Question Number: 27652

Law 5 - The Referee 8/9/2013

RE: Recreational Under 12

Brian H of Seattle, Washington USA asks...

I am a referee who primarily officiates U11 and U12 in our city-run recreational league. I am also a parent of two children who play in the same league, one in U5 and the other in coed U7. My wife (who coached both kids' teams) and I have had issues with a referee who primarily officiates games at my older child's level. He consistently manages the game in a manner that might be appropriate for the children at the level I officiate, but not for the younger children. He treats U7 players with borderline abuse, including pushing players into appropriate positions for restarts, and speaking very harshly to players as if they are expected to know the proper positions and mechanics for every sort of restart. In a couple of extreme cases he pulled one girl's hair to inspect her hair tie, and mocked a boy who wears hearing aids and could not hear the coach calling to him for a substitution.

Before I became a referee my wife reported this referee to the field supervisors, who were quick to defend him. When he officiated one of my son's games after I became a referee myself, my wife again reported him to the field supervisor, who again was quick to defend him, but walked over to observe his next game for a few minutes. I followed this up with an email to my referee supervisor, who also functions as the league coordinator for the youngest divisions. I opened the email with 'I am writing this email as a parent, not as a fellow referee'. The only response I got was 'Thanks', and a few months after soccer season ended I saw this man functioning as a sideline official when my son played basketball in the same city-run league. I understand that there is a code of ethics that promotes loyalty to other officials and prohibits referees openly promoting criticism of other referees, but where does one draw the line? Thankfully, my son is moving up to U8 this upcoming season and my daughter's U5 division is refereed by the coaches. If this referee continues his pattern he will likely remain at U7, which I perceive as a questionable matter in and of itself, as he is older than me and has been a referee longer than I have.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The USSF Code of Ethics is not about loyalty. It is about not publicly commenting about another referee's conduct. A referee may (and should) contact the assignor and league and provide input and request an evaluation. The referee should let the assignor/league address whether the referee meets their expectations/requirements. As a parent, however, you always reserve the right to withdraw your child from playing in this league if the league's expectations differ from yours.

IMO, no referee can remain truly neutral when evaluating referees at their kids matches. I'm extraordinarily fair and just - but not when it involves my kids. For them, I'm their support and their biggest fan.

It gets worse as they get older and the risk of injury in the game becomes more apparent. I spent most of my kid's high school career staying at least 40 yards away from the other parents to meet the code of ethics in the face of some shameful officiating. Often, I would find myself near a college coach whose son played on the same team. He would be muttering about how dumb soccer rules were.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Brian
The world of referees has many officials that do not provide excellence in officiating nor display high level of professionalism. We all have colleagues who 'let the side down' through unethical conduct, poor officiating, misuse or abuse of authority, being unfit etc.
Most of these officials fail to meet the code of ethics for referees. However most failings to meet the standards are at the very low end of the scale and many supervisors 'tolerate' the situation and simply speak to the referee.
I suspect that the referee supervisor who acts as the League coordinator knows only too well the poor standard of officiating with some officials and probably continues with these officials as he can't find other referees to do games.
I have noticed over the years that the better officials do not want to officiate at the younger age groups or lower leagues and those games are left to the lower grades on the referee roster. Interestingly the better games get the better officials but those games can be easier to officiate or require a different skill set. At U littles, refereeing many times is rarely about the game handling but how Mom and Pop perceive the way the participants are managed.
As regards this official you did what you believe was correct and it does not conflict with the code of ethics. It is up to the assignor to deal with that in line with the code for assignors. I suspect that the referee has no plans to go beyond this level or perhaps more likely the assignors do not see the official making any progress.