Well our dryer than normal Spring has permitted the following to wrap up this past week, on schedule:
- Girls HS. Post Season JV tournament. Had a doubleheader in the 'consolation' bracket on Friday. Very nearly issued a yellow card to a girl who didn't like the fact I saw her push with both arms the opposing girl. I just said "don't argue with me!" and she got the message. Turned out she was given a red card at the beginning of the tournament for dissent. Otherwise, the soccer was pretty good, with both games - that only counted for pride - reasonably well played.
- Spring Regular Season. Well almost. Got some money for nothing (that would be a no-show) and an uneventful U-13 girls' game.
- State and President's Cup. My U-16 boys game was the conclusion of group play. In other words, it was meaningless in the standings. Got to flash some yellow, teach a few others the fine art of dissent, but always felt like I was in 'control' of the game.
I'm A/R on the team side. Home team takes a 1-0 lead into the 2nd half. Midway through the 2nd half, visitors seem to have a 1 on 2 break, whistle blows, but for some reason team keeps going and scores. Um, nope. CR called a foul on the home team (it was reckless) and did not hold advantage. Visiting coach of course complains, parents are not exhibiting Mother's Day cheer, and somehow I had a feeling "we haven't seen anything yet." Sure enough, 38th minute visiting team ties it up on a FK misplay by the home team. Are we going to extra time? No. Visiting team wins a corner in additional time and scores off the corner. 2 goals in 4 minutes. So the home team pulls everyone, and I mean everyone, forward for the kick off. tick tick tick. They win a throw in parallel to the goal area (aka the '6' yard line). tick tick tick. Beautiful throw in, kid goes to head it, and GOAL! NO NO NO. I hear the final whistle *during* the throw in. Uh oh. Goal disallowed. Confusion. Then the WHOLE home team rushes the CR. Me and the 4th ref (along with the home team coach) solve that problem, then basically the home team coach, who to that point was a total class act, turns purple and his head explodes. Tourny officials are beamed up and get the coach off the field, who is now yelling at the visitor's fans, who are yelling back. A golf cart magically appears to take us refs off the field to our check in area.
Just another day at the President's Cup.
Should have Advantage been applied? That's a tough one - the foul occurred at the center line and it was reckless, but you can always come back to issue a caution after the advantage disappears.
When exactly is "end of game?" The Laws are specific regarding "extended time". "Extended Time" is time added to a half or end of game for a PK. Once the PK is taken, the half or game is over - no rebounds, nothing. In High School, when the clock hits 40:00 (or, for that matter, :00), you stop, period, end of story. There is no guidance in FIFA/USSF.
Two gray areas of the Law which significantly impacted this Championship Game.
Next is late Spring tournament season. My son is in a big Memorial Day tournament where I will have a dual role of an assistant coach (where I'll complain about the refs) and then be on the receiving side of said dissent wearing the stripes. We have tournaments up and down the Front Range every weekend in June (through Father's Day), looks like one or two in July, and then again starting mid August. So I'll post as necessary about the good, bad, and ugly experiences of reffing soccer.
The Center should have never ever blown the whistle during an attack! There is no exact time for the end of the game. If you are adding time, you are saying there was enough stoppage to warrant adding additional time to equal out the actual playing time. Can you say it was exactly 1 minute, or 1 minute and 15 seconds, or 1 minute and 38.5 seconds. If you decide to add time, and then time expires during an attack, let it continue!! As soon as the defense clears the ball or there is a restart, then blow the whistle. This is all part of game management. The Referee should have blown the whistle before the throw-in or after it was cleared, but not during the play. It would have prevented that whole fracas!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. I tend to add on a few seconds as you've said given the circumstances (score, position, and relevance). I'm not entirely sure why he didn't. Every game is a new experience!
ReplyDeleteIt comes with experience and hoping someone mentoring you correctly. I was called at the last minute to AR a U15 game, one time, and showed up just as they started the game. I took the flag from the parent club linesman and focused on the game. It wasn't 2 minutes later that I realized that the Center was WAY over his head for this level of game. I tried to mentor him at halftime, telling him he need to tighten up the game or it's going to get out of hand, and even though he did better, he still ended up giving several yellows and 2 reds. The coaches and parents were upset, but still in control towards the end of the game with the score being 2-2, when the visiting team(last season's State Champs) were driving into the penalty area on the attack. The attack gets past 2 defenders, sees his opening and shoots!! As soon as the ball is in the air, I hear the whistle, signalling the end of the game, then I see the ball passing the outstretched hands of the keeper to bury itself in the back of the net!! :( Ooohhh Boy!!! I immediately run to the Center and let him know to be prepared for all hell to break loose, and sure enough it did! The coach came storming onto the field, screaming and yelling, wanting his goal, but the whistle had already sounded so the goal doesn't count. We back up the Center and cool the Coach down, then later when we were away from everyone else, both the AR1 and myself gave him some constructive criticism! He has never blown his whistle like that again though!!
ReplyDeleteIMO, U15 boys is the most difficult boys (that is, all ages U17 and less) age to work. I comment on that in my new post.
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