Hello everyone. I had a very intimidating U15s game yesterday, where I felt the manager and mainly linesman were using bullying behaviour towards, I think mostly because of my age. Please help me - i don’t know what I should do next (if I need to) - submit a match report etc? Btw I am 16 yrs old so I was only reffing 2 years below me.
One incident in particular caused a lot of disagreement. I had already blown the whistle for a handball. About one second after the whistle, an opposition player ran towards the ball, which had gone up into the air, and jumped to contest it with the player underneath. The contact looked to me like two players naturally competing for a header. I didn’t see an elbow or any deliberate attempt to hit the player, and the contact appeared accidental. The player underneath went down and held his head, so I immediately stopped everything and checked that he was okay.
The linesman from the other team then came over to me and said, “What are you going to do about that, ref? Are you just going to ignore the fact that you just got elbowed in the head?” I’m a very aggressive intimidating tone. I explained that I didn’t believe it was an elbow, that the player had simply been attempting to contest the ball in the air, and importantly that I had already blown the whistle approximately a second before the contact occurred. I told him that was why I had stopped play and was checking the player’s welfare rather than taking further action for the contact.
He continued questioning me, saying that I was there for the players’ safety and asking whether I was just going to ignore what had happened. I repeated my explanation and allowed the manager (from the same team as the lino) to come onto the pitch to check the player. The manager then also became involved, questioning what I was going to do and telling me to watch what the players on the other team were saying. I told him I was watching everything and eventually the situation settled and the free kick was taken.
After the match, the same linesman initially thanked me but then turned back and said there were three challenges I should have given and that I “needed to really reflect on that.” He said this in a very intimidating bullying way. I said that I appreciated his opinion but could only give what I saw.
Interestingly, the manager from his own team later came over and said that the linesman was being unreasonable**.”** The other team’s assistant/linesman also independently told me that he thought I had done “absolutely brilliantly,” told me not to listen to the other linesman, and called him a “*****.” He said I had done really well and that the other linesman’s behaviour was not something I should take notice of.
A few parents from both sides also thanked me afterwards.
I didn’t want to explain everything that happened, as there are several different disputes that occurred, but I know no one will read everything. However, If you do want to hear the rest of what happened, I would be so so thankful!
Please let me know whether I should do any reports etc.
One incident in particular caused a lot of disagreement. I had already blown the whistle for a handball. About one second after the whistle, an opposition player ran towards the ball, which had gone up into the air, and jumped to contest it with the player underneath. The contact looked to me like two players naturally competing for a header. I didn’t see an elbow or any deliberate attempt to hit the player, and the contact appeared accidental. The player underneath went down and held his head, so I immediately stopped everything and checked that he was okay.
The linesman from the other team then came over to me and said, “What are you going to do about that, ref? Are you just going to ignore the fact that you just got elbowed in the head?” I’m a very aggressive intimidating tone. I explained that I didn’t believe it was an elbow, that the player had simply been attempting to contest the ball in the air, and importantly that I had already blown the whistle approximately a second before the contact occurred. I told him that was why I had stopped play and was checking the player’s welfare rather than taking further action for the contact.
He continued questioning me, saying that I was there for the players’ safety and asking whether I was just going to ignore what had happened. I repeated my explanation and allowed the manager (from the same team as the lino) to come onto the pitch to check the player. The manager then also became involved, questioning what I was going to do and telling me to watch what the players on the other team were saying. I told him I was watching everything and eventually the situation settled and the free kick was taken.
After the match, the same linesman initially thanked me but then turned back and said there were three challenges I should have given and that I “needed to really reflect on that.” He said this in a very intimidating bullying way. I said that I appreciated his opinion but could only give what I saw.
Interestingly, the manager from his own team later came over and said that the linesman was being unreasonable**.”** The other team’s assistant/linesman also independently told me that he thought I had done “absolutely brilliantly,” told me not to listen to the other linesman, and called him a “*****.” He said I had done really well and that the other linesman’s behaviour was not something I should take notice of.
A few parents from both sides also thanked me afterwards.
I didn’t want to explain everything that happened, as there are several different disputes that occurred, but I know no one will read everything. However, If you do want to hear the rest of what happened, I would be so so thankful!
Please let me know whether I should do any reports etc.
