I had a youth (U18) game today. It was quite a feisty, close game that ended 1-1. It had four yellows and one red - and I'm not a card happy referee by any means.
It is the red card incident I would like to share for clarity. I'd like to see what users on here would have done.
Late in the first half, there has been one bad tackle in the game so far. Player A is fouled. It is a foul, nothing more. He reacts by squaring up and pushing Player B so I am whistling furiously. I am five yards away btw.
Player A then shouts loudly (enough for everyone on pitch and in dugouts, which were right by the incident too, to hear): "F*ck off, you c*nt" at Player B right in his face. From what I had heard and seen, this was purely in reaction to the tackle, which I had given a foul for anyway.
Obviously you can only give what you see and hear so I sent Player A off for foul and abusive language. To which, their management erupt.
They later claimed at FT the red was harsh and that there was lots of swearing during the game and I was "listening to a different game". There were one or two times a player would swear in frustration after missing a shot or unhappy with a pass etc but nothing abusive AT anyone else. I have always been told not to caution or red card for this because it is in frustration. Does anyone manage them types of situations differently?
I also had a spectator say at the end they were unhappy with the amount of swearing (in frustration) in the game and that there were children and women nearby and watching and I needed to do more to stamp this out but as I say the only FOUL and ABUSIVE language I heard was the Player A incident.
So was I too harsh? What would have you done? Thanks
It is the red card incident I would like to share for clarity. I'd like to see what users on here would have done.
Late in the first half, there has been one bad tackle in the game so far. Player A is fouled. It is a foul, nothing more. He reacts by squaring up and pushing Player B so I am whistling furiously. I am five yards away btw.
Player A then shouts loudly (enough for everyone on pitch and in dugouts, which were right by the incident too, to hear): "F*ck off, you c*nt" at Player B right in his face. From what I had heard and seen, this was purely in reaction to the tackle, which I had given a foul for anyway.
Obviously you can only give what you see and hear so I sent Player A off for foul and abusive language. To which, their management erupt.
They later claimed at FT the red was harsh and that there was lots of swearing during the game and I was "listening to a different game". There were one or two times a player would swear in frustration after missing a shot or unhappy with a pass etc but nothing abusive AT anyone else. I have always been told not to caution or red card for this because it is in frustration. Does anyone manage them types of situations differently?
I also had a spectator say at the end they were unhappy with the amount of swearing (in frustration) in the game and that there were children and women nearby and watching and I needed to do more to stamp this out but as I say the only FOUL and ABUSIVE language I heard was the Player A incident.
So was I too harsh? What would have you done? Thanks