Question Number: 26153

Law 11 - Offside 4/7/2012

RE: competitive Under 14

Eric of Hemet, ca riverside asks...

I am wondering what the steps are to reporting refs who do not understand the laws of the game. I don't mind bad calls as we are all human, but to get paid to ref and not know the rules kills me. I had a group of girls who played their tails off only to lose 1-0 and the refs were horrible. The play I would at least like to report to someone because they need to know for future games, so other teams and kids do not get cheated out of their hard earned money.

The play in question is a shot on goal by our player. The keeper from their team scoops up the ball has complete control off the ball and waits for her team to push up field. I have one girl who is jogging back and as the keeper punts the ball she mispunts it into the wind. My player who was jogging back controls the ball and starts heading toward goal. The Ar holds up her flag to signal offside and incredibly the center ref calls offside. I keep asking him how in the world it could be offisde. He finally came over and told there is only 3 ways you could not be offside a goal kick, a corner kick, and a throw in. Since it was not one of those then my girls was offside. However, she was behind the play because their keeper had position of the ball. She even held it to wait for her team to clear out. By his definition a team could play the ball back to their keeper and the rest of the defense could push up to midfield and the other team could not attack the ball because their is no defender between them. It just boggles my mind how someone can get paid and not understand a simple rule. I get missed calls, but not this. I urged him to look it up and he insisted he was right and had to need to look it up when he got home.

Any advice would be helpful. I still think the girls lose 1-0, so not to upset about the score, but the refs have to be held accountable and be willing to learn.

Thanks!

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
I suggest that you write to your Competition organisers and allow them to deal with the matter

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

You can start with your referee assignor in your league. If you don't know who that is, ask your league scheduler, your division manager or your league commissioner.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Please contact the assignor for that league and referee. Report what you saw and were told. The assignor will correct any misconceptions the referee may be harboring, or refer him or her to the appropriate mentor/referee authority.

Also, please realize that referees must learn how to do their jobs just as players and coaches must learn, and it takes time - nobody is a really good ref fresh out of class or even a year down the road. We don't get it 100% right all the time, but we rarely make the same mistake twice, especially when we are allowed to figure out what happened. There are never enough referees, qualified or not, and we cannot unwrap them off a shelf, so please help us keep them and continue training them. Much obliged.

One other item - it never helps to argue with the referee and insist you are right, even if you are. Having to dealing with irate coaches, whether they are right or wrong, is one reason we lose referees every year - the stress is ridiculous. The referee probably did go home and read up on it, and realized then s/he made an error, assuming the situation is exactly as you outlined.

And, we can always use folks who care about doing a good job. Interested?