Hand balls and penalties galore (aka I referee for five hours)

The city soccer league ended last weekend. Most of the other referees were unavailable so I did two semi-finals and both finals Saturday. I probably would have just done the finals if there had been other referees.

As it was, it was just Alan, the guy who heads up the high school refereeing, and I for the first set of semi-finals at 0830. My game went well. I believe it was boys U12. I had a little trouble from one of the coaches who thought that every time any of his players was touched, it was a foul. He stepped on the field twice. Both times I warned him not to step on the field. He didn't know it, but if he had done it again I would've yellow carded him.

Note: The "U" numbering system works as follows: U12 means all the kids playing were under 12 years of age according to league rules about birthday cutoffs. In this league I think pretty much all the kids in that division were 10-11 years old.

I missed one call that game, it looked like the kid tripped over the ball, so I didn't call anything. The ball went out of play soon after and I asked the kid about it. He said that he had been tripped by the other player. I told him I thought that might have been the case, but I wasn't sure and that, to me, it looked like he had tripped over the ball. He understood, which is always helpful.

I gave two penalties that game. One to each team. The first was to the team who ended up winning. It was given when the boy dribbling the ball was knocked over. The problem coach jawed for a bit because his man "got the ball". Yeah, coach, your player got the ball because the kid who previously had it was knocked over by your player and obviously couldn't keep possession while tumbling to the ground. The second was given when the player with the ball was tripped from behind by an opposing player. It looked clear-cut to me (which is the only time a ref should give a penalty, when they're sure), but my assistant ref on that side said later that it looked like to him the attacker slowed up a bit and that's why the defender (who was chasing the attacker down from behind) ran into the attacker. My assistant had a side view and I had a view from behind. Still, even if the attacker "drew" the foul, the defender still ran him over from behind.

That highlights probably the biggest problem with the city league; the lack of training for the refs. Many assistants didn't know the basic signals for anything beyond offside and throw-in. There was only one assistant I thought who really knew what he was doing. The other main center referees knew, but I didn't ever have them as assistants until I got one for the last final.

The weather went from about 45°F at the beginning of the first game, to probably 70°F at halftime, to around 80°F by the end of the game. I had to take off all my layers, including my long-sleeved silk undershirt, except for one short-sleeved t-shirt.

Alan and I did the second set of semi-finals at 0930. My game was another boys U12 game I think. Both of our games went to penalty kicks. To speed things along, if the game was a tie at the end of regular time, we went straight into penalty kicks. The goalkeeper for one team was quite good and made one great diving save and two other relatively easy saves.

In both of those games I had a few parents get quite irate over a few throw-in calls. A couple times, a player on one team would kick the ball out and it would slightly deflect off a player on the other team. How these parents didn't see it I have no idea, the ball generally changed direction at least a little and the spin always changed. And they called me blind...

Ted, probably the best high schooler who refs, and I did the first of the finals. Mine was co-ed U14. I was scheduled to have a break from 1030 to 1100 (end of the 0930 game to the beginning of the 1100 game), but since the 0930 game went to penalties, it ended after 1100 so I had to go straight on. One of the coaches was the coach from the first game that I had a problem with. He was a little better in this game.

I blew one call that game. I should have given a penalty for a hand ball. A girl raised her arms in the air as she was trying to kick the ball and it came off someone else and bounced up and hit her arm. I didn't give it because she didn't move her arm to play the ball and it only slightly deflected off of her arm. So I rationalized that the ball played her instead of the other way 'round. Really though, the ball can only play the man if the arm is in a "natural" position and the player doesn't move their arm to play the ball. An arm over the head isn't considered to be in a "natural position" and so I should have given a penalty regardless of whether the ball played her or not. I had already given a penalty earlier for hand ball against that girl's team and I'm still not sure why I didn't give that one.

The only other controversial call was a goal I gave in which a player on the attacking team was in an offside position. Offside is an odd law. Its definition now (it has changed over the years) says that being in an offside position is not an offense itself. The player has to be involved in the play or has to gain an advantage by being in that position. The attacker shot the ball between the near post and the goalkeeper. The player who was in an offside position was near the far post and wasn't involved in the play nor did he distract the goalkeeper or draw a defender or otherwise gain an advantage by being there. My assistant (happened to be the one I trust) didn't flag for offside and indicated he thought it was a good goal. That didn't stop the coach whose team was scored on from yelling over and over and over that a player was offside. She finally stopped when I told her that player wasn't involved in the play and therefore was not offside.

I'll write about the last final later.
To be continued...