Date:Mon, 25 Nov 2002 13:31:35 -0500
Reply-To:Michael Cotleur <[log in to unmask]>
Sender:Discussion of Topics for Soccer Referees <[log in to unmask]>
From:Michael Cotleur <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:Vignette from Adult Amateur Semifinal
Content-Type:text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I have often posted about working our local D-1 league: more Mouth than
skill . . . I am assigned last August to be AR in one quarterfinal, @
the venue of
one of our mouthiest teams; then again as AR in one of the semis,
guaranteed to get another, assuming the assignor moves me off the winner
. . . (and spend the Fall working another D-1 league 80 miles away, in
Baltimore)
So what happens? In the quarterfinal, I get assaulted, and one effect
is that the normally whining home team shuts up all game.
Switch to yesterday, semifinal @ home field of Whiner # 1, who this year
finished league play undefeated; won its quarterfinal handily, and was
hosting an upset winner of another quarterfinal.
First thing I do, which gets me in some degree of trouble, is to ask my
fellow refs whether this will be a contest - and if so, what to look for
(hadn't seen host team in a year). "Well, You Never!" <g> One fellow
seemed to feel I was suggesting this would be a no-contest (did I
mention I suggested bringing a lawn chair?), so I finally quoted from
E&B on the value of ref preparedness . . .
Day of game . . . I had spent the weekend up to then camping our with
our scouts . . . we did get snow flurries Friday night, but the winds
died down by 2 pm Saturday, and we survived - but I was TIRED! I show
up 12:50, and start loosening up . . . other members of ref crew
eventually show up - both are replacements (the game was scheduled for
last weekend, but rained out). I happily turn down the suggestion of
centering; and the 2d happily accepts it (the 3d ref is our assignor
hisself, wounded ankle and all).
We get the game started, under lovely conditions - temp at 60 degrees;
field dry and reasonably firm for this time of year. Ten minutes in, a
home defender suggests the CR might have inadvertently missed a minor
element of the game <g> - anyway, whatever it was, he caught the CR's
attention sufficiently so as to earn a Caution. Now, this is a guy I
recall Red-carding 2 years ago, and think - oh, goody: here we go! I'd
far side AR, and start back-up recording . . . Boom - out comes the
Red!
At half time I ask, what the hell happened? CR says, he first
dissented, and I immediately booked him. I then attempted to get his
name and number, and he wouldn't cooperate. When he finally deigned to
respond, he blurts out "I didn't say anything because you told me not to
say another damn word this game." Then he blurts out, as I'm recording,
"when are we going to get any 'effing' good refs here?" Hint: 'effing
was a euphemism for his real words. Second hint - look up "euphemism in
Webster's, or consult a recent BSW post!) "Boom" (the CR continues) -
"I went to straight Red."
Consequence - we ended up with a real game (I'll get to that in a
minute.)
So, after we all cogitate about this while taking our water break
(again, we're at half time), I ask, 'so what is the answer?" CR and AR
say "Huh?" I say, "to his Q!" They both think a nanosecond, and burst
out laughing simultaneously . . . AR says, "after he retires, and we
get more recruits to become refs!" (he and I have both worked this
league for years to get players to 'join up,' and actually had one
winger from home team do that this year, working 35 NF games for us as
well . . .)
Second half.
I have 3 - THREE - plays of consequence all game, all occurring in 2d
half. Got screamed at in all 3.
# 1: Visitor attacker making diagonal run from my touch line, just
across midfield, toward center circle. His marking Defender steps up to
put him offside just before the ball is kicked, and stares at me. I
turn and race downfield, and the player scores. He, and half his team,
go ballistic. CR tells me he, too, saw the OTHER 3 DEFENDERS all flat,
and behind the first D, all putting the attacker on side. {Du-uh!]
# 2: Same scenario, except this time D is 3 yards into attacker's half,
and attacker is running parallel to the midfield strip, in his own half.
Boom - ball is kicked forward, and off he goes (to blow an easy shot).
Another chorus of crap. CR tells me he also saw the guy in his own half
of the field when the ball was kicked . . .
# 3: late in game, now 1-1, Visitors mount an attack, and one loops the
ball over Defenders to a teammate in OSP, standing frozen. I do not
move, so the attacker in finally OSP does - THEN I flag him. The guy
who passes the ball starts to scream, then in mid-voice changes his
argument to "why'd you wait so long to flag it?" (Witty retort muzzled
- as ED notes, we do no good to respond to rhetorical inquisitions, and
I believe I've finally learned this lesson! At least in adult play!)
We three shared these stories as we left the field - the pay isn't much,
but the stories are priceless!
Oh, yes - home team, playing with 10 for 80 minutes, wins in the first
OT period, about 2 minutes in, with a bicycle kick from just inside the
far PA, about 12 yards out from both the end line and my touch line . .
. the defeated opponents also congratulated this kid! One of the very
best shots I have ever seen on a field I reffed!
Michael D. Cotleur, F.E.R.C. Trial Attorney
tel. (202) 502-8519 fax. (202) 208-1219
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a
habit." Aristotle
