Just got back from officiating said game. And it was TOUGH. I wasn't expecting the game to be so difficult. I appreciate it was a semi-final so stakes were high. But these kids were acting very aggressively towards each other. 1 Yellow for each team, one team for a trip/late challenge after the player had committed a few fouls previously. The other for a really bad shirt pull (could see the player's armpit who was being pulled from the collar).
Looking back I probably should've given more yellows, but I tried to take into account their age in what I gave cards for. Once I gave the second yellow things calmed down a bit. I also probably let a few things go I shouldn't have done, a couple of bits of players nudging each other and holding arms. But these things were very 50/50 where both players were doing the same to each other at the same time. So decided to let it go as they were both in the wrong.
There were also multiple instances of when my back was turned (dealing with players moving about 10ft up on throw ins, or bad timing where it was as my head was turned for a split second) where one player ended up on the ground. As i didn't see what happened i couldn't do anything. Who knows if the player on the ground jumped down there, or on the flip side maybe he was thrown. I will never know.
Looking back I probably should've given more yellows, but I tried to take into account their age in what I gave cards for. Once I gave the second yellow things calmed down a bit. I also probably let a few things go I shouldn't have done, a couple of bits of players nudging each other and holding arms. But these things were very 50/50 where both players were doing the same to each other at the same time. So decided to let it go as they were both in the wrong.
There were also multiple instances of when my back was turned (dealing with players moving about 10ft up on throw ins, or bad timing where it was as my head was turned for a split second) where one player ended up on the ground. As i didn't see what happened i couldn't do anything. Who knows if the player on the ground jumped down there, or on the flip side maybe he was thrown. I will never know.
