SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer You make the call

There is quite a bit of discussion concerning the quality of referees. Here's a test for those of you who think you may be able to do a better job. Watch this video, and let us know what your initial call would have been after watching it once at full speed, and then what your call would have been after all of the slo-mo replays.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZrLnuMyDl3U

I have to admit that I changed my mind after seeing the replays.

What call was actually made on the field is described in a thread on the bigsoccer.com referee forum.

I liked that. Though my 'call' stayed the same throughout the video, it was cool to see it in slow-motion as well as full-speed.

It's true... with some calls there are no easy answers.

Thanks for the video and the test. So often the players actually have the better view of the play because they are in the mix. The refs, in general, do a pretty good job considering the speed of the game and the impredictability of direction changes. Best advice for players...keep your mouth shut and play. Try to imagine the integrity of play WITHOUT referees.

I'm not here to trash the quality of referee's, it's a hard job. It would be nice to have every game recorded and bad calls received resended but we know that's not always possible. High School rules differ from club and unjust red cards hurt students. My complaint is Varsity games with only two referee's. Calls are based on judgement because no one was in position to make a postive call and of course let's not listen to reason from other players because then it looks like you have no control over the game and the boys are making the call. We need to revisit the rules for school soccer. Who should really get red cards? Wando NOOO, West Ashley NOOOOO. And others that I have heard of but these two I witnessed. Maybe we need to form a committee of concerned parents who really value the quality of High School Soccer, not to judge the ref's but modifiy the rules to accomadate the game to deal with the few refs who are dedicated to the game.
My hat is off to the coaches who stand behind your players who have received these red cards unjustly the rules need to change.

gonzo,

"Try to imagine the integrity of play WITHOUT referees."

Way back when, I used to play competitive Ultimate (a really cool Frisbee game for those of you unfortunate enough to have never played). In the official rules of the game, there is a stipulation that there will NEVER be referees or officials. From weekend pickup games to the World Championships, the players call their own fouls. This tends to be very self-regulating, as abuses of the system are quickly dealt with by the players. Maybe it's part of the "hippie" culture associated with tossing a Frisbee around, but I've never seen real unsportsmanlike behavior during an Ultimate game.

Maybe more sports would benefit from not having referees, and letting players be responsible for the integrity of the game.

But then, who would the parents yell at?

Lurker,

Having played Ultimate Frisbee before, I will agree with you that having no referee works. But, we are talking about a frisbee game. In Ultimate Frisbee, you don't typically see many slide-tackles, intentionally kicking other players (i.e. Keepers), etc.


I think the quality of play would go down horribly without officials. It would be one, huge cascade effect because one player would become slightly more aggressive than the others. Then, another one wants to be more aggressive than THAT player. Pretty soon, it would be a game of fouls, not a game of soccer.

Officials do more than just call player-to-player fouls. What about offsides, illegal throw-in, calling who kicked the ball out? Players would be too biased towards themselves to be able to make a proper call unless the call was blatantly obvious. Even so, I don't think players would be able to fairly call a game.

So would I think some sports could benefit from no officials? Some sports, maybe but soccer is not one of them.

exactly

good example

Given the scenario in the video, what call do you think the players would have called? Do you really think that they had a better view than the referee?

Seriously, what was your initial call?

I instinctively pointed to the penalty spot, but upon further review, I could support a free kick for the attacker outside the penalty area, a free kick for the defender, or even no call.

Whatever call is made, I guarantee a lot of abuse for the poor ref.

i would have given the offense a free kick just outside the 18 from that angle.