NEW Referee Abuse Policy

[RedCard]

We should have a rating system for refs.

After each game, both sides can rate the ref.

I can surely see the abuse of this system if it's an open system like a website where anyone can register as a user and submit a rating...

But I don't know... something... something where the good ones are rated as such and known... and the bad ones... well then they're not being used for important games...

I get it. There's a shortage to begin with... so we gotta live with whoever shows up... But it'll be nice to know which ref is showing up, his or her rating... etc

There is a rating system for Coast Soccer League games, both for Fall and Spring seasons. After the game, both coaches/managers and the center referee logs onto the CSL App on their phone to input the score and then after that, there is a 5 star rating for the coaches to rate the center referee and the center referee to rate both coaches. There is a place to put notes for the rating also, so if something happened in the game, you can note it. The SoCal League does not do this but I wish they did.

 

[outside!]

There is a rating system for Coast Soccer League games, both for Fall and Spring seasons. After the game, both coaches/managers and the center referee logs onto the CSL App on their phone to input the score and then after that, there is a 5 star rating for the coaches to rate the center referee and the center referee to rate both coaches. There is a place to put notes for the rating also, so if something happened in the game, you can note it. The SoCal League does not do this but I wish they did.

It would be great if parents could see the ratings of the coaches by the referees!

 

[RedCard]

It would be great if parents could see the ratings of the coaches by the referees!

I agree, that would be great. The one thing that CSL does is award a referee that received an average rating of 4.5 to 5 stars for the season a "5-star referee" badge that he/she can wear for a CSL league game (only). Now, while that's good, and can also come back and bite you in the ass cause if the referee is wearing a 5-star referee badge, then that referee should be giving a 5-star performance. I mean, it's only fair....right??? I've been part of a couple of games last fall season where the game went sideways due to the center referee not living up to that badge.

 

[Zeke]

It would be great if parents could see the ratings of the coaches by the referees!

What do you think parents would do with the information?

Based on the games I’ve seen in socal, “cut the ref some slack” is not a very likely outcome. The most likely are “yell at the ref for having a bad rating” and “yell at the ref for not living up to his good rating”.

If you want to see ref ratings, become a ref. Mentors will show up and let you know how you’re doing.

 

[sigmabody]

What do you think parents would do with the information?

Based on the games I’ve seen in socal, “cut the ref some slack” is not a very likely outcome. The most likely are “yell at the ref for having a bad rating” and “yell at the ref for not living up to his good rating”.

I actually think it could help. While I think it's possible that people might be more frustrated (as you speculate), most of the parents I've interacted with are more likely to give slack to a ref who is "newer", for example. Additionally, there is a psychological aspect of "write it off, this ref is known garbage" which tends to happen in games with a particularly poor official (where anger tends to turn to just more quiet laughing about bad calls, etc., in cases where the kids are not in much danger). On balance, I would think this is likely better; it obviously won't mitigate disrespect for bad officials (nothing will do that, aside from making them improve), but it could reduce the amount of anger on the sidelines.

Case in point: my son's team had an official for the last couple games who was very "card happy". He issued around 8 cards in the first game, including one each for two coaches, where in one case the coach was just trying to direct the CR's attention to the AR's call (the CR carded the coach for yelling at him, then talked to the AR, then carded the other player who had stomped on the opponent, as flagged by the AR and ignored by the CR until the coach yelled at him to pay attention). He issued around 5 cards in the second game also, iirc, including a direct red during half time for a player who said the F-word in frustration after the official didn't allow his team to take a corner before blowing the half-time whistle.

This was an objectively frustrating official, but because the parents knew he was bad going in, there wasn't as much frustration expressed from the sidelines during the second game. There was some laughing and head-shaking for sure, but we knew he was sorta bad, and we knew what to expect (and, in fairness, he was bad fairly equally to both teams in most cases). Furthermore, while he was issuing cards like candy, the game wasn't particularly dangerous, so in the larger sense he wasn't that bad, and I'd probably be okay with him officiating other games personally (compared to some other officials). The key is just knowing what the expect going in, and adjusting your expectations; that can do a lot to mitigate frustrations, at least in my experience.

 

[outside!]

What do you think parents would do with the information?

Based on the games I’ve seen in socal, “cut the ref some slack” is not a very likely outcome. The most likely are “yell at the ref for having a bad rating” and “yell at the ref for not living up to his good rating”.

If you want to see ref ratings, become a ref. Mentors will show up and let you know how you’re doing.

I think you may have misread my comment. I want the parents to be able to see the coach ratings to help when choosing which team to play for. I do not think parents should have access to referee ratings.

 

[Grace T.]

I actually think it could help. While I think it's possible that people might be more frustrated (as you speculate), most of the parents I've interacted with are more likely to give slack to a ref who is "newer", for example. Additionally, there is a psychological aspect of "write it off, this ref is known garbage" which tends to happen in games with a particularly poor official (where anger tends to turn to just more quiet laughing about bad calls, etc., in cases where the kids are not in much danger). On balance, I would think this is likely better; it obviously won't mitigate disrespect for bad officials (nothing will do that, aside from making them improve), but it could reduce the amount of anger on the sidelines.

Case in point: my son's team had an official for the last couple games who was very "card happy". He issued around 8 cards in the first game, including one each for two coaches, where in one case the coach was just trying to direct the CR's attention to the AR's call (the CR carded the coach for yelling at him, then talked to the AR, then carded the other player who had stomped on the opponent, as flagged by the AR and ignored by the CR until the coach yelled at him to pay attention). He issued around 5 cards in the second game also, iirc, including a direct red during half time for a player who said the F-word in frustration after the official didn't allow his team to take a corner before blowing the half-time whistle.

This was an objectively frustrating official, but because the parents knew he was bad going in, there wasn't as much frustration expressed from the sidelines during the second game. There was some laughing and head-shaking for sure, but we knew he was sorta bad, and we knew what to expect (and, in fairness, he was bad fairly equally to both teams in most cases). Furthermore, while he was issuing cards like candy, the game wasn't particularly dangerous, so in the larger sense he wasn't that bad, and I'd probably be okay with him officiating other games personally (compared to some other officials). The key is just knowing what the expect going in, and adjusting your expectations; that can do a lot to mitigate frustrations, at least in my experience.

technically under the guidance generally given refs the f word would technically go straight to a red, though most officials realizing these are kids still working on self control and that the punishments for reds in league are very severe, might forebear. But the ref was technically correct and in the adult game that's a red any day of the week.

p.s. the other side of the coin is when refs chose to ignore or punish with a yellow the n word which even in showing mercy is generally a bad decision for a variety of reasons, primarily game control.

 

[sigmabody]

technically under the guidance generally given refs the f word would technically go straight to a red, though most officials realizing these are kids still working on self control and that the punishments for reds in league are very severe, might forebear. But the ref was technically correct and in the adult game that's a red any day of the week.

I am surprised by this, but admittedly I don't know what guidance is given to the refs with respect to language on the field. At best, though, that's officiated very unevenly: I've heard plenty of swearing, even from the sidelines, and absent other physical aggression and/or direction at others, I can only recall one other official who gave cards for swearing (and that was a couple years back, and what appeared to be due to a very anomalous official looking to impose her personal feelings on proper behavior and decorum on the players, rather than for any game control purposes).

I suppose I'm somewhat glad that's not the case for any other adult sport that I'm aware of; imagine other professional sports giving penalties for trash talking and swearing on the field. Most teams would get entirely disqualified within minutes, lol.

 

[Orangeteam]

Its a red card

Law 12.3 under 'send off offeses"

• using offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or action(s)

 

[Lee Robert]

It would be great if parents could see the ratings of the coaches by the referees!

Here is the page, appears you have to contact your Coach or Team Manager https://www.coastsoccer.com/CSL_5Star_Teams2023.pdf

 

[Lee Robert]

And for the record, for all regular season and friendly games, I would personally much rather have a possibly biased parent official who is good and will keep the kids safer, than an unbiased shitty ref who endangers the kids through incompetence and pisses everyone off. Moreover, you'd have less sideline abuse also, because there would be an expectation of bias, and it would be written off.

For all those that think they can do a better job refereeing, we need your help.

We are holding a one-hour ZOOM meeting to let the soccer community know about refereeing; why we referee, how to get started and answer your questions.

LEARN ABOUT REFEREEING
How to Get Started
The amended Ref Abuse Policy
Questions and Answers

If you love soccer this meeting is for you!

Thursday, Mar 6, 2025
7:00 PM to 8:00 PM Pacific Time (US)

Register for the ZOOM meeting now : https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/J24sl9y4SPyKrMLn3PM15A

 

[sigmabody]

For all those that think they can do a better job refereeing, we need your help.

Question about this: Is there a pathway to "test out" of training requirements, if you have been a ref previously, or is there still hours of class time regardless? I recall getting qualified to ref AYSO a while back, which involved around 3 hours of remedial boredom, followed by a ~5min test (I finished well in advance of everyone else, probably because I was the only one there with any experience, much less significant on field experience). The prospect of being forced to be bored for several hours again is not particularly appealing.

(That said, I have been considering getting certified again, since I'm slated to become a team manager this season, and apparently that requires going through all the ancillary online training and background checks anyway, so the would-be barrier to entry for getting certified to ref again is effectively lower).

That said, also, the new ref abuse policy is probably a negative in that consideration, if I'm honest. I really don't want to be the person who red cards a passionate and abusive parent, disqualifying their kid for 6+ games, and then worry about what he/she might do in reaction to that, given the tremendously harsh penalty. That was not something I really ever needed to consider before, but I expect it'll be a real consideration now.

 

[Lee Robert]

Question about this: Is there a pathway to "test out" of training requirements, if you have been a ref previously, or is there still hours of class time regardless? I recall getting qualified to ref AYSO a while back, which involved around 3 hours of remedial boredom, followed by a ~5min test (I finished well in advance of everyone else, probably because I was the only one there with any experience, much less significant on field experience). The prospect of being forced to be bored for several hours again is not particularly appealing.

(That said, I have been considering getting certified again, since I'm slated to become a team manager this season, and apparently that requires going through all the ancillary online training and background checks anyway, so the would-be barrier to entry for getting certified to ref again is effectively lower).

That said, also, the new ref abuse policy is probably a negative in that consideration, if I'm honest. I really don't want to be the person who red cards a passionate and abusive parent, disqualifying their kid for 6+ games, and then worry about what he/she might do in reaction to that, given the tremendously harsh penalty. That was not something I really ever needed to consider before, but I expect it'll be a real consideration now.

AYSO Crossover : https://calsouth.com/ayso-crossover/

Join the zoom call and I will answer any of your other questions.

Regarding the Referee Abuse Policy (RAP), the purpose is to make the game safer and more fun for everyone. Do you want someone on your child's soccer team that abuses or assaults another person? Very very few games have referee abuse or assault, very very few. I have refereed well over 5000 games and maybe 5 would have been abuse, no assaults. We will answer questions regarding the RAP and will be holding meetings for everyone in the soccer community.

 

[sigmabody]

AYSO Crossover : https://calsouth.com/ayso-crossover/

Ah, okay; sadly not applicable, as I didn't ever complete the intermediate or advanced courses (and my certification is not current anyway). Thanks for the info, though.

Will probably just skip; I can't really see myself spending all the time to get and maintain a certification, especially given the other concerns above. But hopefully there are lots of other good volunteers who are not as concerned or time constrained as I am. Figured it was worth asking (re "test out") at least, though.

 

[Lee Robert]

We are going to hold another one-hour ZOOM webinar to let the soccer community know why we referee, how to become a referee and answer their questions.

LEARN ABOUT REFEREEING
Why we Referee?
How to Become a Referee?
Questions and Answers

If you love soccer, want to earn some $$$ and want to give back to your Southern CA Soccer Community, this meeting is for you!

Thursday, Mar 13, 2025
7:00 PM to 8:00 PM Pacific Time (US)
Register for the ZOOM webinar now : https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2wMZTXKESp2fSXic-cNhYQ

Lee
PS If not you, who do you know that should become a referee, help them get the information, pls send them the ZOOM registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2wMZTXKESp2fSXic-cNhYQ

 

[TheMountie]

I empathize with referees who are subjected to abuse from overly emotional parents, constantly complaining from the kickoff to the final whistle. Hopefully this new approach in such cases is to eject these individuals and enforce suspensions, ensuring they miss their child's next game. This could help encourage better behavior in the future.

That said, referees should not be immune to scrutiny, especially when bad calls or clear incompetence negatively impact the game. For instance, our team was eliminated from the State Cup due to a questionable decision: a player dove after a heavy touch right outside the box, and our defender, who made no contact, was given a straight red card for it. The linesman had a perfect view of the incident and didn’t raise his flag. Instead, the center referee, who was still far away in midfield, made the controversial call without consulting the linesman. To make matters worse, our team's trace setup video confirmed that no contact was made. I won't bother going into countless other strange calls that game, but this kind of situation is what warrants bringing attention to significant referee mistakes, allowing parents and coaches to report such incidents to league officials.

 

[outside!]

I empathize with referees who are subjected to abuse from overly emotional parents, constantly complaining from the kickoff to the final whistle. Hopefully this new approach in such cases is to eject these individuals and enforce suspensions, ensuring they miss their child's next game. This could help encourage better behavior in the future.

That said, referees should not be immune to scrutiny, especially when bad calls or clear incompetence negatively impact the game. For instance, our team was eliminated from the State Cup due to a questionable decision: a player dove after a heavy touch right outside the box, and our defender, who made no contact, was given a straight red card for it. The linesman had a perfect view of the incident and didn’t raise his flag. Instead, the center referee, who was still far away in midfield, made the controversial call without consulting the linesman. To make matters worse, our team's trace setup video confirmed that no contact was made. I won't bother going into countless other strange calls that game, but this kind of situation is what warrants bringing attention to significant referee mistakes, allowing parents and coaches to report such incidents to league officials.

Until there are a surplus of referees, it won't matter.

 

[sigmabody]

That said, referees should not be immune to scrutiny, especially when bad calls or clear incompetence negatively impact the game. For instance, our team was eliminated from the State Cup due to a questionable decision: a player dove after a heavy touch right outside the box, and our defender, who made no contact, was given a straight red card for it. The linesman had a perfect view of the incident and didn’t raise his flag. Instead, the center referee, who was still far away in midfield, made the controversial call without consulting the linesman. To make matters worse, our team's trace setup video confirmed that no contact was made. I won't bother going into countless other strange calls that game, but this kind of situation is what warrants bringing attention to significant referee mistakes, allowing parents and coaches to report such incidents to league officials.

Unfortunately, the leagues are moving in the complete opposite direction from improving the quality of officiating, and I'd imagine that soon it will be against the rules to ever be critical of the officials. We're going to need to train our children to try to just laugh at how bad the officiating always is, because getting upset about it on the field will mean a crippling setback in one's soccer career (at best). I've already started talking to my kid about internalizing how terrible the officials might be, and how important it is to understand and accept that reality going in, because with the way the rules are evolving, you might effectively end your soccer career by pointing out any obvious terrible calls out loud.

 

[Surfref]

I cannot wait to get yelled at by the parents when the 2025-2026 LOTG changes go into effect in July. Especially the new one that says only team captains are allowed to talk to the referees. Players other than the captain will be cautioned (yellow card). When I caution that first non-captain the parents will lose their mind. Our, when the new 8-second keeper holding the ball is violated and I award a corner kick. Parent’s heads will explode.

 

[Surfref]

Unfortunately, the leagues are moving in the complete opposite direction from improving the quality of officiating, and I'd imagine that soon it will be against the rules to ever be critical of the officials. We're going to need to train our children to try to just laugh at how bad the officiating always is, because getting upset about it on the field will mean a crippling setback in one's soccer career (at best). I've already started talking to my kid about internalizing how terrible the officials might be, and how important it is to understand and accept that reality going in, because with the way the rules are evolving, you might effectively end your soccer career by pointing out any obvious terrible calls out loud.

I am looking forward to the LOTG change that says only the captains can talk to the referee. I have a feeling that it is going to take many yellow cards before players get used to the change. It will be nice not having a bunch of player arguing with me when they don’t agree with a call or non-call.

I like the new USSF referee abuse policy. Having witnessed numerous adult and youth referee physical and verbal assaults, it is about time the punishments become harsher. Having witnessed a dad call a 15-year-old female referee a f-ing c-word because he didn’t like her offside call and only had to miss the next tournament game, the new sanctions are welcome.

 

[sigmabody]

I cannot wait to get yelled at by the parents when the 2025-2026 LOTG changes go into effect in July. Especially the new one that says only team captains are allowed to talk to the referees. Players other than the captain will be cautioned (yellow card). When I caution that first non-captain the parents will lose their mind. Our, when the new 8-second keeper holding the ball is violated and I award a corner kick. Parent’s heads will explode.

Not a ref, but I'd probably be more worried about the SoCal League mandatory lifetime ban for players who (among other things) cuss at a referee. The first time some kid's entire soccer playing career is ended because they are upset with a call and utter a swear word under their breath, you're going to have one or more parents who have legitimate cause to believe that the referee devastated (and caused massive actual harm to) their child. I certainly don't support referee abuse in any form, but I'd also be kinda surprised if this new policy doesn't actually get a ref killed at some point. The new penalties are incredibly harsh, and since the leagues are doing nothing to mitigate frustration with bad calls in general, this seems like it has a very high potential to escalate to much more dangerous circumstances than just verbal abuse.

But, I guess refs are not worried about this, so it might be a nothingburger. I certainly wouldn't want to be a ref destroying a kid's soccer life, though.