Question Number: 29069

Mechanics 12/25/2014

RE: competitive Under 9

Dan of Jupiter, Florida USA asks...

Scenario: You are CR of a U8 competitive travel game and believe it or not, they are pretty aggressive. it might even be getting out of hand. After a few warnings to the kids and verbal warnings to stop they continue to be reckless. Would you ever use a yellow/red card in a U8 travel game, or even call something such as persistent infringement. if not how would you handle the situation.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Dan
It depends on the circumstances. I would be certainly taking action to deal with poor behaviour and it would range from the use of cards, speaking with the player and / or to involving the coaches in controlling the players . Coaches have a responsibility here and they can easily remove any player for a period of time assuming there is rolling substitutions. I have asked coaches to take off player/s on a substitution at these U10 games for poor behaviour.
In the UK there is a timed sin bin option with the use of a blue card which removes the player for 2 minutes. That can be done without the use of the card where there is agreement from responsible coaches.
I would certainly not allow reckless behaviour at any age group and the referee has a responsibility to all players to take action. If needed I would have no hesitation in removing any player from the game for ongoing reckless behaviour or play

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

'U8 competitive travel game' - Why ????

Nonetheless, I know they do this. So we deal with it. My standard is that in any competition in which there were tryouts to make the team, the players already have experienced some stress just in making the team. So I'm not overly concerned about bruising tender egos when a player needs to be cautioned or sent off. Sure, I'll give some warnings first - but not loads of warnings.

Now if it was a recreational game and one kid just seems to be over the top, I might play 'Let's Make a Deal' with the coach. 'Coach, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is that you substitute for this player and he sits the rest of the game. The hard way is that I red card him, he sits the rest of the game and the next game, and you play one man short. Either way, he's done today. Your choice.' (The danger of this if the coach reneges on our agreement and attempts to sub the player back in at a later time. Fortunately I've not had to use this method, but came pretty close to it once or twice.)