Question Number: 19194

Other 5/24/2008

Avery Haskell of Overland Park, KS USA asks...

True Story= A high school referee was fed up with the reckless, violent play from the two teams. He had given lots of cards. He went over to the coaching desk and threw his 2 yellow cards on the desk and shouted "Only one color is left now!". The players cooperated. Is this a smart thing to do? What if he needed to caution a player for something minor such as disrespect of 10 yards

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Well what can you say, the referee managed the situation, and players responded I say well done. Certainly not a tactic I could recommend but sometimes a thunder stick instead of a stick is required and every referee, his match, his decision, his reputation.
One could clamp down earlier, whistle hard fouls different, rip a strip or two as required, talk to captains, send off flagrant violators sooner and whistle every little bump or crunch until they fall back into a playing mode. Every referee has a chance to get their attention in the first few critical incident moments of a match. Yet there will be times when the players must accept responsibility for their actions as well. Pay attention, stay focused and selectively listen to the background mutterings as they tend to paint an emotional picture of the match attitude. Here our referee drew a line in the sand and no one stepped over, another referee might not be so lucky, you never know! Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

This forces the referee into only one course of action. That is never a good thing. You'll notice you mention violent play yet you don't mention he had already sent-off player[s]. This shows a referee lacking something in his skills.

I'll be willing to bet the referee has never used a persistent infringement caution in his life. So very few referees understand this, most powerful, deterrent to foul play. In using this caution even a "trivial" foul will count against a player for persistent infringement. All the referee need do is warn the player he approaches being cautioned for persistent infringement. Further, the referee need not warn should the foul play be of a high enough magnitude yet remain below unsporting levels. Further, the referee need not ever blow the whistle to stop play and still caution a player for persistent infringement. How to do this requires years of experience and usually doesn't manifest itself until the referee is well into his Grade 06 years. If you develop this skill at the 08 level you will be noticed, trust me.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

I've heard another version, which I've used once myself. In most rec games, the ref doesn't bother taking the cards out of the wallet folder, since they are used so infrequently. In this game, which I heard was a rematch of a game that ended in a fight, I borrowed a red card from one of my AR's, and put my yellow card in my pocket. So now I had two red cards in my wallet. As I'm checking in the players and writing notes about team name and colors, one of the players finally notices. "Why do you have two red cards?" I answered that I heard that was the only color I would need today. "Yeah, for them!" The game went well - maybe it was my charming personality.

The difference between my game and what the HS ref did is that I didn't promise anything. If you tell them there are no cautions, everything is red, you've cornered yourself into a box. You never want to promise them anything. Threaten all you want - and the wise ref doesn't have to resort to threats - but don't make promises. If you break a promise, you've lost all credability.