Protect the players

LASTMAN14 said:
Watched the second half of a game from opposing 05 ECNL teams this last weekend. I must admit I was appalled by the lack of calls to protect the players from one of these teams. The ref crew is one I have seen before and in the past they seemed to be decent overall. Unfortunately not this time around. There were many instances of overtly aggressive to violent play by the opposition. In particular there was one player who was literally tackled and laid out on the ground for a substantial amount of time. This player soon after was again fouled in a similar fashion. The ref did nothing to further prevent this from happening again. No card, no verbal warning. And, once again this player was fouled in such a way I am surprised they were able to play further. Parents were pleading throughout the half to the ref to protect the players. The ref's solution was to red card anyone who challenged him.
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In SD for the ECNL showcase last weekend. At my youngest DD's game on Saturday. During the second half as #3 wingback she was fouled six times. It was not till the 5th foul was a player who ended up fouling her 4 times given a yellow card. This player than proceded to foul her once more after the yellow was given. I feel at times ref's are reluctant to give cards. I am glad she was not hurt but WTF.
 
baldref said:
Yes. I have seen similar a couple of times, as a father of a player not as a ref. Younger ages. Document it. Get the referee's name, opposing coaches name, and report to the gaming authority. Worst case nothing comes of it and your team loses a meaningless game. But no players are hurt.
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And, always video the games.
 
JumboJack said:
On a somewhat related note: I was out to shoot (photos) of three SCSL games today. The first one started with two refs running a dual but one of them left at halftime because he fell ill so the second half was solo. The second and third games were canceled because no refs showed up.
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Not surprised…we have a massive shortage of referees and it is getting worse. I know three refs that have quit since September. All three said they were tired of the verbal abuse from parents and a few coaches. I have done numerous high school age games this fall as a solo referee. Pre-COVID it was extremely rare to have a solo referee on a B/G 15-18 game. Now, it is common to see those games with only one referee.
 
outside! said:
My ref did four 9v9 games as a center with no AR's. All of the games at the complex only had one ref. He explained to two different groups of parents that they are partly to blame for the shortage of refs. He is thankful for the money but may start to refuse games at Robb Field due to the poor field conditions. He has twisted an ankle every time he refs there.
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Partially to blame is an understatement. All but one of the 30+ referees that I know that hung up the whistle for good during COVID did so because they were tired of the verbal abuse by spectators/parents and some coaches. Many of them said they were tired of feeling that Cal South and the gaming leagues (Coast, Presidio, ECNL, SOCal, etc.) did not support the referees or implement stricter sanctions for the poor behavior. Maybe if Cal South and the leagues would put some harsh sanctions (minimum of 3 game suspension for coaches and 5 for spectators) in place for referee verbal abuse, we would stop losing good referees.
 
espola said:
The college game is played by bigger, faster players, so increased physicality is just physics. That is tempered in most cases by the fact that colleges can afford to hire better referees.
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BS, the large majority of college referees also work high school and youth club games.
 
LASTMAN14 said:
It’s absurd you think you know more than a gentlemen who officiates on a consistent basis. How old are your children? 40?
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It's just arithmetic. There are fewer than 2500 college teams, counting men and women at all levels, in the whole country playing soccer. Each hires 4 referees about 10 times a year for home games. How many high school and club teams are there in the country?
 
espola said:
It's just arithmetic. There are fewer than 2500 college teams, counting men and women at all levels, in the whole country playing soccer. Each hires 4 referees about 10 times a year for home games. How many high school and club teams are there in the country?
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Numerical data is great, but your data just not support any of this.
 
LASTMAN14 said:
Numerical data is great, but your data just not support any of this.
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It's actually tighter than that rough estimate. If you scan through a few college box scores over a season, you will see the same names occurring in multiple games. There is a small pool of college refs compared to the larger numbers needed for HS and club games.
 
LASTMAN14 said:
It’s absurd you think you know more than a gentlemen who officiates on a consistent basis. How old are your children? 40?
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It's absurd that you think someone who is willing to consistently subject themselves to abuse for $20-30 an hour has any idea what they are doing.
 
espola said:
College refs may do high school and club games, but most of the HS and club refs don't do college games.
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During college and high school seasons I significantly reduce the amount of club games I will do. My time just shrinks and I am not willing to do a 3 game set for similar money than a single JC center. Approx 2 hours versus 6 hours too.
 
espola said:
It's actually tighter than that rough estimate. If you scan through a few college box scores over a season, you will see the same names occurring in multiple games. There is a small pool of college refs compared to the larger numbers needed for HS and club games.
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Try you must but now you have changed the parameters of your own posts.
 
espola said:
College refs may do high school and club games, but most of the HS and club refs don't do college games.
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Speaking of College soccer. The Men’s Division 1 Semi between Clemson and Notre Dame was a really good game. Went to PKs and Clemson won. The Clemson keeper had an amazing game. Final is today with Clemson and Washington.

www.ncaa.com

Clemson defeats Notre Dame in PK shootout finish to advance to College Cup final

Clemson and Notre Dame men's soccer squared off in the College Cup semifinal. After each team scored one goal in regulation, neither could break the 1-1 tie in overtime thanks to some outstanding goalkeeping from Bryan Dowd and George Marks. Watch the full match highlights here.
www.ncaa.com www.ncaa.com
 
Surfref said:
Speaking of College soccer. The Men’s Division 1 Semi between Clemson and Notre Dame was a really good game. Went to PKs and Clemson won. The Clemson keeper had an amazing game. Final is today with Clemson and Washington.

www.ncaa.com

Clemson defeats Notre Dame in PK shootout finish to advance to College Cup final

Clemson and Notre Dame men's soccer squared off in the College Cup semifinal. After each team scored one goal in regulation, neither could break the 1-1 tie in overtime thanks to some outstanding goalkeeping from Bryan Dowd and George Marks. Watch the full match highlights here.
www.ncaa.com www.ncaa.com
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I don't get ESPNU (so no final either). This has been a bad year for me watching college soccer since most schools require a subscription service or are played on channels we don't get. Exceptions were USD, UCSB, and Cal Poly.

The whole game will probably be on youtube by tomorrow, if historical practices prevail.
 
Got yelled at by a coach I know today, “Protect my players.” My response, “I am not clairvoyant.” His response, “I don’t even know what that means.” Me, “Google it.” About a minute later he respond, “I thought refs could see into the future.” I just gave him a thumbs up.”
 
bossman said:
I’m sure we have all seen some amazing refs that do well to control the game and keep it clean. We have also seen some (especially at the younger levels) that simply will not call anything.

In a scenario where we can see players getting kicked, tripped, pushed, even punched…what should be the appropriate response?

Keep playing and pray that nobody gets injured?

Pull the team off the field and refuse to play?
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My kid plays on a Girls European U17 National Team and has been Capped 2. In all my years of being on the sidelines, I have never witnessed such high-quality refs as in Europe. They were absolutely outstanding--they called fouls--were quick about, the game was not disrupted--no bullshit grandstanding from the Refs--pulled cards when they needed to come out. The players simply adapted and played...nothing more, nothing less. It is Very evident to me that we have a Major, Major problem in the US in how our refs allow our games to be destroyed. Games at Surf often devolve into bar room fights. Not only are they dangerous to the players, but these types of games put an emphasis on being physical and using athleticism over soccer skills/being a technical and tactical player. In Europe it is all about ball movement, and space and being technical and tactical. In the US--it is about the more physical team...the banging and the hanging on... Not that soccer is not a contact sport in essence, but the level of play goes up so much...I believe this is why the European ladies sides are passing up our National Team.
 
MoSalah said:
My kid plays on a Girls European U17 National Team and has been Capped 2. In all my years of being on the sidelines, I have never witnessed such high-quality refs as in Europe. They were absolutely outstanding--they called fouls--were quick about, the game was not disrupted--no bullshit grandstanding from the Refs--pulled cards when they needed to come out. The players simply adapted and played...nothing more, nothing less. It is Very evident to me that we have a Major, Major problem in the US in how our refs allow our games to be destroyed. Games at Surf often devolve into bar room fights. Not only are they dangerous to the players, but these types of games put an emphasis on being physical and using athleticism over soccer skills/being a technical and tactical player. In Europe it is all about ball movement, and space and being technical and tactical. In the US--it is about the more physical team...the banging and the hanging on... Not that soccer is not a contact sport in essence, but the level of play goes up so much...I believe this is why the European ladies sides are passing up our National Team.
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Excellent takes. I keep saying that the girls in the USA need a helmet, knee pads and extra padding to play soccer. Back to back games on the weekends is not helping the girls. Do they play back to back games on the weekends in Europe MoSalah? The clubs make bank on parking fees though......lol. It's rugby style mixed in with roller derby and just knocking players on the grass. Big girls that are big, skilled and fast and can knock you down have the advantage in the states. It's dangerous for smaller players that don't want to lift big weights to compete. Refs can fix this right now if they pull cards out early and tell the hackers to knock it off or get the boot.
 
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