A&H

Open Age What is Your Worst Mistake in a Match ?

Beezer

Beezer

RefChat Addict
Level 5 Referee
Here goes ,confession time ....this should be a Top Ten Job ...its now Tuesday and my guts are still churning
Sunday Am..... local cup semi final contested by arguably the 2 best teams in the league ( Blue v Yellow)
Very tight first 15 mins loads of tackles and shouting for every 50/50 as I expected .
already had a" F**k off ref ", for a foul said in a inquisitive way so .....benefit of doubt and a very public word with player .
25th minute yellows 1 0 down play long ball down the line, defence scramble it clear and Blue CB shouts at my NAR "Lino ....get that fu******k flag up " instant whistle call him over book him !
Now for the bad bit .....put my book away and I see the keeper holding the Ball , yellow attacker says "that's a Fk ref the balls still in play " I then ask the keeper for the ball put it on the top of the ark where the player was when he had his outburst raise my arm and shout "IDF yellow "
Still ok I know ! .....the Blue Defence are all up field ish and quick thinking striker comes sprinting from halfway line shoutin "Ref can we have a quick one " I say nothing as the Strikers run towards me I can hear the home bench going mental but before I can process my thoughts the keeper kicks the ball away and gets a c4 booking ...looking back he did me a favour ! now the Idf is finally taken with everyone back in position and scored to make It 1 1 .........IT GETS WORSE :eek:
I have obviously now lost the home team and the rest of the game was a complete nightmare even though they eventually won the tie
I still felt I could justify the decision by not penalising the yellows quick thinking and telling the home players at FT its not my job to tell you the laws you should know the restart for dissent during play
ONLY TO FIND OUT FROM A FELLOW REF AND THE HOME MANAGER AND AN OFF DUTY ASSESSOR (who were all watching). THAT WHEN I BOOKED THE DEFENDER THE BALL HAD ALREADY GONE OUT FOR A THROW IN TO BLUE that's why they had all pushed up (the ball had been kicked back on and the keeper was simply holding it ):(
I still feel like a Knob now and have made my apologies to all concerned but I did have a dig at my lino for not correcting me as we did cover it pre match
CONCENTRATION is so important !!!!!!!
Who is up next ? get it off your chest ! :):)
 
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I one gave a free kick for handball. The player taking it smashed it into the top corner, and I disallowed it saying it should be indirect.

The home manager, whose team benefitted from my error, was a (still practicing) Level 1 referee who after the game gave me one of the worst tellings-off I have ever had (with the other manager present - he was fuming of course). I cost the Away team 3 points that day and this was the penultimate game of the season, and they ended up missing out on the title by 1 point.

I was honestly so embarrassed and upset that I wrote a draft email resigning as a referee. I decided to carry on, but I stopped doing multiple games on the same day as a result of this. event.

I mentioned this on another thread about being reported (which I was), and I still cringe about it now. A truly terrible day.

By the way in your example, don't you punish the offence where the ball was when the offence was committed?
 
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Not quite sure if it is my worst decision (there have been plenty over the years) but certainly is my weakest and still niggles at me to this day.

I was once refereeing in a foreign youth tournament and was given a fairly high profile appointment, one team were from USA and the other from South America so I was prepared for differing styles of play etc. In the first minute of play South American player no 10 chasing a ball into the penalty area passes the defender and throws himself down clearly a dive, cue loud whistle sprint towards player and flash yellow, no real complaints.

A few minutes later South American team on the attack again, attacker collects ball then plays it passed a defender goes passed the defender and collapses in a heap. Again I think clear dive pull yellow out and head for this diving player, as I get there with card in hand I realise it's number 10 again.

It now sets in that I'm about to send off a player after 3 mins for two dives and panic sets in. What if I'm wrong it's game over after 3 mins, so rather poorly I decide to run past player to AR1 who was a retired FIFA from Romania, who incidentally spoke very limited English, appeared to have a conversations with him in actual fact it was me talking and him looking at me blankly. After a min I returned to the field and flashed the yellow at the defender and gave an attacking free kick, much to the disappointment of the defending team. Fortunately the defender didn't commit any fouls in the remainder of the game. It is certainly not my proudest moment in the middle!
 
:eek:

Funnily enough I also refereed in a foreign youth tournament and was refereeing a game between a South American team and a European team. A South American attacker clearly dived in the opening minute and so I cautioned him. Two minutes later another South American striker clearly dived so I pulled out a yellow card and moved towards him. As I reached him, I realised it was the same player so followed the yellow with a red. The player complained that, when he'd done this last year, the referee had copped out big time and cautioned the defender instead!!

Last year's ref, pah!
 
Gave a freekick when goalie dribbled ball back into box and pucjed it up. Think I was in rugby mode abd thinking about 22s. Right at the end of what had otherwise been a good performance so the coaches weren't happy.
 
I'm sure that the keeper received the ball from one of his team mates, Dan. Good decision
 
We all have bad days. More than once. the best decision after a bad game is to learn from it and put behind us. I don't remember any particular incident but have had a few games after which I felt horrible.

By the way, technically a quick free kick is not allowed after a booking because the whistle is needed to restart the game.
 
Beezer said:
Here goes ,confession time ....this should be a Top Ten Job ...its now Tuesday and my guts are still churning
Sunday Am..... local cup semi final contested by arguably the 2 best teams in the league ( Blue v Yellow)
Very tight first 15 mins loads of tackles and shouting for every 50/50 as I expected .
already had a" F**k off ref ", for a foul said in a inquisitive way so .....benefit of doubt and a very public word with player .
25th minute yellows 1 0 down play long ball down the line, defence scramble it clear and Blue CB shouts at my NAR "Lino ....get that fu******k flag up " instant whistle call him over book him !
Now for the bad bit .....put my book away and I see the keeper holding the Ball , yellow attacker says "that's a Fk ref the balls still in play " I then ask the keeper for the ball put it on the top of the ark where the player was when he had his outburst raise my arm and shout "IDF yellow "
Still ok I know ! .....the Blue Defence are all up field ish and quick thinking striker comes sprinting from halfway line shoutin "Ref can we have a quick one " I say nothing as the Strikers run towards me I can hear the home bench going mental but before I can process my thoughts the keeper kicks the ball away and gets a c4 booking ...looking back he did me a favour ! now the Idf is finally taken with everyone back in position and scored to make It 1 1 .........IT GETS WORSE :eek:
I have obviously now lost the home team and the rest of the game was a complete nightmare even though they eventually won the tie
I still felt I could justify the decision by not penalising the yellows quick thinking and telling the home players at FT its not my job to tell you the laws you should know the restart for dissent during play
ONLY TO FIND OUT FROM A FELLOW REF AND THE HOME MANAGER AND AN OFF DUTY ASSESSOR (who were all watching). THAT WHEN I BOOKED THE DEFENDER THE BALL HAD ALREADY GONE OUT FOR A THROW IN TO BLUE that's why they had all pushed up (the ball had been kicked back on and the keeper was simply holding it ):(
I still feel like a Knob now and have made my apologies to all concerned but I did have a dig at my lino for not correcting me as we did cover it pre match
CONCENTRATION is so important !!!!!!!
Who is up next ? get it off your chest ! :):)
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Sorry, a bit off topic sort of not really, but why hasn't your NAR stepped in here??
 
Pretty sure I've mentioned this incident before, but it easily my biggest mistake.

Enormous Southern Premier League game last season. 2 teams fighting for top spot and I was appointed to the game based on merit (I was 17th in the whole country for L4 AR assessor marks) along with a high-flying L3 in the middle.
Absolutely buzzing from the day MOAS told me I was on it, right up until the day itself. All goes well pre-match, aside from a minor hiccup or two (nothing involving me) and we get the game underway.

Benchside. Assessor directly behind me. 11 minutes into first half. Ball comes flying over the top to attacker, in an offside position. Flag goes up, ref blows whistle - all hell erupts! I'm thinking what's gone on here?! IDFK is taken and I'm crabbing up to halfway and the bench are SCREAMING at me - and I mean going mad! Turns out, it was a goal-kick that I'd flagged from. Striker ended up one-on-one with GK and, in all honesty, would have scored.
Didn't help my cause that shortly after, ref binned their gaffer for being abusive (to him, not me).

I apologised profusely to the management, taking full blame for the mistake and accepting it. They were reasonably okay (80 mins to go still, 0-0 the score, so not too upset).

Changing room HT was okay, I apologised to ref and said I'd ensure I take full blame with assessor. No dramas

Changing room FT. Wow. Assessor tears me a new one, doesn't want to listen to me and doesn't accept me taking blame. Tears ref a new one too.
I cost the ref his promotion from 3 2B and myself a play-off game. (I got a 66 - my previous lowest line mark was 73, average was 76ish).

In hindsight, that was the day I stepped down from 4 to 5. I never returned to Ryman or Southern Premier and officiated solely in Div 1's and u21/18 games until the end of my time as a 4!
 
Made plenty of stupid mistakes. Usually it's something like interpreting a challenge as a foul when later I realise it isn't, that sort of thing.

One that stands out: Refereeing an U/18 representative level game, and I was choking badly. Years ago.

I award a free kick in the middle of the field, nothing of interest. A push in the back I think it was. Point for a Blue kick, they all set up. A white player runs past and says 'hey ref, wasn't that supposed to be our free kick?'

Errr.....crap. Yep, forgot which team ran which way, and it didn't even click when they were setting up. Ok, indicate to everybody I mucked up, kick goes the other way. Only problem is, Blue is all up field. So White want to take advantage of them all being out of position, and take it quickly. I figure there's no way I can allow that - it's my mistake that put Blue out of position, so that's going to make this ceremonial. Fairest way. I pull it back, and one White player runs past and screams 'THAT'S F****D!!!!!'

Out comes the red, I don't think there were too many complaints, but ultimately while the player is responsible for his actions, my mistake created the situation that led to his frustration.

At another point in this game....possibly later on......I was around the goals investigating a major divot that had been dug up during the game (waiting for the ball at a GK). Coach is going ballistic about something and I've had enough. Run over to give him a warning. For some stupid reason I decided to make an issue out of the divot (at the time I thought I was doing the right thing). When one team hates me and I've just had to warn the coach and they're down, 'oh, by the way, the match won't resume until you get a ground official to patch up that big hole around the goals' isn't the best statement to make!!!

What's worse, I run back over, and the keeper has managed to repair it to the point where I can't even see it. Yep, looked like a complete idiot on that one!!! Big confidence wrecker, that game too.
 
Most memorable, and it's not that bad, though there have been a lot worse...
Foul on the edge of the box, I play advantage as the ball runs to a fellow attacker. He shoots and misses, I then blow up for the foul!!! What on earth was I thinking!!!
 
DanCohen17 said:
Pretty sure I've mentioned this incident before, but it easily my biggest mistake.

Enormous Southern Premier League game last season. 2 teams fighting for top spot and I was appointed to the game based on merit (I was 17th in the whole country for L4 AR assessor marks) along with a high-flying L3 in the middle.
Absolutely buzzing from the day MOAS told me I was on it, right up until the day itself. All goes well pre-match, aside from a minor hiccup or two (nothing involving me) and we get the game underway.

Benchside. Assessor directly behind me. 11 minutes into first half. Ball comes flying over the top to attacker, in an offside position. Flag goes up, ref blows whistle - all hell erupts! I'm thinking what's gone on here?! IDFK is taken and I'm crabbing up to halfway and the bench are SCREAMING at me - and I mean going mad! Turns out, it was a goal-kick that I'd flagged from. Striker ended up one-on-one with GK and, in all honesty, would have scored.
Didn't help my cause that shortly after, ref binned their gaffer for being abusive (to him, not me).

I apologised profusely to the management, taking full blame for the mistake and accepting it. They were reasonably okay (80 mins to go still, 0-0 the score, so not too upset).

Changing room HT was okay, I apologised to ref and said I'd ensure I take full blame with assessor. No dramas

Changing room FT. Wow. Assessor tears me a new one, doesn't want to listen to me and doesn't accept me taking blame. Tears ref a new one too.
I cost the ref his promotion from 3 2B and myself a play-off game. (I got a 66 - my previous lowest line mark was 73, average was 76ish).

In hindsight, that was the day I stepped down from 4 to 5. I never returned to Ryman or Southern Premier and officiated solely in Div 1's and u21/18 games until the end of my time as a 4!
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Dan, your honesty is commendable but surely such a high flying L3 in the middle should have noticed it was a goal kick and played on? Or doesn't it work that way in the big leagues?
 
I was running the line for a County Senior Cup QF in the last minute, and the keeper goes forward for a corner in the last minute. Ball breaks, and it's 2 v 1. Striker 1 one plays it forward to striker 2, my flag stays down. I've forgotten that the goalkeepr has gone forward, and that he isn't behind the defender to play striker 2 onside.

Luckily the ref realised my mistake and blew for the offside for me. Embarassing though.
 
David Sutton said:
Dan, your honesty is commendable but surely such a high flying L3 in the middle should have noticed it was a goal kick and played on? Or doesn't it work that way in the big leagues?
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Ref backed me. I think he'd also had a momentary lapse of concentration, but at that stage in that game, teamwork was going to be vital and he instantly backed me. He didn't realise the error till a few minutes later, I realised straight away when the bench told me!
 
DanCohen17 said:
Ref backed me. I think he'd also had a momentary lapse of concentration, but at that stage in that game, teamwork was going to be vital and he instantly backed me. He didn't realise the error till a few minutes later, I realised straight away when the bench told me!
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A big shame all round. I don't feel as though you should shoulder all the blame for his failures, though. He could have saved himself by overruling when it occurred. Or would that have condemned him, too? And how did the other assistant fare in all this? Was he/she harshly treated for being part of the team as well?
(I'm just interested in the dynamics at this level of refereeing, not pointing fingers)
 
David Sutton said:
A big shame all round. I don't feel as though you should shoulder all the blame for his failures, though. He could have saved himself by overruling when it occurred. Or would that have condemned him, too? And how did the other assistant fare in all this? Was he/she harshly treated for being part of the team as well?
(I'm just interested in the dynamics at this level of refereeing, not pointing fingers)
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No the other assistant would not have been marked down.
The referee should have noticed, but as a linesman its really your responsibility.
Had the referee had noticed he would probably be marked UP.
 
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