A&H

Calming hand on the shoulder

micky2001

micky2001

Well-Known Member
Watching a tournament at weekend with torrential weather and mud bath pitch. Single ref with no CAR or NAR as it is in scotland. Anyway, player for blue (#8) was the only black player on the field and having watched a couple of other games throughout the day he was really Lippy.

Anyhow, during the match, tackles were flying in for both teams with it being the final. The muddy pitch made sliding challenges even worse. The #8 was complaining to the ref that he was being racially picked on as every time he had the ball the players were fouling him. Yes he was being fouled a lot, but no more then other players and he was giving as much back. One tackle sets #8 off and adopts aggressive attitude so ref shows a yellow. He is still mouthing off but the ref puts his hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down but be pulls away violently saying "don't touch me"

I think the ref shouldn't have touched the kid given it was u 14 or u 15 game but nonetheless when #8 pulled away, if he had hit the ref would it be a red for VC or would you have let it go given the circumstances? And what would/could you do about him alleging he was being fouled for his skin colour?
 
The Referee Store
While the hand on the shoulder appears misguided, if he had hit the ref, it's still vc. All day long.

As for the racial element, if you have seen or heard nothing to indicate he is correct then it could just as easy all be in the kids head. Or he is trying to get undeserved sympathy.

What you appear to have described is a kid with an attitude problem.
 
Personally no issue whatsoever with the hand on the shoulder... Can't understand personally why so many refs seem to think that they shouldn't touch players and vice versa.

If player had commited VC because of it then it has to be a red card, and personally if have been calling in the captain and explaining the situation to him and that he needs to get hold of his player before I need to intervene again
 
Malicious and unfounded accusations of racism are racist themselves.

While he may not have quite crossed the line with the comment made, I'd be letting him know very firmly that any more complaining down that path will result in a booking.

Not sure what you mean by 'hit the ref' - unless you're talking about him brushing the hand off? Wouldn't be anything from me, but the ref shouldn't be touching youth players.
 
CallumRushton13 said:
Personally no issue whatsoever with the hand on the shoulder... Can't understand personally why so many refs seem to think that they shouldn't touch players and vice versa.

If player had commited VC because of it then it has to be a red card, and personally if have been calling in the captain and explaining the situation to him and that he needs to get hold of his player before I need to intervene again
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It's quite simple, you don't do something that might lead the player to reacting badly and then you end up having to dismiss him.
 
Brian Hamilton said:
It's quite simple, you don't do something that might lead the player to reacting badly and then you end up having to dismiss him.
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Personally I wouldn't expect this to lead to a player reacting badly... This sort of calm, relaxed refereeing is a big part of my game and for me, the hand on the shoulder can really help a situation and is not something I am thinking of changing
 
As I mainly referee youth football I wouldnt be touching the players personally. So many teenage boys can take offence to stuff like that, and right or wrongly as that may be, I dont want to be causing an issue that wasnt already there.
 
In all my years of refereeing i have never touched a player,for four reasons (apart from handshakes at end of match if offered !!)
1) Don't want to
2) No need to
3) Wouldn't want to
and my favourite one....
4) Familiarity breeds contempt.
 
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