Question Number: 17883

Law 4 - Players Equipment 11/12/2007

RE: AYSO Under 13

Zoran B. of Ventura, CA USA asks...

I am a level 7 ref USRF and I also coach AYSO.
Can someone please tell me this as I have never seen this in any game, and to me its wrong but AYSO tells me otherwise.

Both of these things I would not do nor allow to happen as a center ref or AR.

I am coaching a game and my team is winning and there are few minutes left in the game, so we kick the ball out of bounds to kill the clock and protect the lead. So far so good but what happens next is that we kicked the ball out of bounds and now NATIONAL AYSO AR runs about 15 yards to get the ball for other team and gives it to the opposing player. I kept telling him that he can't do that and he said yes he can. He kept on doing this every time the ball was out on his side.
I ref club games and no way would I do such things.
Can someone please tell me who is correct?

Also at the half the goalie was hot so he put a yellow bib over his lime green jersey, and I protested telling the ref that he needs to wear a goalie jersey as its confusing us as to who the goalie is so the ref made him put on the goalie jersey. At the start of the 4th quarter the goalie went back to his lime green jersey with a yellow bib, and I informed the referee and he ignored me, I also notified the NATIONAL AYSO AR and he ignored me.

Can someone elaborate on this?please and let me know

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

So your team is attempting to run out the clock, and you want the ref to collude with you? No, the AR should not be chasing after balls for either team; he has more important things to do, like watch the players behind the ref's back. But that doesn't mean he is prohibited from doing so. If I were the center, I'd tell him to quit it - and then tell you that I was generously adding on time whenever your team blasted the ball out of play.

I'm not sure what your complaint is on the goalkeeper colors, either. Yellow isn't enough of a contrast with lime? If the refs were wearing yellow, there might be a problem. But a pinney/bib is SOP around here for goalkeepers when it's hot out.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Ah, the trials and tribulations of being both ref and coach. Tell me, Zoran, what would you have done if you'd been the referee on this game, and a coach was trying to have his players waste time in such a fashion? I hope you would tell me that you would be adding time as needed to keep the game fair, but your answer said you would not - why not? What possible justification could you have for allowing any team/one team to waste time and delay the restarts? You are correct that referees at your USSF level have been told not to chase balls as they have very important duties to attend to on the touchline, in surveying the field, and in being of assistance to the referee. What ever gave you the idea though, that you, as a coach, had the right or obligation to tell a fellow referee (of any rank) what they were doing wrong (in your opinion)? Shame on you! Your assignment is to reread the Code of Ethics. And as a grade 7, you should know that Law 4 says only that goalkeepers will wear colors that distinguish them from other players. A yellow bib seems to me to accomplish this feat. Not the fanciest method, but effective.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Assistant referees are usually older to much older than the children they referee therefore it becomes a matter of choosing where to expend energy so one may be standing at the end of the match. I teach the desire to chase after any ball is inversely proportional to the amount of gray hair one has. If you have no gray hair they are still younger than you and will not wear out as quickly. By then the point is made, referees and referee's assistants don't chase footballs, players do. Referees do add time so players on sides with less goals then their cheating opponents will have time to score goals themselves. You say you are a level 7 USRF referee. Super. However I'm not familiar with that organization. Perhaps that organization teaches its referees to accept coaches yelling at them, US Soccer, on the other hand, frowns on coaches offering anything more than tactical instructions to their players. Because coaches occupy the technical area at the pleasure of the referee coaches telling referees how to manage their matches usually spend lots of time in the parking lot wondering what happened.

To goalkeeper's attire. Lets see, Law 4 says something about them wearing colors that distinguish them from the other players and the referees. Hmmm... other colors. Youth leagues. Not much money. Extra goalkeeper's kit. Change strip. Trainers. Physios. Team managers. Assistant coaches. Club Secretaries. Just where are we going to spend all the money we didn't have in the first place?

A lime green jersey with a yellow bib and YOU informed the referee and he ignored you? Then you informed the Assistant Referee and he ignored you too? Elaborate? Sure I can elaborate, consider yourself quite lucky I was not the match referee. Does the term parking lot remind you of anything? You are there to coach your team, write down all the stuff they need to practice next week, figure out which pizza parlor to go to after the match and who pays this time. You just ain't there to tell the referee crew how to do things because this ain't little league baseball, gridiron football or basket ball, it is Association Football and we don't do that here.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Debbie Hoelscher

Zoran,
I am sure that you are aware, as a licensed referee, that your authority as a referee only extends to your arrival to the match to which you have been assigned to referee. Nowhere in the LOTG does it say that you have the authority of the referee whilst coaching that match. Your behavior is in principle, much like that of a public figure -- perhaps a police officer, who while OFF DUTY breaks the law. That police officer is not above the law. Society has made it very clear that it won't tolerate inappropriate behavior/activities from those in whom they have entrusted with special authority. When I discover that a fellow referee has conducted themselves in the manner you have described, I am not just appalled, but angered by it.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Zoran, your time wasting technique would be futile if the game was refereed by any of us. As soon as the tactic is noted you'd get a quick word from me that kick the ball out wherever you want I'm adding time on. It's best to just get the game over with and play fair. I agree that the AR has no business chasing the ball. If he or she does he should do it for EVERY ball. Best to let the players handle balls off the field. I also agree with you about the keeper. Although, as I'm sure you know being a Grade 7, there's nothing in the LOTG requiring the keeper to where a "keeper jersey", he must be able to be distinguished from his 10 teammates. If he is not, then his coach has to do something to alleviate the situation. Of course, the center referee may have felt all the players could identify the keeper and you were just trying to waste more time.

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

Based on what you have written, I do not think you are a good coach. Perhaps you worry too much about teaching your team how to waste time and being concerned with the opposing goalkeeper's wardrobe than you are with seeing that your charges improve as players.

Stop wasting everyone's time with the kick the ball out of bounds strategy and don't concern yourself with how the child goalkeeper is dressed on a hot summer day - do this and perhaps you can be on your way to becoming a better coach, but right now I wouldn't want my sister or brother to be coached by someone like you.

Oh yeah, the next time you coach, remember what it's like when you referee - you may have a different hat on, but you should be able to empathize with the ref and if you have the ability to show that empathy, you WILL NOT give that referee a hard time.

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