Question Number: 16555

Character, Attitude and Control 9/5/2007

RE: Competive High School

JAB of River Grove, IL USA asks...

Do referees have input as to the integrity of a tournament as compared to the integrity of the game they are assigned to?

I know this is a rare occurrence but I saw this happen, this did not impact my son's age bracket. Here is the situation in summary. It is the last game of a qualifying round in a tournament bracket where the top two teams in the bracket move on. Due to the closeness of the matches and the number of teams there are a number of team combinations that could move on depending on the final score; including the two teams that are playing (I won't go into the details of wins, losses, goal differentials, etc.). Now as it turns out, both of the teams in the final qualifying game will move on (unless there is a lopsided victory) as long as they both score at least one goal each.

SO at the beginning of the game each team basically watches each other walk the ball into the net for a goal. It wasn't as obvious as the players sitting on the ground but it might as well have been. It only took about 60 seconds. After the score was tied 1-1 the "real" play commenced.
I am assuming there was some sort of collusion by the coaches, but if so it did not happen when the referees were on the field. Both coaches received a "talking to" but no cards were shown and no one was booted. The game continued and ended in a 3-2 score, both teams moving on.
Could the referees done something, or should they have? I would imagine the other teams would have a complaint to the tournament officials, but I am interested in your opinions.

By the way, this is one of the best sites for soccer information bar none. In our town's referee and club meetings it is required reading.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

The referee can do nothing during a match when he finds one side or the other is trying to make a mockery of things. His option is to sanction their behaviour in his match report. Once the tournament committee reads the report they can do as they see fit including disqualification of both sides!

The integrity of the referee goes unquestioned in this instance/ The integrity of the team's officials and players is brought to task in the report and things will fall out as they might.

Throughout the history of Football the referee has been above it all except in isolated incidents. When referees have been found to be less than ethical in their behaviour and their integrity has been found in question they cease to be referees. This is as it should be. Some of us have had our integrity questioned and trust me this is a serious thing indeed. It is especially unfortunate when, after lengthy investigation, the referee is found not to have transgressed his trust and is completely without fault.

Those who didn't trust the referee are left with one less man in the trenches because there is no recovery from false accusations or incorrect assumptions of the press, or tournament officials even if found correct. Coaches, on the other hand, do it all the time without penalty...

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

As Ref Fleischer states, the referee is powerless on the field to do anything. You cannot make a team try to stop a goal. I agree that the only thing to do is to write a full report and let the tournament officials handle it as best they see fit. It's a shame things like this happen

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

The referee can submit a report to the league. The league must then decide how they want to handle the situation.