Second guessing ourselves

A fellow referee posed the following situation and how he handled it. Read it and comment what you think...

U14B. Big crowd in front of net. Attacker about 6 yds off to the left of the goal area line, about 2 yards in from the goal line, shoots across thethe front of the goal.

The ball hits the hand of a defender about 4-5 yards away, who I forget is either facing the attacker or his back to the attacker, I cannot remember, but the ball hits his hand but continues with just about the same velocity and direction across the front of the goal, and then is shortly cleared out of play for a goal kick.

At the time the ball hit the defender's hand, his arm was parallel with his body, his hand was below his waist, about 1-2 inches from his hip.

I made no call, in my opinion the player did not make himself bigger, did not deny a goal scoring opportunity since the ball proceeded in it's projected path with minimal speed reduction. However, post-game, as you replay things in your mind, I was wondering if I should have
called for a PK.

Answer to situation from Week 7 in Review

Under the AYSO national rules, there are only THREE specific substitution periods in AYSO matches. That said, when the sub period comes and the sub is unavailable in the bathroom, the RED team has two choices:

(1) allow another player to play, and the sub in the bathroom will have to miss that period because there will not be another substitution period before the end of the match. This option ignores the AYSO requirement for playing half the game, and a player being in the bathroom is not sufficient reason to deprive the player of playing time, unless the player were ill.

(2) bring off the two players who are subbing out, and send on the one replacement who is present. The RED team should play with 10 players until the other sub returns. Under the Laws, the sub can enter the field when he is beckoned on by the referee. Indeed, the sub can step on with the ball in play as long as he steps on from the touchline.

Before some of you say it is unfair for the RED team to have to play with only 10, remember the rules are established for both teams, and it is NOT the opposing team's fault the RED sub is not ready at the moment of substitution. There are many situations during which a team must play short. No team as an ABSOLUTE right to 11 players.


Going back to the scenario...

1. the AR should NOT have given permission to the sub to enter the field. When he did, it created a situation of 12 players on the field.



2. the Referee was correct to stop play when he saw the extra player run on, but had there been an advantage (scoring opportunity) for the opposing team, the Referee should allow play to continue until RED gained control of the ball or the ball went out of play.



3. When these situations happen, coming out with a card quickly is not recommended. First, the AR gave the sub permission to enter the field and the sub should not be punished for that error. The Referee should confer with the AR to find out what happened, then make an informed decision.



4. Had the sub just run onto the field, a caution would be justified for "unsporting behavior" as subs can only be cautioned for unsporting behavior, dissent, or delaying the restart of play.



5. In this case, since a caution is not appropriate and was rescinded by the referee, the restart should be a dropped ball from the place where the ball was when play was stopped.



6. Had a caution been administered, the restart should be an IFK for the opposing team from the place where the ball was when play was stopped.
   

Week 7 in Review

Let's see how many of you can submit a self assessment this week. They are quite beneficial to the writer (YOU) as well as to fellow referees.

Here's a situation to think about and comment on... (would you have handled it any different?)

A U14 match, where substitution is set at halfway through each half and at half time. The first two sub periods are done. Halfway through the second half, play stops and the referee calls for substitution.

The RED team has two subs out, who will come into the game to complete the minimum playing time requirement. But one RED sub is in the bathroom at that point of the substituion.

So the coach wants to let one of the players subbing out to stay in the game until the sub returns from the bathroom. The referee agrees, and play is restarted.

Five minutes later, the sub from the bathroom approaches the AR and asks permission to go into the game. The AR gives him permission.

The ball is in play, and the RED sub runs on the field. The referee sees an extra player entering the field and stops play. The referee pulls out his yellow card and raises it over his head.

The sub is allowed to remain on the field, and the player who was supposed to be subbed out leaves the field.

Write a comment explaining anything different that you would have done in this situation. I will write a follow up post with the proper procedure and explanation.

Congrats to New Intermediate Referees

Congratulations to Andrew Weber and Robert Silva!

Both completed the final requirements for upgrade to Intermediate Referee.

Robert is only 14 years old, but one of several youth referees who have been mentored well and kept in the program.

Andrew is Region 112's referee scheduler and recently completed requirements as a referee instructor.

Results of Penalty Kick scenario

Scenario: You extended the half for taking of a penalty kick. Kicker kicks ball, which rebounds off crossbar, hits back of GK and goes into the goal. What actions do you take?

All six of the referees who responded chose the correct answer --- allow the goal.

In this situation, the PK is over when the referee decides it is. In part, that would mean the ball has been kicked and moves and it's either gone out of play, the flight of the ball is such that it cannot be scored without being touched again by the kicker, or the kicker violates Law 14 by kicking the ball backward, rather than forward.

Even though the ball had been kicked and moved, and it had hit the crossbar and was moving away from the goal, the fact that the ball can still be played by the goalkeeper would mean that its deflection from the goalkeeper into the goal should constitute a goal.

A couple ways the PK would be considered NOT completed, even after the ball had been kicked, would be:

• ball deflates on its way to the goal
• an outside agent touches the ball on the way to the goal
• And of course, if there is a violation of Law 14 by both teams, or by the defending team when the ball does not enter the goal, then the PK must be retaken.

Assessor vs. Mentor

Refereeing organizations like USSF and AYSO make a clear distinction between a Mentor and an Assessor. Mentoring is widely used in many organizations and it’s widely held that mentoring is an informal position, contrasted to an assessor which is usually appointed position that comes after training and certification.

ASSESSOR. In developing referees, the Assessor has an important role as a formal coach to referees.

Assessors generally follow a three-step process:

1. Build on strengths
2. Identify areas for improvement
3. Facilitate on-going development and success

The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) and the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) both have established assessor programs. Assessors are appointed to their position after years of experience, training as an assessor, and practical experience as an assessor. This process ensures consistent assessment, training, and development within the organization. Assessors, and their similarly trained and certified counterparts, Instructors, receive notices of the latest in best practices, policy changes, and law interpretations, which they pass on to the membership. Certified Assessors and Instructors have the job of debunking the many myths of the game that seem to creep into refereeing practices by lesser experienced referees. Questions on laws, mechanics and interpretations should always be referred to a certified Assessor or Instructor.

MENTORS. While certified assessors and instructors hold formal, appointed positions within the organization, mentors are individual referees. In the AYSO, all Intermediate and higher referees are de facto mentors.
Unlike the assessor, who is charged with assessing a referee’s performance, the mentor seeks to support the referee. Indeed, mentors, especially those who are not certified assessors or instructors, should avoid assessing a referee’s performance, but concentrate on affirming the performance, e.g., “Good job” or “Well done.”

Mentors can give referees balance to challenges the newer referee may experience but not understand, i.e., “Hey, I know what it’s like to get yelled at. Here’s some ways I cope with it,” or “Yeah, I’ve had days I’ve asked myself, ‘Why do I do this,' but…”

Mentors can provide career guidance to new referees on how to find a class, what to expect at a higher-level match, how to get an assessment scheduled.

Unlike assessors, mentors are “self appointed;” that is, they either make themselves available to a protégé, or the protégé seeks out the mentor for guidance. Mentoring is not a position like an assessor, rather it’s a value. Indeed, that real value comes in the form of retention!

Soccer loses far too many new referees every year due to the referee’s inability to put his new experience in perspective. As the English FA has recently acknowledged, the lack of new referee retention is truly hurting the game.

Assessors rarely know the subject of the assessment personally, whereas, mentoring is usually a personal, individual relationship. The assessor’s three-step approach contrasts to the mentor who merely shares her experience to help the protégé to get through their life as a referee.

CONCLUSION. Mentoring and assessing are two, separate processes, and the mentor and the assessor are two, separate positions. Both roles are important but clearly distinct.

Important Link from English FA

The English FA has started a compaign to promote respect toward referees, recognizing that improper behavior toward referees has led to a lack of available referees to officiate games. No referees; no games.

Take a look at the link: http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/Respect/

After you check out the link, post a comment on what you think about it.

Week 5 - Week in Review

Please submit your self assessments by clicking on the comment link below this post. Your self assessment can be of something you thought went well, or something, that in after thought, you would differently in the future.

Here are a few observations for this week:

We are about halfway throught the season and there have been very few aggravated incidents by coaches or spectators toward referees. That's a credit to coaches and referees alike. We work as a team on the field!

The use of technical areas and spectator lines have gone along way to set expectations early. A number of person have commented that using them in managing the games has made a big difference.

A number of referees at the pizza meeting tonight commented on how doing a good pre-game talk with their referee team really helped in their game.

Lucas Del Toro, one of your youth referees, made a great call today, recognizing an offside situation when the player in the offside position game back, behind the defenders to play the ball. Well done, Lucas.

Thanks to Mike Raycraft for mentoring some new referees this weekend. All referees, Intermediate and above, are defacto mentors. Mentors' function are to provide support to new referees. When mentoring, please refer any questions on the Law or proper mechanics to this blog or to a certified referee instructor or assessor.

One questions that was posed, I have made into the poll for the week. Vote on the poll, then find the answer in Advice to Referees.

Results of Poll - GK hanging from crossbar

Blue attacking Red. Shot at the goal, the 6-foot tall Red GK jumps to the cross bar and hangs from it. Ball hits his chest and he saves it. What action(s) would you take?

Let play continue 5 of 11 polled
Allowing play to continue ignores that soccer was not designed to be played by hanging from the crossbar. Actions such as this bring the game into disrepute. Similar type behavior might be a goalkeeper lying down in the goal area during a match, or lighting a cigarette on the field.

Stop play and caution the player 3 of 11 polled
CORRECT ANSWER. Bringing the game into disrepute falls under unsporting behavior, a cautionable offense. Thus, play should be stopped to issue the caution. The restart for such an action is an IFK. As the ball was in the goal area at the point of stoppage, it must be brought out to the 6y line (line parallel to and 6yds from the goal line). The restart will be for the attacking team (Blue).

Stop play, send off GK 0 of 11 polled
To choose this, you would have to be able to say this was a denying-goal-scoring opportunity (DGSO). When you consider the GK was horsing around or showing off, and would have saved the shot whether hanging from crossbar or not, this would not meet DGSO. Had this been a defender other than the GK and the ball touched the player's arm as he hung from the crossbar, you would have had a DGSO.

Stop play, caution GK, penalty kick 3 of 11 polled
This answer would violate the Laws. The reason for stopping play is misconduct, to issue a caution or send off, and the restart to that is IFK, NOT a penalty kick. In this case, even if the ball had touched the player's hands or arms, the result would be the same as the player was the GK in his own penalty area.

Thanks for taking the poll. Make any comments to this poll by clicking the link below.

Coaches Must Display Coaching Cards

This is a requirement for AYSO Region 112. Coaches and assistant coaches MUST have their risk management ID displayed in one of three ways:

1) on a lanyard around the neck (over the outer most article of clothing);
2) pinned to the outter most article of clothing (shirt or jacket); or
3) pinned to a hat or cap.

Coaches who don't abide by this requirement, established since 2004, should be warned and directed to correct it. If not corrected, report the omission on the match report.

To be clear, all coaches and asst. coaches (max of one each per game, per team) must have their ID card with them while coaching a game. If they do not, they may NOT coach the players.

If you are a referee outside AYSO Region 112, check with your league's requirements. They may differ.

How to Subscribe to Blog

Look at the bottom of the right side of the blog and you will find two links: One inserts an RSS link in your personal web page so you see the most recent POSTS to the Blog. The other installs a link to list the most recent COMMENTS in the Blog. Try it!

Results of Poll on GK pick up ball after AR flag

Lots of interest in this poll! I hope this analysis generates some discussion. Please comment. Here’s the scenario again:

“Red attacking out of their half and send ball high and long over heads of Blue defenders and one Red attacker standing in offside position. AR raises his flag, but you wave it down. Ball is just outside of PA and GK comes out and picks up ball.”

This situation tests the letter of the law against the spirit of the law and examines our ability as referees to put the game in perspective and keep the game fair for all.

Choice 1: Let play continue. 1 of 18 polled
While I’ll say there is NO absolutely right answer, to this situation (as you will see); there is a wrong answer, and this would be it. SOMETHING has happened and play cannot continue: the other choices allude to possibilities, either a foul for deliberately handling the ball, outside interference, or offside. The question becomes, what to call it and how to handle it.

Choice 2: Direct free kick. 16 of 18 polled
This choice would be the obvious one, certainly in keeping with the letter of the law. The referee has not stopped play, waving down the AR’s offside flag. This would be the correct answer IF you felt the goalkeeper tried to gain some advantage by playing the ball with his hands outside the penalty area. But if there was no opponent around, was that what was really happening? What if the goalkeeper saw the AR’s flag go up, other players stop playing, and assumed/expected the whistle would follow as he picked up the ball to send it back down field for the presumed IFK restart?

Choice 3: Dropped ball 0 of 18 polled
This choice might fit if you decided there was some kind of outside interference. Sure, you recognized the attacker pulled up when the AR’s flag went up. It appears the goalkeeper may have been confused seeing the flag up and just assumed the whistle was blown, so he came out of the penalty area to pick up the ball to send it back for the offside restart. Hmm, could a flag from the AR be considered outside interference? Is it interference at all, especially if it is raised in error? Was the AR’s flag an error? How different is an AR's flag raised prematurely or in error, different from a Referee's whistle blown in error?

Choice 4: Indirect Free Kick 1 of 18 polled
Considering Law 11, this choice is still viable. The “moment of judgment” was when the ball was kicked by the team of the player in the offside position. That moment of judgment continued until the point the goalkeeper controlled the ball. Yes, at one point you did decide their was not “active play” and you waved down the AR’s flag. Given what’s transpired, you might wish you could undo that “wave down” because that would let you go back to the AR’s flag and call this offside. Well, given all that, it seems the offside player’s position DID indeed interfere with play, yes? Even though you waved down the flag, you were still within the same moment of judgment. If you determined the player’s offside position did indeed interfere, you can still call the offside infringement. This choice combines the application of Law 11 and oft referred to "Law 18, Common Sense."

I will go out on a limb and say that I would choose #4.

I hope this gets you to think a little. Having read this analysis, would you change your mind now? Post your comments; continue the discussion.

Week 4 in Review

Here are some things I saw this week:

ASSESSMENTS AND UPGRADES. Congratulations to Neil Fancher and John Sedor, both who successfully completed their Advance Referee assessments today. They now join the top 2 percent of AYSO referees in the nation!!!

Katrina Beltran made an excellent run to the goal line, and was in perfect position to view the ball saved ON the goal line. I saw at least a half dozen situations today where the ball in or out of the goal was very close. ARs need to use speed and heads-up thinking to recognize the need to get to that goal line with the ball. No goal until we see the ball completely over the goal line.

In what hand to hold the flag. Unless signaling, ARs should always hold the flag in the hand nearest the Referee. This means we have to keep switching the flag between hands as we change directions.

Mechanics at the Penalty Kick. When the referee calls a foul that results in a penalty kick, the referee team should be well aware of what's happened by the referee's signal (running toward PK and pointing at spot) as well as by the tone of his whistle (loud and long). The lead AR should walk smartly to the intersection of the goal line and the penalty area (see diagram above) and hold the flag to the inside of the field. At this point, the AR can assist the Referee with getting the PK underway by encouraging the goalkeeper to step on the goal line. If this is discussed in the pre-game, the AR can give a thumbs-up to the Referee, saving the R from having to approach the goalkeeper.

If the goalkeeper comes off the goal line after the R's whistle for the PK and BEFORE the ball is kicked AND the ball does not go into the goal, then the AR should signal the R by holding the flag horizontally across the AR's waist (see picture above). The R will decide whether to retake the PK or not.

Self Assessments. Okay Referees, it's time to send your short self assessments. I only got a couple last week. You can write them directly to this post, or you can send me an email, and I'll add your self assessment to the blog.

Results of Passback Poll

We had 7 referees respond to the poll on how to handle a situation of a defender miskicking a ball, then the defender's goalkeeper handles the ball in his own penalty area. Three of seven said to stop play and award an IFK to the other team; and four said to let play continue.

The correct action should be to stop play and award an IFK.

Read the reason in 12.20 in Advice to Referees. It's linked on the right of the page. Primary considerations are the player "kicked the ball" rather than the ball just glancing off him from another player's action; the GK picked up the ball in the PA.

Thanks to all who took the poll.

New feature

I've added a list of links to USSF memo and clips on the right hand sidebar of the Blog. USSF has created a channel on Youtube where it posts its instructional clips. The channel is named ussoccerdotcom. The first two links are the clip and memo related to the "passback" violation discussed earlier.