Question Number: 17495

Mechanics 10/24/2007

RE: competative Under 17

Liz Brandon of burton, staffs england asks...

my son was sent off for violent conduct, kicked out at a player after the opponant had kicked him. The referee did not see the incident. The linesman reported it, he did not report the conduct of the opponant only my sons conduct. The referee asked for the linesman's advice on what action should be taken and he advised violent conduct. The linesman was a relation to a member of the opposing team and was just helping out ie not qualified! Should the referee take such advice from an unqualified asssitant? Is it legal that linesmen can be related to team members?

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

A referee can only deal with what he sees happen, or with information he receives from his assistants. Normally, a referee would be ill advised to take advice from a non-neutral assistant. It is not illegal to use them, but it is unwise, for exactly the reason you felt the need to write to us. It is the appearance of impropriety which bites as much as impropriety itself. Whether the referee was right or wrong, I have no way of knowing, of course. But I do know how what was done was perceived by you and your son, and that is a problem that could have been anticipated and dealt with prior to the game by the referee.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Don't know the rules in England but in the US, if the AR is merely a club linesman he has NO authority at all. If the AR is a real referee, the center referee may indeed act upon his advice aboout things the center referee may not have seen. That's why the referee crew is viewed as a team

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

I understand club linesmen are used to a great degree in Britain and they are used to provide assistance more than the ball in and out of play. I sometimes wonder why this is.

Using assistance provided by someone who is not neutral usually results in bad or incorrect information as basis for a decision taken. This is exactly why US Soccer demands a club linesman have restricted duties.

That said, I wonder why your son chose to commit violent conduct in the first place. It usually gets only the temporary gratification of "getting even" just prior to being sent-off. This isn't what The Game is all about, is it?

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

I find it interesting that non neutral officials can add to a referee's eyesight as well as the fact you were in a position to overhear what officials discuss.

If an individual has no integrity and chose to lie or with hold the truth to gain an advantage for a relative such is his burden in life. If that individual did not see or perceive that your son was first kicked then your burden is on thinking it otherwise.

Perception is what it is, as an opinion it is our choice to put things in the order we see it. Retaliation is more often than not, seen in the retribution stage as it is to a degree, instinctive to lash out if one feels the opponent was allowed a free pass to inflict the same.

The referee who fails to achieve good mechanics!
Does not work to get that best angle of view with positioning and anticipation.
Does not possess a decent level of fitness.
Is too lazy to study the laws or fails to work hard to understand foul recognition.
He still can only makes decisions based on what he sees and while likely he will notice less or make up more than his counterparts who do try to achieve a certain level of competence he must struggle and accept the burden of allowing someone to pass along information who is not in law permitted to do so.

If your son did in fact do the deed and it was considered as VC then a send off is the correct action after being shown the red card. The real issue is your attention is focused on the unfair action where an opponent got away with something as opposed to your son's action that followed. As a coach your son would be disciplined by me if I saw it in this light. I might say,? Hey ref watch that will you please!? and risk being spoken to by the referee but my player will not be so foolish as to get himself sent off over a cheap poke by an opponent. Better discipline required then that! Scores goals not fouls!. When we beat our opponents we rather it was in overall score not physical retaliations. Cheers