I'd really like to see a replay of that pk. My gut feeling said it was a pk. The defender clearly pushed the attacker down to the ground and prevented him from playing the ball with the keeper and another defender tangled up. I've seen penalties called for less than that.
If I wanted to rob HH, I wasn't going to wait for the last second to do it.
I don't know about the rivalry going on. I don't know stats or who is in what position or what records the teams have prior to the game. Nor do I care. All I know is that those were two good teams and they both had their fair chances to win. If I did "suck" like somebody said (yeah, I did care to read all of y'all's postings) I sucked equally for both teams. I've always said that I'm happy if both teams are happy with me or both hate me.
I am not here to defend myself. I have no regrets. I have played this game for over 20 years. I've ref'd for 10 and I love this game, it's a part of my life. I've taken a fitness test and a laws of the game test and am a certified referee by the USSF and the NHSL. All that said, I am not perfect and I do know that I'm going to miss a call or two. Nobody is perfect. The referee is a part of this game and you just have to adjust yourself to the one refereeing our game. I disagree with the gentleman who said that I was inconsistent with my calls.
Knowing that both teams are good physical teams I decided to allow them to play physically from the start. There were some hard tackles, yes, but most of them were within the rules of the game (I am not going to call petty things or when the players are equally guilty of UB). I delt with the ones that I saw.
I know that most of you are not very familiar with the laws of the game and all of you are biased, yet I thought of giving you my perspective on some of the most desputed calls. I am sure you won't like my explanation but I am open to constructive well mannered criticism.
Let me start with James Woods from Summerville who was yellow carded for dissent. If I wanted Summerville to lose, I could have thrown him out for what he said, but I figured no one else complained so noboby heard it. I still believed I had to address it and I came back at the next stoppage and gave him a yellow card. That's when the Summerville bench exploded and it went downhill from there. But I will come back for the coaches later.
The second yellow card was for Carlos Chirinos. Anyone who sees the foul on the replay will argue that he did not deserve a yellow card for that foul. And I would AGREE. However if you observe the game closer before the yellow was issued you'd notice that both him and Gandini (the other forward) had several chalanges from the back fouling the defenders in their attempt to win the ball. Carlos especially likes to use his elbows but I'll come back for that later. So the yellow card was issued for PI (Persistent Infringement). I know the crowd maybe even the coaches did not know why he was given the card. Most importantly I don't think Carlos knew why he was given the card. I talked to him throughout the game and warned him several times. He was getting frustrated because he wasn't getting the calls his way. At halftime my ARs told me to pay attention on the diving of some of the HH players. They do dive a lot. I could have addressed that with cautions but failed to do so. The defenders played firm but fair for the most part (I guess they did adjust to the refereeing style). Carlos in his frustration was throwing elbows left and right and continued fouling. He was really close to a second yellow card. Had he received it the next ordeal would have been prevented.
In the 73rd minute after another one of his fouls the defender obviously frustrated got in his face. I can see it in slow motion right now like I saw it 10 yards away from it. He got in Chirinos'es face and I immediately dashed towards the two. I saw Carlos elbowing Matt after I had blown my whistle. By book a hit during a dead ball is a straight red. Immediatelly after that I saw Matt spitting at Chirinos as he was getting pulled away by his teammates. I was quick on the red cards as I did want to prevent a bigger fight from breaking out. Matt was obviously upset and asked why he was getting the red card. After I told him that it was for spitting, he replied "What the f*** are you talking about!?" I have put that in my report as well so to answer someone's question, I don't believe he'd be playing the rest of the season as the League does not tolerate foul language.
After the game Matt's father came and congratulated my ARs but said that his son was unjustfully ejected. After I told him why I ejected him, he said his son could have never done that. The next day I received an email from one of my ARs who know that person and he emailed him to appologize saying that his son admited that he DID spit at the other guy.
That just comes out to show how biased we all can be as fen and how differently we see the game from outside. I give that man credit for being a gentleman and appologizing to my AR.
I'd like to thank the HH coach for being a great gentleman. Not a single time had I any problems with him or his bench. I am sorry to say that that was not the case with the Summerville bench.
I do realize that a coach is entitled to support his team more so than anybody else. However not at all coast. Screaming and disputing every call will not make the referee call the game your way. And is that what you want? Will that be a game? And will you be satisfied with the win? How does that make my job any easier? I already have my hands full with 22 heated young men full of testosterone on the pitch. I regret having to deal with that coach and spending so much time on something like that. I am sorry that the spectators had to witness that scene. Next time I'd know how to deal with this the right way.
I have already discussed the penalty call. I also heard the Summerville bench yell that I owed them something after I made that call. To be honest that made me even more upset at them.
All game they had screamed at me. It is a human thing to do to react the opposite way. Why would I give them a pk if they had screamed at me all game? Why not make them pay? Could I have done it? Sure I'd already dismissed a couple of penalty claims. But I can't be like that on the field. What I personally would have done could not affect the ref in me. And the ref in me believed that that attacker was pushed and prevented from playing the ball to the open net. Did the defender do it intentionally or not does not matter. He was denied play of the ball.
So that's that.
I might not be the best referee, but I can tell you that it takes a lot of guts to call that in the last minute of play, to call what you believe you should call. Just put yourself in my shoes and you will understand. But this is who I am and I will not change to be liked. My assignor had faith in my abilities to referee. He's seen me referee and he must have thought I could handle the pressure. I did not cave in and did not call any call to please anybody.
Good luck to both teams in the future and see you on the soccer pitch.
