Quote:

Arrgy...so, let me get this straight...you're saying that with you as a referee, the way we should look at it is, if you call it wrong in the first 10 minutes, call it wrong the same way near the half, and call it the same wrong way throughout the game, then that makes you right? I mean, I totally understand that every official looks at the game in a little bit different way, and it's the coaches' and players' responsibility to adjust to the way the game is being called...but that doesn't necessarily make the way the game is being called RIGHT. It's pretty stupid to keep driving into potholes you know are there when you can drive around them, too, but that doesn't mean it's not the highway department's responsibility to fix the holes as well.

Please, if you will, explain with a little more clarity what you mean by "a foul is not always a foul." My reading of it is, "a foul is only a foul if I choose to call it a foul."

Again, I understand and appreciate that every crew of officials will call a game slightly differently and that it is our job to adjust accordingly. I'll ask you to also understand and appreciate that if different officials call games in a dramatically different way, it is very confusing to the players who are trying to learn their limitations and abilities. Reasonably consistent officiating based on some universal standards isn't too much to ask for.

Your attitude seems to be very clear, though...the decision is all yours and those who don't understand that are uncivilized rabble. That's ok. Perhaps your wording was a bit ill-thought-out, and you're not as arrogant as you sound or as demeaning towards others as you come across.

I will say this, though...if that is your true attitude toward South Carolina soccer and little Suzy from "Dumpwater, South Carolina," then I would respectfully request that you stick to making your money in your other five states and refrain from taking assignments in my little Dumpwater.

We'd hate for you to become soiled among the unwashed masses, after all.



What do you mean by "calling it wrong?" Calling what wrong, exactly? How much force is necessary for a push in the back to become a foul? How far away from a players body does their arms have to be in order for a handball to be called? My favorite, how many steps away from where the ball went out can someone throw the ball back into play? These and others are the grey are questions that the referee should be consistant about.

These are the questions that coaches and fans can not answer, and get the most upset about in a game. The rule book says that the player will throw the ball in at the point at which it went out, it happens almost NEVER in a game and yet no one gets upset about it.

A foul is a foul only if it is acknowledged by the referee either by stopping play to address it or by allowing the play to continue and verbally acknowledge to the players to "play on."

Referees are given guidelines: "The Laws of the Game are intended to provide that games should be played with as little interference as possible, and in this view it is the duty of referees to penalize only deliberate breaches of the Law. Constant whistling for trifling and doubtful breaches produces bad feeling and loss of temper on the
part of the players and spoils the pleasure of spectators."
A trifling infraction is one which, though still an offense, has no significant impact upon play.