The Ref Stop

Mass brawl

L

Luke1990

New Member
Today I had my first taste of a Sunday league mass brawl.
During a pre season friendly I had to abandon the game after 68 minutes.
Red team and black team.
To start I received my money before the game which was a touch but the £5 note had to be wiped clean as the manager said ‘heavy night last night’.
The game went fairly smooth for 60 minutes for a Sunday league game, after this it became scrappy and was stop start.
And then after the 65 minute I caught a punch being thrown out of the corner of my eye from a player from the red team while the player from the black team had him by the throat. I blew my whistle when I saw this and this caused every man and his dog to descend and we had punches and kicks being thrown from every player manager and spectator.
I stood back to try and get numbers but was too much going on.
one player was on the floor after being kicked in the head as I tried to check on him more fighting started around me so I left him to be sorted by his team. At this point I told everyone that I had abandoned the game and I was then on the end of spectators shouting at me and at this point I walked off the field to let them continue fighting as I felt if I stayed I would risk being on the end of a punch.

I spoke to the appointment/chairman of the referees and he said I should of stayed until it calmed down to get the names of the players that were the instigators so I could report them. I said I did not feel safe doing this but he said I should learn from this for next time to get names of players.

Just wondered if any of you would of stayed and risked taking a punch just so you could report them?
 
The Ref Stop
Luke1990 said:
Just wondered if any of you would of stayed and risked taking a punch just so you could report them?
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Absolutely not. And to suggest you should stay if you feel not safe to do so is ludicrous.

Hope you are ok.

One suggestion I have, when it becomes like that, get you notepad out and write down as many as you can in the form of "number, shirt colour, action" for example 19 black punch. Accept that you are going to miss many but it is better than missing all. Just send what you have in your report. You should have a team sheet with names and numbers before the game. Never start a game without it, even friendlies.
 
Thanks for the reply.

yeah I’m all good thanks, I started writing down numbers and teams this turned in to nearly every player punching someone apart from the person on the floor.
numbers on the team sheet do not line up with the players on the pitch apart from the keepers.

Hopefully the fa will fine or blanket ban the teams for a few games.
 
Just report as much as you can on a WGS abandoned game report, including shirt numbers if you have them. The CFA will then require the clubs to provide the names of the offenders.
 
At what point would we consider calling the police?
By the description of events, I would've done this at the 'first safe opportunity to do so'. I'd consider my witness statement to Law Enforcement Officers to trump my report to the CFA in every respect
Quite likely, medical attn. may also be sought. I've not encountered a brawl like this in a game of mine, although I have seen it from the side-line. Someone called the police on that occasion. Nasty business, it was
 
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I had a game years ago where there was a fight, and a player who I'd sent off went to his car to get a plank of wood with nails sticking out of it, then marched back to the pitch and started whacking anyone with it he could find. He'd clearly come to the game "tooled up" and I legged it back to the changing room and called the police as I honestly thought someone was going to get killed. I should add that there was never any threat against me or my team and he had taken the red card with no complaint, but he certainly wanted to hurt the opposition.

Turns out the groundsman and opposition manager had already called the police and they turned up mob handed.

Never, ever apologise for abandoning a game if you don't think it isn't safe to restart. As a referee you didn't cause the violence and disorder, the players did, and I would always err on the side of caution. When it gets to this level, or in the case of the OP, a kick to the head of the opponent, just get yourself out of there to somewhere safe. Don't even tell them you are abandoning it, they will soon realise when they find out you have gone. Don't worry about your match fee either, the competition will arrange for it to be paid at a later date, your safety becomes the most important thing, even more so if you are on your own without NARs. If the competition don't fully back you on this they aren't worth refereeing for, find a different league.
 
RustyRef said:
I had a game years ago where there was a fight, and a player who I'd sent off went to his car to get a plank of wood with nails sticking out of it, then marched back to the pitch and started whacking anyone with it he could find. He'd clearly come to the game "tooled up" and I legged it back to the changing room and called the police as I honestly thought someone was going to get killed. I should add that there was never any threat against me or my team and he had taken the red card with no complaint, but he certainly wanted to hurt the opposition.

Turns out the groundsman and opposition manager had already called the police and they turned up mob handed.

Never, ever apologise for abandoning a game if you don't think it isn't safe to restart. As a referee you didn't cause the violence and disorder, the players did, and I would always err on the side of caution. When it gets to this level, or in the case of the OP, a kick to the head of the opponent, just get yourself out of there to somewhere safe. Don't even tell them you are abandoning it, they will soon realise when they find out you have gone. Don't worry about your match fee either, the competition will arrange for it to be paid at a later date, your safety becomes the most important thing, even more so if you are on your own without NARs. If the competition don't fully back you on this they aren't worth refereeing for, find a different league.
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Good advice
In your defence, I'd say this bit below falls outside the MC competency!
RustyRef said:
went to his car to get a plank of wood with nails sticking out of it
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Luke1990 said:
I spoke to the appointment/chairman of the referees and he said I should of stayed until it calmed down to get the names of the players that were the instigators so I could report them. I said I did not feel safe doing this but he said I should learn from this for next time to get names of players.
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I would seriously consider taking Rusty's advice and find another league. That's ridiculous.
 
I find it almost impossible when refereeing alone to translate who did what to who. Prefer to file the misconduct reports and leave it to the powers that be. If the brawl stops pretty quick I do find by asking the first 2 players that instigated to come to me, they usually do
 
Thanks for the advice guys. Glad we all kind of see it the same and it’s the ugly side of football that no one wants to see.
its a good point raised about the police being called I didn’t really think about that just wanted to get my bits from the changing room before anyone else got in there. I have sent an email to the cfa and put a report in on the wgs.
I did ask for an ambulance to be called for the lad on the floor but was soon shut down when they started fighting around him.
As much as I like officiating on a Sunday I think this will be my last season so I can put more time and progress on a Saturday and midweek.
 
Kes said:
I'm struggling to understand what this actually means (?)
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I'm not Pablo Escobar but I would imagine it means cocaine rather than being used to stir a pint of Guinness.

Are there any leagues you can join of a better standard? Maybe Saturday football? Touch wood my experience of doing Saturday football alone has generally been fantastic. I don't get the impression players turn up hung over or drunk with the sole aim of causing damage to someone else. It seems to be taken far more seriously.
 
Kes said:
I'm struggling to understand what this actually means (?)
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Let’s just say he was on something stronger than alcohol, using the notes to intake it.
And when this is the manager of the team it sets the tone for the team itself.
 
Mada said:
I'm not Pablo Escobar but I would imagine it means cocaine rather than being used to stir a pint of Guinness.

Are there any leagues you can join of a better standard? Maybe Saturday football? Touch wood my experience of doing Saturday football alone has generally been fantastic. I don't get the impression players turn up hung over or drunk with the sole aim of causing damage to someone else. It seems to be taken far more seriously.
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Yes so this is my first season doing Saturday football I’m sharing weeks of running the line in a higher standard of football and refereeing in the Saturday league/ midweek.
I’m doing this along side sunday to try and get my level 5 for a mid-season promotion.
 
@Luke1990 - The only point I would make about "leaving them to it", is that you may have been the only independent person there. If something serious had happened, they may be looking to you for an answer. I agree with the others, don't hang around just to be able to do the discipline - but the player on the floor could have been seriously injured. As referees, our first concern is for the safety of the players - so should you have called the police/ambulance to the match, when you got to a safer distance?

In terms of reporting. simple complete an extraordinary report form on WGS against both teams. The CFA will sort out the necessary fines, suspensions, etc. They are nothing to do with you.
 
Luke1990 said:
Let’s just say he was on something stronger than alcohol, using the notes to intake it.
And when this is the manager of the team it sets the tone for the team itself.
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I've got to say, especially given the world we still live in, I'm not accepting a note that someone has shoved up their nose!
 
I'm a small person in stature so if world war three happened and it didn't stop straight away I'd easily go to the changing room get my stuff and get out of there my safety is more important than reporting misconduct I'll just quickly gather the facts I need enough to put a report together and go
 
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