A&H

Abandoned Game

R

refeire

Active Member
Here's one: U18 game

The away team arrive late requesting to start late, their GK requests to wear a random black nike jersey claiming to not have any GK jersey. I got them going as soon as I could and insisted their GK wore a GK jersey (which then miraculously appeared from the kit bag). The team clearly had the hump with me before the game starts because I wouldn't let them do whatever they wanted - even though I did agree to allow them time for a quick warm up.

Then in the 44th minute the ball went out for a throw in on the side of the pitch with the away team. The away #6 aggressively pushed a home player on the touch line in a manner to start a fight. I blew the whistle and asked the #6 to come to me (I was sending him off for violent conduct). A physical altercation flared up on the spot and it became a melee of about 10 players. The home and away coaches both ran on to the pitch. I blew my whistle and took about 8 steps back. I ordered the home team players to stand to one side and the away to stand to the other side. The players then all came up to me instead protesting, nobody was following any instructions, I repeated myself endlessly for them to go away.

The away GK (the jersey kid) had ran 40 yards up to this incident to rock the boat even further. I ordered him back to his goal - he refused and swore at me, I issued him a red card on the spot -> both sets of players then came up to me protesting as to why I had sent him off. The 2 away coaches about 10 yards away were making it worse. Personal insults towards me were flying in from all directions, I don't even know who said what.

The red carded keeper refused to leave, egged on by his manager and teammates not to leave. Bare in mind #6 still had evaded me. I would have sent off 2 more players and the away coach. I stood there though and looked around me at everyone and the chaos, I did not see a game that could have continued safely. On this basis I blew the whistle, picked up the match ball and left.

A bit of my own reflection, I think I should have sent their coach away before any of this happened. He was foul before the 44th minute and he was the fuel that lit the fire for what eventually happened.
 
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The Referee Store
a lot to read, too much so.....the gk needs just be different frim the rest, does not have to be a gk jersey
" an aggressive push" does not sound like an act of brutality, thus, by that description, a red card for vc is incorrect,

more to follow....
 
Firstly hope you are ok!

Not going to comment on every single thing here but a few points jump out.

1) appreciate you had feedback around not going out all guns blazing - but you still need to referee what is in front of you. You've identified a clearly reckless challenge in the 15th minute so need to caution for it. If it's that obvious it's reckless then into the book they go. It's only really when you've got a tackle that is a toss up between a caution or not that you can then manage the situation.
2) Aggressive push into the chest - I'm guessing it's a "you have to be there" situation, however was the benchmark for VC met as per the LOTG? From what you've said, it feels like it should have been a caution only.
3) If you've got the keeper running 40 yards to aggravate a situation, they are not getting a warning, you reward them for their efforts with a caution.
4) Not sure on the whole ordering the players to stand to each side, it does nothing to enhance your credibility. You simply isolate the players in question and get on with the process. If you are getting mobbed by players, worth telling the captain to get their players away and if they don't then issue cautions for dissent to the players in question (which I guess at this level is a 10 minute sit down for them).

I would say critically speaking that clearly at least one of the teams was out of control and have to take responsibility for their behaviour. It's unsurprising that typically the worst behaved teams also tend to have problem managers as the players often take the lead from the manager.

However, it's worth also honestly deconstructing your own performance, what did you do well? What could you have done better? How could you have handled the specific flashpoints better? When the 44th minute push happened, how close were you to the situation? Could you have pre-empted it happening by being a bit more proactive? None of these are designed to make you feel bad about the situation, they are all good learning exercises which will help you grow and develop as a referee, so if you have a similar scenario again, you fall back on your experience to be able to handle it!
 
Anubis said:
a lot to read, too much so.....the gk needs just be different frim the rest, does not have to be a gk jersey
" an aggressive push" does not sound like an act of brutality, thus, by that description, a red card for vc is incorrect,

more to follow....
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The point re the goalkeeper is that he wanted to wear black, which in many countries/competifions is not allowed.
 
Regarding the jersey, yes it was a side issue. I could tell he was lying to me, the fact he didn't even ask me, he told me he was going to be wearing this Nike jersey. I smelt a rat and I ended up being right, they did have a proper jersey.
Justylove said:
Firstly hope you are ok!

Not going to comment on every single thing here but a few points jump out.

1) appreciate you had feedback around not going out all guns blazing - but you still need to referee what is in front of you. You've identified a clearly reckless challenge in the 15th minute so need to caution for it. If it's that obvious it's reckless then into the book they go. It's only really when you've got a tackle that is a toss up between a caution or not that you can then manage the situation.
2) Aggressive push into the chest - I'm guessing it's a "you have to be there" situation, however was the benchmark for VC met as per the LOTG? From what you've said, it feels like it should have been a caution only.
3) If you've got the keeper running 40 yards to aggravate a situation, they are not getting a warning, you reward them for their efforts with a caution.
4) Not sure on the whole ordering the players to stand to each side, it does nothing to enhance your credibility. You simply isolate the players in question and get on with the process. If you are getting mobbed by players, worth telling the captain to get their players away and if they don't then issue cautions for dissent to the players in question (which I guess at this level is a 10 minute sit down for them).

I would say critically speaking that clearly at least one of the teams was out of control and have to take responsibility for their behaviour. It's unsurprising that typically the worst behaved teams also tend to have problem managers as the players often take the lead from the manager.

However, it's worth also honestly deconstructing your own performance, what did you do well? What could you have done better? How could you have handled the specific flashpoints better? When the 44th minute push happened, how close were you to the situation? Could you have pre-empted it happening by being a bit more proactive? None of these are designed to make you feel bad about the situation, they are all good learning exercises which will help you grow and develop as a referee, so if you have a similar scenario again, you fall back on your experience to be able to handle it!
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Points 1 and 3 are taken, thank you. Point 2, yes you are correct, you probably had to be there. It was violent and it lit the match to the melee, he started a fight, followed the push by grabbing the neck etc. IMO it was met, if others have different ideas please do let me know. On point 4, initially I did call for #6, i wanted him to come to me alone to issue the sanction. The melee broke out before this happened though, and he was refusing to come to me anyway, his team mates surrounded me instead. I ordered them away. They didn't comply.

I was not more than 10 yards from the initial action that led to this, I had a prime view of everything.

There are no sinbins in this league, I referee in Ireland - it may be a country thing. The FAI don't do sinbins
 
@refeire - I trust you are OK. Completely the right decision to abandon.
The only point about the Goalkeepers top - was the match in England under normal rules? If so, black tops are automatically banned by SCOR, so you should report the club to the league for trying to play under banned colours.

refeire said:
The red carded keeper refused to leave, egged on by his manager and teammates not to leave. Bare in mind #6 still had evaded me. I would have sent off 2 more players and the away coach.
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Even though you have not shown the RC to the other players and the coach, report them to the CFA as an extraordinary incident. The CFA will decide if to issue as dismissal, with all the fun that will create for the club.

A other piece of fun you can have with the club / coach - report them to the CFA Safeguarding officer. A coach in charge of U18's has responsibilities - the SO can make his life interesting (and particular so, if he has jobs of working with Minors in general).
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. I am totally fine, I will be filing my match report today and including as much detail as possible. I just hate abandoning games, I feel like it's a blemish on my record. I hope to pickup tips to prevent getting into the position where I'm left with no option but to abandon.

The home team assistant actually came up to me after it all and apologised on behalf of the away team. His father actually is a referee who was physically attacked last year so he could sympathise!
 
re-read it, struggling to understand why the game was abandoned
6 to be ( sounds like wrongly but had to be there)) sent off for vc
gk to be sent off for foul abusive
2 more to be sent off, plus a coach.

course had to be there but quotes like, ordered the gk back to his goals, sounds good in principle but the gk can stand wherever the like! if they run to get involved in a mass con in a negative way, they are an easy card due to where one would expect them normally to be, but, long as a team has a gk, and the gk is in ien half at starts of game/ht and restarts followimg goals scored, all bets are off

that said, a mass con, operating alone, is a thankless task


So, carry that out, thats you dealt with the indiscipline, restart ( unless simply blowing for ht) with the original throw.
 
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Anubis said:
re-read it, struggling to understand why the game was abandoned
6 to be ( sounds like wrongly) sent off for vc
gk to be sent off for foul abusive
2 more to be sent off, plus a coach. So, carry that out, thats you dealt with the indiscipline, restart ( unless simply blowing for ht) with the original throw.
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I abandoned because an uncontrollable melee broke out that was unsafe and was aggravated by nobody complying with any instructions. If it was the case the players in question actually came up to me as requested and allowed me to sanction there would have been no abandonment. They were staying on the pitch though avoiding coming to me and trying to create as much trouble as they could.

I didn't abandon during the initial melee, I had in my mind who I was sending off as a result of it. It was their behavior afterwards and refusal to comply, combined with the melee that made me decide overall this is no longer safe. How can I guarantee player safety when a melee breaks out and everyone refuses to comply with the consequences? It becomes a free for all

As for #6, the LOTG on the FA site state: "Violent conduct is when a player uses or attempts to use excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball"

This incident was off the ball and I saw that he used excessive force. Put it this way, I feel I'd have a harder time justifying keeping him on the field than sending him off.

Edit to add: The GK i sent off was the captain
 
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refeire said:
I abandoned because an uncontrollable melee broke out that was unsafe. It would only have gotten worse too. This was aggravated by nobody complying with any instructions. If it was the case the players in question actually came up to me as requested and allowed me to sanction there would have been no abandonment. They were staying on the pitch though avoiding coming to me and trying to create as much trouble as they could.

As for #6, the LOTG on the FA site state: "Violent conduct is when a player uses or attempts to use excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball"

This incident was off the ball and I saw that he used excessive force. Put it this way, I feel I'd have a harder time justifying keeping him on the field than sending him off.
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re the vc, you were the one there, an aggressive push, by definition, is, aggressive, not violent.
If however the incident was brutality and not aggression, then a red card is justified.

the players and coaches are not robots or pets, of course they wont simply bark or roll when you say so. Its the skill, experience, tact and man management of the referee which determines how they will react, simply standing there blowing a whistle does not equate to Moses parting the sea. You need to be proactive, brave, use every tool in your locker, adapt to whats in friont of you.

if the reason for abandoning is, " nobody was complying with my instructions", thats very different to fearing for your, or the players safety.

these mass brawls die down, nobody can plan for them, there is no one size fits all, operating alone, see what you can, keep in mind what you are doing and to who, if you feel confident to put out small fires then do so, time is a great healer, buy yourself as much as you can, be the duck, ( under the water flapping like mad, on the surface, calm and dignified), be firm and clear in what you do next, not just a flash card, but " 6, red card, violent conduct, btw your actions started this brawl"
" gk, red card foul and abusive, i understand emotions run high but you cannot speak to the referee like that"

firm, assertive, controlled, be the one to keep the head when all around are losing theirs.

it does not sound like safety was an issue here, more an ( understandable) fustration on the referees part. Which am sorry to say is no reason to call off a game.
 
refeire said:
I just hate abandoning games, I feel like it's a blemish on my record.
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Don't worry about it, some games just go that way.

I had one with two newly formed teams once, and they just went into a mass melee that ended with five or so red cards, kung fu kicks were flying in, elbows, everything.

I ended it on the spot and went home. Retired Army Vet watching the game said he would have done the same thing, you just can't manage some disgraceful behaviour.

U18's has a bad rep for coaches/parents aggravating things. As already said, write up the reports, and I would also suggest reaching out to your referee's development officer for advice and support going forward, especially if you're young/new as they can give a lot of help if they're pretty hands on.
 
Anubis said:
The LOTG trump this tho. As we already know.
Anyway thats merely a side issie.
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The LOTG require players to wear colours which distinguish them from match officials, so in competitions where the referee has to wear black the goalkeeper can't. Competition rules usually reinforce that requirement.
 
ChasObserverRefDeveloper said:
The LOTG require players to wear colours which distinguish them from match officials, so in competitions where the referee has to wear black the goalkeeper can't. Competition rules usually reinforce that requirement.
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bigger issues at hand here, maybe start a seperate thread for that point
 
Some interesting stuff in the OP
It all seemed to go pear shaped with that initial exchange with the GK before a ball was kicked. That moment seeded the later carnage, perhaps the seed was watered if reckless play was not dealt with early in the game
Personally, despite the law of the land, I doubt I'd take issue with the keeper wearing black. I've allowed it in the past. It's so difficult, but I tend to pick and chose only the fights I need to turn up to
Also interesting that @refeire felt like the abandonment was a blemish on his record. What an impossible life we Referees have set ourselves!
Gotta say, I'd probably feel the same way because it's easy for the rest of us to pass judgement when it wasn't us in the middle of it (literally)
FWIW, there was absolutely no choice but to abandon, going by the description of the 'end game'
 
Anubis said:
The LOTG trump this tho. As we already know.
Anyway thats merely a side issie.
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Not in England at grass roots they don't. Standard Code of Rules, that all leagues have to sign up to, state that no one other than the match officials can wear black shirts.
 
Just to clarify the initial OP. When I said I got them to stand to separate sides, I mean that when they had all grouped up to me yelling. It so happened most red players were on my right and most white players were on my left. I was blowing the whistle and saying "everyone away, number 6 over here please". It wasn't that i was trying to order them about like they were 5 yr olds, it was more about how it had happened and I was telling them to go back in their respective directions whilst stepping back and asking number 6 to come over.

I value all criticism, it's the only way I will be able to improve my game. Having explained the situation to my league observer, his opinion was that abandoning was correct. However he added I can improve by preventing such situations arriving to begin with .. i.e. dealing with the managers.

Thank you for everyone for the constructive feedback, I really do value all of your opinions. I must take every lesson I can.
 
I assume you are a reasonably new referee, and these things are never easy to deal with even for vastly experienced referees.

Just make sure that your report is clear, concise, and identifies anyone that you would have shown a red card to had you not abandoned. Anubis is being unfairly harsh on you with his comments in my opinion so I'd suggest you ignore those, you are the man on the spot so you and you alone know whether it would be safe or sensible to restart the game.
 
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