SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Girls Varsity Soccer Soccer Refs

Go get certified. It will change your opinion.

I was certified as a ref 2 years ago and I ref'd a U-8 game by myself. One dad actually came up to me afterward and asked me why "kids are reffing my child's game" (I was only 16 at the time). I had just as much training as the 37 year old father of 2 that had sat next to me at the training session, yet I was being treated as if I was incapable of calling a game (which at the U-8 level doesnt even include offside rules).

I have full respect for any ref. I could barely handle a U-8 game for crying out loud.

I can't wait to hear the parent that calls bad calls for both teams. I always hear them yelling "Ref call that foul both ways". But that same parent doesn't yell at the Ref for missed calls both ways. Maybe something like "Ref that was an obvious foul by my daughter. You have to call that and give her a yellow card while your at it!"

We do get evaluated at HS games in York County, including scrimmage games. The assessor comes at random times. I was evaluated at three different HS games last year.

I think that SC could stand some referee assessments in high school soccer. In Illinois, the referees are assessed by each high school coach that they referee for. Then the referees that get to do all the reffing for the playoffs have to have the highest scores/most years/best knowledge of the rules/best test scores in order to do so. There is a scale that is used to determine who is qualified to ref the playoffs. That might be a good thing to use. Then again, it may not....

the referees that get the high level games don't really need to be evaluated for high school. When you look at reffing as a "sport." High school isn't competitive. Referees however work hard to earn spots at state cup and regionals, and only the best referees are invited to those as well as high level club tournaments. There are also ranking systems to "move up the totem pole." For high school, however. All the games at the Lake Murray challenge recieved proportional referees for the match. All of the ones there were refs that I remember looking up to when reffing club ball, and all of them were up on the totem pole at least one notch. I don't know about the Viking cup, but I do know that if the reffing wasn't up to par at the LMC, it wasn't because the refs weren't good enough. Maybe, like irmo, some of them just had a bad day.

I have to say I agree with both sides of the argument. Parents should keep quiet and maybe learn the rules but I don't think it is too much to ask for the refs to know the rules as well. I could go on and on with examples but I don't really want to take the time. I found that particularly at the high school level, some referees were very ignorant of the rules. Also, it does not help that when the "older" refs who can't keep up with the game act as though they rule the world.

There is nothing wrong with fans being fans, but it has clearly crossed the line in recent history. Referees are paid to make judgement calls. First, judgement calls are not always easy to make. Second, judgement calls are easy to criticize. If you want to talk about bad referees, we had one ref at the Irmo JV tourney 2 years ago that sat on a cooler and refed part of the game. I asked him if he was okay and he said, "Yeah...been out here all day. Just tired." I was thinking that I thought that he got paid for refing and get off of his butt and do his job. You have to take the good with the bad when it comes to refing. At the same time, no one should be disrespected by being called an idiot or cursed at. There is no call for that. People will always criticize you. How we react to it reveals our character. That is part of sports...it reveals your character, not necessarily builds it.

All teams must be prepared to win with or without referee calls in their favor on any given night; referees are part of the game and always will be. Accept it and adjust.

The biggest responsibility entrusted to referees on the field is the safety of players. Four or five people can control the safety of a player during the game:

1) The player – s/he can come off the field if play is too aggressive (Not likely to happen)
2) The coach – s/he can remove a player from the field if the player is in danger (Not likely to happen)
3) The 2 or 3 referees – they can pay attention to aggressive play and control it from the beginning of the game so it doesn’t escalate, especially during emotional matches (Most probable option)

Therefore, I appeal to the referees out there to protect the safety of the players and don’t just assume an “ah, let them play” mentality. As a reminder, we are chatting on a message board about high school children, not professional athletes. Many emotional outbursts from parents stem from calls not made when their child is unfairly taken down. I have witnessed it from even the quietest and most self-controlled parents in the crowd.

Thank you to all ref's out there. I know of several young ref's that quit after their first game because of abusive parents. Maybe we should pay a ref to ref the parents.

Maybe we should just ban abusive fans. Why pay someone to monitor them? If they won't change, kick them out.