Quote:

one of the refs last night was told about girls not going for the ball and just kicking people.his response was that he cannot call a foul unless they fall down.i know it is hard to find refs and playing with only two is not ideal but something has to be done.it is no wonder that there is such a rise is girls injuries.



I am not a fan of Refs that allow the game to get physical. I much prefer a game that is called tight. But saying that, in the many years of watching youth women's soccer, I have never witnessed a serious injury that was caused by a Ref not calling a game correctly. Not saying it hasn't happen but I have yet to see it. I believe that all Refs call enough to try and make sure that a player doesn't get seriously hurt. All the serious injuries I have seen, which include goalies knocked out, bones broken, ACL, MCL, and knocked out teeth, have all been from fair play and bad luck for players.

I say all that because I had to field marshal all the state tournament games last winter and the number one excuse by parents was that the Ref was going to get players hurt. I had one game where the parents stormed the field and the Ref was doing a good job but as the parents became more vocal their children would step up the fouls to match their parents and the intent of their fouls. Which turned into an arms race with the other parents. The parents, of the offending team, where just completely clueless on why I thought clapping when their player hurt another player was not acceptable. It was just very sad to watch as a person that loves youth sports and as a loving parent.

I am not always happy with the Refs but I try and always keep my mouth shut. This has been a hard long road but I am ashamed at myself with some of the things I have done in the name of youth sports. So I now try to only yell positive things for the players. I do not coach players from the stands mostly because the players ignore me anyways but a lot of times that player's parent doesn't take to kindly to me giving their child instruction, especially if I am criticizing them for a bad play.

Here I go again!