Question Number: 19065

Character, Attitude and Control 5/12/2008

RE: Select Division 1 (Regional Tournament) Under 15

Withheld of Memphis, Tennessee U.S.A. asks...

Here is the situation. U-14 Boys semi final division 1 (select) match in a regional tournament. I was the center referee. Throughout the game my two assistants and I worked very hard and the fans were very vocal (some more so than others). At halftime, we discussed the match and all agreed we were handling the situation very well and that the correct calls were being made.

Towards the end of the match the white (jersey) team was leading against the black (Jersey) team 3-2. Of course the black jersey team was a local team and had a larger number of fans present and standing on the sideline. With less than two minutes left to go in the match the black jersey team was battling for the ball in their attacking third. A ball was passed to a black jersey player as he stood at the top of the box. The ball was really a 50/50 ball because the pass was not very accurate. There were a large number of players in the area challenging for the ball and I was well positioned with a clear line of sight. The ball defected and was cleared from the area. At this time a black jersey player was slightly bumped and took an obvious dive which made him fall into the penalty area. In my opinion, there was no foul I have replayed this over and over in my head and I believe 100 percent I made the correct decision by allowing play to continue. This is further reinforced by the fact, the same player that went down had previously committed a dive in the first half which he did not receive a call for. (I did not caution but instead allowed play to continue).

Here is where it becomes interesting...

After the ball was cleared there was a stoppage of play for a foul in the midfield area. At this point my Jr. Assistant Referee came running towards me. He informed me that a fan had thrown a chair and a water bottle onto the field. The AR was able to identify the parent (extremely overweight male parent who was the father of one of the players). We both went over to the head coach and told him he had to remove the parent. He replied "It's not my job, do you own job". I then went over to the parent and told him he had to leave. He replied "F^*% You I'm Not Leaving" and then continued to cuss both the AR and myself. At this point, we had exceeded the 70 minute playing time. Furthermore, I felt that the players on the field as well as my assistant were not in a safe environment because of the insane male parent and therefore I terminated the match.

I included all of the details in my USSF report. My question is "Did I handle the situation correctly?" Looking back I feel that I should have done one thing differently. I feel as soon as my assistant told me he had witnessed a parent throw a chair, I should have abandoned the match. What do you think?

I am not sure what the punishment for such a team will be. However, I am sure I made the right non call on the dive. I just wish some parents would be better role models for their children.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

I think you did well and in looking back, seeking some answers again it shows you are working to become a better referee.

It is always a sad spectacle when the adults behave in a manner that we think of disciplining our children for, temper tantrums, violent conduct, foul language, disrespect, etc... The idea of time outs, take away privileges even a swift kick to the keester is appealing here but thuggery behaviour even if a beat down is considered as OK it brings us to the dark places of chaos and emotional disregard for the moral values we seek to reinforce . One could hope the league has policy and procedures to satisfactorily deal with confrontation and pathetic individuals who undermine the sport with inappropriate behaviour or comments

It is the DUTY of everyone to ensure youth have a safe playing environment!
It is again sad to hear the coaches reaction to your request to help maintain a degree of control on the touchline. You could frame the request from "told" to a please request for assistance. "Coach I require your assistance this match is not going to continue with the parent who threw the chair and water bottle into the field in attendance are you able to ask him or get him to leave?" To be fair a coach is not obligated to approach an angry parent or spectator any more than yourself but I would note the attempt or the reason not to attempt in my report. Is the coach rude or dismissive or unwilling to help because he won't or because he was frightened? Unless you are a Marine or drill sergeant or very sure of your ability to exude authority it is not your duty to directly confront the parent.
You simply tell the listening body of players, coaches and parents this match will not continue with these or this person in attendance.. Withdraw to a safe distance or area and finalize the match report citing ALL relevant circumstances

U-14s already seeking to dive? Coaches what are you teaching about the ethics of the sport?
When players go down too easy or exaggerate a fall tell them, "Not a chance" or "Nothing there! Get up and wave them up! They need a verbal stripping if this is ongoing and if an outright dive to cheat and gain a penalty a caution show a yellow card for the USB. If you ignore it then it appears you MISSED it! The acting job while it did not convince you it convinced others, if you at that moment exploded all over his butt, "Knock that crap off and get on with the game!" They could still disagree but they will know you did not miss it!

In tournaments there should be monitoring on the pitches by tournament officials some hopefully with radios to report the idiots and have security on hand.
Pitch sets ups must have technical areas set either side of the mid line along one touchline and they should be away from the spectators along the other touch line. There should be a 5 meter free zone back from the touchline so the ARs can run unimpeded by the fans along the touch line.

As to terminating because of what the AR told you. If the chair was flung NEAR anyone or had HIT anyone then YES immediately terminate, call security and have his ass hauled to jail. Pro matches bags of pee, batteries, rolls of TP, coins, flares, bottles, etc are a few of the items that create garbage circumstances and could have matches halted temporarily to fix or terminated if not able to reign it under control . I think it was OK to delay the match try and effect the removal and then call it off given nothing was going to be done to fix it! I believe that SECURITY needed to be called and I am a bit surprised that some of the other fans did not attempt to deal with the goof off the pitch.
Parents are like the rest of humanity there are good and bad examples! Soccer, while an emotional and passionate game for those to act as this idiot require some medical or psychiatric intervention to free their tiny brains from the undue pressure the place on all of ours!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Ref Dawson offers sage advice and comments regarding "some people".

I want to look at what the referee might have done if he could view things from afar and see what might happen in the future. Right, both of us now know what happens when a player appears to have joined the swimming team whilst the match was going on. What would have happened if the first time the referee saw the "same player that went down had previously committed a dive in the first half which he did not receive a call for" had gotten what he was asking for, a caution? Would he have executed the same maneuver with the score 3-2 against him and late in the match??? I believe not. However this player was told by the referee that faking a foul was just fine in this match, was he not??

Given the player going into the book on the first occurrence and upon repetition being sent-off when he did it again would fatso have felt the need to come all unpuckered? Perhaps not, perhaps so because he might just be an alpha hotel... Moral to the story, deal with Jacques Cousteau in a such a manner that he knows he has done a bad thing. If that is a public and loud arse chewing or a caution so be it, just don't "I made the correct decision by allowing play to continue" because that decision might have been the catalyst in further goings on. International FA Board Decision 5 of Law 12 entered the Laws specifically to deter this sort of behavior and referees all over the world are obligated to deal with this disgraceful behavior.

The alpha hotel parent or fatso. He is dealt with as per league, tournament rule. It is obvious neither the coach not the parent was willing to accede to your wishes, demands or whatever. Fine. Now comes the defining moment for every referee -- when fatso opens his mouth and says what he said you blow the whistle as hard as possible and bellow "This match is over". They you collect ALL the player passes from both teams and take your crew to the referees tent. Write your report and give it to the tournament director together with all the passes. Then let natural selection take its course.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

2 things: you say you saw a player take an obvious dive, not once but twice and you didn't caution him. Why not? Perhaps the tone of the game would have been different at the end of the match had you cautioned him the first time. Second, when the parent acted up you did the correct thing by going to the coach. Then you messed up. It most certainly IS his job to control the parents. What you should have done is told the coach it was his job and he had 3 minutes to get rid of the parent. You were not going to restart play until the parent was gone. If the coach refused then you tell him you are dismissing him from the field of play. You tell him he has 1 minute to leave or your terminating the match. If he refuses to leave, you terminate the match. If he leaves, you go to the assistant coach and start over. If the insane parent threw the chair AT anyone, I'd call the police and have his fat ass arrested.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

You would have to check the tournament rules to be sure, but most competition authorities require the coach to police the behavior of the spectators. Even if the tournamant provides "field marshalls", they seldom have enough to cover each field all day long.

If the tournament rules said nothing specific, then the State Youth Association rules would likely provide the answer.

If the rules provided for the coach to be in charge and he refused his duty, you would dismiss him for not acting in a responsible manner. The assistant would now get a chance to do his duty, or join the head coach in an early exit. By the time you've dismissed them both, it's probably time to terminate the game.

This would not apply in a stadium setting with barriers separating the fans from the field, and presumably with security personnel in attendance.

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

See Question: 19108