Question Number: 17729

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 11/6/2007

RE: 12 and under Under 13

Denise Kerby of Town Creek, Alabama USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 17720

Regarding my previous question 17720, I forgot to mention that the player who handled the ball was not sent off. Thank you for your advice.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Wonderful. The referee not only denied a goal but he didn't have the courage to send-off the player who used her hands in an effort to deny a goal. Bad form all 'round.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

What? Another mistake from this referee? I'm shocked!

Answer provided by Referee Debbie Hoelscher

OH lordy! Well, yeah. A great opportunity to send a player off and show the red card when it really counts and it doesn't happen. How incredibly frustrating. Who teaches these referees? How could that referee NOT do the right thing?

I have no idea what age this referee was. Maybe they were an adult. But just maybe they were a kid. I can tell you that a referee who doesn't enforce the laws of the game even at the 12 and under age group as has been indicated either doesn't care, or is quite frankly, scared to death. Forgive me as a pull up my soap box for a moment, but I ask for some consideration. If this were a kid out there refereeing, I bet you anything this kid was too scared to pull out the red card because of the back lash that would ensue from the parents. I was "specatating" at my daughter's U13 recreation match one weekend not too long ago and was absolutely appalled by the yelling and jeering from the parents towards the referee. As it turned out, this referee was a youth referee. While he didn't get everything, he was working hard and his positioning wasn't bad. His teammates (ARs) didn't give him a lot of credibility, as one was too busy yacking with someone along the touchline to pay attention to ball in and out of play and indicating the direction of the throw, but even then, it wasn't a major problem. These parents we yelling at the referee and were totally out of line. When I casually mentioned to the parents that perhaps if it were their kid out there blowing the whistle, they might not appreciate hearing all of the griping and derogations towards their child who happened to be the referee. One man, an older fellow (probably a grand parent) looked at me and said, "we're not yelling at the players, we're yelling at the referee." To wit I said "the referee is a kid too!" He response: "I don't care."

So, getting back to this poor referee who didn't have the guts to send the player and show the red card. Perhaps while he/she must be set straight to correct this error, there should also be an accounting of how that and other referees are treated. I am not suggesting either that this referee was abused in this match, but consider the possibility that they were in previous matches. If I were a new/youth referee and I had to take the kind of treatment I've seen at even the U13 Recreation level, I'd probably be too scared to do anything but call the obvious "fouls"and hope for the best.