I had a fantastic start to the season; 6 games, no bookings, no penalties and very well behaved players for the most part. Something had to give and it did on Saturday morning.
U17 game, Blue v. Orange which ended with two penalties and five yellow cards (four to Orange). It was a really poor game in all honesty, long balls and just generally scrappy. I gave a stonewall penalty to the Blues after ten minutes and it all went downhill from there. The away team decided that I was out to get them (well, obviously
).
The game remained scrappy and then Orange started to put a few 'strong' challenges in, all were fouls but didn't warrant a caution until Orange 14 came straight through the back of a player, late and a really poor challenge. I called him over and cautioned him, to cries of 'he got the ball' and 'it's a contact sport ref'. I could feel the temperature rising so I had a chat with the orange captain at half time along the lines of 'I've tried to keep the game flowing but this needs to calm down'.
Initially, it seemed to have worked but then Blue scored two quick goals to go 3-0 up. Orange then started to argue with every decision. Two cautions for dissent later, Orange got a penalty (clear handball) but not worthy of a card (again, this obviously meant that I was favouring the home team). Credit to the manager, he subbed two players before they talked their way off the pitch.
They then got another goal back to make it 3-2 with five minutes to go. They didn't have any chances and the game was dying down. In the last minute, however, there was a confrontation between two players and the Orange striker had to be dragged away from the Blue captain, before coming storming back over whilst I moved in between them. I've got absolutely no idea what happened to cause it, but one of the parents stood 50 yards away claimed a punch was thrown (nobody else had seen anything like a punch). Both were cautioned for adopting an aggressive attitude and the game finished 3-2.
Just one of those games I suppose, I got home feeling really wound up. It really gets to me when players behave like the Orange ones did
There was one funny moment though when a player shouted 'How did you miss that ref you dipstick'. I just laughed, that's possibly the least offensive shout I've ever had
U17 game, Blue v. Orange which ended with two penalties and five yellow cards (four to Orange). It was a really poor game in all honesty, long balls and just generally scrappy. I gave a stonewall penalty to the Blues after ten minutes and it all went downhill from there. The away team decided that I was out to get them (well, obviously
).The game remained scrappy and then Orange started to put a few 'strong' challenges in, all were fouls but didn't warrant a caution until Orange 14 came straight through the back of a player, late and a really poor challenge. I called him over and cautioned him, to cries of 'he got the ball' and 'it's a contact sport ref'. I could feel the temperature rising so I had a chat with the orange captain at half time along the lines of 'I've tried to keep the game flowing but this needs to calm down'.
Initially, it seemed to have worked but then Blue scored two quick goals to go 3-0 up. Orange then started to argue with every decision. Two cautions for dissent later, Orange got a penalty (clear handball) but not worthy of a card (again, this obviously meant that I was favouring the home team). Credit to the manager, he subbed two players before they talked their way off the pitch.
They then got another goal back to make it 3-2 with five minutes to go. They didn't have any chances and the game was dying down. In the last minute, however, there was a confrontation between two players and the Orange striker had to be dragged away from the Blue captain, before coming storming back over whilst I moved in between them. I've got absolutely no idea what happened to cause it, but one of the parents stood 50 yards away claimed a punch was thrown (nobody else had seen anything like a punch). Both were cautioned for adopting an aggressive attitude and the game finished 3-2.
Just one of those games I suppose, I got home feeling really wound up. It really gets to me when players behave like the Orange ones did
There was one funny moment though when a player shouted 'How did you miss that ref you dipstick'. I just laughed, that's possibly the least offensive shout I've ever had
