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Junior/Youth Who would ever be a referee?

HarryD

HarryD

Well-Known Member
Fun one today. U14D, 3rd vs bottom, Blue vs White. 14 goals, 3 pens, 1 red, 1 yellow and 2 misconduct reports (and a partridge in a pear tree)! Interesting first 30 mins, two pens for Whites in the first 20 minutes. One was scored, one was missed. Nothing happened for five minutes after that until a stonewall DOGSO by white 6. Sent off White, and everyone on the sidelines go mental. 'REF HES ONLY 13' 'REF HOWS THAT A RED' 'YOU'RE SH*T REF!'. To be honest I was quite surprised - its the sort of incident where 9/10 times there wouldn't be any arguments whatsoever. They were 2-1 up and he did that. Au revior! The 'supporters' were then getting on my back for the rest of the half with comments like 'Better watch yourself ref!'

AND THIS IS JUST THE FIRST HALF!

Second half starts, penalty to blue - apparently it was never a pen, according to the white CAR. Do I listen to him? Never. It was scored. Two minutes later I'm in front of the white spectators who decide it's a brilliant idea to ask me why they have 10 playing against 12 and asking whether I'm going to give them anything because I'm cheating.
They then don't think that a clattering of a player (while breaking up a promising attack) is a booking.
Bloody hell there are some right idiots in football. All I want, and all the player want is a good game of football and it has to be ruined by people like that on the sidelines!

And to top it all off, at the end of the game the OPPOSITION manager asked me to not put the red though because it ruined the game. All reports already sent to county. Anyone else find these idiots in youth football?
 
The Referee Store
Glad to see I'm not the only one! This was my first instance of parents having a go - just shows what they're really like I suppose!
 
Hold on, you SENT OFF a 13 year old!? Certain members of this forum will be choking on their Sunday Lunch :rolleyes:

In all seriousness though, parents are the worst thing about youth football. Try not to let it get to you and move on to the next game, sounds like youre happy with the decision too.
 
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I think that from my viewpoint I would have to use "common sense vs laws of the game" that was explained to us at the basic referee course in Essex; in some situations while there is a hard rule like Dogso, knowing that the boy is going to get a chewing over by his team mates when the opposition equalise it would probably suffice to caution or give him a stern warning. If the score were 2-1 in the dying minutes I might do something different like a red card.

I had a twelve year old captain call me a cheat after awarding 2 fks against his team for handball, the first resulting in a goal. I could have sent him off but instead he got my best teacher voice and a clear word that "you're the captain so set an example, another word and I'll be giving your manager the option to replace you and keep you off or see you get a red. Up to you." In this instance I would have given a ifk for dissent too but the ball was already out of play when he piped up.

And when it comes to parents, if they say good game ref I say thanks and if they feel the need to say something to the contrary I would probably say thanks for that too! Luckily, in my short career I've not had any problems with fans or managers but I mostly do u10 and below so you hope that it would be ok!
 
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HarryD said:
...stonewall DOGSO by white 6.
Click to expand...
Please can you explain what made it a "stonewall" DOGSO.

Please explain it in terms of
  • nature of the offence, e.g. handball on the goal line
  • proximity to goal of the offence
  • direction of play (i.e. heading towards goal or not)
  • players involved
  • how you assessed the skill level of the player against whom the offence was committed (if it was a foul)
This will help others decide whether an offence is DOGSO when it occurs in their game.
 
Running into the box facing the goal, no other players were anywhere near, sliding tackle which went for the ball but completely clattered the attacking player. He went in from behind so I thought 'DOGSO all day long' and sent him off.
 
@DanRicketts although in principal I agree with what you said. But ANY player dropping the c bomb at me is getting a red regardless of age. It's totally and utterly unacceptable.
 
DanRicketts said:
I think that from my viewpoint I would have to use "common sense vs laws of the game" that was explained to us at the basic referee course in Essex; in some situations while there is a hard rule like Dogso, knowing that the boy is going to get a chewing over by his team mates when the opposition equalise it would probably suffice to caution or give him a stern warning. If the score were 2-1 in the dying minutes I might do something different like a red card.

I had a twelve year old captain call me a cheat after awarding 2 fks against his team for handball, the first resulting in a goal. I could have sent him off but instead he got my best teacher voice and a clear word that "you're the captain so set an example, another word and I'll be giving your manager the option to replace you and keep you off or see you get a red. Up to you." In this instance I would have given a ifk for dissent too but the ball was already out of play when he piped up.

And when it comes to parents, if they say good game ref I say thanks and if they feel the need to say something to the contrary I would probably say thanks for that too! Luckily, in my short career I've not had any problems with fans or managers but I mostly do u10 and below so you hope that it would be ok!
Click to expand...

Aha I've found him! Its "last weeks ref" everybody!
 
DanRicketts said:
I think that from my viewpoint I would have to use "common sense vs laws of the game" that was explained to us at the basic referee course in Essex; in some situations while there is a hard rule like Dogso, knowing that the boy is going to get a chewing over by his team mates when the opposition equalise it would probably suffice to caution or give him a stern warning. If the score were 2-1 in the dying minutes I might do something different like a red card.

I had a twelve year old captain call me a cheat after awarding 2 fks against his team for handball, the first resulting in a goal. I could have sent him off but instead he got my best teacher voice and a clear word that "you're the captain so set an example, another word and I'll be giving your manager the option to replace you and keep you off or see you get a red. Up to you." In this instance I would have given a ifk for dissent too but the ball was already out of play when he piped up.

And when it comes to parents, if they say good game ref I say thanks and if they feel the need to say something to the contrary I would probably say thanks for that too! Luckily, in my short career I've not had any problems with fans or managers but I mostly do u10 and below so you hope that it would be ok!
Click to expand...

Since when is it our job to suggest tactics to managers?
This isn't aimed personally at you @DanRicketts because I know there are lots of other refs that do this.....but it really is the most abject piece of weak refereeing when they do....either give the card or don't, but don't come up with some wishy washy cop out where the manager makes your decision for you.

I can actually see the reasoning behind not carding a young player in those circumstances, however not sure that I could ever let the use the of that word go unpunished on my pitch!
 
Well @Padfoott it worked in instance. When I blew for half time I quickly told the manager what the lecture with his player was about (although I think he may have heard it anyway) and low and behold in the 2nd half I didn't hear a peep from the offender and his team mates were also more civil. It put the onus on the manager so he could little complaint if it happened again.
 
It may never happen, Dan, but what if the manager puts the player back on after agreeing to keep him off?

What would you do?
 
Well that's the point, if he kept him off then he can still have a full compliment of players but if the player returns to the field of play and doesn't keep his thoughts to himself then I would have zero tolerance. He had a chance to learn which is what youth football is about, not the result. Sadly coaches are still too focused on winning and not on getting players to improve as per the youth development review.
 
Ah, I see, a form of optional sin-binning. The wording of your post misled me

Not for me, mind
 
I can kind of see where Dan is coming from, but if a player calls me a cheat he walks, regardless of age.
 
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