SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer Person walks out onto field at halftime.....

benp, there have been years when the officiating was, for the most part, quality. But this year has been atrocious! Hopefully you will do fine, as long as you just call the match based on all the rules of the game and not just the ones "focused" on by the hsl at the start of the season(Lord knows that when they focus on the things that the HSL puts attention to, they forget all the other rules and regulations)

Many of the high school referees that I have reffed with after doing USSF games suck. There are also a few that are good. I think that an assessor has the right to tell a crew that they are doing a terrible job, although at halftime was most certainly not the correct time to do so. Get real though, high school referees are not assessed, and can totally suck, plus they are not held accountable. Having done state cup games and other highly competitive matches, I have to say that I have seen a lot of high school matches poorly reffed. This is in part due to lack of experience, lack of knowledge of the rules, and not caring what happens because there is no accountability. I personally think it is amusing that an assessor would have the sack to walk out and tell the referee team to get it together. Maybe they needed the critique. Since there is no accountability to the referees for high school, I guess you can only get to them from the USSF side. If an assessor gets a bad impression of a referee, they can take the appropriate actions from the USSF side. I don't know what it is going to take to get the referee problem fixed, but it is sad when people do a terrible job because of lack of experience, personal motivations against a school, or otherwise. Anybody have any ideas how to fix these problems?

Maybe so...agreed, halftime is not the right time to walk out on a field. I have reffed with good and bad, and have played with good and bad. I also agree that a lot of them need to find other ways to spend they're spare time. This particular "assessor" had no business walking out on the field berating referees, he was out of line. Pull them aside later, if you're also inclined...also, probably not a good ideal to lie to MPPD, they took exception to that. In my opinion, they need to take a harder look at assessing the HS referees. From experience (lots of it), it's very hard (and not a lot of fun) to play with poor referees.

I think it should be a privledge to ref in the state playoff games just as it is to play in them. The refs shoudn't be picked just because they are available. There should be a rating system and the top refs get the job. I do realize that it is a tough job of trying to make both sides happy. But the system they use now is not getting the job done.

Maybe they should have an adjustable pay scale. The better you are the more you make. They should be assesed by the ref cordinator, coaches and captains etc...

That guy was a schmuck. He should be suspendeded. Who interupts the officials in the middle of the match?

Suspended? From what? I am sure the officials weren't in the middle of anything too important..I usually grab a drink and chat with the AR's.

I need to clarify a few misconceptions presented in this forum concerning referees. I have done over 20 match assessments (which means I have seen nearly 50 referee assignments) on high school referees in my district this year. Our referees are given feedback during the scrimmage season through the playoffs and even at the state finals.

The referees are held accountable for their games, I deal with each coach that feels a need to talk to me by getting input from each referee, both coaches - if possible and any knowledgeable person in attendance that I feel comfortable talking with about the match. From there I get back to the coach. In all the years I have been an assignor, I have had only two instances where the coach was not satisfied with my judgement at the end.

There are several more things I would like to address later, but I am hoping this information will let you know that several districts in the state do rate and assess their officials.

My last comment is that soccer referees are in short supply and if you wish to play the game with officials (qualified or not - in your eyes), then maybe support would be better than yelling, screaming and degrading comments. Experience comes with games and doing games means you will make mistakes. What we hope for is that the mistakes become rarer as the game count increases.

Thanks,
irefsoc - because I love the sport and want to offer everyone an opportunity to express themselves using a ball on the field of play.

From assessing, soccerboy. Try and keep up.

I thought it was quite funny that one of Wando's assistant principals had this guy (whoever it was) escorted out of the stadium by a cop. I wonder if he was let in to see the remainder of the game?