Oregon Soccer Referees

Over the weekend, we had a game where some parents attending, and the Oregon coach, reported the opposing coach was harrassing the referee (an Oregon ref), yelling things questioning his calls or non-calls, loud enough the parents on the other side could hear.

If this happens to you when refereeing, please report it to me, as many details as possible. There is never an ok situation where a coach should do this, and we will take action upon hearing of an occurrence. This is true for all games, in-house thru MAYSA.

If this happens to you during a game, do not try to talk to or argue with the coach from the field unless he/she is causing a large disturbance - just report it to me later. In the event that he or she is causing distraction from the game, you should caution the coach and warn him or her that they will be asked to leave if it continues. If it does, you can ask them to leave. If you don't feel comfortable doing this, or should you ask them to leave and they refuse, call me on the spot on my cel phone and I will be happy to talk to the coach.

Bob

Here are a few rule misconceptions I have seen on the field or that have been relayed to me by coaches recently...

• Handling the ball - don't forget that the ball touching a hand is not a foul unless it is a deliberate action by the player. If a ball just hits a player's hand, and the hand did not move to the ball, it is not a foul (in spite of all the parents and maybe the coaches screaming "Hand Ball!!!" at the top of their lungs). At the recertification class I attended early this year, the instructor also said if a player puts up a hand to protect themselves and the ball hits it, it should not be called a foul (player was not advancing the ball).
• Speaking of handling the ball - if a player deliberately passes a ball to their own goalkeeper and the keeper picks it up, it is an infraction. However, if in the penalty area, the restart is not a PK, but rather an indirect kick for the other team. If outside the penalty area, the restart is a direct kick. Note if the player uses their head to direct the ball to the keeper, a foul is usually not called.
• Don't forget that at U8, all kicks are indirect - no PK's at this age.
• On a goal kick, don't forget the ball must clear the penalty area before it is in play. If touched prior to that, or the ball dies before getting there (especially in those U9 games...), the kick is retaken.

Here's a question - in a recent Classic game, score was tied, and one team took a shot - the ball sailed into the goal. The referee disallowed the goal, having blown the whistle for end of game as the ball was on the way to the goal. Was the ref right that the goal did not count? Should the ref have blown the whistle at that moment? Post your comments...

Bob

Are you in the Arbiter system? This is the system MAYSA uses to assign center and assistant referees to classic games in the Madison area. New referees can start out as AR's for younger games, then move up to center and AR for older players.

To start, you need to email Linda Huttenhoff at MAYSA and ask to be put in her system - she needs an email address and your contact information. You will get an email from the system with instructions how to log in and use the system. You can have Linda assign you games based upon your availability, or self-assign games coming up for which there is no referee assigned.

This is a blog for Oregon (Wisconsin) soccer referees - in here I will put tips, articles, news for Oregon area referees. Comments are welcome, but reviewed before they will appear.

Bob