Last weekend I had the opportunity to watching potential MLS referees in the flesh. The games were part of the Carolina Cup hosted by the Charleston Battery. My local referee chapter put together a bus trip from Greenville, SC to Charleston, bought the tickets, provided food and then had a cookout with referees from Charleston.
When the eating and socializing was over the games began. The referee in the first game was Mark Kadlecik, from what I heard he's somewhat of a newcomer to the MLS scene hoping to get a full slate of MLS games this year. He's right on the cusp of being a regular face.
What the crowd will probably take away from this game was that he sent the left back from Toronto off in about the 30th minute for two professional fouls that happened within about two minutes of each other. Both were great calls. However, what I took away from his performance and will try to implement into my game is his awareness of the play, and by that I mean turning his head during dynamic play to see where the play is going to go next.
Constantly I saw him scan the field in front of him for movement that would tell him where the next phase of play was likely to be. For example, if the ball was on his right, toward the sideline, he would look across the penalty area as it was likely that a cross or through ball would be coming into that area. Now, I want to caution that we should not be looking as a play on the ball is being made by a defender. We cannot look away from a challenge, that is when we must be looking at the play. But when an attacker clearly has possession and you have a second to scan the field, take a look.
There are two reasons (and probably more) that this technique is helpful. First, you get to see what is happening off the ball. Is an attacker being held while he is making a run? Are the players expecting a cross or a pass on the ground? Is there a large group of people in front of the keeper? Now you have a better idea of what is likely to happen and can be proactive rather than reactive. Second, in the spirit of being proactive you can position yourself according to what you see. If there is a run being made toward the AR you can cheat his way. If everyone is congregating on the back edge of the goal area you can be ready for a cross in the air. Maybe someone is checking back to the ball and has lots of space. Position yourself for where the action is most likely to happen and remember presence lends conviction.
Showing posts with label MLS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MLS. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Reffing for the next Ref
If you watched last week's Champions League game between AC Milan and Tottenham you know two things:
1. AC Milan is about to be knocked out of the tournament
2. Gattuso is a thug
Yes, that second one really is no surprise. Gattuso has always been a bit of a fighter on the pitch, and not in a good way. His work rate is terrific, but now that he is older, a step slower, he is relying too much on his strength to get him by. He picked up a caution for his efforts which rendered him out of the return leg next week at White Hart Lane.
Two points about this, first, the referee must know these teams inside and out before the game, and second, the referee(s) must not let the players off the hook on serious plays for this will leave the referee of that team's next game in big trouble.
To the first point, with a game of this magnitude we would assume the referee had researched both teams inside and out prior to arriving in Milan. I read last week that an MLS ref put in 10 hours of pre-game work for a regular season MLS game. How much more important is a UEFA Champions League match (sorry MLS, you're not there)?
Knowing that Gattuso was one caution away from a mandatory one-game suspension is vital, for when Gattuso picks up that yellow he now has nothing to lose - and he showed that last week. He must have thought "I'm already suspended why not put a cherry on top"? After that yellow Gattuso acted like a crazy person, both on the pitch and off. He struck an assistant coach in the throat, had some very harsh challenges (none of which elicited another caution in the mind of the referee, definitely worth yellows in my mind), and then headbutted the asst. coach on the sidelines after the game.
Tighter control on Gattuso may not have prevented these things from happening, but then again, we never will know because the referee never tightened his reigns on him.
This first point rolls into the second, in that as referees we dictate to the players what is acceptable and what is not. If you never call offside even though there are clearly times when players are offside and involved, the players will react to that two ways: the defense will no longer play an offside trap and the offense will cherry pick the rest of the game. The players adapt to the referee's style.
In last week's game Gattuso played like a caged animal, angry, fed up with the way his team was being dismantled by Tottenham - at home no less, and frustrated with the lanky Peter Crouch. First of all, the referee needed to realize this and have a chat with Mr. Gattuso. Second, there is no excuse for the AR1 to not send off Gattuso for the strike at the face of Joe Jordan. You are standing right there and saw the entire thing - why are leaving Gattuso on the field!? Gattuso cataloged the cowardice of the AR knowing that neither he nor the Center referee would do anything about his style of play. He went on barging into tackles, pushing Peter Crouch and eventually headbutted Jordan.
My question is this: what if this happened in our youth-level games and we didn't deal with it? What do you think the player would think going into his next game, that he could run around the pitch making bad challenges and shoving other players? More than likely, yes. And since they travel over many states how would a referee in North Carolina or Georgia know that last week in South Carolina player A played like a lunatic but didn't get sent off for it? What will that referee now have to deal with because the referee crew in South Carolina screwed up?
We need to be working our games in a way that teaches young players how to the play the game, the beautiful game, not the physical rugby style game. We need to help our fellow referees by dealing with misconduct in our games so that it does not carry on into the future and become a pattern where someone has to get hurt before that player cools off.
After all, player safety is the A1 responsibility of the referee.
1. AC Milan is about to be knocked out of the tournament
2. Gattuso is a thug
Yes, that second one really is no surprise. Gattuso has always been a bit of a fighter on the pitch, and not in a good way. His work rate is terrific, but now that he is older, a step slower, he is relying too much on his strength to get him by. He picked up a caution for his efforts which rendered him out of the return leg next week at White Hart Lane.
Two points about this, first, the referee must know these teams inside and out before the game, and second, the referee(s) must not let the players off the hook on serious plays for this will leave the referee of that team's next game in big trouble.
To the first point, with a game of this magnitude we would assume the referee had researched both teams inside and out prior to arriving in Milan. I read last week that an MLS ref put in 10 hours of pre-game work for a regular season MLS game. How much more important is a UEFA Champions League match (sorry MLS, you're not there)?
Knowing that Gattuso was one caution away from a mandatory one-game suspension is vital, for when Gattuso picks up that yellow he now has nothing to lose - and he showed that last week. He must have thought "I'm already suspended why not put a cherry on top"? After that yellow Gattuso acted like a crazy person, both on the pitch and off. He struck an assistant coach in the throat, had some very harsh challenges (none of which elicited another caution in the mind of the referee, definitely worth yellows in my mind), and then headbutted the asst. coach on the sidelines after the game.
Tighter control on Gattuso may not have prevented these things from happening, but then again, we never will know because the referee never tightened his reigns on him.
This first point rolls into the second, in that as referees we dictate to the players what is acceptable and what is not. If you never call offside even though there are clearly times when players are offside and involved, the players will react to that two ways: the defense will no longer play an offside trap and the offense will cherry pick the rest of the game. The players adapt to the referee's style.
In last week's game Gattuso played like a caged animal, angry, fed up with the way his team was being dismantled by Tottenham - at home no less, and frustrated with the lanky Peter Crouch. First of all, the referee needed to realize this and have a chat with Mr. Gattuso. Second, there is no excuse for the AR1 to not send off Gattuso for the strike at the face of Joe Jordan. You are standing right there and saw the entire thing - why are leaving Gattuso on the field!? Gattuso cataloged the cowardice of the AR knowing that neither he nor the Center referee would do anything about his style of play. He went on barging into tackles, pushing Peter Crouch and eventually headbutted Jordan.
My question is this: what if this happened in our youth-level games and we didn't deal with it? What do you think the player would think going into his next game, that he could run around the pitch making bad challenges and shoving other players? More than likely, yes. And since they travel over many states how would a referee in North Carolina or Georgia know that last week in South Carolina player A played like a lunatic but didn't get sent off for it? What will that referee now have to deal with because the referee crew in South Carolina screwed up?
We need to be working our games in a way that teaches young players how to the play the game, the beautiful game, not the physical rugby style game. We need to help our fellow referees by dealing with misconduct in our games so that it does not carry on into the future and become a pattern where someone has to get hurt before that player cools off.
After all, player safety is the A1 responsibility of the referee.
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