Starting Again

The horrible Winter we experienced in the Northeast appears to be over.  Time for soccer!
I have had a bit of a slow start to the season.  I was not invited to a tournament that I have done several times this year.  It seems the number of teams attending the tournament is down significantly (20%+).  I wonder, is it the economy?  Are teams forgoing tournaments they deem to be optional?
The good news is I managed to get a single day at the boys version of the same tournament this past weekend.  We had U-16 boys all day.  It was windy and cold, but I got games!  That's always a plus.  I ended up doing 2 in the middle and 4 on the sides.  That first tournament of the year is always tough!  My feet are still sore.
We had a very interesting situation arise that brought up a question about the Laws of the Game.  I was in Assistant Referee in the match.  The ball went out of play for a corner kick with seconds left.  The player taking the kick retrieved  the ball and was running back with it when the Referee whistled for half time.  There is no added time allowed in this tournament.  I turned toward the player and held out my hand waiting for the ball.  He put it on the ground, kicked it away and said "Go get your own ball!"  Obviously, there is no question of misconduct.  He was sent off for foul and abusive language.  
When we started the 2nd half, the referee asked me if the team now plays short.  I told him absolutely, they do.  We played the rest of the game that way.  When talking about the send-off with the tournament assignor, he criticized us for making the team play short.  I politely insisted that was the correct action.  The question is this:  Does this team play short in the 2nd half?
Let's see what the various documents from the federation say.  First, we know this player is to be sent off for foul and abusive language.  ATR tells us, in section 12.29:

A player who commits any of the following actions will also be sent from the
field:
...
• Uses offensive, insulting, or abusive language (including nonverbal language or actions)

The added emphasis is mine.  It seems the real question is when does this person cease to be a player?  Was he a player after the whistle blew for half time?
Again, referring to the ATR, we find this is section 3.4:

Regardless of other deviations from the correct substitution procedure which the referee may allow, a substitute becomes a player for purposes of determining the consequences of misconduct when the substitute enters the field after being beckoned by the referee. When the substitute has become a player as a consequence of meeting this requirement, the player being replaced ceases to be a player.

That seems pretty clear to me.  A player ceases to be a player after they have been substituted.  In other words, one is still a player at the end of the half. 
It took some time, but I also found this item: http://www.askasoccerreferee.com/?p=2034
AskASoccerReferee.com is an official USSF site, so this is definitive advice. The team plays short.

It's Been a Slow Fall

If you live in my area of the country (mid-Atlantic states), you know how much bad weather we've been having.  Once again, my Sunday games were canceled.  However, my assignor called and asked my son and I to report to a different field to work with a 3rd referee that had been assigned to do his games alone.  Interesting, because that tells me that my assignor doesn't have as many active referees as I thought.  Anyway, we did just that and managed to get in a couple of short sided games (U-9 and U-10).  I always enjoy these games, as they are usually fun and have very little stress associated with them.
One observation I have is that the coaches seem to misbehave in the short-sided games more often than the coaches of the older teams.  However, they misbehave i a different way.  They complain about calls far more often, but in a way that is less offensive  than their large field colleagues.  The dissent you get from these coaches is more of the nature of the guy you see in the stands at professional games that is always yelling at the officials.  It's part of the experience for them.  While it is dissent, it's almost comical in the lack of soccer knowledge that it displays.  Do you notice the same thing?
Substitution Problem
It's a pretty typical problem.  Generally speaking, the substitution procedure is not enforced in youth soccer.  Therefore, most teams don't really have a good idea how it works.  Because it is typically not enforced, it's tough for the next referee to enforce it as they teams feel that "it wastes time."  Of course, many referees don't add lost time either, exacerbating the problem.
Apparently, I can't count.  At least I can't count accurately up to 8. Because the teams were being sloppy with their procedure, I was being careful to count the players on and off as the game went.  I was the AR on the team side and I see that as part of my job.  At one point, I noticed one of teams counting the players, during play, and call one of theirs off the field.  I walked up and counted the players with the coach.  I counted 8...2 times.  To make a long story short, the referee counted the players at the next stoppage and counted 9.  What's really annoying for me is I also counted the players at the last substitution and got 8.  I think I'm getting old.
All of this brings me to my thoughts on youth soccer substitutions.  The US Soccer Development Academy has substitution rules that are different from the typical youth rules.  In the Development Academy, substitutions are allowed on any stoppage of play.  However, the academy also has limited re-entry rules.  Once a player comes off, they cannot re-enter the field until the next half.  I think this does two things.  First, it causes coaches to really think about their substitutions instead of taking advantage of the "revolving door" rule we have now.  I've had games were there were substitutions every 4-5 minutes.  Academy games have perhaps 1 or 2 substitutions per half.  Second, I think it formalizes the substitution procedure.  Because of the limited re-entry rule.  Players present their passes when they come on for a substitution.  Since they must present their passes, it slows the process down and makes it so the player can't just run on the field.
I guess the argument against the academy way of doing things is you could argue it's harder to get players adequate playing time.  I don't know if I buy into that though.  I think it improves things because coaches can no longer break up playing time into 5 minute chunks.  It improves the flow of the game for the fans as well as the players.  It makes the game far easier to manage, in my opinion, for the referees.  What do you think?  Send me a comment and let me know.  Is there a downside to this I'm not seeing?