A&H

“Ref he’s a health and safety risk to me!”

Scottybee

Member
Level 7 Referee
U13’s today and during a break in play red player jogs past me and I hear his laces flapping - both boots undone. I suggest he does them up and he says no thanks, i then ask him if he wants to trip himself up and he says he’s not bothered. Blue player hearing this says “he’s a health and safety risk to me” I wave him away and we play on.

Thinking about it now should I have allowed this or said “do it now or get off my pitch”
What would you have done?
 
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IMHO, there is the stuff we don’t need to delve into. I’m not doing anythin more about unlaced shoelaces than telling the player in case he doesn’t know. Anything more is unnecessary. The opponent whining is playing head games.
 
IMHO, there is the stuff we don’t need to delve into. I’m not doing anythin more about unlaced shoelaces than telling the player in case he doesn’t know. Anything more is unnecessary. The opponent whining is playing head games.


At 12 yo! He be lucky if he knows his own name, far less mind games!
 
At 12 yo! He be lucky if he knows his own name, far less mind games!

Hmm. Are the players less sophisticated over there? ;) I’ve absolutely seen 12 year olds (and younger) trying to get opponents in trouble or do things just to irritate them. Far more likely in my experience than a 12 year old actually thinking someone else’s shoe not being tied was going to hurt him!
 
The only time I can imagine a 12 yo player saying, he is a health and safety issue to me, would be if the opponent's maw smelt

Not over a shoelace!
 
It's entirely up to you but if as the referee, you decide that the player's equipment poses a danger to either himself or others and he refuses to fix it when asked, you are empowered to require him to leave the field and not allow him to return until he has fixed the equipment to your satisfaction.

As the saying goes, it's, "Your match, your decision, your reputation" but I think @RobOda has a point when saying that the boot could easily come flying off - or the player could also trip over his own laces and come a cropper (I've stood on my own laces a time or two, though not in a football match).
 
Technically a player has to leave the FOP to correct equipment, but I guess you can use a bit of common sense on this one if you decide it needs to be corrected.
 
Technically a player has to leave the FOP to correct equipment, but I guess you can use a bit of common sense on this one if you decide it needs to be corrected.
Normally yes, but in this instance the referee has asked the player to correct the equipment and the player has refused to do so.
 
Normally yes, but in this instance the referee has asked the player to correct the equipment and the player has refused to do so.
Technically and in the spirit of the game, if I’ve paused the game to politely ask a player to tie their laces... and they say no...? They are gonna get an unpleasant response, ordered from the field with a yellow card. There’s gamesmanship and there’s being a rude t*unt. No problem to punish the latter according to the laws.
 
U13’s today and during a break in play red player jogs past me and I hear his laces flapping - both boots undone. I suggest he does them up and he says no thanks, i then ask him if he wants to trip himself up and he says he’s not bothered. Blue player hearing this says “he’s a health and safety risk to me” I wave him away and we play on.

Thinking about it now should I have allowed this or said “do it now or get off my pitch
What would you have done?
Your pitch?
If you've ever spoken to a player like that before, make sure you don't do it again. Be respectful. "My pitch" is just arrogant.


Moving forwards, pay no mind to the other player, none of his business. Having said that - I certainly don't want to be whipped by somebody's shoelaces, would you? So there is some impact on an opponent - but there's more risk to that player of being tripped by having his laces stepped on (and that might make it difficult for you - you might think it was foot-to-foot contact when it wasn't).
Also a higher risk of the boot coming.

It's a young player - at this point, hold up play, let him know that the laces need to be done up or he doesn't play - he can either quickly do them now or leave the field to do them.
Even if he protests, you should be able to manage this conversation without cards unless he starts getting smart.

If he repeats, then time to have a quick chat with the coach. And you don't need to approach it like a big issue "Coach, I know it probably seems like a little thing, but can you help me out here? I don't want to have to start making a big deal out of it, but he's likely to get tripped over, and I know they don't want to get whipped with laces or get hit in the head when his boot comes off"
 
I have used "my pitch" on many an occasion.

Not one size fits every shoe and on the extreme rare occasion a right walloper needs to be reminded in no uncertain terms who is in charge, it might just be the reminder that he needs.

You can never predict exactly what to say or not too in every situation. And sometimes we need to think outside the box.
 
Your pitch?
If you've ever spoken to a player like that before, make sure you don't do it again. Be respectful. "My pitch" is just arrogant.

No personally I’ve never verbalised it in that way on the pitch, same as I wouldn’t call a player or coach by his name if I knew it, just wouldn’t seem quite right, for me.
 
Your pitch?
If you've ever spoken to a player like that before, make sure you don't do it again. Be respectful. "My pitch" is just arrogant.

No personally I’ve never verbalised it in that way on the pitch, same as I wouldn’t call a player or coach by his name if I knew it, just wouldn’t seem quite right, for me.


Why would you not use someones name? This one always mystifies me !!
 
No personally I’ve never verbalised it in that way on the pitch, same as I wouldn’t call a player or coach by his name if I knew it, just wouldn’t seem quite right, for me.

I'd suggest the opposite: I think we do best when we bother to learn and remember the coaches' names. (I'm horrible with names so I don't always succeed on this.) We want to be seen as a person, not "the referee"--it's much easier for people to be rude and obnoxious to a position than a person. We should treat the coaches the same, as it make them more likely to treat us as people.

(Players can be more complicated, especially where we know one team and not the other and it could be perceived as familiarity/bias.)
 
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