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    Which match PT?

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      STM Sports v Llwydcoed, Welsh League Div 2

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        imp, I had forgotten about your blog (sorry). I'm paying more attention to refereeing matters now that I am a ref for my son's 5-and-under AYSO league. Though the first 3 game weeks were basically just inter-team scrimmages that the coaches wanted to treat as practices and let me know that my services were not needed, and real games start next week, and due to our vacation, I'm missing the next two weeks.

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          I think The Refereeing Thread, and imp's blog that inspired it are two of the very best recent features of otf, along of course with Big Daves Gusset's deserved rise to stardom.

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            There are AYSO leagues in leafy suburbia?

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              Why wouldn't there be?

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                AYSO is big-time in ABQ and it includes what could be considered leafy suburbs.

                My son played in AYSO for a few years and I was volunteered to ref as well. Great fun.

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                  Originally posted by Bermuda Iron View Post
                  WFD, may I wish her all the best with her upcoming training, let's hope she develops that thick skin that is so clearly needed to be an official these days. And all the best to you as well, as you will no doubt need to offer many shoulders to lean one when some dickhead player or club official blames her for their side losing, when clearly the main reason was they are shit.
                  Cheers BI - she completed her course today, the only girl on the course - she was particularly pleased that apparently her marks were higher than her brother's when he did it. She has her first match next Sunday, there is such a shortage of refs that she won't struggle for opportunities.

                  I had all the latter with her brother and in his time officiating he did develop a much thicker skin and it helped his self confidence no end, but it took him a bit of getting used to - he used to hate junior football because of the parents and coaches, he eventually found open age football easier.

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                    Ray lives in London's leafy suburbia.

                    I was surprised that the American Youth Soccer Organization was established there.

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                      Originally posted by Incandenza View Post
                      imp, I had forgotten about your blog (sorry). I'm paying more attention to refereeing matters now that I am a ref for my son's 5-and-under AYSO league. Though the first 3 game weeks were basically just inter-team scrimmages that the coaches wanted to treat as practices and let me know that my services were not needed, and real games start next week, and due to our vacation, I'm missing the next two weeks.
                      They don't have refs until the U10 age group in Germany - below that they let the kids play and the coaches intervene if necessary. I've just started coaching the U7s at my local club and the games are meant to be relaxed affairs. On Saturday a couple of my kids got blatantly but accidentally tripped but I just waved play on and they don't really notice - they're up and running again straightaway (or running into the arms of their mothers, howling). Also, the parents have to stand at least 15m back from the field, which is a huge help, as it allows you to gently eject over-zealous fathers as I did the other weekend (he stormed off in a huff and I haven't seen him since, which is a result).

                      We play in the Fair Play League - the idea is hands-off coaching, let the kids run around and enjoy it. At two games this season, though, I've watched teams with no less than two coaches running up and down the touchline and loudly coaching every kick, and yelling at players for being out of position, failing to pass etc. One team hammered us 12-1 - they were already playing pass-and-move at six years old. You could see they were terrified of making a mistake every time they got the ball because one of the coaches would be yelling, "Pass! Pass!" Exactly at the age when they should be dribbling. I don't even give my players positions apart from the goalie (it's seven-a-side). My entire coaching talk is "Don't forget - when you get the ball, run towards the goal and try to score. If you lose the ball, try and get it back as quickly as possible." Is there anything else much to add to that, at any level?

                      The scores are not recorded officially (again, up until U10), but for technical reasons you have to enter it into the DFB system after the match. Usually the protocol is that you type in 0-0. The team that beat us 12-1 input the score as 14-0. The week before that we were playing a team and a little lad I'd just subbed out asked me what the score was. "It's 5-5," I said (which it was). One of the opposing team's coaches took a moment to stop over-motivating his munchkins and turned around to say, "No way! It's 6-4 to us." I reminded him that it didn't actually matter, and managed not to add, "You fucking arse-wanker."

                      Looking at these games from a refereeing point of view, you can see where it all starts to go wrong.
                      Last edited by imp; 02-10-2017, 11:18.

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                        [QUOTE=Walt Flanagans Dog;1352506]Cheers BI - she completed her course today, the only girl on the course - she was particularly pleased that apparently her marks were higher than her brother's when he did it. She has her first match next Sunday, there is such a shortage of refs that she won't struggle for opportunities. QUOTE]

                        Good to hear she did so well, I remember when I first did my referees course I was 14 and did it 'on a whim' with my dad. He was doing the course to help with coaching a junior team, and I ended up getting a higher mark than him, something he has been reminded of on many occasions. I hope her first game goes well, perhaps you would be so kind to give us a quick report after the match?

                        My game yesterday was played in the pouring rain, fairly unusual conditions over here. It was a closely contested match between two of the better sides on the island. The game was decided by a penalty in the 83rd minute, when the away keeper decided to 'slide in' on the wet surface to stop the onrushing player, who was actually going away from goal, but ended up bringing him down. There was little dissent from the team when I gave the penalty, indeed the keeper asked me if I was 'going to card him'. I told him no as I thought it was a genuine, but mistimed, attempt to snaffle the ball, and the player was moving away from the goal away, with defenders coming back to cover. He actually thanked me, admitted it was a foul, and he was really pissed off with himself! Am extremely rare case of honesty....

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                          Unification Day in Germany, which means I get a trip out of town to referee the bottom two teams in the Kreisliga A of the Groß-Gerau region. You'll be amazed to hear that it was not pretty.

                          I didn't mention on the blog that the walrus-like striker at one point wrapped his leg around a defender in the penalty area, dropped to the floor and screamed for a penalty. I was laughing so hard along with the opposing defenders that I forgot to book him, though he almost deserved to be let off for his naked audacity.

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                            You'll all be amazed (again) to hear that yesterday I reffed a game played by aggressive, outraged, angry, fouling fuckwits. A joy, an absolute joy. I'd been planning to write about the arsehole youth coach I encountered on Saturday, but even that gargantuan super-cunt was dwarfed by the two teams I encountered the next day.

                            Sometimes you think, "It must be me." But I shared my changing room with a ref who was doing the field next to mine, one level below. Half-time: "How's your game?" I asked him. Terrible, two yellow cards already, and there's going to be more. Full-time: "How did it go?" Though I didn't need to ask, I could see the two teams he reffed still arguing with each other through the changing room window. "Seven yellows, one red," he sighed, "and there could have been at least four more." Which almost exactly corresponded to my own game. Like me, he encounters this shit on a weekly basis, and it's no coincidence.

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                              You should go to Romania, Ian. Because judging by the clown in Cardiff tonight their refs are fucking shite. They'd welcome you with open arms, I'm sure.

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                                O'Neill did his homework on that ref.

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                                  Originally posted by imp View Post
                                  You'll all be amazed (again) to hear that yesterday I reffed a game played by aggressive, outraged, angry, fouling fuckwits. A joy, an absolute joy. I'd been planning to write about the arsehole youth coach I encountered on Saturday, but even that gargantuan super-cunt was dwarfed by the two teams I encountered the next day.

                                  Sometimes you think, "It must be me." But I shared my changing room with a ref who was doing the field next to mine, one level below. Half-time: "How's your game?" I asked him. Terrible, two yellow cards already, and there's going to be more. Full-time: "How did it go?" Though I didn't need to ask, I could see the two teams he reffed still arguing with each other through the changing room window. "Seven yellows, one red," he sighed, "and there could have been at least four more." Which almost exactly corresponded to my own game. Like me, he encounters this shit on a weekly basis, and it's no coincidence.
                                  Brilliant, as per - thanks Ian. As you've heard before, I don't know why you do it...but I'm glad you do, and report it so amusingly.

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                                    A relative asked me on Friday night too why the hell I do it. In the end I decided it's because I'm fascinated by the theatre, and of translating that theatre into the next blog entry. I think that if it wasn't for that outlet, I might have quit by now. It does help too when people give me feedback on the blog, so many thanks for that - really appreciate it.

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                                      [QUOTE=Bermuda Iron;1352861]
                                      Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post
                                      Cheers BI - she completed her course today, the only girl on the course - she was particularly pleased that apparently her marks were higher than her brother's when he did it. She has her first match next Sunday, there is such a shortage of refs that she won't struggle for opportunities. QUOTE]

                                      Good to hear she did so well, I remember when I first did my referees course I was 14 and did it 'on a whim' with my dad. He was doing the course to help with coaching a junior team, and I ended up getting a higher mark than him, something he has been reminded of on many occasions. I hope her first game goes well, perhaps you would be so kind to give us a quick report after the match?
                                      Can't provide one I'm afraid, she is still very self conscious and didn't want either me or her mother watching her first foray into refereeing. In the end her mother took her and watched some of it from the car, but it turned out she wasn't just doing a match, she was doing a tournament so all I heard about when she came home (she lives with me, not her mother) was the £60 she got paid for her efforts. She was exhausted when she got in, but she's off to a good start.

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                                        Well I am pleased she didn't come home with tales of grief and horror from her first game(s), and she got paid as well. I hope she enjoys her first forays into officiating-dom. I am now more involved in trying to get more youth referees involved over here, and I must admit we have one or two who show promise at such an early stage, even if it is just commitment, willingness to learn and take on board advice, and good attitude to fitness. The technicalities of the Laws of the Game, game management, and growing a thicker skin will come with time and experience.

                                        Like Imp, I get asked why I (still) do it. I quit for a season a couple of years ago due to racist abuse. It was not the actual abuse that got to me, but the lack of response and support from my fellow officials which disappointed me most. After a year away, my wife told me I was more miserable than usual on weekends, and I should get back doing something I clearly enjoy, bugger everyone else and do it for me. And she, as ever, was right. I referee simply because I love football, I played to a reasonable standard before the knees gave out, didn't want to get into coaching, and wanted to remain part of the game in some capacity. Cliched I know, but this way I still get to take part and contribute as best I can, keep reasonably fit, and like Imp, I love the 'theatre'. Like a very amateur physcologist, it continues to fascinate me how normally sane people get so excitable about kicking a ball around, and argue incessantly about which way a throw in should be. I wish I could write as eloquently and wittily as Imp...

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                                          I would be very open to guest contributions if you ever fancy off-loading from your part of the world.

                                          And to WFD - 60 quid, nice return for a day's work. Really hope she stays happy out there.

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                                            Careful, I might take you up on that...

                                            "Tales from the Goose Gosling Field"

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                                              Chaotic scenes in the Kraichgau at a Kreisklasse B match that you would possibly expect to occur in one of the inner-city matches that imp describes... but this was chaos in the countryside.

                                              According to FV Landshausen, the ref was biased (of course) and the goals for Zaisenhausen, and the red cards, were entirely down to him. The ref finished the match a couple of minutes early (apparently) but "it was all a bit confusing", according to the chairman of Landshausen. Then there was a big bundle out on the pitch: players and spectators surrounded the ref, someone grabbed him by the arm and apparently the ref is now in hospital with severe concussion. Sounds like it will take a while to sort it all out.

                                              In German:
                                              Report in the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung
                                              Report on the FV Landshausen homepage

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                                                That all sounds horribly familiar.

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                                                  Point of interest from the Charlton v Doncaster game yesterday; in the first half Charlton's forward Magennis was flagged offside on a long ball forward as he came from an offside position to win a header five yards in his own half. As per the new rules, Rovers took the free-kick from the point he won the header... and the referee dully earned an earful from about nine tenths of the crowd as a result. Even Charlton's official twitter account tweeted their incredulity at Rovers being able to take a free-kick for offside in Charlton's half.

                                                  It never ceases to surprise me just how few people involved in football know and understand the rules

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                                                    That reminds me of a bugbear of mine, players and coaches don’t seem to have realised that you can’t be offside from a throw in any more.

                                                    The rule must have changed relatively recently (I would have guessed a decade or so ago) but players and teams just don’t seem to adapted to it at all. I would imagine that by now it would be second nature for a forward to push forward as deep as possible for an offensive throw in, especially a quickly taken one, but it just seems to never happen.

                                                    Have I issued some reason why it doesn’t happen?

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