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Ben448844

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Last 10 minutes of the game today, I send off one player for his 2nd yellow for dissent. 5 minutes later further dissent and I call the player over. He gives me his name, which later turned out to not be on the team sheet so clearly a false name. I was going for his number when another player surrounds me and puts his forehead on mine and pushes himself towards me whilst shouting in my face. His team grab him and pull him off and restrain him. I red card him and he refuses to give his name so let him get off the pitch and call the captain over for his name (he refuses to tell me too!).

I manage to calm the situation down along with the majority of the offending team who are frankly embarrassed at their team mates behaviour and say it's like this every week and we play the final couple of minutes (no added time, the game just needs to finish!).

I come off the FOP and frankly I just want to get away. I'm looking at my notes and stupidly, I haven't recorded the number of the guy who got a yellow and who has subsequently given me a name that isnt on the team sheet. 2 reds and 4 yellows all ok but this one I missed with all the nonsense around the red card. I'm annoyed at myself for missing this and I know ive made a mistake, I'm just looking for advice as to what to do next. Obviously I don't just not record the incident,but would you contact the team secretary asking for the correct details of the player (assuming not) or is it best to contact the league secretary by phone to discuss?

Thanks in advance, I get alot of good advice from here, it's invaluable what you pick up, without always knowing it. It's my 2nd season and I know in the first i wouldn't have applied the LOTG as strongly as I did today and frankly, I could've carded more.
 
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Firstly, hope you're ok and not too shaken up by this.

The advice I would give regarding the player putting his forehead on yours then yelling at you is to abandon the game and go home. It's assault. I know this sounds soft but that isn't why you're there. You would then report as an abandonment and County FA will deal with it.

If the player gave you a name not on the team sheet then just report the name he gave you on Whole Game System. I would then let the league know that they were playing someone not on the team sheet. I wouldn't worry about numbers, just get the names.

Chin up for next week mate.
 
I'm fine, I'm pretty strong mentally and I am alot bigger than the offender lol, but thanks for the concern. To be frank I found it all a little pathetic but I'm afraid that's Sunday League football occasionally. It did go through my head to abandon but rightly or wrongly, the rest of the team were in my side really and the offenders were off the pitch and there was a couple of minutes left so I carried on.

The manager refused to give me the name of the offender and the captain said he'd never seen him before so didn't know it! I booked the keeper for dissent and he told me his name was Marvin Gaye. I have him one oppurtunity to give me his real name and he did!

I'm big enough and ugly enough to put this behind me and go again but alot of new refs or younger ones would quit after this. It's such a shame. The worst thing about it was I know I had a really good game, got everything right! The team that lost their heads were complaining about a throw in whenever they whinged so I know ive got most things right!

Let's have another go next week.
 
Agree with above and hope you ore OK. You'd feel much better in a few days. It is very common under circumstances like this to miss things. Don't blame yourself for anything.
Under no circumstance put yourself in danger or safety risk. If there is already a danger thread to you, don't do anything that increases that safety risk for example asking a player who has just assaulted you for a name. Your safety is your highest priority. If you think doing your refereeing duties impartially may threaten your safety (which in this case it would have), you must abandon the game and leave. Make sure you get yourself to a safe location first (e.g. closer to the opponent's or team mates who are supporting you). Also make sure you have someone accompanying you to your car or wherever you are going until it is safe.

As far as reporting, I don't know who you would report to in your administrative system (possibly call your RDO and ask), but report all the facts, everything you know and don't worry about what you don't know. No one expects you to put your safety at risk to get more details. Contacting team/club officials to get additional details makes matters worse. Let the authorities deal with it.
 
Sad to read this and I hope it doesn’t put you off. I’ve been in this exact situation quite a few times and no matter how or why it happens it isn’t nice.

I do hope the players are found and banned accordingly
 
Thanks again but honestly I'm cool. I've been punched and headbutted on the field as a player down the years so this is small fry lol. I'm more concerned about how to go about the administrative stuff for the number I missed. Again, I'm not worried about that and I know it's inconsequential considering everything that went on but it's not happened before and I just want to make sure I go about things the right way. Thanks for the support, I genuinely appreciate it but I'm fine and I'd go again if I had another fixture this afternoon.
 
First, Well done. Just report what you can with a suitable explanation. The club will be asked to explain and supply the correct names......either that or they won't be playing for a while.
 
Well I've gone onto WGS to do the admin and the name the player gave me is on the list of players, it's just not on the team sheet so ill report that to the league.

I'm assuming I will need to put in a misconduct report for the red for S2 (head to head) and for the refusal of the manager to give me the name of the player?
 
I’m yet to experience this but know one day I probably will (unfortunately). I can take abuse, mouthing off etc but if the above happened, I’d be off so fair play to you for sticking with the game.
 
Ben448844 said:
Well I've gone onto WGS to do the admin and the name the player gave me is on the list of players, it's just not on the team sheet so ill report that to the league.

I'm assuming I will need to put in a misconduct report for the red for S2 (head to head) and for the refusal of the manager to give me the name of the player?
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You no longer need a report with a red so just Submit his name against a red for VC, then add further misconduct explaining the full scenario, including the name refusal.

EDIT: Obviously you can’t do it with his name so don’t know why I suggested that! It would be an extraordinary report explaining everything which happened
 
I will learn alot from the need to be firm with cards, that's a process I've learnt over the last 12 month's anyway and I'm pleased I've applied the LOTG firmly as recommended on here as clearly very few do at this level. Most positive was the fans (about 8 lol) and half the offending team being positive about my performance and annoyed at their own teams (regular) conduct.

Their conduct itself was absolutely fine and I was having a nice, quiet match but as soon as it became clear that the offending team no longer had a realistic chance of getting anything from the game they focus3d their efforts on myself, despite being no real reason to based on my decisions as today they were good and there were no actual contentious match incidents, at least involving the ball! Looking back,I'm pleased a was firm with any high studs, late tackles and minor infringements etc from the offending team which didn't allow them to focus their efforts on kicking lumps out of the opposition, because it would be gone that way and that's a learn for me.
 
Ben448844 said:
I will learn alot from the need to be firm with cards, that's a process I've learnt over the last 12 month's anyway and I'm pleased I've applied the LOTG firmly as recommended on here as clearly very few do at this level. Most positive was the fans (about 8 lol) and half the offending team being positive about my performance and annoyed at their own teams (regular) conduct.

Their conduct itself was absolutely fine and I was having a nice, quiet match but as soon as it became clear that the offending team no longer had a realistic chance of getting anything from the game they focus3d their efforts on myself, despite being no real reason to based on my decisions as today they were good and there were no actual contentious match incidents, at least involving the ball! Looking back,I'm pleased a was firm with any high studs, late tackles and minor infringements etc from the offending team which didn't allow them to focus their efforts on kicking lumps out of the opposition, because it would be gone that way and that's a learn for me.
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What age group Ben? I know those U8s can be little rascals! 🤔
 
Quick question, once I submit a seperate misconduct report for the red issued for S2, 'head to head', detailing what the Player said and that he refused to give me his name as did the manager, do i need to write a seperate report to the league or county fa? I've read the WGS guidelines but I'm still not completely clear
 
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I think it’s important for any ref reading this... abandon and talk to your refsec/rdo as soon as possible.

Protect yourself, get help, even if you don’t think you need it, and your superiors have to be told about any kind if assault.
 
santa sangria said:
I think it’s important for any ref reading this... abandon and talk to your refsec/rdo as soon as possible.

Protect yourself, get help, even if you don’t think you need it, and your superiors have to be told about any kind if assault.
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For a serious assault on an official I agree that the game should be abandoned. For something like this I think the referee needs to think about where he is safest. On the pitch continuing the game where he is surrounded by players who will protect him, or off the pitch where he is vulnerable and on his own, potentially having alienated some of the players who may have been his protectors on the pitch. Chances are by the time the game ends the idiot guilty of the offence will have gone home, if you abandon there and then he most definitely will not have.

I don't think there is a right and wrong answer here, this is just my view, and I would always back a referee who abandons even for the most minor of physical contact on him. I just think there is a risk in that approach that you may jump out of the frying pan into the fire, and it may actually make the threat of physical harm towards yourself worse. I also speak from personal experience, when some numpty tried to attack me on the pitch he was grabbed by team mates and I was immediately surrounded by players from the other team protecting me. Whereas when a player came at me in the cark park I had no one to protect me, thankfully he saw the light and backed down before it came to violence, but I certainly felt a hell of a lot safer in the first scenario.
 
I went on instinct and I didn't feel in any way threatened once the offending player had left and despite high levels of dissent in the minutes leading to the event, i didnt feel threatened then either. The surprising thing was that the offending player hadnt said a word out of line all game. I suppose these are things that are difficult to understand unless it's happened to you or you are there on the scene. To summarise, during the incident I was aware that something very daft could've happened but once the player responsible had left I didn't feel in any danger whatsoever or in the car park afterwards. Full credit to his team mates who dragged him away. I wasn't expecting any handshakes from that team at the end of the match but 6 or 7 of their players shook my hand, said I'd had a good game and apologised for what had gone on during the match and said that it was regular behaviour of the same 2 or 3 individuals. It's safe to say that their behaviour is often ignored which is a real shame.

The head to head contact was minor (doesn't make it particularly less serious I know). Should it have been a headbut I'd have abandoned.
 
Ben448844 said:
I went on instinct and I didn't feel in any way threatened once the offending player had left and despite high levels of dissent in the minutes leading to the event, i didnt feel threatened then either. The surprising thing was that the offending player hadnt said a word out of line all game. I suppose these are things that are difficult to understand unless it's happened to you or you are there on the scene. To summarise, during the incident I was aware that something very daft could've happened but once the player responsible had left I didn't feel in any danger whatsoever or in the car park afterwards. Full credit to his team mates who dragged him away. I wasn't expecting any handshakes from that team at the end of the match but 6 or 7 of their players shook my hand, said I'd had a good game and apologised for what had gone on during the match and said that it was regular behaviour of the same 2 or 3 individuals. It's safe to say that their behaviour is often ignored which is a real shame.

The head to head contact was minor (doesn't make it particularly less serious I know). Should it have been a headbut I'd have abandoned.
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The more you say, the more it sounds like you have an old head on your shoulders and you responded appropriately
 
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