we have to remember that we are dealing with children here, and relatively young ones at that. I agree with @Padfoot in that many coaches can be over protective but as a referee if there is a genuine concern in my mind that the pitch is too large for young players than I wouldn't continue. Safety of children is absolutely paramount, no ifs no buts. Even though it's unlikely that a child is going to run themselves into the ground and collapse, the danger is if we ignore the coaches/parents/whoever's concerns and follow the lines of 'the league says it's ok so on we go' and something does happen then obviously that's a serious problem.
Don't even know what i'm really trying to say here, i'm waffling, I suppose we need to just remember that if we are dealing with children then we have a duty of care for their well-being first and foremost and not for getting a final result out of the match. Sounds you dealt with it well though!
If the coach has a concern over one of his players....he can sub them...not our job to manage his team for him kids or not.
The only time I would refuse to allow player to continue would be a potential concussion, or other serious injury.
Had you refused to continue the game due to the coaches concerns over the pitch size, you would be wrong and make yourself look stupid when it was confirmed as perfectly legal size.
You should be able to tell just by looking whether a pitch is too big or too small within a few yards.....if in doubt pace it out as part of your warm up!
