Question Number: 27895

Law 5 - The Referee 10/15/2013

RE: Former Referee and Coach Under 19

Charles Connors of Prattville, AL USA asks...

What can be done when a Referee is making obvious calls to help one team win a game?
Center Ref for the Capital City Streaks and River Region Rapids game on 10-12-13.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

It is hard to imagine that you are a former referee if you really believe that the assigned referee was cheating in a youth competitive match. It is easier to imagine that you disagree with the decisions and that your point of view may have seen things that the referee didn't.

But, the answer is that there is nothing that a parent can do when they don't like the judgment calls made by the match referee except to be a good role model for their kids.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Charles
Very serious accusation there. I fail to understand why a referee would be bothered about a team winning in a Youth competition.
Whatever about poor calls and mistakes 99.9999% of referees do not cheat and they are not bothered who wins.
By the way I played the game for a long time and at a high level. Any game that I was involved in that were lost was simply due to poor play, poor defending and mistakes never due to the referee even if poor calls were made.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Charles, I doubt you had a crooked referee and I doubt there are many if any, anywhere.
On any close call, 50% of the folks there think the referee got it wrong. That;s the nature of the game.
Besides, rarely do referees contribute greatly to the outcome of games. We've all worked games when a late penalty kick is awarded and made. Losing team blames loss on the referee. Losing team forgets the 3 PKs they missed. Losing team forgets 4 shots on open goal they missed. etc.

If you really believe you had a referee that was cheating, the proper channel to start with would be your referee assignor.