Question Number: 15100

Character, Attitude and Control 4/2/2007

RE: Rec Under 12

Michelle Falcone of St. Augustine, fL usa asks...

We had a game saturday and I was very upset by the coach on the other team constantly calling to his players to "box" other players....I saw a lot of physical contact, some elbows and lots of fouling but they were not called on it...

Is this legal in Rec soccer??

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

By "box" do you think he meant fight with them, or contain them between players as if they were in a box?

If the coach were telling his players to physically harm the other team, that coach would no longer be on the sideline. He'd be dismissed in a heartbeat.

However, if he's telling his players to tactically control the game, well, that's his job!

As for physical contact, elbows, uncalled fouls - we weren't there, we can't second-guess what the ref who was there saw or didn't see. Every recreational league should have some form of feedback so coaches can comment on issues that arise in their games, whether it involves referees or not. Please check if your league has such a mechanism, via coach reports, website, etc.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

No it is not and you know it. You are just trying to vent because of the poor performance you believe the referee did. Perhaps this referee did not feel a need to call it because he deemed it trifiling. Perhaps the referee had low experience like a lot of rec level referees and did not recognize the fouls. I doubt that this referee has anything against any of the teams.

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

Michelle,

It may be helpful if you tell us if your games are being played under the laws of the game as written by the IFAB (FIFA). The reason I say this is because you ask "Is this legal in rec soccer?"

If not, it's possible that your league as some special rules that none of us aware of.

In any case, it is the referee's job to identify and call fouls. It's possible that this referee saw things differently than you did. I would respectfully suggest to you that, as a coach, you should understand that no matter how badly you disagree nothing you do will change the referee's opinion. Additionally, you should know that physical contact is a part of the sport, if you would like to coach a non contact team sport might I suggest basketball.

As far as the other coach goes, it's very hard from your posting to determine what you mean by "box". If you felt he was telling his players to cause your team physical harm, you could report this to the league.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 15132