"He just punched him ref!"

[HullRef]

I had an incident last weekend. U15's match Top Division. A long ball is played to the right hand side of the box, both a defender and an attacker give chase, defender gets there first and heads it out if play, I follow the ball expecting Usain Bolt (I don't think it was actually him ) on the wing to get it like he had been all game but it went for a throw in.

I look back to where the header was and the defender is lying on the ground, I go to see him and his nose is covered in blood. Then his teammates tell me that he was punched by the attacker after he headed the ball.

How would you guys deal with this? I will tell you what I did later in the thread but I just want to get an idea of how I could've handled it differently.

 

[haywain]

deal with the injured player, first of all

as for the rest, you can't deal with what you didn't see - though wondering where you were on the pitch that you couldn't see players on the right hand side of the penalty area and the touchline where the ball went out of play - too close to the action, perhaps?

You could speak to your car though you would have to decide what action, if any, you would take based on any information that he/she might give, remembering that he is associated with the defending side

you could bring the captains in for a chat about not having seen it (hmmm) / future conduct of both teams

restart with a throw in to the attacking side

 

[Padfoot]

Call the attacker over and ask him 'what was that all about?'.....if he starts saying things like the defender did this or that you say 'so you punched him?'.......

Believe it or not I've used this approach and they've said 'yes...' .....'ok player....off you go'!

Of course if they deny it you can't do a great deal than just warn them that something obviously has gone and that you'll be watching them.

 

[HullRef]

Call the attacker over and ask him 'what was that all about?'.....if he starts saying things like the defender did this or that you say 'so you punched him?'.......

Believe it or not I've used this approach and they've said 'yes...' .....'ok player....off you go'!

Of course if they deny it you can't do a great deal than just warn them that something obviously has gone and that you'll be watching them.

This is more or less the approach that I had. The ball was out of play:

1. I went to see to the injured player got his manager on to sort the blood out
2. While his coach was seeing to him I called over the attacker who was involved in the incident and said to him something along the lines of "I didn't see what had happened after the ball had been played, if you have hit him then you are lucky that i didn't see it and if you didn't then I am sorry for speaking to you about it but he has obviously got a bloody nose somehow.
3. Then he started having ago at me saying that everything that i was giving was one sided, I said that I was just calling what i saw and so far in the game, his team were giving away more fouls.
4. He carried on telling me how badly I was doing so i said " I suggest that you walk away very quickly or this simple chat will end with you being cautioned" and he challenged me saying "Go on then see if I F@#cking care" so naturally I cautioned him for dissent.
5. Just before I restarted play his manager (also his father, also a referee) took him off. And that was that.

Is there anything in that that I could've done differently, preferably to avoid the caution?

 

[SM]

You could have done what padfoot suggested (ie bluff that you know what happened and let the player incriminate himself or not)

 

[ref craig]

As when I went and watched this game last night usually you should let the players referee game for you

That was what the assessor was saying who I sat with

 

[haywain]

usually you should let the players referee game for you

That was what the assessor was saying who I sat with

so how does that work then

Call the attacker over and ask him 'what was that all about?'.....if he starts saying things like the defender did this or that you say 'so you punched him?'.......

Believe it or not I've used this approach and they've said 'yes...' .....'ok player....off you go'!

Of course if they deny it you can't do a great deal than just warn them that something obviously has gone and that you'll be watching them.

and what happens if he says 'he punched me so i punched him back'

 

[SM]

The old bluff followed by a second bluff!!!

The joys of not having eyes in the back of your head eh?

 

[Ryan Owens]

Have the injured player dealt with; bring in the captains and say to them "Look, I haven't seen what's happened; I'm sure something has happened but I haven't seen it. I want to remind you both now that just because I didn't see the first one doesn't mean I won't see and punish the second one. And for the record, if I believe it to have been retaliatory, there is little chance for mercy." Then be extra vigilant and check your shoulders regularly.

 

[Charlie Jones]

@Ryan Owens probably the best course of action, you havent seen what has occured so cant really act on it...just warning both captains that youll be extra vigil in future....

one quick question, had the defneder and attacker in question been going at each other all game? if so, then maybe an idea would have been to also pull them both together before or after the captains and have a stern word that they both calm down or they'll see their marching orders

 

[HullRef]

@Ryan Owens probably the best course of action, you havent seen what has occured so cant really act on it...just warning both captains that youll be extra vigil in future....

one quick question, had the defneder and attacker in question been going at each other all game? if so, then maybe an idea would have been to also pull them both together before or after the captains and have a stern word that they both calm down or they'll see their marching orders

No they hadn't done anything like that but the attacker's team were losing about 4/5 - 0 at the time so that won't have helped.