Question Number: 14557

Character, Attitude and Control 12/6/2006

RE: Rec Under 15

Linda of Seattle, Wa USA asks...

Where is it permissable for the coach to stray? One of our competitors coaches walks the sideline in its entirety, occasionally stepping on the field. He does this whether he is 'sharing' the side with another team or not. (some of our fields demand teams share one side.) He simply walks in front of our coaches yelling instructions to his team. Aside from being particularly rude, isn't there some sort of rule against this?

Answer provided by Referee Nathan Lacy

Hi Linda. I am living in Seattle myself right now and so am a bit familiar with the fields and such in the area. According to the LOTG there should be a marked coaching area within which the coaches and substitutes are to remain with the exception, of course, of performing a substitution (in the case of a player) or attending to an injured player (in the case of the coach). The coach should not be "straying" beyond those boundary limits. Unfortunately, most of the fields in the Seattle area do NOT have a marked coaching area and it becomes incumbent upon the referee to ensure that the coach remains somewhere within the confines of his bench area - lacking lines this, of course, becomes a somewhat greater area than one might normally see. At the rec level many of the referees are very focused on the match and not keeping track of the coach but this is something that their AR could help with. As a "rule of thumb" my suggestion is that the coach not pass the midfield point thereby keeping him/her from passing in front of the other team's bench and not go towards the goal line any further than the top of the PA. While this is in no way absolute they are marks that are easy to see and are, actually, more area for the coach than they would normally have. However, again, the lack of experience by many of the referees at this level is the REAL issue and I would suggest that you bring it to the attention of the league administrators to pass along to the referees that they should not be allowing coaches to conduct themselves in such a manner. Only by passing this information through the official channels will all of the referees "get the message" and give you a greater probablility of getting consistent enforcement for this item. All the best,

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Coach must stay in technical area. They cannot walk up and down lines.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Linda one way you can fix this is get there early and mark the technical area. This will only work if the referee knows what a technical area is AND if he is courageous enough to enforce its limits.

Better you follow Ref Lacy's sage advice and let the league deal with this strolling coach, after all he isn't there for exercise he is there to give tactical instructions to his team.

Regards,