Question Number: 22331

Character, Attitude and Control 10/22/2009

RE: Select Under 15

Harry Harris of Douglasville, Georgia USA asks...

I play for WGFC 96 Black. We were playing GSA Phoenix when i lost the ball in the attacking third. I was sprinting back to defend and i tugged on the players jersey. He turned around and hit me in the face on purpose. The referee said it was unintentional and he couldn't control his 'arms'. The kid was twice my size and gave me a black eye for 2 weeks. The referee gave no card and gave a free kick to them. I was very angry. We reported the ref but nothing happened to him. It was a disgrace. I am from england and i am a referee myself and it was intentional and it was disgraceful.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The free kick to your opponents is correct - you admit you held the opponent's jersey, and that was the first thing that happened. That defines the restart.

Anything after that is misconduct, per the opinion of the referee. The referee told you he didn't think the action was intentional; you disagreed. Guess who's opinion counts? As a referee, you must have heard 'in the opinion of the referee' before.

Then you reported him, and nothing came of it. Sounds like whoever you reported the ref do either agreed with the ref, or at least could find no evidence to disagree with his opinion.

From over 700 miles away I'm sure not going to guess who was correct.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The USSF has made contact above the shoulders a point of emphasis for referees. As Ref Voshol notes, we don't know what the referee saw or why he felt that this was not misconduct by the opponent.

Here's what the USSF gives as an example:

'An attacker being held from behind while in possession of the ball: the attacker swings his arm/elbow/hand back into the opponent's face to attempt to disengage him.'

USSF suggests 'FIRE' is important in considering when challenges above the shoulder should be considered sendoff (red card) for serious foul play or violent conduct. FIRE stands for:
F - frustration
I - intimidation
R - retaliaiton (payback)
E - establish territory or space.

Moreover, the referee should consider whether the arm was up (as a tool for balance, part of the normal body movement, or the twisting movement was caused by the grab of the jersey itself) or whether the arm was up and in (as a weapon).

If it happened as you described it, this may well have been a red card event. Again, we don't know what the referee saw and judged.

The notion that the referee is somehow responsible because an opponent retaliated against your blatant and illegal grab of the jersey, however, is one with which I do not agree. Your actions were misconduct. If it happened as you describe, the opponent's retaliation was misconduct. But, the cause of your problem was not the referee.


Dennis

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

This is not a question, just blowing off steam!
I will assume it was an elbow not a fist. Tugging the jersey is a holding call and as referee you know it is a cautionable offence. If there was retaliation by the attacker as MISCONDUCT it is not a foul here because you set the foul with the pulling of the jersey.

When the jersey is pulled it not uncommon for the player to turn his body in response rather than directly pull away. A turn could put the elbow at your head height if as you say he was a great deal bigger.

If the player drove the elbow as a retaliatory move and caught you deliberately but disguising it as involuntary and stumbling because of the jersey pull and if the referee did not see it as that there is little you can do except wonder perhaps at the foul recognition of the referee. Often the referee is looking too low and not at the upper part of the body or is at a bad angle or position or god forbid too close to play to see everything!

I see tackles at the elite level all the time where I wonder what the match referee view was as it looked violent and excessive and a foul and at times nothing is called.

We certainly can not comment positively on an incident unseen by us made by a match referee we can only speculate the conditions and offer a few what ifs? If the incident was reported and reviewed and no evidence was compelling there was a mistake made, life simply goes on! No point on dwelling on an incident that can not be replayed or done over, agree to disagree and move on.
When a perceived injustice occurs it is not unreasonable to feel angry but to hold anger and dwell on it only creates a sourness for from which only you can choose to let go. As a referee you must incur resentment and disbelief of your calls from time to time even if you know you did what you thought was right!

I often point out self respect is the gift of integrity that we give ourselves! Integrity is a self enclosed characterization of the state of our heart and soul. While it can not be measured there is always a measure of accountability in the excellence of our actions on and off the pitch. The most meaningful part about the measure of our worth is self respect is never taken from us only given away.

I suggest you forgive the referee and pray he receives good training, better foul recognition and hopefully his self respect is not in danger as yours apparantly seems to be !

There is the respect for the position of the referee and the respect we have for the individual in that position. Do not confuse the two, being mad at someone we may not have the greatest respect for the individual based on our perception of the truth but a match referee is the match referee and a lack of respect for the position can only create hard ship for you as a player, be detrimental to the game and cloud whatever you have to say with perceived bias.

Cheers


PS check out 21308

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

If you're a referee yourself, then you need to show a little professional courtesy and refrain from insulting other officials.

I'm assuming you're not a perfect referee, therefore you do make mistakes yourself. As a referee you should know, better than anybody, that a referee is forced to make a snap decision in the heat of the moment, regardless of how good his view on play is and sometimes he's going to get it wrong.

As a referee yourself you should have the maturity and professionalism to accept when sometimes mistakes occur and realise that every referee will make mistakes.

Publicly abusing and insulting a referee is completely unacceptable - if you were a referee in my local area you would be suspended before you knew what had happened.

Ultimately all we have here are 2 opinions - you say it was deliberate, the referee believes it wasn't.

From my experience of both playing and refereeing, I can tell you that usually the person actually involved in the challenge has far less an idea of what actually happened than the person watching it. If the referee is going to take action against the player for striking you, he needs to be absolutely certain that it was reckless or excessive - without that absolute certainty (and I'm sure I don't need to remind you that referees need to be far more certain of something than players do in order to take action) the referee should give that player the benefit of the doubt.

And who knows? Perhaps the referee was right, or perhaps he was wrong. If the limbs were flailing around (as is often the case when somebody's shirt is being pulled, especially if he's pulled off balance or is trying to pull away) then it just may have been an accident. Even if it wasn't - well, the referee made his decision on the day, and it's time for you to move on.

When you make a bad decision (and believe me, you will - every official will make dozens of terrible decisions), would you want the people concerned to move on, or would you want that player to come online and publicly abuse you?

The referee is correct in awarding the opposing team a free kick - the foul that was committed by you occurred first, so even if the referee thought the elbow was violent and sent the player off, that team would still be awarded a free kick.

Whether or not the kid is 'twice your size' is irrelevant.

By the sounds of it though, you should've received a card for the shirt pull.

Not surprised that nothing happened to the referee that was reported - do you have any idea how many complaints get submitted which have no more basis than saying 'the referee gave a free kick here when we don't think it should've been, and didn't card this player who we think should've been carded even though our player got carded for this other tackle'?

The authorities aren't going to take action against the referee just because somebody thinks he made a bad decision, and nor should they. It's when he makes errors from not knowing the laws that problems really start.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
Pulling a player's shirt is a direct free kick. That foul determines the restart. Also commiting a foul for the tactical purpose of interfering with or breaking up a promising attack is a cautionable offence.
A player is guilty of violent conduct if he uses excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball. A player that is guilty of violent conduct is dismissed from the field of play. All these decisions are in the opinion of the referee and if he believes that the movement of arms was 'unintentional' then that's the decision he goes with. I suspect that had the 1st foul not happened then none of the subsequent problems would have occured.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 22968