After a couple of weeks off, due to holidays and G's birthday party, I was back in the bumblebee outfit on Saturday. I centered two boys under-10 (BU10) games and was an assistant for one BU12 game. The two U10 games couldn't have been more different.
In the first game, the coaches and teams were wonderful. Both coaches were very positive towards their players and one complimented plays by the other team several times. I took the trouble to compliment him for that, since it's what we're looking for in AYSO.
The second game was awful. The coach of the green team is one I've seen before -- he takes his time in getting his players set up, which delays the game. At the start of the second half, I warned him that I was starting the clock because his players weren't ready when I called for them.
During the game, I had problems with several people standing on, or just behind, the goal lines, which is a no-no in soccer. I tried clearing some while play was active and that was a mistake -- it's quite likely that I missed an offside call just before a goal because of the distraction. (Note: Although G&Z were working the lines for me, they weren't calling offside, since they haven't been trained in it.) It bugs me that I might have missed the call, but it bugs me even more that the green coach was then telling his kids, out loud, that "they're not calling offside." Sheesh.
The offside gripe isn't what bugged me the most about this guy, though. Late in the 2nd half, one of his players went down, apparently injured. At this level we blow the whistle to stop play pretty quickly, but I like to give a player a couple of seconds to get up -- some kids are tougher than others and I don't want to stop play if I don't have to. (Yes, if there's blood or some other obvious thing, I'll blow the whistle right away.) This coach decided that I wasn't acting fast enough and blew his own whistle to stop play, and ran onto the field without checking with me! Both of these are pretty serious and warrent cautions. Sadly, I didn't stop things to deal with this in the way that I should have.
I also got a bunch of gripes from the green coach and his fans about balls being "out" and kids "stepping over the line" on throw-ins. Z was on the line on that side and he knows very well how to call the lines and throw-ins. What this coach doesn't understand is that for a ball to be out of play ("in touch" is the term), it has to go completely over the line. This is not the way American football works, where touching any part of the line puts the ball out. Same thing for the throw-in -- if the kids steps on the line, it's legal. For it to be a bad throw-in, he has to step entirely over the line onto the field of play. So, I'm getting yelled at for his ignorance.
This now leads me to my problems with the orange team. At the start of the game, I noticed someone sitting on the goal line and I asked him to move -- I'd seen him last year and he had complained about my reffing, so I wasn't too thrilled to see him there. So, he moved over to the green side. It turns out he was a parent on the orange side and was sitting there coaching the kids from there, another no-no. And, another blown opportunity for me -- I should have stopped the game and made him stop and move to the other side.
He was on me about some of the same line/throw-in issues that the green coach was, with some other stuff. One of his big gripes is "handball" (really "handling the ball," according to LotG.) I'm certain that he's used to professional and World Cup games where the ref blows the whistle if the ball hits a hand or an arm. We don't do that in U10 ball. The key word in the Laws is "deliberate." 8 and 9yo kids don't have the skills to dodge out of the way of an oncoming ball, so if the ball bounces up and hits their arm, or they put an arm up to protect their face, I won't call a foul. But of course, this guy doesn't get it.
There were other problems as well, on the orange side. The greens were having some trouble with getting their throw-ins directly over-head, but I was letting much of it go. I tend to call problems with the feet and the most egregious throwing problems, but not everything. It's a matter of balancing the teaching aspects of the game with letting the kids play and not blowing a whistle every few seconds. There's also this line about ignoring "trifling" violations in the referee instructions.
The real problem that I had with the orange side was the fact that the coach yelling encouraged others to do it, too. My mistake in not nipping it in the bud. It got pretty bad, with a couple of other spectators yelling and when I responded, giving me the sassy "I'se just callin' it like I sees it!" I suggested that if she wanted to call it, she should put on the yellow shirt and be a ref.
We made it through the game, and I don't think that I missed too many calls, excepting the possible offside at the beginning and one foul. But the annoying, wrong-side, orange spectator stopped me after the game and introduced himself. Then he said "can I give you some advice?" My response: "No. If you want to tell me what to do, take the class and become a referee." He walked off saying "you're a terrible ref."
I know, I need a thick skin -- most of the time I can take it, but this bunch really got me down. Ah well, there's always next week.
BTW, the BU12 game was great, except that I almost missed the kickoff. The games are on different sides of town and I hadn't noticed that they moved the U12 games earlier, meaning that I had no time to get to the school after my last U10 game. Fortunately, they were running late and I just made it. No blown calls, but one odd one that I wish that I hadn't made. Near the end of the game, the team at my end took a goal kick, and a player stopped the ball with his foot right on the penalty area line. If he had waited another half revolution, he would have been in the clear. It didn't make a difference in the game, though, since that team lost 7-0 and the game was all but over at that point.
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