Safety First

My last blog post was about reffing for the next ref, in which I discussed that letting things go in your game may affect what the next referee has to deal with in his game.  This week I want to remind referees the main reason they are on the field: player safety.

These two topics go hand in hand.  If you let players get away with hard, dangerous challenges they will only do it more, whether later in your game or in the next game.  At the youth level we not only referee but in a sense we are teaching the kids how the game is to be played.  Our decisions have consequences, both in the game we're doing and in the game the kids play in the future.

The match that brought player safety to my attention was Manchester United vs. Liverpool.  Liverpool are up 2-0 in the first half at home.  Around the 40th minute, just a few before halftime, Jamie Carragher comes in high and hard, studs up, and violently clashes into Nani.  No attempt was made for the ball even though the ball would have been easier to get than Nani.  Phil Dowd, the referee, immediately called the foul and pulled the yellow card.  Meanwhile, Nani gets up, sprints over to Dowd, and then collapses again.  Whether or not this was a bit of theater I don't know, but I have seen the pictures of the injury and it does look quite nasty.  A deep gouge, blood running down the leg and apparently Nani is out for 3-4 weeks.

A yellow has been given, Nani is stretchered off, everything should simmer down now, especially with halftime only a few minutes away, right?  Wrong.  Almost the very next play Maxi catches Rafael on the thigh with his studs (although clearly playing the ball unlike Carragher) and Rafael ends up two-footing Lucas high and late.  Rafael and Skrtel end up with yellows for their efforts, although Rafael certainly deserved a sending off.

At this point you have to ask if there was anything Dowd could have done to at least prevent the second harsh challenge.  In my opinion Dowd is a quality referee.  There have been several instances in the last few weeks where he has gotten very tough decisions spot on.  But the Carragher decision was not right.  I'm not going to say it was "wrong", he was close to the play and immediately jumped in knowing what he was going to do, however, that kind of tackle is not needed in this game. 

The only saving grace for Dowd was that halftime was right around the corner, everyone had 15 minutes to cool off.  And, at this point both teams think they dodged a bullet in that each team should have had a man sent off.  But let me ask you this, what happens if this all happens in the 60th minute?  What does Dowd do when he has another half hour to play and tempers running high?

We cannot simply hope to get away with this in our games.  Young players are impressionable and if we let them think this kind of football is ok then we do them, the players they will injure, and the game a disservice.  We need to referee in a way that protects the talented footballers and punishes those who think the name of the game is to intimidate or injure the opponents.  Player safety is our number one priority.

State Cup games

Sorry it's taken me so long to write another post.  Life is not the same with a newborn, that's for sure.

Tomorrow I have the opportunity to work two games, both semi-finals in the club state challenge cup.  The first game I am the 4th for a U15 girls game.  I'm not been a 4th before but I did get to witness a few games this summer at Regionals where we had 4ths.  Given what happened in the Akron-Cal quarterfinal game last weekend I am taking this assignment very seriously.  Here is a thread regarding that quarterfinal game: http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1604868

The second game is a U16 boys semi-final.  I get to center this one.  The two teams are actually part of the same "club"; however, they are in two different cities about 2 hours apart, Mount Pleasant and Columbia.  I expect a pretty high level match for this.

For me, in situations like this, I tend to get really nervous.  If this were just a regular season game with the same two teams I would be fine.  Just go out and do the games.  But because this is a semi-final, with these kids' whole season riding on this one game, I make myself freak out.  I played HS football, kicker, and did the same thing then.  I thought about it way too much and scared myself to death.  In the back of my mind, though, I know that once I blow the first whistle I will be fine. 

I tend to go into these games telling myself I will do everything I can to not be the focus of this game.  I want to call less and let the game be decided by the players.  Last week in the first round game I called a PK, which turned into the first goal.  Then, right after halftime, there were two penalty shouts by the same team.  Did the kid go down?  Yup.  By the defender?  Yeah.  Was I about to call another penalty?  Hell no!  It would have been a light penalty, not diving, just light, and I was not about to become the ref who gave the winning (and better) team a series of penalties to start the scoring.

Luckily the teams scored within 90 seconds of the no call, making it 2-0.  They scored two more to win 4-0.  Hopefully tomorrow's games will be just like the game last week.

Do you guys focus on particular points of your reffing "game" before "big" games?  Do you change anything going into what you would call a big game?

Indtroductions and such

Hello referee community.  My name is Matthew Campbell and I am a USSF certified soccer referee.  First, let me tell you a little about myself and then I will get into what I want this blog to be.

I began reffing when I was 14 (I'm now 26) and reffed through high school, but only sporadically.   When I graduated I moved from NE Ohio to Upstate South Carolina and re-upped my certification.  After nearly 3 years I upgraded from grade 8 to grade 7.  I've been a grade 7 since this past May.  I have refereed Adult Men's amatuer, premier, academy, all the way down to U11 rec where I'm the only referee on the field.  This past summer I got the opportunity to referee at Regionals in Baton Rouge, LA.  Quite an experience for which I am extremely grateful.

So what will this blog be about?  The obvious answer is what referees go through on the pitch.  That is, the calls, the fans, the coaches, cards, positioning, etc.  However, you hear about that all the time in meetings, emails, videos, etc.  I also want this blog to investigate our preparation, our training (physical, mental, and educational), our equipment, and our debrief or post-game thoughts.

For instance, how many times have you thought: I need some new shoes, but what are good shoes for referees?  Hopefully I can give you an idea of my thought process.  You may benefit and you may say "what a bloody idiot".  Either way I hope to help you make your purchase a quality one. 

Lastly, I want this blog to be a conversation.  I want the people who read this to comment and bring other points of view to the table. Maybe we're talking about dealing with mouthy players - do you go straight to the book and show the yellow for dissent?  Could you pull the player aside and have a quiet chat with him?  Do you chew his ass out so that the people on the next field over can hear you?  Tell me (and us) what has worked for you.

Hope you enjoy and I look forward to hearing from you.