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the parents are more the problem than bad refs
stop bashing and encourage your player to give it their all and rise above bad calls



this, its sports & you have to live with bad/missed calls in every sport. refs don't get up in the morning wanting to make a bad call. for every fan that agrees with a call, theres a fan across the field that doesn't, go figure.
regarding the quick kick, some experienced refs will overlook the 10yd rule because that restart player decided his team had advantage with the quick kick.



Again.... no a foul is not always a foul wherever it happens. The question you SHOULD ask is was the same apparent foul called or ignored earlier in the match. What a fan, a coach, or a player thinks is a foul does not matter, it is what the referee believes is a foul.

Next time you are at a match don't judge what the referee calls based on what you think the foul is, judge if what he called in the first minute was the same as what he called in the 40th or 80th minute. Baseball players know that the first inning is for catchers and pitchers to determine what the umpire's strike zone is. Every umpire has a different zone, and as long as its consistant in that game the players don't mind.

There are plenty of times when I will call or not call something in a game and tell the players that I called it 10 minutes ago, or you did the same thing that your opponent did. The best is when players think something should be called and I tell them that I didn't call it 5 minutes ago so I am not going to call it now. Experienced players will understand this and adjust. Fans and coaches are clueless and have no concept of what is going on or what is being said, they just react to what they see and most of the time they are not sure of what they just saw.




Huh? Listen, I'm sure you're an experienced ref but soccer is not baseball. Baseball is not a contact sport. The strike zone is arbitrary because it happens quicker and in a position that no one else can accurately interpret. What happens if a pitcher intentionally hits a batter? He's tossed after a warning...sometimes without one if it's deemed exceptionally egregious. I've seen a game in soccer where a team fouled another over 18 times and no one received a yellow card or even a talking to. They also let 8th graders play varsity baseball at the high school level. To compare the strike zone to soccer is ridiculous.

Soccer is a contact sport and the PLAYERS have to be protected. This is a sport where a 100 lbs. 14 yr old can be seriously injured by a 180 lbs. 18 year old if a referee will let them get away with it. This isn't the college level or professional level. They are developed and are adults. I don't care about your agenda to let things slide because you're "trying to be consistent". If my best (or worst) player is clipped from behind and goes tumbling to the ground and there is no call because you don't feel like raising your whistle in a 15-0 game or you feel like giving a goal kick instead of a corner kick because one team is drubbing some other team 10-0 or you decide a handball isn't a handball in the box because you don't want the other team to score again or you don't know the difference between a bad throw in and a legal one or you decide to call it tight around a winning teams 18 yard box so the "other team gets a chance"...you're going to hear about it. If a player is fouled, injured, and there is proper execution of the laws of the game then that's fine. Injuries are part of it. As coaches, we feel that a certain amount of responsibility for our players' health and safety, even more so than our teams capability to win. If I knock you in the teeth in the street are you going to be satisfied when the cop says "Well, I didn't arrest that guy 5 minutes ago who hit the other person. So, sorry."?

IF YOU CONSISTENTLY WON'T MAKE A CALL, YOU'RE NOT A GOOD REFEREE. We live in the age of youtube and video cameras on cell phones. If you let a game get out of hand or you let a player sucker punch someone and get away with it. If you "fail" to make a call because "you didn't call it 5 minutes ago" and someone gets hurt or it costs somebody the game and you're in the wrong. It's now on you. If you're a coach and aren't filming your games to send to the high school league, you need to start right now. We're going to protect our players even if it means sending in game film for a referee. You're getting paid for your time and it's a lot more than most of us make per day. You are providing a service as a referee and are entrusted with the safety of our players and the sanctity of the game. Act accordingly. The rule book is online. I keep a pocket copy of it available with me so I can quote it like scripture from the sidelines. Call me Coach Jesus.

A foul IS a foul no matter the minute, the score, the team, the difference in ability level, the gender, the age, etc. A FOUL IS A FOUL.



Really? Can you read? What I stated was the fact that in ALL sports that have officials make judgment calls...baseball, football, soccer, hockey, basketball, etc. What is a foul to one group officials on Monday night may not be a foul to another group of officials on Friday night. What YOU may think is a push or a charge may not be a push or a charge.

I have done games were sophisticated teams know that when a player puts their hands on the back of another player and jump up for the ball is NOT a foul, and I have done games were teams thought that was a foul and I have done games were teams thought that it should be a card.

The problem in south carolina compared to the five other states I officiate in is that there is no mercy rule. You put in a mercy rule, and most of the garbage in blow out games goes away. If I have a 15-0 game and a player sticks her hand out slightly and touches the ball with her hand you better believe I will NOT call it to make it 16-0. However, if its 15-0 and a player endangers someone by making a reckless challenge, you better believe I will call it and card it. Lets have some common sense here, as you said these are not adults or professional athletes. Yes all players must be protected, but when you run up a score to 15-0 with 20 minutes left, the other team is going to get frustrated and angry, its a natural reaction.

This is what ruins the beautiful game. American, and more specifically high school teams that have no concept and no clue of what is going on. I can tell immediately teams that have players who play in strong club programs, weak club programs and those that don't. It is the only sport were the referee is supposed to have an effect on the play, that is why there is such a thing as advantage and trifiling, it is the way the sport has been played around the world for more than 150 years. Are we supposed to suddenly stop and change it for little 8th grader Suzie Q from Dumpwater South Carolina because her coach who is also the math teacher and only does this for a couple of extra bucks is mad that not everything in the book is called?

8th graders should not be on the field with high school seniors. If your worried that your 100lb. baby girl is going to get hurt because someone makes a LEGAL charge on her then don't play. Don't punish the 180lb. girl who makes a legal play on the ball and knocks down the other girl.

A foul is NOT always a foul. If you think it is, you need to find another sport like basketball that is slow and boring and punishes people for just looking at their opponent funny.