Question Number: 19639

Character, Attitude and Control 7/23/2008

RE: Competitive Under 13

John B. of San Diego, Ca USA asks...

The goalkeeper, a defender and my attacker were all going for a ball inside the penalty area. The goalkeeper slides out and collects the ball. My attacker, seeing this, peels off the play. However, the defender does not and he trips over the goalkeeper jarring the ball loose. With both opposing players down on the ground, my attacker gets the ball and is dribbling into an open goal when the whistle blows. The referee awards a free kick to the defense. I tried to get an explanation after the game but she would not give me one. Did the ref blow this call? There were some other minor things that went on during the game that led me to believe that she was not in full understanding of the laws of the game.In the last ten minutes of the game I believe the AR's took over for her because they were calling all of the fouls on the field,even when they occurred right in front of the ref.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The referee won't give you an explanation for a call (which, by the way, she is not required to do, especially if she feels it would lead to confrontation), so now you want us to read her mind? No can do.

If you feel this ref was deficient in her abilities to referee your game, report her to the powers that be for an evaluation.

Answer provided by Referee Gene Nagy

John, I am not sure what you are looking for. On this site we deal with answering questions about the intricacies of the Laws of the Game. What I think you are looking for is: Well done John for spotting this referee's major mistake and also for noticing and bringing it to our attention that she made other minor mistakes.

Of course if the goalie fumbles the ball caused by his own defender, is not a reason for a free kick! But you already knew this.

I have refereed over 2,000 games so far and I hope one day I will do a game where my calls, positioning, attitude, man management, uniform etc. is 100% perfect. Alas it has not happened yet. But along the way many coaches have pointed out my shortcomings and in some cases they were right. Most of my offside calls are wrong in the eyes of some players. Even which way the throw in should be are contested 25% of the time. I doubt very much if my perfect game will come when I am reffing one of your U13 games in San Diego...

My advice to you is don't fret the little things. Enjoy the game and remember, referees make the same msitakes for both teams so it ends up to be fair in the end.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

The referee may have blown the call, she may have gotten it right. Arguing it with her won't change a thing. All you can do is hope her ARs were able to assist her in gaining more knowledge, and that she will get an assessment or evaluation soon to help her continue to grow in knowledge and experience.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Coach John, just because you have an opinion on something a referee did or did not do during a match means little because the referee had an opinion as well and that is the only one that counts.

Given the stepping on thing, it probably happened goal side of the referee and was blocked by the defender's body. If that was the case no referee will see what happened. The other little ticky tack stuff that was whistled or not whistled we might be able to lay off on referee training. Perhaps the referee was on her first match and had very experienced assistants there to observe and teach. At U-13 were not going to find a FIFA Referee assigned all that much, in face we'll find a very new referee learning her trade assigned those matches. You don't expect your players to be perfect on match day do you? They are going to make the occasional mistake and miss the occasional shot on goals, right? Referees are the same.

Football referees are the only sports officials expected to be perfect from the outset with steady improvement thereafter. Expectations usually don't turn out to be true...

I have been involved in 3500+ matches in one position or another over the last 50 odd years. I ain't perfect though I'm tend to think I'm better than average. I still learn and still make mistakes.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Not sure w/o seeing it. If the keeper had full control of the ball and she lost control due to a collision with an opponent, then I can see there being a possible foul call on that. Thats just my hunch!