Question Number: 12716

Character, Attitude and Control 5/3/2006

RE: Travel Under 11

Karen of Stony Brppk, New York USA asks...

Are there any rules about the referee having a relationship with one of the teams (ie: parent or sister of player) We had a game officiated by the sister of a former player who left team under "negative" circumstances. She was clearly biased in her calls, causing us to lose the game- Is there any basis to a protest of this game?

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Your state affiliation may or may not have rules against this. As an assignor, I always try to keep siblings and parents of the players off of the game. Why give the opposing team something to complain about before, during, or after the game. With that said, this is not always possible with the shortage of referees. It is not uncommon for teams to travel to a game and only have 1 referee here in Wisconsin. This is especially true for the younger age levels. As far as protesting the game, you will probably not get very far with this, but you can always send a report to the league president and see what happens.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Karen,
PERCIEVED conflict is manufactored when we fail to apply the concepts of fun and fairplay. To be blunt I place little credance in your accusations that a sister of a former player would go out of her way as an official to mess your team up. IF this was truly the case then she must answer to whatever faith substains her.
As to biased that generally is something I see more often from the teams watching than a referee officiating. Some referees are on the learning curve just as players learn to play they are finding their tactical and skill levels through experiance.

When it is possible assignors will not deliberately set siblings or family members to referee each other but sometimes we see what it is we wish to see instead of remembering this is a youth kids GAME!
I always say to those who choose to see things a certain way. Apply to referee if you feel it can be done better! Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

As a soccer parent it is very important for you to know the procedure for scoring a goal. A goal is scored when the ball crosses the goal line under the cross bar and between the goal posts provided the Laws of the Game are not infringed. Referees do not score goals.

The team scoring the greater number of goals during a match is the winner. If both teams score an equal number of goals, or if no goals are scored, the match is drawn.

For a goal to be scored a team must have the skills necessary, conversely to prevent a goal being scored they must have greater skill or luck than their opponents do. The referee ensures the goals are scored or prevented in accordance with the Laws of the Game. The referee also keeps a record of who, what time and which team scores a goal. Further, the referee adds up the total number of goals each team has scored in the match. That's the referee's contribution to scoring goals. Referees DO NOT loose games, players do.