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Log Entry 4/18/6  My reflections on Melt downs and Referees (by Tom Sinclair)

All right folks, listen up. It’s time to learn some rules.

We are embarrassing ourselves in the stands when we melt down when the referee doesn’t follow “our” interpretation of the rules.

Numero uno: the center referee (the one running up and down in the middle of the field, also called the “center”) is the King on the soccer field. He makes up the rules as he goes along, or so it seems. He has the authority to apply the laws of the game as he sees fit based on his experience and his view of the field.

He decides whether a ball that strikes a player’s hand is “handling” (proper term, no such thing as a “hand ball.”). First he determines intent. Did the player intend to handle the ball? Second he decides if it gave the player’s team an advantage that they would not have had if the player had not handled the ball. If no intent and no advantage, then… “Play on!”

What about a trickier call?  Let’s say the keeper runs out of the 18-yard box to get to a ball. She takes possession of the ball by dribbling it with her feet back into the 18-yard box. Here she bends over and picks it up. Handling? Illegal play? Bad breath?

None of the above. It’s a legal and smart move. But you should have heard some parents “go atomic” at a recent game when this exact play occurred. I could almost feel the more experienced parents slide down the row to different seats away from these neophytes.

What about offside? Now that’s a call that even the EPL officials blow on a regular basis. Please follow this link (link) and read “The Offside Rule – Explained for Women.” Now before you fire off a nasty email to me for being a sexist pig, I didn’t write that article and I sure didn’t give it the title.

Okay, you’re back from reading. Expert on offside now? Well at least you know to call it in the singular form. Offsides is pointy ball.

How about pushing, shoving, tripping, nudging, elbowing, and the like. I may be on some shaky ground here, but… as long as it doesn’t affect the outcome of the play, the center may chose to ignore this extracurricular activity.

Sometimes you can see an obvious foul and the center says “Play on.” What’s the deal? Might be an “advantage” situation. That is, if our player is dribbling towards the opponent’s goal and a defender tries to push her off of the ball, but our gal retains possession and keeps going toward the goal and there is no whistle. The center may deem that it would have actually hurt our team to call the foul, especially if we are heading to the goal at full steam. If the foul is egregious enough, a good center may go back and call the foul after the advantage is lost. But it might take a minute or two.

So, the moral of this story is don’t scream and yell about a perceived foul. You may look like an ass or you may be right. But, I’ll put my money on the “look like an ass” part. Been there, done that, have the experience now to keep my mouth shut… mostly.

Enjoy the game.

Tom

P.S. For more about the Laws of the Game, check out this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_Football

P.P.S.  Most printed material on soccer rules refers to FIFA rules. High school rules are slightly different, but FIFA rules are a good place to start your knowledge journey.