Fortunately there are those who do their best to do right by the players while ensuring the integrity and safety of the game. One official in a recent HS match made a point in the pre-game talk of telling coaches and captains, "If you see me pulling a player aside, don't think they are necessarily getting a card. I like to talk to the players as things happen and make sure they know what they are doing right or wrong."
Now, I don't know or really care how FIFA or USSF evaluators would feel about that. What I do know is that at the HS level, good feedback is beneficial to the players, especially immediate feedback. I also know that what we saw was a good, well-paced and pretty clean game, with nobody frustrated and nobody on the field or sideline questioning the calls. My players were very respectful of and complimentary toward the referee, even when the calls did not go their way.
Isn't that what we want?
