Date:         Wed, 2 Jun 2010 07:33:26 -0700
Reply-To:     Discussion of Topics for Soccer Referees
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Sender:       Discussion of Topics for Soccer Referees
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From:         Gwen Keck <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: organizational structure and life
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Well stated, Patrick.....

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of Topics for Soccer Referees
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Patrick Duffy
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2010 4:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: organizational structure and life

I'm not getting into a discussion here about who committed what offense
against the Laws of the Game, etc.  This is just background information and
some opinion.

FIFA is a federation, because it is all of the national governing bodies
coming together.  FIFA implements the Laws of the Game that are established
by the International Football Association Board (IFAB).  FIFA has veto power
over changes to the Laws, since they have four votes out of eight and it
takes six to pass anything.  FIFA mandates that the IFAB's Laws are used in
all competitions conducted by its members, which includes USSF.

USSF is also a federation.  It is an extremely complex organization, at
least in terms of who are the members.  Voting at the annual general meeting
requires computers because of the weighted voting system.  I won't even try
to explain it because it's irrelevant, but suffice it to say that, amongst
others, the professional leagues, the adult amateurs and the youth are all
represented, the latter including US Youth Soccer and its member state
associations, US Club Soccer, SAY and AYSO.  All of them, therefore, must
conduct their competitions using the IFAB Laws of the Game.  However, over
here in the real world, the IFAB Laws are, essentially, written for
professional and international matches.  They are certainly not intended to
take into account U-10 girls whose goal kicks can not clear a full sized
penalty area, no matter how many times they try.  Hence the IFAB allows
variations in certain parts of the Laws.  Those variations are identified by
the rules of competition adopted by the competition organizers.

Since the member state associations are sanctioning the leagues and
tournaments conducted by their member clubs, they are suppose to be the
front line of seeing that the Laws of the Game are used, with or without use
of the permitted variations.  In the real world, this sanctioning is
reviewed by state staff, sometimes volunteers, sometimes paid staff, who are
nice people but who typically have little knowledge of the Laws of the Game
themselves.  YMMV.  As a result, state associations may end up approving
rules of competition which include variations to the Laws of the Game that
are not variations permitted by the IFAB.  Their bad.  It is not up to
individual referees or assignors to overrule the state association and it is
not even up to the state referee committee to do so.  Some states may care
and take action if you point out their error to them, politely, others may
not.  Again, YMMV.  If you accept the assignment, you implement the rules of
competition.  If the tournament/league is sanctioned by a USSF affiliated
organization, it is sanctioned by a proper authority, your insurance is
still valid and you can wear your current USSF referee badge.

USSF will refer any complaints about this subject from referees, etc. back
to the state that sanctioned the competition.  They are not the ones
sanctioning that U-11 tournament where the most you can win is a $25 piece
of granite and plastic.  And, no, FIFA doesn't care either.

Many but not all tournaments have a "no protests" clause in their rules of
competition, even for "errors in law."  They still get sanctioned.  Replayed
games, as noted by others, are not practical in the typical weekend tourney.
The logistics of getting the team members, coaches and parents all
assembled, with an appropriate number of officials, are so difficult as to
make it unlikely that the replay will actually happen and, even if it does,
someone will undoubtedly be coming to you (the tournament director) to
complain that "we weren't there because nobody told us.  It isn't fair."
Been there, done that, got the scars, learned not to try to accommodate
people like that.  Complete justice is simply not possible in those
situations.

The true issue in that situation, and others created by unapproved
variations in the Laws of the Game, is that it's a youth or amateur sport.
It's a game.  Get a grip about how seriously you take your own importance.
It's suppose to be fun.  Even if the referee/tournament director/state
association/IFAB made a mistake, you still got to play, didn't you?  One of
the life lessons that youth players can learn, need to learn from these
things (which some of their parents and coaches never did learn) is that
"life isn't fair."  Sometimes, things happen that you think aren't just and
there isn't anything you can do about it.  Sometimes it's a error, sometimes
people feel that it should have been organized differently in the beginning
and, very rarely, sometimes you are getting deliberately hosed.  You can be
frustrated, but if you want to be mad and stomp off, the game will still go
on and you'll be on the outside, tied up in your own anger, while other
people are just having fun.  Yes, I still want my referees to know the Laws
of the Game very, very well and then implement them properly.  But there are
real world limits to the concept of pure justice.  It's similar to what
Admiral Grace Hopper said, "You can have controls.  You can never have
"security.""

Patrick Duffy
Oregon SRA
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