Question Number: 18275

Character, Attitude and Control 1/21/2008

RE: Select Under 16

Joe of Seattle, WA USA asks...

After finish of game, the 3 referees are meeting in the middle of the field to finalize rosters and shake hands with players and coaches. Players are filing by, giving "low fives" rather than conventional hand shakes. One player gives what an AR perceives to be an aggressively sharp slap to the hand and a hard stare. This same player had been called offside repeated during the second half. The behavior was not outright violent, but had more the flavor of dissent. The AR reported the player's actions to the center, who opted to take no action. Given the ambiguous nature of the behavior, it seems a number of possible responses are possible, ranging from doing nothing, to a private chat with the player and coach, a caution for dissent, or even a sending-off for violent conduct (striking the referee). How would you judge the severity of such behavior and determine the appropriate response?

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Let me understand you: a player at the end of the game slapped an AR and gave a hard stare and the center referee did NOTHING about it? Had I been your center referee, said player would have found himself at the receiving end of a red card and a report would be sent for referee assault. That kind of behavior simply cannot be tolerated.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Moral of story - if players aren't shaking hands, decline with a smile. Some people are stronger than others and perhaps the player hit harder than intended, but the time to call attention to it is at the moment it happens. "Hey, #??, what was that all about?" The reaction should say all, and it will draw (should draw) the referee's attention and appropriate response. Waiting until the players are all done being sportsmanlike and are gone back to their benches is too long, IMHO.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

There are those who will wonder why you are in the middle of the field setting yourselves up for this. Some people out there are just predisposed to act out frustration. They are incapable of accepting any responsibility for their actions.

Take, for instance, this U-16 player. When he perceived a threat from the assistant who called the referee's attention to his offside position and participation he couldn't handle the fact it could have been his being in an offside position that caused the flag. No way could he have been offside. So he takes offense to the person doing his job. This player has a problem. The problem is not going to go away until he learns how to deal with it.

In electing to take no action the referee has condoned the action. Let's hope there is no next time. If there is let's hpoe the referee deals with it in the strongest manner possible because if unchecked this behavior will, sooner or later, be dealt with by the police. You know it, I know it.

This Game was codified to allow an outlet for youthful exuberance, teach young men to compete as a team and teach respect for the Law. This player hasn't sorted out those things, he thinks The Game is about him. Deal with it before he shows up at your house and does something really stupid. IMHO.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Nathan Lacy

Joe, this touches on a practice in this area (Seattle) that has concerned me for quite some time. Specifically, the interaction of the refs with players and coaches after a game in the form of the "handshakes" and such things as the "low/high fives." In view of the fact that the refs were "low-fiving" with all of the players I think you would find it virtually impossible to enforce/justify any kind of caution or send off for the incident as described (you could certainly card them at the time but try selling this call in a disciplinary committee meeting - been there done that on a different issue). Pulling the coach aside and informing him/her of the player's "response" is probably the best recourse you have for something like this. Most coaches that I have seen in this area encourage respect and sportsmanship and would very much like to know if one of their players has acted in an untoward manner. Also, interacting with the coaches after a game is really not an issue for me because, for the most part, they are mature and professional. More candidly though, I think this post-game practice with the players should be discontinued (one ref's opinion) and, in fact, in most of my matches in this area what you will see me do is remove myself from the vicinity of the players and simply give them a "well-done wave" with appropriate accolades thereby avoiding the hand-shakes and the potentially awkward situations, such as this, that can result. Again, while I recognize that this is an accepted practice here with the intent of encouraging good sportsmanship I really do think that there must be an alternate way to encourage sportsmanship without placing the refs in a potentially risky situation. Perhaps you can come up with an acceptable way to handle it in your games. But, I digress. In my opinion a card would be a tough sell. Also in my opinion, for this kind of situation probably the best choice would be a brief discussion with the coach wtih the player present as the best means to drive the point home to the player. It let's him/her know that the nature of their actions were very much recognized and with the coach's awareness we can only hope that the player will be "encouraged" towards a more professional demeanor. All the best,