Date:         Thu, 12 Oct 2000 07:35:39 -0400
Reply-To:     Discussion of Topics for Soccer Referees <[log in to unmask]>
Sender:       Discussion of Topics for Soccer Referees <[log in to unmask]>
From:         Michael Cotleur <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Police - higher authority than the CR?
Comments: To: [log in to unmask]
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

     Huh.  If there was a "crime," then why would the cops refuse to speak to
the sole impartial witness to the crime?  Something stinks about this.
     Meanwhile, I would have Immediately Terminated the game once the
cops refuses to allow # 1 to continue.  They effectively (thru # 12's parents?)
upgraded your Caution to a Red Card - and Nobody can do that in your
game, during your game (not even you), once play has restarted.

Michael Cotleur

>>> [log in to unmask] 10/12/00 01:10AM >>>
This is what happened last weekend:

U15 boys. 39th minute of a fairly uneventful first half. White #1 got
tangled with #12 of blue at midfield, lost the ball, got frustrated, so
grabbed number #12 and pushed him to the ground.  I stopped the game and
cautioned #1. At the time of the foul and based on what I saw I felt a
caution was sufficient. Meanwhile, #12 was on the ground and seemed to
be hurt. I called the coach over, whistled to end the first half and
moved off the field with the ref team. Minutes later a parent from blue
team informed us that player #12 was hurt and that an ambulance had been
called. The ambulance arrived shortly thereafter and player was taken
away.

We began second half; 16 minute later AR1 called me over and I saw two
policemen on the side line. It turned out that somebody on the blue
team, upset at the incident, had called the police. I went over to AR1
side; the policemen informed me that they were there "to investigate a
crime" and needed to talk to number #1. I said something about the fact
that this is a sporting event, etc. But they said either tell him (#1
white) to come here or we will come on the field to take him.

I was frankly not prepared for such a turn of events and was taken
aback. The police said in a loud voice that they wanted to see #1 and
started to come on the field.  I felt I had no choice but to have #1
come to them. #1, accompanied by his parents, went with policemen.

I tried to restart the game but the white coach pulled his players off
the field and did not want to continue the game. I informed the other
coach. The teams went thru a civil handshake and this bizarre game was
terminated.

There are a few questions I would like to put to the list.  The main
question for now is whether police has the authority to interfere with a
sporting event in the manner stated above. If not, how should I have
handled this incident? I know in hindsight I should have tried to
convince them, maybe even recruiting the coaches for this purpose, to
wait until the game was over, etc. However, I am not sure if they (the
police) were interested in waiting.

Thanks for your comments.

Reza Pazirandeh