Justylove
RefChat Addict
I alluded to the fact in another thread, but yesterday I refereed a really horrible niggly game. It was not nasty, however the atmosphere was probably the worst I had seen, even in the years I was playing.
Ironically, I was really looking forward to it, as it involved a team that was top of their league and unbeaten so far this season.
It was really windy with the wind blowing for the most part from goal to goal, though the odd gust would take the ball off at a tangent. I also had a club assistant for one team that was flagging offside for everything, even when the attacker was blatantly onside.
Pretty much every decision I made was under scrutiny by the players, but not to the point that I could class it as dissent and take action. Questions like 'ref what was that for?' 'Was that a foul ref?'
I got through the first half ok with it being 2-1 to the blues (league leaders), then in the second half things really went downhill. I cautioned one of the yellows for a late tackle from behind and from there on in it it seemed to deteriorate, every foul against the yellows would bring a question of 'was that not as bad as the foul you booked our player for?' I also had a marginal penalty decision that I gave as a free kick right on June edge of the area, the blue defender went in with a high foot carelessly in my opinion and despite taking the ball, then managed to take the attacker out in the solar plexus with his foot. The issue was that the defender was in the box when he did it, but the attacker and the contact was outside of the box. This lead to me having a dozen or so players around me protesting their cause, including the blue captain asking me if could have a word, to which I told him no, it had gone beyond that.
Going into added time, the blues were losing 2-3 then score to equalize, then from the kick off went up and win a throw in level with the 6 yard box. Bit of a niggle in the box and I stop to have a word with a blue attacker. I literally signal and shout to the attacking side 'away you go blue' and as I'm halfway through the shout, they throw the ball in to the near post where a striker beats the defender and flicks the ball in for the winning goal.
Cue pandemonium from yellows who are screaming at me to disallow the goal, because I didn't
Blow the whistle. 2 players end up being cautioned for dissent, including one who is demanding I explain my decision to him and then throwing my lack of respect for him and his team at him. As we were resetting for the restart, a member of yellows who I was unable to identify said "disgrace, he's not f***ing qualified to referee"
On the restart, a yellow gets fouled then shoves the blue player, so cue another caution and players crowding around me. I almost immediately I then blew up for time.
Last night I went home wondering why the hell I ever became a ref, however today I feel a bit more calm about things. I spoke to a colleague already in the local FA and when I mentioned the teams he told me they both had a bit of a reputation and not to worry about it.
I definitely feel like I could do better in a number of areas, I let the niggle in the game get to me and wasn't as calm as I could have been. I probably should also have made more of an example of a couple of players, when I considered the questioning to be borderline dissent and that might well have calmed things down, however I also could have ended up playing 7 a side!
Onwards and upwards though!
Ironically, I was really looking forward to it, as it involved a team that was top of their league and unbeaten so far this season.
It was really windy with the wind blowing for the most part from goal to goal, though the odd gust would take the ball off at a tangent. I also had a club assistant for one team that was flagging offside for everything, even when the attacker was blatantly onside.
Pretty much every decision I made was under scrutiny by the players, but not to the point that I could class it as dissent and take action. Questions like 'ref what was that for?' 'Was that a foul ref?'
I got through the first half ok with it being 2-1 to the blues (league leaders), then in the second half things really went downhill. I cautioned one of the yellows for a late tackle from behind and from there on in it it seemed to deteriorate, every foul against the yellows would bring a question of 'was that not as bad as the foul you booked our player for?' I also had a marginal penalty decision that I gave as a free kick right on June edge of the area, the blue defender went in with a high foot carelessly in my opinion and despite taking the ball, then managed to take the attacker out in the solar plexus with his foot. The issue was that the defender was in the box when he did it, but the attacker and the contact was outside of the box. This lead to me having a dozen or so players around me protesting their cause, including the blue captain asking me if could have a word, to which I told him no, it had gone beyond that.
Going into added time, the blues were losing 2-3 then score to equalize, then from the kick off went up and win a throw in level with the 6 yard box. Bit of a niggle in the box and I stop to have a word with a blue attacker. I literally signal and shout to the attacking side 'away you go blue' and as I'm halfway through the shout, they throw the ball in to the near post where a striker beats the defender and flicks the ball in for the winning goal.
Cue pandemonium from yellows who are screaming at me to disallow the goal, because I didn't
Blow the whistle. 2 players end up being cautioned for dissent, including one who is demanding I explain my decision to him and then throwing my lack of respect for him and his team at him. As we were resetting for the restart, a member of yellows who I was unable to identify said "disgrace, he's not f***ing qualified to referee"
On the restart, a yellow gets fouled then shoves the blue player, so cue another caution and players crowding around me. I almost immediately I then blew up for time.
Last night I went home wondering why the hell I ever became a ref, however today I feel a bit more calm about things. I spoke to a colleague already in the local FA and when I mentioned the teams he told me they both had a bit of a reputation and not to worry about it.
I definitely feel like I could do better in a number of areas, I let the niggle in the game get to me and wasn't as calm as I could have been. I probably should also have made more of an example of a couple of players, when I considered the questioning to be borderline dissent and that might well have calmed things down, however I also could have ended up playing 7 a side!
Onwards and upwards though!
