Memorable Calls
Posted in xn--kfs74mzzid01b.com edit by anonym on January 9th, 2009
Well, I won't stand up here and say I'm perfect -- I'm sure there's many times I haven't done it. But there's one time that always sticks out in my mind and I've mentioned it a few times as the perfect application of advantage...
Attacking player with ball dribbling through midfield when tackled from behind hard. Ball deflects to directly to a teammate also surging upfield in a now 1v1 situation. The remaining defender tackles hard, cleats up taking the attacker down. The ball deflects at an angle sideways and right in the path of the next attacker who picks it up and after another touch or two puts it in the back of the net.
I signal goal and go back and issue 2 red cards.
It made me realize that, while I still remember things that happen in a game such as actions by the players, the calls I make have become terribly unimportant and fewer and fewer stand out and are at best nothing but interruptions and annoyances whihc detract from y recollection of the match and do not enhance it.. Most calls I remember are the bad ones.
It makes one realize that it is the game that is important, not the calls we make. But then, every now and them a call is so rightious, so justified, just so sweet that you not only want to remember it, but you want to bottle the feeling you had when you made it, to keep on the mantle and savor from time to time on cold winter nights in the off season.
Kev's double red sounds like something he will be able to savor long after future calls become commonplace and fade into the background. For me my most rightious call happend abour four years ago. in a B teen (14 or 15) premier league match.
Blue took a corner kick from the far side in whites end. I was near the arc. The white keeper took possession and cleared it, but as the play moved out, a blue attacker gave me a look that told me he had just been mugged but I had completely missed it. There were no players around him at all and no indication from the AR.
A short while later there was another corner, same set up. I started out at the arc, but then kept moving back to the goal line until I had all the players in view. Right before the kick, a white defender marking the blue attacker, moved in behind him and took a fistfull of blue shirt. As the corner was struck, the white defender yanked the smaller blue attacker off his feet, slamming him to the ground and then then distanced himself from the point of the foul. The whislte stopped play, the defender gave me a totally convincing "Who me?" before being sent-off, play restarted with a PK, and no-one complained about the fairness of the call, or the ultimate outcome of the game, which, as I recall, white won though playing a man down.
The reason it stands out, however, is not because it was right, because wer are expected to be right, but because rather than holding the kick when I first observed the grab, and possibly cautioning the defender, I took a risk and decided that the play might be better served by allowing the foul and the misconduct. This meant I also put the player at risk, but it worked out in the end.
At halftime, I talk to the AR about it -- he commented that the girl was NOT offside when the ball was flighted in, so after it popped through the group of players, she should not have been called offside. I told him that's correct, except that what he couldn't see was that the ball didn't just pop through -- one of her teammates PLAYED it through and that made it a second play which made her offside. He was still a little bothered by the whole thing and I didn't exactly get a lot of support from him the rest of the game.
Kev, there are two things that you could have done differently and I cannot say that either would have helped. But here they are:
#1. Use different words to your AR (Monday morning quarterback!).
#2. What often helps me is to announce why I made a particular controversial decision at the time of the decision. In this case you might have loudly stated, "Offside! Went off this attacker [pointing to the passer] to that attacker [pointing to the offside player]." Then everyone [including your ARs] can understand the decision.
The other attacking players continued towards goal and a good goal was scored.
Now I felt very strongly like going up to the moaning player and saying:
“What have you got to say now!”
I resisted the temptation – and simply looked the player in the eye, whilst making the smallest of smiles with my lips.
Boy! This was much better that jumping for joy and making the player look a fool.
But fool he was!
And yes, they are great moments.
After all – why can’t Referees too, enjoy a touch of smugness from time to time?
www.corshamref.net
... Did I do it right by making the call that I knew was correct at the time or should I have handled it better and "kept" my AR on my side? Make the call. You're the CR and get paid the big bucks, even if it means being unpopular. You politely explained it to your AR - he just didn't have the class to accept it. That's what teamwork is supposed to be all about.
However, the situations that stick with me more recently are the situations that I could have perhaps handled differently.
Here's one that stuck with me from this last season...
I am CR of a girls JV game. The ball is played from wide left and 30 yards upfield into a spot right near the arc outside the penalty area and into a group of 4 girls -- 2 attackers and 2 defenders. There's no offside position and no flag. As the ball is in the air, one of the attackers moves behind the bunch of girls who are contesting for position for the ball -- and into an offside position. When the ball lands into the crowd it pings around a bit staying up around head/shoulder height and the other attacker, clearly and intentionally heads it through the group where the attacker who had floated into an offside position collects the ball.
There is no flag from the AR, but as the attacker collects the ball, I blow the whistle and signal for offside. The AR kind of stared daggers at me.
At halftime, I talk to the AR about it -- he commented that the girl was NOT offside when the ball was flighted in, so after it popped through the group of players, she should not have been called offside. I told him that's correct, except that what he couldn't see was that the ball didn't just pop through -- one of her teammates PLAYED it through and that made it a second play which made her offside. He was still a little bothered by the whole thing and I didn't exactly get a lot of support from him the rest of the game.
I thought about this later and thought, perhaps, I could have handled it differently. When the ball was played through to the player who was in an offside position, I could have let her go ahead and make her play. If she scores, THEN I could have jogged over to the AR and discussed what I saw with him and come to a decision -- likely nullifying the goal. If she doesn't score, either because she missed the goal and it's a goal kick or the keeper saved it and it's a punt, no big deal. The only point where it becomes a problem is what if something happens like she shoots it, keeper saves it but gives up a rebound and then a second or third shot happens before the score occurs. If you've gone that far, it doesn't seem to me that you can very well go back and call the initial offside infraction.
What do you guys think of this? Did I do it right by making the call that I knew was correct at the time or should I have handled it better and "kept" my AR on my side?
One of the players on the team waiting to play after that one looks at me and says"one of the best F****** calls I have seen in a long time in this league." I just remember that I felt pretty good about being in the right spot at the right time.
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