Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Refereeing, Uncategorized | Tags: aggressive coaches, coach hits ref, coach punches referee, respect the referee
I’ve just been to a tournament today and seen all sorts of behaviour. Last week I was pleasantly surprised by how competitive but happy the tournament was. This week I was brought back down to earth by the behaviour of some of the coaches towards the referees.
It’s easy to criticize them – I was left dumbfounded over the match we played where the tournament organizers were playing against us and they hit a shot that hit the post and went past the goal but the referee said it had gone through the net. We bit our tongues.
Referees are human – they get it wrong sometimes and you have to accept it but today there were three occasions where the manager of the teams playing the tournaments went crazy for something really simple like the referee awarding throw-ins against their teams.
There are some coaches out there who ruin it for the likes of you and I.
Watch this clip of Brazilian coach Pedro Santilli losing his temper and punching the referee. Make sure you don’t resort to this kind of behaviour!
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Refereeing | Tags: Lazio, referee hit by ball, referee positioning, Torino
When you have to referee youth matches it can be difficult getting your position on the pitch right.
I started refereeing games involving U6s right through to U10s, and the game sometimes moves quicker than you and you find yourself hit by the ball. It causes huge cheers and laughs when the referee gets in the way, but it happens at all levels.
It can be quite an art making sure you can see all that is going on, balls hitting the bar and bouncing onto the line, corner kicks when the ball comes out of a group of players, it can be hard to be in the right place at the right time.
Sometimes you see the top referees getting hit because the game has moved quicker than they can. I came across this clip of a match earlier in the season between Lazio and Torino where the ref gets caught in the wrong place. Ouch!
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Refereeing | Tags: abuse at matches, assistant referee, FA Respect, officials, Ray Winstone, referee
The FA’s latest move to promote respect for referees in grassroots football has resulted in a video with Hollywood hardman Ray Winstone playing the roles of good and bad parent.
The programme provides a series of tools for leagues, clubs, coaches, referees, players and parents from grassroots to elite football to ensure a safe, positive environment in which to enjoy the game. These tools include agreed codes of conduct, in-service training for Referees, Respect club packs, spectator sideline barriers funded by the Football Foundation and ensuring captains work with referees to manage player behaviour.
The question is will it work?
Already this week I’ve seen Premier league superstars showing disrespect for the referee. In my own leagues our linesman was called names by a 12-year-old which went unpunished.
As coaches we all have a responsibility to accept the word of the referee. If you have a grievance talk to the referee at the end, and don’t let your players see. The players will have forgotten the bad offside within minutes of the game ending so don’t remind them of it.
If you feel angry just walk away for a minute or two and gather yourself together.
Watch this video, sometimes it’s good to see how bad it can get. I’m sure most of you have witnessed this kind of behaviour. I know I have.
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills | Tags: America de Cali, Atletico Junior, diving, soccer cheats
Young players watch their heroes on TV and see them diving to gain an advantage over their opponents.
It’s no wonder they dive. And it isn’t easy for referees to judge who is diving and who has really been fouled. I don’t like to see it, but there have been some very comical moments when a young player tries to con the referee and we all end up laughing.
Watch this video of Atletico Junior v America de Cali in Colombia. I don’t think the Atletico fans were laughing at this but how on earth did the assistant referee fail to spot it?
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Refereeing | Tags: Chelsea, Frank Lampard, Jose Bosingwa, Liverpool, red card, Stoke, Yossi Benayoun
Fouls and red cards have been in the news these last couple of weeks in the English Premier League.
Frank Lampard for Chelsea and Rory Delap for Stoke both got red card – one for dangerous play, and one for kicking the ball at an opponent when he was on the floor.
The problem is should we now have a video referee for these sendings off so that it is fair to all players? After all Frank Lampard going off helped Liverpool to beat Chelsea – it shouldn’t have been a red card so why should the whole team and its supporters suffer?
However, in the same game Jose Bosingwa actually kicks Yossi Benayoun in the back but the card wasn’t shown. Red for a player winning the ball but not for a deliberate kick… hmmm something wrong here.
Have a look at this, should it have been a red card?
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Refereeing | Tags: backpass, Columbus, MLS, Toronto FC
In the clip below MLS teams Toronto and Columbus are tied and the match has entered the second minute of a total of two minutes of added time.
The Columbus goalkeeper kicks the ball upfield to try and launch one last attack. A Toronto player passes the ball towards his fullback but a Columbus attacker actively pressures for control and tries to win the ball as it heads to the defender.
The defender shields the ball and lets it go through – challenged by the attacker – to the Toronto goalkeeper. The goalkeeper picks it up with the onrushing attacker only a few steps away.
To me that is a backpass. To the referee and assistant referee it was perfectly legal. What do you think?
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Refereeing | Tags: Columbus, Marcos Gonzalez, New England, not 10 yards, quick free-kick, soccer laws, Wells Thompson
This is a classic quick free kick that goes wrong.
In the MLS game between Columbus and New England back in 2007 Marcos Gonzalez of Columbus, is fouled, and he takes the free kick quickly. However New England Wells Thompson, is only a couple of yards off the ball when the quick kick is taken. Thompson raises his leg to the ball and blocks the kick. The ball goes off his foot directly to Adam Cristman, who runs on and scores.
Should the goal be given?
The free kick laws state that if an attacking team takes a quick free kick and it hits an opponent not the full distance away he cannot claim an infringement if the player controls the ball without moving towards it.
Is the New England player moving to the ball?
Have a look:
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Refereeing | Tags: brazil, Brazil women, Chalupny, O'Reilly, referee, USA National Team, USA women, Whitehill, Why was this offside?
Here’s one for all you budding referees and assistant referees.
In a match between the USA National Women’s Team and Brazil, the US team score a goal that is given offside.
The US team take a corner kick which was played into Brazil’s penalty area. A Brazilian player heads the ball out but it was returned by Lori Chalupny toward her teammate, Cat Whitehill.
Whitehill chips the ball above an opponent to herself, retakes control of the ball past the second to last Brazilian opponent, with only the goalkeeper to beat. When the ball was chipped up, a teammate (Heather O’Reilly) was in an offside position – she runs next to the player but doesn’t touch the ball.
Should the goal have been given?
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills | Tags: backpass, disallowed goal, goalkeeper, quick freekick
Here’s one for all you budding coaches out there. Watch this clip and tell me why the referee disallows the goal.
There is an outrageous backpass to the goalkeeper who has to handle the ball, giving away a freekick. The opposition take it quickly and score. The referee, much to the annoyance of the manager, disallows it.
Can you tell me why?
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Team Management | Tags: Fabio Cappello, Howard Webb, Les Ferdinand, referee abuse, The FA Respect
Last season my under 11 team were complaining not about the behaviour of the other players but about the parents of the other team. Snarling, sneering parents leaping around at goals scored, raising fists at goals against, berating the referee at every turn. Not pretty. So to me the FA’s RESPECT campaign is a start in the war against punchy parents.
Figures point to around 5,000 referees between the ages of 15 and 18 in the UK. Not many stick with it until the age of 21. I don’t think the FA has got it completely right when it says they are all driven out by aggressive parents on the side of the pitch – many go off to college, get a girlfriend or a job or need to study. However despite a good hourly rate many do give up because as one of them recently said to me: “It’s just not worth it.”
There are just not enough referees to go around. The rise of women’s football has exacerbated the problem, to such an extent that around 10,000 games are refereed by the likes of you and I. Qualified coaches playing referee.
Watch the FA’s video clip below - amusing, yes, but quite true. On a Saturday morning its as much a relief to see the ref turn up as it is to see my leading goalscorer.
So why do we all hate referees? That’s me on a Saturday morning blowing the whistle for the start of an under 9s match and the big guy with the bald head is already giving me the glaring eye. “Don’t you dare give a decision against my team”. I’ve actually seen referees approached at half time by managers unhappy with their performance. Hey we’ve seen it on the telly why not in the local park?
Why do they do it – well to get into their mind is easy, they are watching their flesh and blood out there. And he’s only, maybe five at most and some referee aged anywhere between 16 and 50 is telling him off for a crime he didn’t commit! “Don’t push me, ref, don’t push me!”. Poor little Johnny would never do anything wrong.
But, and it’s a big but, young soccer players have to be taught to respect referees by parents and the way to do that is for parents to zip up their lips and show respect themselves. As a coach you have to teach your players not to react to bad decisions. We all get them. The players look up to you, and to their parents. All it takes is a bit of self control.
