Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Dual System & Ignorance of the Rules

It's been awhile. I'm not sure anyone actually reads this, but it's nice to vent.

I am still not a fan of the dual system. I've done it twice since my last post. One time it went alright, but I still didn't feel like I could control the game like I needed to, but luckily it didn't need much intervention.

The second time was tonight. Tonight didn't go so well. I felt we missed some early little stuff because we were too far away from the play (because we were doing a dual) and that led to retaliation, some of which was little stuff that we also missed. The game was never irretrievably out of control, but it did get out of control at times. We called everything we saw, but just from some things I caught the tail end of and reactions I saw, we missed things that were getting to players on both sides and they became frustrated. It frustrated me because we seemed to regain control of the game and then something little or sometimes nothing (at least that I could tell) would set the players off again.

Major contributors to the mood were the coaches and benches of both sides. I was on the home side and one of the coaches, who I've played with out in town and seemed a reasonable, nice guy, got on me when I called a home player for yelling "Leave it!" when the ball was in the air and the opposing player did. The away player had his back to the home player and ducked letting the ball go by him in response to the home player's yell. I instinctively went to my pocket for the yellow card. This type of foul is called "deliberate verbal tactics". It's in the NFHS Soccer Rules under Rule 12-8 Section 1.f.4.

I made my first mistake by allowing myself to be talked out of the yellow and giving a warning. The player and coaches insisted he was talking to a teammate even though there wasn't one nearby that could have played the ball.

My second mistake was that on the restart, it should have been an indirect kick (I gave a direct kick). Luckily, the foul was at midfield and the away team didn't score directly from the kick.

This exact situation is covered under Situation 12.8.1 in the NFHS Soccer Rules. It states, "Player A2 is waiting to receive a ball in the air. Opponent B2, who is behind A2, shouts 'I'll take it' in an obvious attempt to deceive A2 into thinking B2 is a teammate calling for the ball. RULING: Stop play, caution B2 for unsporting conduct and restart with an indirect free kick by Team A at the spot of the infraction."

The coach who berated me for this really bothered me. I usually don't get bothered by anything coaches say. I think it was because I had played with the guy many times out in town and what he said. He said that if I had any knowledge of the game I would know that wasn't a foul. He went on for a little and I told him he ought to recheck his rulebook. I wish I could have remembered the exact section so I could quote it to him.

It bothered me because I obviously know the game, I've played with and against him (and had a great time), and he was the one who didn't have the knowledge of the game. I usually just laugh it off when the coaches (or players) make some comment that is plainly wrong Rules-wise, but that's the first time I was bothered by it.

It didn't affect the way I called the rest of the game, but next time, I'll shrug it off and give the coach a card for dissent because that's what he deserved (the player too if I haven't restarted play yet). I tried to be reasonable and influence the game as little as I can, but, in that instance, I think I did too little. A card would have made him more irate, but it would have sent a message that disrespect is unacceptable and maybe that disrespectful attitude wouldn't have spread to the players.

/rant