A&H

Junior/Youth Advice please

This Green No 8, regardless of his age is flouting 3 aspects of the LOTG, all 3 of which are cautionable.

1. Failing to respect the required distance....
2. Delaying the restart of play......
3. Unsporting behaviour......

Nail it next time, straight away. (No need for cards).

"Number 8, the next time I see you stand over that ball after I've given a free kick - you will be cautioned. Stop it now. Last warning."

Of course, you'll have to stick by your guns and issue the yellow if/when he does it again, but when he or his coach bleats about it - just quote what's written above. Like DaveMac said earlier, it's primarily about educating youngsters first in this instance. :)
 
The Referee Store
At this young age, I'd be warning him straight away. Second one, I'd be warning him then having a word with the coach, and tell him the next one is a card. It's not really the kid's fault - I bet his parents have told him to do that because they mistakenly believe the referee has to tell him where to stand. But this is blatant misconduct and must be stamped out. Sometimes showing a card is doing these kids a favour (in Australia, U/10 and above is where 11-a-side, hence 'full laws' (save short corner/GK modifications) begins. My first card was to an u/10 player, but that was after multiple warnings.

After the first warning you can try to proactively manage it - if you see him approaching, tell him immediately to stay away. If he keeps trying, I'd still be having a word with the coach and at some point just let him do it and book him. Because if he's that persistent, he's going to do it to the next team, and so forth - and it may be some time before he comes across another referee with the wisdom to do the right thing and book him.

davidbartlam said:
If the referee hasn't paced out the permitted distance, then of course he's entitled to ask "where too, Ref?". That's a no brainier, just like the attacking team can ask. That's what I'm getting at by saying he can ask. How many players do you ever see pacing out for a free kick?!? Regardless of age.
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Click to expand...
No, but you don't get to stand right in front of the ball, or 2-3 yards away then claim you're not blocking the kick because the referee hasn't told you where to stand. The player has the obligation to retire 10 yards. If he's 2 yards from the ball and making no effort to retreat and the ball is kicked into him, that's a card. You're getting sucked in here.

They can ask, but they still have the obligation to make a reasonable attempt to retire 10 yards. For some reason a lot of defenders think they're genuinely allowed to stand wherever they like until the referee tells them otherwise. I've booked players for standing on the ball and they've responded with 'but you have to tell us where to stand!' 'I don't know where 10 yards is!'
my response: 'you're seriously telling me you think 10 yards is from me to you away?? That goal must be 200 metres wide then!!'
 
I think I may have been misunderstood, that's the issue with text.. I was saying that a player is more than entitled to ask where 10 yards is as he's retreating... For example, a friend of mine's ten yards is ten paces... My 10 yards is 11 paces... A childs I would expect to be more.

So, whistle blows, kid stands over the ball (which he shouldn't, but as players we do it), Ref tells him to get back, which he does... He then ask's where the ten yards is. This is assuming that the quick free kick hasn't been taken.
 
Yes....but that doesn't give him an excuse for standing over the ball to start with. You're right that different people will have different ideas of 10 yards. But it's clearly not 6 inches from the ball.
 
It's a tactic that we use as players, you see it at every level. There's no getting away from the fact that happens, referee's just have to stamp on it as soon as it occurs
 
U10s player, chances are he's seen it on TV and been instructed to do it by his manager.

My nearly 13 year old son has been training with and playing for a team since he was 6. Watching (and refereeing) his matches over the years, lost count of the amount of times I hear managers shout to a player "stand over/on the ball" after giving away a free kick.

During one of my last games of the year, felt quite satisfying putting a player and more so his manager in their place. Player gives away free kick, manager shouts over "stand on the ball", I was in close proximity and immediately said to the player, loud enough for his manager and everyone else to hear, "Don't even think about it, 10 yards please". No repeat calls and didn't have to ask/tell again for the remainder of the game, job done! :D
 
Sorry guys I think my post was a bit aggressive earlier, I just wanted @steamydaz1966 to make sure he knew that he doesn't have to caution early for this at this level and that a word with the player and then the coach is probably a better idea before brandishing cards out which really doesn't go down well at youth soccer :)

Now the thread's expanded we've got more different opinions on this showing some ways of dealing with it

Next time I'm sure you'll be more comfortable with what to do to avoid him repeating it.
 
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