A&H

Coin Toss - YOUTH Games

The Referee Store
I had a captain win the toss, decide to choose ends, and kept the same end.
Which is potentially a completely logical choice (depending on the reason they chose it). Often there's a perceived advantage to be kicking in a particular direction in the second half - either because of a slope, the wind direction, effects of a setting sun or to be attacking towards your home fans' end.

And the only way to guarantee that is to choose the side you want in the first half, whether it's the side you're already on or not.
 
So far this season. (Only just started our season here in Australia.) 8 calls of heads, one of tails.

Will keep a running total for the year.
 
Serious question, now that ifab are getting a little pedantic about this, do we actually have to flip a 'flat disc used as money' to comply. For example the FIFA fair play disc is technically not a coin.
😆 Must be legal tender - I will confiscate all ha'pennies used by referees in my association
 
I've NEVER (not even a U5 rec game) seen teams NOT switch sides at half time. For the coin toss, I like to be clearer than most because I find kids to be confused when a referee just says...."Side or Ball" or even "Pick an end". The kids are always like "what?" Are the kids assumed to know that you are asking which side to "attack" or are you asking them which side to "defend" or something else? So I ask what the law says, "Would you like to choose which goal you would like to attack in the first half or would you like to Kick Off instead?" It's very clear to the kids. When doing the coin toss, if there is NOT a HEAD on the coin, I don't ask them to pick "heads or tails". So many refs have these commemorative type coins with a some logo on one side and something else on the other. They'll say...OK, this picture of the Capitol Building (or something) is Heads and this picture of the Statue of Liberty (or something) is tails. The ref flips the coin and no one remembers what the hell the ref said was heads and what was tails...including me. The kids have no idea if they won the toss or not. They just take the referee's word for it. If I have a "real" coin with a head/face on one side, then I will ask "heads or tails". Otherwise, I will say..."Black or Gold" or "Red or Silver", because they are the coins I have an like to use. I understand that there can be color blindness issues but I haven't had that yet. I just ask if everyone can see that this side is "Red" and this side is "Gold". I also have a 50 cent piece as well that actually has a head on it so, if I use it, I will ask "Heads or Tails". Lastly, once I did a game and the center referee did the toss. One team won. And he asked, Ball or Side". They captain choose, side. He said to the team that did not win the toss "OK, you will be kicking off this way". The captain of the team that lost the flip said, we don't want to kick off first. So the center referee asked the winning team if they wanted to kick off first as well and they did, so the ref gave the KO to the team that won the toss and picked the side. I was like....what did I just see. : )
Qué?
 
In my very first game (U13) I called the captains in and the team that lost the toss chose to switch ends. Cue exasperated groans from every player and coach, I never knew walking 20 metres to swap sides was such an inconvenience. Did make me chuckle I don't think the captain really had a reason for it.
 
U14s girls game last night.
winner of the coin toss chose to swap sides
 
In my very first game (U13) I called the captains in and the team that lost the toss chose to switch ends. Cue exasperated groans from every player and coach, I never knew walking 20 metres to swap sides was such an inconvenience. Did make me chuckle I don't think the captain really had a reason for it.

Did his team win?
 
Just for the record in the over 100 Games that I've watched, I've never seen an U11 team switch sides, no matter the weather!!
To cover this (late, I know), coaches sometimes tell their captains what end to pick to keep the sun or pitch in favour, so it's best to make sure they have the option, to avoid confusion for any players or coaches
 
I also coach an U12's team, and as our home pitch has quite a large slope, I ask my skipper to always play uphill first as I would rather we were playing downhill in the 2nd half when the legs are tiring. It's annoying if the ref asks my skipper if he would rather kick off instead.
 
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