New bloggers

Hi everyone, as you may be able to tell I am really going to try and have more posts for you.  I want to keep the blog fresh and rolling so that our readers aren't checking in and constantly finding the same post at the top.

As such I have asked a few of my fellow referees from the Palmetto state to post whenever they can.  So expect some posts from some people other than me coming up.  As always, if you have any comments or suggestions we would love to hear them.

Thanks for reading!

FIFA Fitness? Not yet.

Long after all the Thanksgiving turkey and pumpkin pie along with all the Christmas goodies comes the thought that eventually you need to get in shape for the next season.  Well, that time has come and gone for me.  I’ll be attending a Regional Training Seminar (RTS) in Greensboro in mid-February, which means I have to run the FIFA fitness test (http://www.footballwest.com.au/resources/FIFAFitnessTest_E.pdf - They have 10 laps minimum on this but I know MLS uses 12 laps). 

I’ve never run the test before so I must admit to being a little intimidated.  The Cooper test is just a twelve minute run and you have to get something like five or six laps, roughly 1.5 miles I think.  For our local society we also run a 200 meter sprint and a 50 meter sprint (I think it’s 50), but generally it’s a piece of cake.  Like the link shows the FIFA test is an interval test, 150 meters running in 30 seconds followed by 50 meters walking in 35 seconds.  Those times might be different for RTS, but that’s the general gist of the test.

When I first got the email about RTS I knew I had to train.  One problem: I hate training.  I like running after things: usually soccer balls, basketballs, softballs (yes, I’m old now), and players on the pitch, but I hate to just run.  I got out a couple times during the week at 6:30am to run two to two-and-a-half miles.  Certainly not enough but after not training for several weeks since State Cup I had to get my legs under me.  Saturday I finally went out to the track to train more specifically for the fitness test next week.

My mentor for the Youth Regional Tournament last June had emailed me the training program he used to pass the fitness test for the MLS playoffs last fall.  He ran 30 intervals at 30 seconds apiece.  However, other than the difference in laps (15), he also changed the rest time for week one of training to 40 seconds for the first ten intervals, 45 seconds for the second ten intervals, and 50 seconds for the third ten.  Week two he changes the rest times to 35, 40, and 45.  Week three he switches to two sets of 15 intervals at 35 and 40 seconds rest.  Week four he goes 20 intervals with 35 seconds rest followed by 10 intervals at 40 seconds rest. 

The thinking behind this is that your body becomes conditioned for 30 intervals, not just 20 in the case of the website above or 24 in his case.  When the test comes around 24 intervals seems like a breeze.

It’s not a breeze the first time you go out and try it, at least not in my case.  It was pouring outside today where I live but I knew I had to get started with this kind of training.  I stretch, get a quick, half-mile jog in to loosen up my legs and then begin the intervals.  First six or seven were pretty straightforward.  Felt a little winded, but ok.  Got to around eight and was really feeling it.  I know, only got to freaking eight and I was getting gassed!  I was able to keep going to ten before I really felt like crap.  I took a longer break after the first ten to recover.  At the very least I wanted to keep running the 150 meter distance to get more used to it.  Well, I could only make it four more intervals. 

The total distance covered was 1.69 miles.  I’m currently ten intervals short of the required 24 and obviously way off the time required to pass.  Am I a little scared?  Heck yea.  Am I more encouraged than ever to do whatever it takes to pass.  You better believe it.  My goal is going to be to make it out to the track three times a week, maybe not always doing the training I’ve mentioned above but doing some sort of sprint training.

If you have any tips out there I would love to hear them and I would also like to hear if you will be attending any of the RTS around the country.

Opportunities

Hello again.  I know it has been a long time since my last post and for that I apologize.  Part of it is that I just haven't had much to write about; there is no club soccer in the spring in South Carolina, save U-13 and U-14.

Recently, however, I have made some decisions on some reffing related trips.  The first is Memorial Day Weekend.  Last year my wife and I decided to travel North for the holiday to her parent's place.  The main reason I suggested the trip was for me to referee a large tournament - The Dayton Warrior Classic.  She would get to see her parents (and I didn't have too - just kidding honey!) and I would get to ref and get paid for the trip. 

It was such a good experience we decided to do it again.  It's about an 8 hour trip by car but I think it will be well worth it.  The tournament is well run from a referee perspective.  The games were on time, they worked in games off (I was on a 4-man rotating crew both days), there were plenty of cold beverages to re-hydrate, lots of food, marshals who actually help, and the money was brought to you in cash via envelope before every game in denominations easily divisible between the crew.

Last year I got to work with three state referees from Ohio North.  I did 6 U-16 boys games on Saturday and 3 U-17 boys games on Sunday with them.  Sunday night I had the middle on the U-18 final, originally scheduled as the semi-final but somehow turned into a final. 

I'm very excited to be working this tournament again and will hopefully have a similar experience to last year.  The second decision was much harder to make.  Having recently had a child I was thinking that I probably would not go to regionals this year, in an effort to help out my wife.  However, she gave me the 'ok' to sign up and now it looks like I'm off to Tennessee for my second regionals experience.

This is a huge honor for me, one for which I am very grateful.  Last year was a great event in Baton Rouge, LA.  It was a great learning experience and a chance to rub shoulders with some great referees.  I am also excited for this year's trip.  The games are going to be good, for sure, the instruction will be top class and the times spent with other referees will be memorable. 

While preparing for both of these events I am focusing on my fitness and my knowledge of the Advice to Referees handbook.  I have long loathed running; if there is not a ball involved I do not care to run.  I'm glad my wife likes to run with me so that we can train together.  We've been running lately and my goal is to be able to run 8 miles straight by mid-June, around regionals.  We're running just about every day with longer runs on the weekend.  Also, I just came across a workout in Muscle and Fitness magazine called the "Metabolic workout", also referred to as EPOC.  The theory is to do different tasks in quick succession creating a lack of oxygen so that your body goes into your fat stores for the oxygen it needs.  Hopefully I can shed  few lbs by the time regionals rolls around: I am shooting for about 10 total.

I'm also reading through Advice to Referees currently, highliter in hand.  My goal is to make it through that twice in the next month.

Here's to two good tournaments and that I can physically and mentally survive both!

Take a look around

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.

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.

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.

Onside and Offside

One week ago Sian Massey was on top of the world.  Well, she should have been.  However, a great no-call in the Wolverhampton-Liverpool match was widely ignored as the story soon turned to the controversy surrounding the comments made by Richard Keys and Andy Gray, who work(ed) for Sky Sports. 

This was Massey's second game at the EPL level, the first being back in December.  I didn't watch the game last weekend, but when I did see the replay of the "incident", for lack of a better word, I was struck that there was a female running the line.  Let me clarify before I go on: I was not shocked that a female could run the line, only shocked because out of the many EPL games I've watched this is the first where I've seen a female as a referee.  The only other time I have seen a female this high in the ranks was when Amy Fearn took over for her male counterpart when he came down with an injury.  She was only on 20 minutes, but was very good from the articles I've read.

Now, let me say this first, I enjoy watching the NBA over the WNBA, MLS over the WUSA (and EPL over both), basically men's sports over womens - when I'm watching.  But this is not an issue of the athleticism and talent of the players, but an issue of the competency of the person, male or female.  As a referee we are called on to make the proper calls.  What is so upsetting about this whole debacle is that neither Keys nor Gray had enough common sense to think "she's obviously here for a reason, she must have plenty of experience and have been tested several times before to get to this level". 

I had the opportunity to go to Regionals last year in Baton Rouge.  In total, for all of the Southeastern Region (region 3), there were approximately 15-20 female officials, maybe slightly more.  Sadly, none were from South Carolina.  In the past 3.5 years of reffing I have worked with 3, maybe 4 female refs.  So when I got to regionals I was amazed at how many solid female refs there are, all tested and proven.  I got to work with one who was fantastic, Kathryn Heidke, and ended up sending of 2 guys in a U18 match.  I'm 26 and would not have had the balls to do what she did, especially at Regionals.

Having had the experience at Regionals my view of last weekend's incident became much more clear.  Sian Massey was not there to appease some feminist group - she was there because she was good, and in that high level game she was great.  The offside call is one of, if not the, hardest calls in all of soccer, no matter what level.  That call in particular was extremely difficult as the defender was moving up the field and the attacker towards the goal.  When two players are traveling in opposite directions like that the gulf between them widens so quickly, but that did not phase Massey.

An Instructor relayed a story a couple weekends ago about a gentleman who wanted to become a ref.  As they were talking on the phone the guy said he didn't want to do women's game, apparently not competitive enough for him.  Almost immediately this instructor said, well, you can call these guys, but I'm not helping you anymore. 

The game of soccer is a game for both men and women, especially in the US where women's soccer has done so much to grow the game.  Being a referee and being a woman are not mutually exclusive.  In the past we would see a woman's name on my line and think, "Oh boy, here we go", but now, after seeing how women have benefited this game and that they are beyond capable of refereeing a quality and fair game, we must reach out and encourage these women to stick with reffing.  Watch Sian Massey's call again and put yourself in her shoes.  Given that speed and the direction of the players, not to mention the English atmosphere at the park, I more than likely would have screwed that up.  Not to mention she has to be in top shape just to make that call!  The saddest part of all of this is that she has now been pulled off of two games for making the RIGHT CALL.

Next time you're on the pitch and you have a female referee make sure to go out of your way to help them, encourage them, learn the game from a woman's perspective.  Cheers to Sian Massey for reaching the top of English football.