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I've been following this thread quietly for a bit and thought I'd weigh in briefly from a coach's perspective, both in the high school and club arenas. I first want to support what has been said before in that we need to help cultivate great officials, not just criticize. There are plenty of great examples and role models out there, and here, from my perspective, are the traits that I admire in an official.

1. PLAYER SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT. I'm all for letting the players decide the game on the field, and soccer is a contact sport. To pull a quote from Days of Thunder, "Rubbin' is racin'." The officials I admire most know the difference between "rubbin'" and dangerous play and are quick to draw the distinction with their whistles. They understand that yellow cards when they are deserved earlier in the game can save red cards later, and that nobody wants to discover the line between playing hard and playing recklessly while someone is being carried off the field.

2. Consistency is crucial. The best officials I know call the game the same way in the first minute as in the last, 1-1 or 10-0, regardless of what color jerseys are involved or what happened five minutes ago. We don't expect every official to call the game exactly the same way, any more than we expect every teacher to teach the same subject exactly the same way. There is a certain amount of professional subjectivity that comes with the job and should be expected. But we teach our players the importance of adapting their play to the game conditions--the strengths, weaknesses, and style of play of the other team, the field conditions, the weather, our own fitness, injuries, etc. The officials' style is one of the game conditions that players need to recognize and adapt to, and as long as it is consistent then players can learn quickly to operate under each official's set of expectations. Inconsistent calling, even when it's "make-up calls" for something earlier, causes confusion and frustration on the part of players who are trying to recognize and adapt to the conditions.

3. Be confident, be professional, but don't take yourself TOO seriously. The officials I admire recognize that every coach and every official, no matter how experienced, is capable of making errors. Two of the most memorable conversations I've had with officials (after the game was over and handshakes were exchanged) ended in "Wow, you're right...I was really off-base on that one." In one instance that sentence came from the official; in the other it came from me. Once we accept fallibility in others AND in ourselves, we can work on doing it BETTER rather than getting mad over lack of perfection. As far as someone putting himself above accepting evaluation because he's "been doing it for 25 years" or so, just remember--just because you've been doing it for a long time, that's no guarantee you've been doing it right. Heck, I know people who have been thinking their whole lives, and they're still idiots.

4. Contrary to what has been stated repeatedly here, the best officials recognize that what takes place on the field is NOT "just a game." Done right, sports are so much more than that. We talk to our players about passion, about commitment, about sacrifice, about team over individuality, about the realities of sportsmanship, not just the word. We ask them--and they choose--to make decisions about what is important to them...about what they will invest in, often at the sacrifice of other things. We ask them to learn lessons within the sport about how to treat others, how they should expect to be treated, and most importantly how to respond to the way they are treated. We try to teach things within the game that we hope will be carried far off the pitch and far beyond youth. And if we as adults are truly invested, we ask all of those things of ourselves as well as our players.

If, after all of that, we can dismiss what happens on the field as unimportant, as inconsequential, as "just a game"...then I say we have failed in our most important tasks. The best people I know recognize that, and they give the game their best because they do realize that in the bigger picture, it's not "just" a game.



1. Player safety is paramount. Therefore coaches should not be coaching, period during a match. You should have prepared your team before the match, there was a time when coaches could not coach during a match. If a coach disagrees with a referee's decision and makes it known to everyone in the world, guess what he is now endangering player's safety. Think about it.

2. While consistency is crucial I disagree with the 10-0 game with 30 minutes left. That is where a mercy rule needs to put in place, that is where frustration sets in. Referees need to actually be tighter in that situation. Good referees will instruct their assistants before a match to take a "temperature" of the game. If as the center official I see my AR clutching on to his shorts, I know he wants me to tighten up the calls. The game at the higher levels are never called consistently there is always adjustments going on with the referees. Go on youtube, there should be clips of conversations the referees have during matches, and you can hear the AR tell the center to tighten it up, etc.

3. If you have been officiating for 25 years, have done Division I college matches (the second best level in this country) semi-pro, pro matches, international friendlies, and have assessed and instructed others than you have been doing it right, and the only real criticism you take is from your assistants. Only a handful of coaches can come up to that level. I'm sorry but Murray the 65 year old gym coach who was forced to be the JV Girls soccer coach has nothing to offer me about how to officiate a match. Just like I would have nothing to offer my fellow football, baseball or basketball officials. I don't tell my doctor how to perform surgery or my lawyer the law, etc. YOu don't survive past 5 years as an official if you have been doing it wrong.

4. Again it depends on the level. When you officiate games where the coaches salary and livelihood depends on some calls you make or don't make, you stepped up to an entirely new level. But for High School coaches forget that the game is an extension of the classroom, and I'm sorry I would not want to be in some of the classrooms these coaches teach in.

However most of your post is spot on. Nothing is an absolute in this game, nothing is set in stone it is very fluid. The main point is the game is for the players, whether they be little kids, high schoolers, or adults. Not for the officials, coaches, fans, or parents, and that is the number one problem in South Carolina. People think its for themselves.