The Ref Stop

Attempted punch on parent Linesman

FB123

New Member
Grassroots Referee
Was walking my dog today as had a weekend off from a game.I was watching a local under 14 game.The Referee was home team parent ,the linesman were parents of both teams.The game was not being handled well by the Referee and he seemed to be ignoring a lot of the opponents linesman .The home team linesman was waving for offsides (not) free kicks and neatly every throw in was a foul .The away team scored 1 0 .I sensed it was a big game as tensions were bubbling up.Then near the end of the game the home team linesman squared up to an opposition parent ,who swung a punch ,no contact.The situation was over quickly and dealt with by the Referee and parents. Then the home team manager walked across the pitch saying how long left ,answer 7 minutes. That's it every one off we are not playing ,a quick meeting with managers, the game was abandoned. Please discuss possible outcome of this game /result.
 
The Ref Stop
Was walking my dog today as had a weekend off from a game.I was watching a local under 14 game.The Referee was home team parent ,the linesman were parents of both teams.The game was not being handled well by the Referee and he seemed to be ignoring a lot of the opponents linesman .The home team linesman was waving for offsides (not) free kicks and neatly every throw in was a foul .The away team scored 1 0 .I sensed it was a big game as tensions were bubbling up.Then near the end of the game the home team linesman squared up to an opposition parent ,who swung a punch ,no contact.The situation was over quickly and dealt with by the Referee and parents. Then the home team manager walked across the pitch saying how long left ,answer 7 minutes. That's it every one off we are not playing ,a quick meeting with managers, the game was abandoned. Please discuss possible outcome of this game /result.
It honestly depends what each team reports.

Both managers will have to write a report on what happened.

Will be difficult as there will unlikely be an independent witness.

Local league rules usually dictate if a game needs to be replayed. I had one recently that said if a game is abandoned after 70mins the result will likely stand. But before 70 and the result will not stand.
 
Someone who signs up to a forum and criticises a volunteer (non) referee for 'not handling the game well' in his first post, wants to know the likely outcome of the match itself that was abandoned, not the disciplinary process for the attempted punch and we're meant to believe you had no skin in the game? :hmmm:
 
Was walking my dog today as had a weekend off from a game.I was watching a local under 14 game.The Referee was home team parent ,the linesman were parents of both teams.The game was not being handled well by the Referee and he seemed to be ignoring a lot of the opponents linesman .The home team linesman was waving for offsides (not) free kicks and neatly every throw in was a foul .The away team scored 1 0 .I sensed it was a big game as tensions were bubbling up.Then near the end of the game the home team linesman squared up to an opposition parent ,who swung a punch ,no contact.The situation was over quickly and dealt with by the Referee and parents. Then the home team manager walked across the pitch saying how long left ,answer 7 minutes. That's it every one off we are not playing ,a quick meeting with managers, the game was abandoned. Please discuss possible outcome of this game /result.
By a miracle of 'chance', my son was playing in the game (for the Away side who were winning 0-1) and I was the away team Club Assistant Referee. It was indeed a League decider. No Referee was appointed to the game. I've complained to the League as it was a virtual certainty the game would go pear shaped without a Ref. The appointed parent referee was left in an unfair predicament, but that's not his fault. The event was somewhat challenging to Referee, so it's too much to ask of a parent
Also, there was no respect barrier, so dozens of spectators were spilling onto the pitch
The Home Team Assistant Referee was drawing attention to himself. He must have flagged a dozen times to get his side a free kick or foul throw or whatever. The absence of a respect barrier led to an altercation between CAR and parent.... the two squared up and the parent attempted to strike the CAR. It's put me in an awkward position as I've had to submit an ER against a parent I'm acquaintances with.

Typical kids football. Parents left to officiate, struggle with neutrality and understandably lack the skills needed to get the game done. Tempers get flared. Adults spoil the game. A lot of silly behaviour by a number of people but can't condone throwing a punch at a kids footy match under any circumstances

FWIW, we couldn't win the League, by winning the game, we would come up two points short. But by beating the opposition, it would hand the League to another local side, all of whom were there to watch the game. So, probably about 60 parents and kids spectating, from three different clubs, all very close to the pitch (if not on it at times!). All the ingredients from the recipe for mayhem melting in the pot. The parent was led away, game abandoned, it settled down quite quickly because most of the remaining parents were sensible and polite to one another. Home Team Manager wanted an abandonment. I wasn't going to advise against that course of action, so that was it. Got a bit sun burnt for good measure

The Culture of the Game I'm afraid
 
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It's put me in an awkward position as I've had to submit an ER against a parent I'm acquaintances with.
Always awkward (had to do one against my brother and dad once)! I didn’t know we were supposed to submit ERs if we step in as CARs.
 
By a miracle of 'chance', my son was playing in the game (for the Away side who were winning 0-1) and I was the away team Club Assistant Referee. It was indeed a League decider. No Referee was appointed to the game. I've complained to the League as it was a virtual certainty the game would go pear shaped without a Ref. The appointed parent referee was left in an unfair predicament, but that's not his fault. The event was somewhat challenging to Referee, so it's too much to ask of a parent
Also, there was no respect barrier, so dozens of spectators were spilling onto the pitch
The Home Team Assistant Referee was drawing attention to himself. He must have flagged a dozen times to get his side a free kick or foul throw or whatever. The absence of a respect barrier led to an altercation between CAR and parent.... the two squared up and the parent attempted to strike the CAR. It's put me in an awkward position as I've had to submit an ER against a parent I'm acquaintances with.

Typical kids football. Parents left to officiate, struggle with neutrality and understandably lack the skills needed to get the game done. Tempers get flared. Adults spoil the game. A lot of silly behaviour by a number of people but can't condone throwing a punch at a kids footy match under any circumstances

FWIW, we couldn't win the League, by winning the game, we would come up two points short. But by beating the opposition, it would hand the League to another local side, all of whom were there to watch the game. So, probably about 60 parents and kids spectating, from three different clubs, all very close to the pitch (if not on it at times!). All the ingredients from the recipe for mayhem melting in the pot. The parent was led away, game abandoned, it settled down quite quickly because most of the remaining parents were sensible and polite to one another. Home Team Manager wanted an abandonment. I wasn't going to advise against that course of action, so that was it. Got a bit sun burnt for good measure

The Culture of the Game I'm afraid
And nothing has changed for a long long time. I vividly remember being threatened by an adult in a game and low and behold it was one of our players parents (also a coach) that was reffing the game. Admittedly I was a gobsh**e but still crazy that people can get so worked up @ junior football and take actions that can result in very serious outcomes.

Any reason why you weren't the nominated person to take charge of the game @Big Cat ? Seems odd to have a parent take charge with a competent level 4 acting as CAR?
 
Any reason why you weren't the nominated person to take charge of the game @Big Cat ? Seems odd to have a parent take charge with a competent level 4 acting as CAR?
Yeh, I mean I've reffed the reverse fixture quite a few times without incident. I gave one decision against them, so that puts me in the biased room 101.
They wouldn't comprehend the coincidence of me reffing and the games being non-events. Anyway, the game was 7 minutes away from 'Happy Days'. The Ref was almost there.... but the AR was hell-bent on 'being very conspicuous' , so we didn't quite make it

Anyway, not worthy of any further comment. Just a small number of people who lack intelligence. Just another kids game that went belly-up.
Bet there was dozens of other games nationwide yesterday that suffered the same fate
 
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Always awkward (had to do one against my brother and dad once)! I didn’t know we were supposed to submit ERs if we step in as CARs.
The Ref asked me to report it. Alas, that left me duty bound as he knew I was a witness to events and he knew I'm qualified
 
The Ref asked me to report it. Alas, that left me duty bound as he knew I was a witness to events and he knew I'm qualified
That’s reasonable. Tbh, I’m sure the CFA would rather have the report from you than some parent!
 
The ability to Referee a game of this nature with ease is a subtle skill
I can virtually guarantee, a competent Referee (experienced L5 or above or equivalent (cos there are some hidden L7 gems out there)) would've got this game done and nobody would've batted an eyelid. As if it happened by magic
It's a curious thing, but no matter how experienced someone might be in a football capacity (ex-player or whatever), it takes years to learn 'the magic'.
Straight off the bat, I knew we were in trouble... Ref said to me and the other lino, he wanted us to give fouls etc if we had a better view.
Now I've come across this other lino before and I had to stop the game to reaffirm that I didn't want him flagging, despite telling him exactly that before we kicked off. The incessant flagging yesterday was quite something to behold
But doing windmills is never acceptable, no matter the provocation FGS!
 
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The ability to Referee a game of this nature with ease is a subtle skill
I can virtually guarantee, a competent Referee (experienced L5 or above or equivalent (cos there are some hidden L7 gems out there)) would've got this game done and nobody would've batted an eyelid. As if it happened by magic
It's a curious thing, but no matter how experienced someone might be in a football capacity (ex-player or whatever), it takes years to learn 'the magic trick'
I think this one is a good point, but I do believe it is also affected by who's involved, ie nightmare coaches or nice ones. I had 2 almost identical games this season on the same day, one ended with praise from both sides, one ended with an ER against both sets of coaches and spectators. I think a lot of factors have to be considered on this one!
 
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