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Seems weird to compare soccer officiating to football, or coaching conduct.

Officials in soccer have way more impact on the game than football refs. Rules in American football are way more black and white.....where in soccer its a lot more subjective.

Referees therefore, in soccer, are more a part of the game and therefore more inclined to draw the wrath of a coach, than in football.

When the kid is sitting in the back of his (or her) parent's car, or at the dinner table, and all they hear is mom and dad reinforce the fact that the "refs suck", how do you expect them to react on the field when they perceive that things aren't going their way?

Maybe we as parents should stop using the game officials as an "excuse" and try to set a better example for the players (our children).

Agreed...same goes for us as coaches. It's our responsibility to maintain composure and focus our players on the things we CAN control (how we play) rather than on the things we CAN'T control (how the officials call the game). Ultimately, we are all responsible for our own conduct...it's counterproductive to try to blame the results on someone else.

what the head coach on a football team sometime...That poor linesman is catching an earful the whole game about calls he is not even making..

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/11/21/sports/highschool/z1b4bee14f12b56308825750900186712.txt

Still not looking good. Their pay a little higher than here.

Ok, we are somewhat off topic but this is an interesting tangent.

One could argue.......that soccer refs AND soccer coaches at the high school level are less qualified and have less professional development........than do football refs and football coaches.

And that this lower level of qualification and development lends itself to not only more errors on the part of coaches and referees, but to a lower tolerance level of errors on the part of others. Hence the qualification/development end of things.

And this increase in errors and decrease in tolerance is what could explain the phenomenon delta in the Greater Pittsburgh area for coaching misconduct. And elsewhere..

Sounds reasonable....I have a friend who is a football ref. He's been doing it a couple of years now and can't sniff a high school game. Its all middle school, 9th grade and jv. No way he does a 4A high school game yet. High school soccer refs? Is there a multi-year hierarchy to climb? Same thing with coaches.....

Dale, I still disagree with your point. I understand what you are saying....and of course there are plenty of mistakes in football too. But the degree of subjectivity associated with soccer to me just really opens things up.

Holding in football is holding. Now a ref may miss it....but holding is holding. How many times are handballs seen....and waved off? How about offsides? When in the discretion of the referee.....he asks himself if the offsides player influenced play. Subjectivity that doesn't exist in football. If you line up offsides you get penalized....whether you influenced the play or not is irrelevant.

Devil's advocate...but a pass interference call in football is dependent on whether it's a "catchable" ball...which does lend itself to quite a bit of subjectivity.

I think the biggest difference in football is that it's not uncommon to have a referee huddle to discuss questionable calls, whereas in soccer the center ref very seldom consults or accepts input.

It's also subjective in determining if a chop block was acutally committed or if the player being cut was previously engaged with another opponent.

The catchable ball is another one, well done Chass.

While blocking, were the WR's hands in front or did they slide slightly to the outside?

Was the throwing motion going forward making it an incomplete pass or was the hand going backward making it a fumble?

Was his knee down or did he fumble before the knee made contact?

Did the ground cause the fumble or the player?

Was the DB pushing off or was the WR?

Was there incidental contact between the two players that knocked the WR down or was the DB intentional in his actions?

Did the player get their foot in before stepping on the line?

Was the ball in his possession before being knocked out of bounds?

Did he grab the face mask or did his hand slide over it without clenching?

Was it face guarding or good play by the safety?

Did the player block him behind the back or was it more towards the side?

Did the center adjust the ball before the snap or was it normal procedure when initial handling begins?

All of these things throw flags up when I compare the two. The biggest feather in my hat would be that soccer is far more popular on a global level than football - it's not even close - and the stress on officials to make precise calls is very high...yet only football has instant replay to ensure the subjective call was made correctly because the officials cannot be completely trusted.

It's a fun topic to discuss, no doubt. I do agree that football officials tend to pay more dues than those in soccer. Coaching, as well, is far more developed and prestigious on the football side as a complete body of work. I'm excited about the day when that is not the case!