AKA the dreaded offside call
Yup. That actually happened this a few weeks ago. Game 2 of a Piedmont Conference weekend up in suburban Atlanta (which, to be fair, is quite a big area). Our game, which is at allegedly one of the higher youth conference levels in the country, only had two referees. I’ll skip the “we need more referees, but nobody wants to ref because of parents these days” rants, only because there are lots of other people making that case. I’ll skip the “you’d think there’d be enough refs because it’s a national league and you get paid more” rant, because clearly, that hasn’t been the case.[1] There’s politics involved, because of course, youth sports have politics. I don’t want to get into all of that here. And when referees are expected to have a pedagogical function too, no wonder it’s so hard to find referees.[2]Those of you who read my other soccer post today will think that I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth. But I think that’s the dilemma youth soccer faces. It’s simultaneously too easy and … Continue reading So what happens when there aren’t enough referees?
If it’s a game like ours, a parent from each team gets drafted to be an assistant referee. There was a parent ref for the first half from the other team. In such a case, that parent only gets to call offside calls — no fouls or other infractions. I was our team’s “parent ref” for the second half, but I’m a real bona-fide certified US Soccer Federation grassroots referee. And I just got recertified, although I have thoughts about that. It’s really not that hard to be one just like me. You have to go to an in-person class (about 4 hours), take some online coursework, and if you’re over 18, pass a background check. And after all of that, you can be a referee too!
I don’t think I’ll ever ref one of my child’s games again. Because I am a certified referee, the other two refs decided that I could also call fouls and anything else, although they didn’t really notice my flag waving high above me on multiple occasions. The other problem is that most parent refs typically don’t move much – if at all – while serving the role of assistant referee. In reality, you have to be ready to constantly move, and the “AR (Assistant Referee) shuffle” is definitely an important aspect of the job – the linked article shows that the typical AR will run 4-5 miles per match, if not more, in international tournaments. I didn’t run nearly that much, but I certainly did need to run. Unfortunately, probably 70-80% of the AR’s I see don’t run much, if at all. And they should. It’s part of the game, and offside is one of the calls that is both hard to understand and hard to judge, especially at high speed. And we’re not even talking about the speed of pro players. If I can run, other parents — or for that matter, other AR’s — should do it too. That’s probably the biggest complaint I have in terms of refereeing that I’ve seen. Very few AR’s actually do the running that’s necessary.
I wish I had all the answers on how to solve the myriad problems that impact youth sports in this country. I do know based on what I’ve seen — and haven’t seen — that I’m not the one-man solution to the problem. And so you’ll be more likely to see me on the sideline, camera in hand[3]Having the camera keeps me out of trouble, even if I’m way behind on editing my pictures! Oops!, trying hard to agree with the many good calls that refs make, gently pointing out why a ref might be right, trying hard NOT to yell at the refs, except when there’s danger of someone getting hurt. Then I’m going to be that “bad soccer parent.” [4]I had a ref tell me once, “It’s not the ref’s fault if the game gets out of hand – it’s the players’ fault.” I’ll gently disagree with that, because kids need to learn what the … Continue reading I’ll use my knowledge to help other people understand the game. But how much longer can we go on like this — when parental expectations rise at the same time that the number of referees are going down precipitously? At some point, the youth sport system as we know it will collapse. I just pray that my son’s [future] children won’t have to experience that problem.
Notes
| ↑1 | There’s politics involved, because of course, youth sports have politics. I don’t want to get into all of that here. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Those of you who read my other soccer post today will think that I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth. But I think that’s the dilemma youth soccer faces. It’s simultaneously too easy and too difficult to be a referee. |
| ↑3 | Having the camera keeps me out of trouble, even if I’m way behind on editing my pictures! Oops! |
| ↑4 | I had a ref tell me once, “It’s not the ref’s fault if the game gets out of hand – it’s the players’ fault.” I’ll gently disagree with that, because kids need to learn what the boundaries are. And at their age, they’re still gaining control of their motor skills. So they can’t yet be trusted to “decide the game on the field.” |