2011 State Cup

I had a really interesting weekend at our State Cup.  I came away feeling very good about my performance.  The last time I was there, I didn't do well.  I feel like I made up for my previous poor showing.
I had a schedule of 3 games on Saturday:

• 4th Official on a U-17 boys Semi-final
• Referee on a U-16 boys Semi-final
• AR1 on a U-15 girls Semi-final

On Sunday, I worked as

• an AR on a U-15 boys final
• an AR on a U-16 boys final

I have made an observation about our State Cup tournament.  I'm not sure it holds true for other states, but I think I'm correct in evaluating ours.  Teams often have problems related to misconduct when they get to the semi-final and final rounds.  In my state, the games before semi-finals are played at the home team's field.  The referees are selected by the local assignor.  The semi-final and final games are played at a central location and the referees are selected by the state committee.  Teams are accustomed to getting away with misconduct and irresponsible behavior in the technical area during their league games as well as the early state cup games.  I have seen it with my son's teams.  However, when a team arrives at the later games, they are getting referee crews were hand selected for their experience and high caliber of officiating.  Generally speaking, misconduct does not go unnoticed.
As a youth soccer referee, we don't often get to work as 4th officials.  The position can be really boring...or really challenging, depending on the teams and their behavior standards.  It gives one a great opportunity to use one's man-management skills.  It is not easy if you are not used to it.  When team staff are starting to get out of control, the 4th official must apply whatever skills they have to distract the attention of the individual to them and away from the referee.  The 4th official must be a calming influence.  When necessary, the 4th official must apply the "Ask, Tell, Remove" policy.  Some teams are accustomed to screaming and yelling in the technical area (see the above paragraph).  It sure is a rude awakening when they discover they have a crew that won't tolerate abuse.
My U16 semi final went well.  I thought I did a really good job, and the assessor seemed to agree.  He had a few things to point out, but they were tips for improvement, not "you got this wrong."
One of the lessons I want to impart here is that sometimes, teams just don't come to play soccer, even at a game as important as state cup.  One of my teams did not come to play (white).  It was obvious from the first whistle.  We had overly physical, cynical play from the start.  Again, perhaps this team was used to officials that let this sort of thing go.  I am not one of those officials.  The first half was an exercise in management skills.  The first few rough tackles were reward with a one-on-one conversation about how that sort of thing was not going to be tolerated.  Those conversations were followed by a caution.  By the end of the first half, I had already had one conversation with a previously cautioned player that started with "Please don't think for a second that I won't give you the 2nd caution..."
I had a conversation with the crew at the half and expressed my concern we were going to have a tough 2nd half.  The overly physical team was down 2-0 and already had 2 cautions.  They had little to lose so the game could go either way.
It turns out I was prescient.  Early in the 2nd half, we had a tackle or two that resulted in more conversations.  About midway through, one of the previously cautioned players started with very vocal dissent.  He received his second caution (after having been talked to twice before) and his second off.  This cooled the temperature of the gamed noticeably for some time.  Oddly enough, when the team started concentrate on the game, they had more success.  The game eventually got to 3-2.  White was still in the game.  Late in the game, one of white's forwards felt he had been fouled  (he clearly wasn't) and I expressed my disagreement.  White responded with an abusive statement.  I stopped play and sent him off immediately.  As a referee, you must be willing to make the tough decision.  It is not about being "hard" or "tough."  It's about enforcing the LOTG appropriately in order to make the game more enjoyable for all participants!
There was a funny incident related to the send off.  While I was writing in my notebook, one of the opponents asked me what I had sent the player of for.  I told him what the player had called me.  He said "I don't think that about you at all Sir!"  I had to chuckle at that one.
As I mentioned, the next day I had a couple of AR assignments.  The U-15 game was a tough one!  Not so much for me, but the referee.  He had 7 cautions and 4 send offs.  Yes, you read right...4.  One each for Serious Foul Play, Denies a goal scoring opportunity by foul, second caution and abusive language.  The abusive language was after the final whistle.  The player approached the referee and screamed all sorts of profanities at him.  For a moment, I thought he might be physical with him, but it didn't happen.  It was a tough game, but I thought the referee handled it as well as he could.  Again, sometimes, teams don't come to play.

More (Girls) National Championship Series

This past weekend, I attended my 2nd weekend of the US Youth Soccer National Championship Series here in my state. This weekend, it was the girl's chance in their quarter final match ups.
I was assigned to be the senior AR on 2 U-18 games. In our state, the quarter final games are played at a central location. It happens to be a local college campus. The U-17 and U-18 games are played on the school's turf fields, while the younger girls play on the campus grass fields. That became an important distinction this weekend. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it felt like an honor to be selected for the U-18 games.
The other AR was one of the guys that assisted me in my, well, difficult game last weekend. The two officials selected to rotate between the middle and the 4th spot were both female referees. I have worked with one previously, but was unfamiliar with the other.
When you get to a level where you are being assigned to college stadiums with turf fields, you might think you don't have to do the basics like thoroughly check the field. On the contrary, these responsibilities never go away. We found several issues with the facilities that we had to resolve before the game. Placement of corner flags is always sketchy. Make sure they are right. In our case, the nets were not clipped on the goalposts in every spot, so we had to take care of that. Also, check for items (practice goals) that might be located a little too close to the touch line for safety. Stadiums tend to have lots of barrier fences. Always get more than 1 game ball. At least 3 is best to avoid awkward delays in the game.
Weather conditions were not ideal for the players and officials alike. It was a cool, rainy day. The first game of the day was between two very good teams. You would expect that given that we are now in the quarter final round, but that really hasn't been the case with my state's tournament. In fact, quite a few of the games at the boy's quarter finals were a bit lopsided.
The official in the middle called a quality game and everything went off without much in the way of issues. The rain wasn't a real big problem, just annoying. Turf fields have their downsides, but all-weather play is not one of them!
We had a two hour break between games. The stadium is about a 1/2 mile from the grass fields, so we just sat in our cars to occupy our time. During the break, the rain really picked up. We found out later that the grass field games had been canceled for the day. The rain was unrelenting.
We headed back to the stadium about 45 minutes before the start of our 2nd game. I was looking forward to seeing the official for this game work as I had heard she was really good. In conversation, I discovered she was really young. In fact, she was the same age as most of the players, although she looked a few years older to me. It turns out, she is a really good official! I was completely impressed by her ability. The game was not all that challenging, but she clearly knows what she is doing. She's going to move up quickly. I'd really like to see her in a more challenging game.
We had an interesting observation with our 2nd game. Given the rain, we had to hunt for our teams a bit. One was hiding in the covered entry area of the stadium. We checked them in right there. The other team was found in the parking garage adjacent to the stadium. 35 minutes before the game, they did not yet have their player passes! The manager was "on his way" with the passes. He arrived about 10 minutes before a National Championship Series game. I don't get that. The rules of the competition are clear. No pass=no play. Was this some sort of gamesmanship? If so, I can't figure it out. I suspect it was just very poor planning.
As I mentioned previously, this game turned out to be quite one-sided. The team with the late arriving passes was very good. They moved the ball exceptionally well. The other team was out played from the start. In fact, I would estimate 85% of the game was played in their end of the field. The only thing that kept that game close was their goalkeeper making some great saves!
From an officiating viewpoint, the conditions were tough. The rain was incessant. We were soaked the moment we took off our warm-ups. The rain didn't stop for an instant the entire game. Fortunately, the temperature was just high enough that we were not terribly cold. Between the weather and the one-sided aspect of the game, one had to really concentrate on the game and keep the mind from wandering. Most of the game was played in front of me in the 1st half. The 2nd half had me leave my position at halfway maybe 5 times!
That's the end of the quarter finals. I have to wait and see if I'll be assigned at the semi's and finals. I believe I'll get something for semi's as I've made it known I still want my assessment done. We'll see.

Interesting, but Disappointing

Normally, I don't write entries that have a negative feel to them, but I will have a hard time hiding my disappointment in this posting.
I attended our National Championship Series quarter finals yesterday. I was assigned the middle for one of the games and asked for my upgrade assessment. I attended a mandatory meeting last week. I researched the teams I knew I was getting and even went through some of the new sections in "Advice" publication. I put in quite a bit of time to be sure I was ready for my game. I went to the fields the night before to make sure I knew where they were located. I arrived at the field the day of the game several hours early so I could watch the previous game. All of this was done to properly prepared for my assessment...which didn't happen. Apparently, someone failed to ask assessors to come to the games in time for them to be available, so none were there. I don't really understand that. I assume state cup games are scheduled many months in advance. My next two weekends, I only have lines, no middles. I spoke with one of the committee guys and tried to express my disappointment. He said he'd get me a game for the semi-finals. We'll see. For those of you that have gone to these types of tournaments, does this sound a little unusual?
To make it worse, my game was...well...trying. The summary is this: 3 cautions, 2 send-offs. Yeah. The first half went really well. 9 minutes into the second half, there was a tackle right in front of me. By my view, the player with the ball fell and landed on the ball. The defender was standing over him. As the attacker was getting up, the defender stomped on his thigh. In my view, this was a clear send off. In hindsight, I probably should have stopped play immediately, but as I mentioned, the attacker was getting up. Anyway, that was the catalyst for the game to go down hill. The team with the send-off was generally getting outplayed to begin with and them playing a man down tipped the scales. After that, it was nothing but dissent and debate.
In fact, I had spoken to one of their players about his constant comments at least 2 times. Late in the 2nd half, he was taking the ball into the opponents half when he was fouled. As we stopped play, he shoved the defender. I cautioned him for it and he proceeded to call me...something not very nice. That was the 2nd send off.
It was a tough game. The feedback I received from the others was maybe I was not clamping down on the small stuff and that caused the violent conduct send-off. I accept that maybe I should have been a little tighter, but I will not accept that I am somehow responsible for a players actions. I didn't make him stomp on that player's leg.
It was a tough weekend and I'm disappointed and a bit disillusioned. I feel like I could have done a better game, and I really feel like I'm going to have a tough time getting this upgrade assessment.
Let me know if you have had similar circumstances.