SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer Should Refs Reserach Teams They Are Officiating

Soccer America's Youth Soccer Insider
By Randy Vogt

If a tree falls in the forest and your favorite newspaper does not cover it, does it make a sound? That was the question facing American soccer fans in a previous era as many were perplexed why some media outlets did not give soccer as much publicity as its popularity warranted. So soccer fans were encouraged to phone sports editors demanding more and better coverage.

Fast forward to today and it’s somewhat of a mute point because if your newspaper does not cover soccer, you can still find plenty of coverage on the World Wide Web. The number of newspapers and magazines have decreased while Internet use has increased exponentially. As one example, Soccer America started as a newspaper in 1971 and eventually became a color magazine. Although four magazine issues are published every year, most subscribers know Soccer America today because of its e-letters, such as the one you are reading right now.

Soccer fans can find all sorts of interesting information on their favorite teams on the Internet. Some referees, too, have culled info, but also to help prepare for a game while other refs do not research teams at all. In preparing this article, Soccer America’s Mike Woitalla commented to me, “I've been stunned by referees saying they don't want background on teams or players they’re going to referee. Imagine hearing in any other profession someone advocating ignorance before going on the job.”

Taking Mike’s comment a step further, imagine a surgeon not wanting to know about the patient before the operation or the pilot not wanting to have a background on the plane or the airport where the plane will be landing. The question is which type of information the referees should be searching for and how they should use it.

Refs can find all sorts of info on professional teams as well as Division 1 college teams such as who the team’s top goalscorers are, how many fouls have been committed and suffered, who is in danger of getting suspended for another yellow card, etc. As you move on to Division 2 and 3 college teams, the info tends to become more limited. Some of these colleges simply have the team’s photo, roster (no bios of players), coach’s bio and schedule so it is challenging for the ref to find any useful info for officiating the match from these sites.

If high school teams have websites, they generally have little or no info that would be helpful to referees. Some senior teams have websites and some do not.

I hope that we have not “advanced” to the point that websites of youth soccer teams have as many stats as pro and Division 1 college teams. It would be best that youth soccer websites just simply have fun info, some photos and a nice message from the coach. Yet some people take youth soccer way too seriously and one unfortunate consequence of this is many refs quickly realize officiating is not for them with verbal abuse by kids’ parents being the No. 1 reason for quitting. Understand that this verbal abuse leads to the referees remaining often being overworked on weekends.

Regarding teams with much info on their websites, I have seen referees use the info in different ways. A very small number of refs memorize the player’s first name with their number and speak to the player by name during the game, believing the player becomes very impressed that the ref took the time to learn the players’ names before the game. That seems like an awful amount of work to me for limited results.

I have seen another ref, after he researched the college teams, become very intimidated knowing exactly the implications of an important regular season game. That ref officiated the game as if he did not want to make any important decisions that would affect the result. Which of course is a very bad strategy because if a goal has to be disallowed, a player needs to be sent off or a penalty kick needs to be whistled, the ref should always make those calls regardless of the implications.

Probably a better way of researching teams rather than relying on the Internet is to speak to an official who had the same team previously that season. Better yet is to get a tape of a previous game and watch it.

But however refs research a team -- whether it’s through the Internet, by speaking to colleagues or watching tapes of games -- they are not to pre-judge a player or coach before a game. This is probably why some refs do not want any info on teams as it’s rather challenging to cull info but not to pre-judge.

So if No. 8 red has committed the most fouls in the league, the officials are aware of this but not concentrating on No. 8 red during the game. If the ref has heard that this coach is a referee-baiter or that player dissents way too much, they do not pre-judge but certainly control any situation that might develop and treat everybody equally.

I’ve learned through the years that the teams sometimes provide a clue as to who the problem players are anyway. For the player who often dissents, as soon as that player dissents, it’s often his/her teammates who tell the problem player to calm down before the ref has a chance to do so. For the player who’s too physical, the teammates yell at that player after he/she commits a bad foul. Perhaps the team has already played down a player because of this and they are trying to police their teammate so it does not happen again. Research is great but the teams can give subtle hints as well and sometimes will even police their teammates.

To answer your question, instead I will quote what Abraham Klein (probably the second best referee ever had to say about it)

Throughout his career, Klein was not prepared to fail. The level of his preparation, both physical and mental, was extraordinary. He was not years ahead of his time; he was a generation ahead. "It's a good advantage – not just in refereeing but in everything in life – if you know the person who is standing before you," he says. He would study hours of videos to see what tactics the teams used, which players dived, which tried to bully opponents or referees. In 1970 he arrived early and spent a fortnight in the Camino Royale in Guadalajara, acclimatising and studying teams.

"I know the tactics of the Brazilian players," he says. "I saw that inside the area – or just outside, because of Rivelino's free kicks – that if it was shoulder to shoulder they would be very close to the grass. If you remember the [England] game, [Alan] Mullery with Pele inside the area, shoulder to shoulder and Pele was down. So I tried to learn everything, and also the behaviour when you make your decisions.

I am just happy if the Refs show up on time and know the rules.

What should be done to a ref who makes racist comments toward a team he is officiating? A ref went up to a player who plays for an 85% black team and said to him - "so, y'all are good at something other than basketball huh"

How can a person in an authoritative position make those comments... aren't refs supposed to set an example about sportsmanship???

Have to ask, just for perspective...was it just a stereotype comment, or is the school in question actually known for having a good basketball team?

SAY MANE...I'M TIRED OF ALL THIS ZIMMERMAN-ESQUE RAYSISM GOING ON IN AMERICA!!! THIS IS A BUNCH OF CRAP MAN!

LEEEETTTT USSSS BREEEAAAKKK BREEAAADDD TOGEEETTTHHHHEERR ONNNN OURRRR KNEEEEEESSSS

I'm going to assume that was at a smaller school in a rural area. There is some southern redneck joke in there somewhere...but I just shouldn't go there.

To go a step further than Chass....SoccersBest, without (me OR you) having any additional information, I tend to think that your suggestion that the comment you quote is racist, is actually itself a racist comment.

Ok, SoccersBest, what about Chass's question?

I mean, seriously, IF this teenager is not the overly-sensitive type (teenager also being an important word here), IF the school is not actually known for having a good basketball team, and IF the ref is not just a nice, but naive, person TRYING to give a compliment (remember the "y'all are good" part?) or without any other information, one might assume the comment to be racist, but why would you make an assumption like that?

Just because a person SAYS a comment is racist does not make it racist.