Question Number: 16322

Law 3 - Number of Players 8/15/2007

RE: Competitive Under 19

Rick Czechowski of San Diego, CA USA asks...

I encountered this situation in a recent tournament at the GU-13 level. A coach who was whining that a player from the opposing team went into his player "studs up," which was completely false in this case. He then proceeded to yell out loud to his player words to the effect of "next time, you go into her studs up." Should this be grounds for an immediate send-off, or should the Ref caution the coach instead and try a creative solution (e.g. having the coach call that player over and tell her to disregard what he had said, etc.)? Please advise.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

It is grounds for dismissal, immediate depends on the game situation. It may be best to stop play immediately, or to wait for the next natural stoppage. A coach instructing his players to harm the opponents is certainly not acting in a responsible manner.

I had something similar happen to me at a U12G recreational game 2-3 years ago. I evidently missed a foul - that happens, I was looking at something in the opposite direction. One of the so-called adults on the sideline said to his daughter, "Then next time just ..." and I forget exactly what he told her to do, but it was threatening harm. When the ball went out of play, I told the girls to hold up, and went over to the coach. I told him to have the parent who was advocating violence to leave. Well, Dad decided that was his opportunity to talk to me, so I calmly told him that if he didn't leave, the game would be over. After the game the coach thanked me, and said that this guy had been a problem. At the time he didn't tell me that he was on the roster as an assistant coach! I wrote up the incident in the game report. As I am also a member of the soccer youth board, I found out later that the guy was a coach. The Board would have voted to expell him, but by that time the season was over and he and his daughter had withdrawn from the league (I heard they were moving).

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

I would certainly dismiss that coach from the game. He should not be taking part in youth soccer if he is telling his players to behave violently. Thats my take on it. Get this sort of behavior out of the game we love!

I would also make sure that everyone knew exactly why he was going. That way they could all learn that advocating violent behavior (and by extension, true violent behavior) will not be tolerated and will be dealt with in the harshest possible manner.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

I agree with my colleagues. This behavior only ruins the game. Get him out of there and tell him to grow up as he leaves.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

The instant the coach says this I would stop play and expel the coach for actions that bring The Game into disrepute.

In my coaching days my assistant called his 18 year old son over and told him to take out the knees of the opponent who was beating him [honestly]. The son said OK to his father. I called the referee over and asked him if I could have the player's pass back because he and his father were leaving. The referee actually took time to retrieve the pass and give it to me.

I cut it in half and gave it to the father and asked him to leave with his son because they were no longer welcome on the team. Needless to say there was no misunderstanding my mood, tone of voice and the fact our association had come to an end. He left with his son, my best player. I don't care about all the touchy-feely what about the son's not being able to play because HE needed to learn a life lesson before agreeing with someone got him into big trouble. He must have learned because I see him every once in a while and he is doing well as a man.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Debbie Hoelscher

My esteemed colleagues have all given excellent advise and I wholeheartedly agree. I'm going to answer this question procedurally from four different roles: Referee; Assistant Referee; 4th Official; and spectator.

Referee: Stop the game -- if you do so immediately and with lots of drama, the effect sends quite a message -- go over to the coach and tell him loudly enough for you to have plenty of witnesses, including your own teammate(s) (e.g. AR or 4th official) that you are dismissing him from the field and its surrounding area for irresponsible behavior, that you will be writing a full report in your game report, quoting his exact words; and that you will not allow the game to restart until he has left.

Assistant Referee: Provide assistance per your pregame instructions. If there were no pregame instructions, or this kind of thing was not addressed in the pregame, then provide assistance per the LOTG and USSF Guide to ARs and 4th Officials -- namely, assisting the referee with things that happen out of view/earshot of the referee. If it were me, and there were no pregame instructions provided to me about the HOW and WHEN the referee expected me to bring such happenings to their attention, I would put my flag up immediately (during active play) and hope that the referee saw me and stopped play. I would then motion for them to come talk to me. I don't like code much myself. I just wave my hand in a way that says, "Get your arse over here. I urgently need to talk to you." Then you proceed to inform the referee (briefly) what you witnessed and you could also suggest that the coach be dismissed immediately. It's up to the referee to take it from there. If they choose NOT to act on your advice, (which is totally up to them), then you can write a supplemental report and include it in the game report.

4th Official: Much the same as AR except the CoC (Chain of Command) may vary dependent upon pregame instructions. Procedure is that the 4th Official go to the nearest AR (AR1) and inform them. However, the referee may indicate their own preference in their pregame instructions to their team.

Spectator: Unless you are assigned to that match as an official for that match, you aren't a referee, but a spectator. If you hear the coach say something like that and you believe that the referee team has either missed it, or is ignoring it (for whatever reason), you must go to the referee administrator (RA) and let them know. This is easy during a tournament because the RA is usually right their (or a delegate for them). If this were to occur during the season and there is no RA nearby, then you must contact the RA as soon as possible and give them the date, game time, field location name of the team of the suspect coach and if you have it, the coach's name.

If there is no other person of record to manage/coach the team, the game is abandoned, with the winner pending the outcome of the association's board decision.

Hope this helps,