Question Number: 20362

Character, Attitude and Control 10/25/2008

RE: Rec,select Under 15

Charlie of Baltimore, MD USA asks...

Today I was left to referee a match without any assistant referees. I was out of position when the goal keeper from one of the teams dove to the ground to save the ball. With the different players running around, I was shielded, the ball went into the goal, and the goal keeper was on the ground injured.

The coach, and parents of this team became verbally abusive. So I terminated the match. I did not want to take a chance of another player getting injured. Also I did not want to leave myself in a hostile situation.

I could have just refused to referee the match. I traveled with the team whose goal keeper got injured. Since the team traveled about ninety miles to play, it would have been almost as bad to call the match.

I felt I did the best I could with the situation I was left with.

Did I do the right thing?

Thank you,

Charles

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Charles,
Refereeing as a single official it is likely you will be in bad spots at crucial times no matter how hard you run and how well you can anticipate what might occur. In any given situation you do as your integrity and heart tells you. Courage to continue in the face of adversity or to bravely recognize that safety is compromised?

Keepers are certainly at risk in their chosen proffeson given they are diving into the feet of players to obtain the ball or players continue to hack away after they do do so. I do hope the keeper is ok but trying to do the right thing is stepping up to take responsibility for at least doing what you think is the best you can do. No win situations on the pitch are in someway like trying to justify being a soldier fighting away from home. The reality and the story of those who do not share that reality are rarely the same!

Concepts like FAIR PLAY and integrity, conscience are but words made up of letters until people give them substance. The same holds true for words such as narrow minded, cynical and obnoxious as well.

It takes the addition of a human character to round out the reality of behavioral degradation or expand the joys and admiration when we can honor the courage and perseverance of those we respect.

The excuses or explanations used to justify or malign any event are full of good intentions and perceptions. They MAY have nothing to do with or ALL to do with truth or justice. They COULD be what we CHOOSE to see or BLINDED to the events regardless of the reality of the situation.

Managing controversy is a difficult task. Some adapt because they have worked hard to understand and experience life with an ability to recognize and diffuse tensions. The mechanics and positioning I can tell you, you need to be seen by all as working to be in the right places and coming to the spot of trouble to head it off before it gets on a down hill roll.

Run hard to the point of conflict and seek to communicate effectively. But what is effective for some and at certain times may not provide so positive an effect at another time in a different circumstance.

What occurs in a match may well beyond your control yet to a point you have influence on anything that will occur by what actions you take before as well as the character and demour you show them when the decision is there to be made

When you ask us to decide if you did the right thing, this thing was not us, we were not there, and we might have said or done things different. Idle speculation serves little purpose. We as referees will support any referee if he has an ounce of self respect or integrity that makes a decision in the best interest of the game. You learned the challenges a single official faces and the consequences of being unable to satisfy those in attendance with a flawless performance.

You may have missed a foul, taken away a good goal or wrongly awarded a bad goal these things are part of soccer. The participants, coaches, parents, they can suffer disappointment and their need to victory will create emotion but they need to grasp if a neutral official has integrity and tries his best they can not lose their composure and go unreasonable as to the level of their anger or the actions they engage in..

As a general rule a person is ok! HOWEVER, people in general and in demanding needy groups are pretty much idiots. You saw the idiocy and it bothered you enough to terminate a fun game where teams had traveled to have fun. Yet it wasn't fun.

Is that funny or what?

What it is was, was an opportunity to have fun that failed because some real persons chose to be less than what people can be!
It happens, move on, learn and perhaps do not be so willing to act alone if those around you fail to stand for something worthwhile.

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

I presume your league has the policy that if a neutral referee is not present at the game, a supporter of the team can step in to run the game. You have found one of the pitfalls of this policy - what happens when things go sour? That 90-mile ride home must have been fun, too. (I wonder why a recreational team has to travel 90 miles for a game, but that's another issue.)

As my colleague notes, we weren't there and we can't decide whether your actions were proper. If you felt that there was no way the game could be resumed fairly and safely, then you were correct to end it. Teams have to understand that things will happen out of sight of the referee(s) from time to time. It happens even when there are 3 referees present. With only 1 ref, it's even more likely. If the teams accept to play under such conditions, they have to live with the results.

Hopefully the goalkeeper was not badly injured and is making a full recovery. And that your spirit recovers, you get back up on that horse that threw you, and you continue to progress in your quest for that elusive Art of Refereeing. Best of luck.