Surf Cup - ain't what it used to be

David Gerson, the referee mentor on insta, posted today that there was a large fight with the boys olders. From what he says, the game was getting out of control. Surf cup instructions are to be lenient in carding because the families pay a lot and 2 yellows and you have to sit. 2 players on the weaker team (down 2-0) were injured and so the ref started pulling cards. Apparently carded the opposing coach for complaining. The players then began to assault the referee and punch him. A second referee stands in the way to protect the first referee and gets his fingers broken. Parents, players and coaches then went after the referees. He doesn't say the teams involved or how it ended (i would hope it was with police involvement, ejection from the tournament, and banning from surf cup). Anyone have details?

Someone is likely able to identify the uniforms (team attacking refs is wearing white and black vertical stripes). Video on insta: link



I'd certainly hope so as well.
It’s an 07 team from Texas according to the comments. I can’t make out the name but they seem to be saying it happened yesterday

The allegation from parents on the thread is that surf allowed it to happen because of the instruction not to card and this game was already out of control by the time the refs decided to card

There’s a group of parents on insta trying to organize a boycott of future surf cups but I can’t tell how large it is and I can’t imagine it last long if a coach tells you little Johnny must go to surf cup.
 
Looks like surf took down the entire olders schedule… damage control?
I saw that too, wasn't sure whether it was accessible before. If anyone has knowledge of a specific team that played in the tournament, would be good to check SR in a day or two to see if their game history includes Surf Cup, or if it was taken down before SR grabbed it.
 
David Gerson, the referee mentor on insta, posted today that there was a large fight with the boys olders. From what he says, the game was getting out of control. Surf cup instructions are to be lenient in carding because the families pay a lot and 2 yellows and you have to sit. 2 players on the weaker team (down 2-0) were injured and so the ref started pulling cards. Apparently carded the opposing coach for complaining. The players then began to assault the referee and punch him. A second referee stands in the way to protect the first referee and gets his fingers broken. Parents, players and coaches then went after the referees. He doesn't say the teams involved or how it ended (i would hope it was with police involvement, ejection from the tournament, and banning from surf cup). Anyone have details? Seems really bad.
 
Man that sucks for Surf Cup.

They're trying to help players and parents out by not giving reds and yellows so they don't have to pay all kinds of money and not play.

But idiots will be idiots.

This is what's difficult about being on a really good team. Typically when you start beating not as good teams they retaliate with reds and yellows. This puts better players at risk for injuries. Once you've gone though these type of games once or twice coaches will just avoid playing lower quality clubs because it's not worth it. Then you get lower quality clubs getting frustrated because nobody wants to play them.

Surf Cup made a mistake telling refs to be lenient on yellows and reds. Unfortunately sometimes no good deed goes unpunished.
 
Man that sucks for Surf Cup.

They're trying to help players and parents out by not giving reds and yellows so they don't have to pay all kinds of money and not play.

But idiots will be idiots.

This is what's difficult about being on a really good team. Typically when you start beating not as good teams they retaliate with reds and yellows. This puts better players at risk for injuries. Once you've gone though these type of games once or twice coaches will just avoid playing lower quality clubs because it's not worth it. Then you get lower quality clubs getting frustrated because nobody wants to play them.

Surf Cup made a mistake telling refs to be lenient on yellows and reds. Unfortunately sometimes no good deed goes unpunished.
High School Refs were super bad over all in my 4 years of watching. We need standards and no one from CIF or Surf Cup should be telling refs that kind of BS. It's like the NBA telling refs not to call frag 1 or 2 because. Our team played possession last two years (not easy at the HS level) and most other teams played Rugby. Did someone at Surf really tell refs to not call Reds or Yellows so everyone gets their monies worth? Plus, it sounds like th pay sucked so the top local refs said no way. It's too dangerous these days to be a soccer ref.
 
High School Refs were super bad over all in my 4 years of watching. We need standards and no one from CIF or Surf Cup should be telling refs that kind of BS. It's like the NBA telling refs not to call frag 1 or 2 because. Our team played possession last two years (not easy at the HS level) and most other teams played Rugby. Did someone at Surf really tell refs to not call Reds or Yellows so everyone gets their monies worth? Plus, it sounds like th pay sucked so the top local refs said no way. It's too dangerous these days to be a soccer ref.
Either way I think Surf Cups heart was in the right place. Unfortunately idiots will be idiots. Rules are in place for a reason.
 
Man that sucks for Surf Cup.

They're trying to help players and parents out by not giving reds and yellows so they don't have to pay all kinds of money and not play.

But idiots will be idiots.

This is what's difficult about being on a really good team. Typically when you start beating not as good teams they retaliate with reds and yellows. This puts better players at risk for injuries. Once you've gone though these type of games once or twice coaches will just avoid playing lower quality clubs because it's not worth it. Then you get lower quality clubs getting frustrated because nobody wants to play them.

Surf Cup made a mistake telling refs to be lenient on yellows and reds. Unfortunately sometimes no good deed goes unpunished.

It certainly makes me want to avoid Surf events in the future. 5 games in four days with no cards is a recipe for injuries.
 
David Gerson, the referee mentor on insta, posted today that there was a large fight with the boys olders. From what he says, the game was getting out of control. Surf cup instructions are to be lenient in carding because the families pay a lot and 2 yellows and you have to sit. 2 players on the weaker team (down 2-0) were injured and so the ref started pulling cards. Apparently carded the opposing coach for complaining. The players then began to assault the referee and punch him. A second referee stands in the way to protect the first referee and gets his fingers broken. Parents, players and coaches then went after the referees. He doesn't say the teams involved or how it ended (i would hope it was with police involvement, ejection from the tournament, and banning from surf cup). Anyone have details? Seems really bad.
I saw the video on Instagram. Really disturbing. There were other referees and tournament officials that tried to intervene, but the players and spectators just assaulted them. The video does not show how it ended. Hopefully it ended with RSL parents in handcuff. The offending team was RSL from Arizona. In the Instagram post he shows the email that went out to the referees basically saying not to issue any cards, which was a recipe for disaster.
 
I saw the video on Instagram. Really disturbing. There were other referees and tournament officials that tried to intervene, but the players and spectators just assaulted them. The video does not show how it ended. Hopefully it ended with RSL parents in handcuff. The offending team was RSL from Arizona. In the Instagram post he shows the email that went out to the referees basically saying not to issue any cards, which was a recipe for disaster.
Do we know what age group and tournament bracket?
 
This same team in the IG video got into a scuffle in the parking lot the day before the ref attack. That El Paso team was 2 for 2 last weekend when it comes to drama.
 
If anyone thinks that soccer is unique in terms of unnecessary youth violence, look no further than basketball. This happened on Sunday at a U13 game in norcal. Injured kid has a concussion; happily should recover. Perpetrator was kicked off team, and the socials of his team and his organization are understandably being flooded with the comments that you might imagine.

 
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