santa sangria
RefChat Addict
I have done so many matches recently that's there's been no time to come and waffle on here.
So, here's a bit of a pot pourri of incidents from the last few weeks. A couple of question marks in here. At least I learned something from this lot...
U17 top national youth league that only allows 3 sub events in the second half, I am AR1: deal with two subs, play restarts, at next stoppage a player comes close to the bench and the bench sends me another player "and him", of course I'm "er... no, do you want another sub..." Of course, that next sub used up their third "event" so they couldn't make any more. Learning: in the big games I do (silly 2nd half sub rule or not), I now always ask "how many subs"!
Mens mid tier last night (I am AR, young awesome ref, UEFA trained assessor): attacker crossing the ball on the ground into the penalty area, defender slides feet first, whole body on the ground, outstretched, arms also outstretched in front of face on the deck, horizontal, blocks the cross with hands. Ref decision is PK, no YC. We discussed were the arms supporting the body, they were not under the body, so, no. We discussed were the hands "above the shoulder" - they were not "above" in literal terms but they were stretched out from the shoulder - and our man had had UEFA advice to read this as above the shoulder, therefore PK - all good. YC not mandatory depending on locations of other attackers.
Same mens mid tier last night (I am ref): SPA busy midfield foul followed by quick kick of the ball away. Clean, well-managed game. I was quick with the YC. But the offender flicked the ball away quickly just before I raised the card - his blue team were one up. He gave me the option of the double yellow. It would have been crazy officious in this game, so I gave just the YC, and said it was for delay of game, to end the prospect of other antics. Blues then conceded 3 to lose 1-3.
Higher mens, few hundred in the crowd (AR1): sub event after a goal, this is one league down from electronic numbers, player #1 is ready to come on, I've checked his equipment, but the team changes their mind, instead gives me player #2 and a different than planned player comes off, no problem, we complete the sub, waiting for the restart, another player goes off and player #1 runs on! I make sure the ref does not restart, go back to half way, the bench apologises, I complete the substitution by taking the numbers. I didn't bring player#1 back to the sideline (I'd already checked his equipment) and I didn't ask for cards (we hadn't restarted). -->What do you think, were YC or YCs mandatory here?
Lower 8v8 U14 boys: simple quiet game, until a careless tackle by yellow, a tiny bump as they get up, and the yellow attacker grabs the blue GK by the throat with force. RC no problem. Coaches start a little banter so I calm them. I'm checking that the RC player is going back to the dressing room, when the yellow coach says something. Before we get into this, remember that OFFINABUS is different for everyone, and for me this is an easy red card. Yellow coach says to me: "is it because he is black?" RC for coach, who immediately starts packing up and getting the boys' bags. I ask if there is another adult that can look after the team, he says no, I abandoned the match. There were a few parents with the other team but none with the yellows. From throat grab to abandon was a calm 2 minutes. Utterly bizarre. I explained without details to the parents and other coach, and also checked with a couple of the yellow players that they understood.
I've also done loads of games with comms recently. As AR I had already been using some of the things from comms whether using comms or not - like saying out loud "OK" at close non-offsides. Now I also say every "backpass" - I will never miss a weird backpass again and my logic is, if a GK does pick one up, I will have already sold the IDFK to the dozen players in earshot. On comms, but internally if no comms, I also say "SPA" - sometimes as players enter "the SPA zone". This is trickier, and only a couple of refs I have worked with do this, and I think this is not something you want players to hear, in case there is a complex situation.
And "in play" - actually, with all these, the local translation... with short goal kicks, short free kicks, I state clearly when the ball is in play - as ref, it means no nonsense about picking the ball up again if they've taken one too quick, as AR most refs ask for this on comms in case their back is turned. But this nearly got me in trouble as AR (no comms) with a ref parachuted into a game that he wasn't really up to - game heating up, star defender takes quick free kick near own box, me: "in play, in play", star defender realises he's played his teammate into trouble, star defender happens to be a 2nd tier ref (!), star defender picks up the ball, our ref is like whatever let's him respot the FK, the 4 players nearest me nearly go beserk but we get away with it. Learning there is: as AR don't communicate with the players more than your ref
Speaking of which...
U17 top national youth league (AR)... smarty pants GK has ball in hand and wants to waste time, attacker is 8 yards in front of him, GK looks across at me and says the attacker is too close, I say no get on with it, he feints the kick, complains again and again. Basically a work of genius... the GK has undermined the ref here, is wasting time, all I am saying is get on with it. A few mins later, same scenario again. And it's only the first half! On comms we quickly agreed that I will ignore the GK and the ref will handle the next incident, which never came. There was no easy way out here. But as refs, we can watch for this one and get in early!
...and I haven't even mentioned working in a three with the lady that will ref the national womens cup final, or helping prevent a massed con the other day as my ref gave 12 cards and 2 VC reds (he was brilliant), or not getting any assessments this season (and getting taken off a game with a video review so a friend of mine, promoted ahead of me, who happens to be half my age - ahem, with 8 assessments this month - ahem - could do it instead - I'd better ruddy see him on telly one day soon!) ...only a few weeks of the season to go here...
Hmm one last one... I've had a few "season's best ref" in the last couple of weeks - even one "we don't get refs of your standard down here" - how little they know! - M8 if I was at a higher level, I'd be doing those games! and I know that talk is very cheap, if only they'd write that stuff to the refsecs... but, anyway, how about this: in my toughest ref game of the season, 5th tier, problem team, problem coach, that problem coach who is a third tier ref, a "friend" but doesn't really rate me (yes, I do feel I have something to prove, but I do it by doing the same things every game, trying to learn, do better), problem player is his big striker. They lose 1-3, after the game the two of them approach the circle from different directions, as the coach is about to reluctantly shake, the big problem striker wheels in with "season's best ref". The look on my coach's face! Ha!
Slow news day
So, here's a bit of a pot pourri of incidents from the last few weeks. A couple of question marks in here. At least I learned something from this lot...
U17 top national youth league that only allows 3 sub events in the second half, I am AR1: deal with two subs, play restarts, at next stoppage a player comes close to the bench and the bench sends me another player "and him", of course I'm "er... no, do you want another sub..." Of course, that next sub used up their third "event" so they couldn't make any more. Learning: in the big games I do (silly 2nd half sub rule or not), I now always ask "how many subs"!
Mens mid tier last night (I am AR, young awesome ref, UEFA trained assessor): attacker crossing the ball on the ground into the penalty area, defender slides feet first, whole body on the ground, outstretched, arms also outstretched in front of face on the deck, horizontal, blocks the cross with hands. Ref decision is PK, no YC. We discussed were the arms supporting the body, they were not under the body, so, no. We discussed were the hands "above the shoulder" - they were not "above" in literal terms but they were stretched out from the shoulder - and our man had had UEFA advice to read this as above the shoulder, therefore PK - all good. YC not mandatory depending on locations of other attackers.
Same mens mid tier last night (I am ref): SPA busy midfield foul followed by quick kick of the ball away. Clean, well-managed game. I was quick with the YC. But the offender flicked the ball away quickly just before I raised the card - his blue team were one up. He gave me the option of the double yellow. It would have been crazy officious in this game, so I gave just the YC, and said it was for delay of game, to end the prospect of other antics. Blues then conceded 3 to lose 1-3.
Higher mens, few hundred in the crowd (AR1): sub event after a goal, this is one league down from electronic numbers, player #1 is ready to come on, I've checked his equipment, but the team changes their mind, instead gives me player #2 and a different than planned player comes off, no problem, we complete the sub, waiting for the restart, another player goes off and player #1 runs on! I make sure the ref does not restart, go back to half way, the bench apologises, I complete the substitution by taking the numbers. I didn't bring player#1 back to the sideline (I'd already checked his equipment) and I didn't ask for cards (we hadn't restarted). -->What do you think, were YC or YCs mandatory here?
Lower 8v8 U14 boys: simple quiet game, until a careless tackle by yellow, a tiny bump as they get up, and the yellow attacker grabs the blue GK by the throat with force. RC no problem. Coaches start a little banter so I calm them. I'm checking that the RC player is going back to the dressing room, when the yellow coach says something. Before we get into this, remember that OFFINABUS is different for everyone, and for me this is an easy red card. Yellow coach says to me: "is it because he is black?" RC for coach, who immediately starts packing up and getting the boys' bags. I ask if there is another adult that can look after the team, he says no, I abandoned the match. There were a few parents with the other team but none with the yellows. From throat grab to abandon was a calm 2 minutes. Utterly bizarre. I explained without details to the parents and other coach, and also checked with a couple of the yellow players that they understood.
I've also done loads of games with comms recently. As AR I had already been using some of the things from comms whether using comms or not - like saying out loud "OK" at close non-offsides. Now I also say every "backpass" - I will never miss a weird backpass again and my logic is, if a GK does pick one up, I will have already sold the IDFK to the dozen players in earshot. On comms, but internally if no comms, I also say "SPA" - sometimes as players enter "the SPA zone". This is trickier, and only a couple of refs I have worked with do this, and I think this is not something you want players to hear, in case there is a complex situation.
And "in play" - actually, with all these, the local translation... with short goal kicks, short free kicks, I state clearly when the ball is in play - as ref, it means no nonsense about picking the ball up again if they've taken one too quick, as AR most refs ask for this on comms in case their back is turned. But this nearly got me in trouble as AR (no comms) with a ref parachuted into a game that he wasn't really up to - game heating up, star defender takes quick free kick near own box, me: "in play, in play", star defender realises he's played his teammate into trouble, star defender happens to be a 2nd tier ref (!), star defender picks up the ball, our ref is like whatever let's him respot the FK, the 4 players nearest me nearly go beserk but we get away with it. Learning there is: as AR don't communicate with the players more than your ref
Speaking of which...
U17 top national youth league (AR)... smarty pants GK has ball in hand and wants to waste time, attacker is 8 yards in front of him, GK looks across at me and says the attacker is too close, I say no get on with it, he feints the kick, complains again and again. Basically a work of genius... the GK has undermined the ref here, is wasting time, all I am saying is get on with it. A few mins later, same scenario again. And it's only the first half! On comms we quickly agreed that I will ignore the GK and the ref will handle the next incident, which never came. There was no easy way out here. But as refs, we can watch for this one and get in early!
...and I haven't even mentioned working in a three with the lady that will ref the national womens cup final, or helping prevent a massed con the other day as my ref gave 12 cards and 2 VC reds (he was brilliant), or not getting any assessments this season (and getting taken off a game with a video review so a friend of mine, promoted ahead of me, who happens to be half my age - ahem, with 8 assessments this month - ahem - could do it instead - I'd better ruddy see him on telly one day soon!) ...only a few weeks of the season to go here...
Hmm one last one... I've had a few "season's best ref" in the last couple of weeks - even one "we don't get refs of your standard down here" - how little they know! - M8 if I was at a higher level, I'd be doing those games! and I know that talk is very cheap, if only they'd write that stuff to the refsecs... but, anyway, how about this: in my toughest ref game of the season, 5th tier, problem team, problem coach, that problem coach who is a third tier ref, a "friend" but doesn't really rate me (yes, I do feel I have something to prove, but I do it by doing the same things every game, trying to learn, do better), problem player is his big striker. They lose 1-3, after the game the two of them approach the circle from different directions, as the coach is about to reluctantly shake, the big problem striker wheels in with "season's best ref". The look on my coach's face! Ha!
Slow news day