In the Cleats of a Referee: Judge, Jury and Executioner.

A Little Introduction

Have you ever yelled or been upset with a sports official for making a call that, in your opinion, was a bad call? Well there are a lot of things that go though a sports officials mind when making a call, throwing a flag or blowing a whistle. And, I'm sure you have wondered or even said to yourself, what was he thinking? Well I am a referee from Northern Ohio, I got my certification to referee soccer under USSF (United States Soccer Federation) which allows me to referee USSF sanctioned soccer game. I am here to share with you some of my experiences about how I referee, my encounters I've dealt with while refereeing and how I have learned from my mistakes. I have made some really good calls as well as some bad ones, but once you make the call, you can't go back. The official should always stand by his call with confidence, regardless if it was wrong. As I explain to you several situation, I want to share my reasoning for the calls I made and how I have learned from them.

I am currently a 2nd year soccer referee and I love what I do. There are several reasons I enjoy it, the pay being one of them, along with free hotels and traveling to tournaments with my friends. I am still learning every game to become a better official. I guess in a way it is similar to Steemit, but of course, not quite. There's a networking aspect associated with it and getting assignors to notice you is important to getting games. The better you become associated with assignors the higher quality game you can get. Not very many people know what it is like to be a sports official. Now, I can't speak on the behalf of all sports officials, but there is a prevalent semblance among all officials when making tough calls. As far as soccer goes, I would like to present to you all at Steemit what it is like to make a few split second decision during a high intensity soccer game. Which some may have ultimately decided the outcome games, One of which I share where I may have been wrong, but we all learn from our experiences.

Helpful Terminology

• The Goal Lines are the painted lines that extend to each of the Touchlines forming the corner flag area. This is the line that the goal-posts sit on.
• The Touchlines are the painted lines that run perpendicular to the Goal Lines. They touch the Goal Lines to help form the Corner Flag area.
  *The Corner Flag Areas are small areas where the Goal Lines and the Touchlines meet to form the boundaries of the field. This is were Corner Kicks are taken.
• The Goal Box is the smaller box that is painted in-front of the entrance to the goal. This box dictates where the goal keeper can restart a goal kick.
• The Penalty Box is the box that is painted in-front of the goal line encompassing the goal box and the entrance to the goal. This box also dictates where the goal keeper can move about the penalty box with the soccer ball in his or her hands.
• The Penalty Arc is is the arc to the end of the penalty box directly opposite to the entrance to the goal. This dictates where players will stand during a penalty kick.
  *A Corner Kick is a restart of play when the ball goes out of play behind the Goal Line and is last played by a Defender. The ball is taken to one of the Corner Flag areas and kicked back into play.
• The Laws of the Game are what FIFA refers to as the rules of soccer and how they should be interpreted. USSF adopted these laws but made some modifications to them.

The First Game

Have you ever been a parent (if not try to imagine being said parent) watching your kids 13 year old soccer game. Then a 13 year old kid boots the ball as hard as he can at the goal, and it hits a 13 year old defenders' hand. Within a second your mind is already processing what you just witnessed, and you are formulating an opinion on the outcome. On the other hand, to a referee, many things have to be considered. Things like:

• Age level of the players.
• The distance of the kick to the defender.
• The speed of the ball.
• If the defender had time to react and if so, in what manner.
• The location of the foul.
• Was the ball deflected.

The age level was 13 year old, the league was Ohio North State League, which is considered a higher tier of play than regular local league play. I am mentioning this because it ultimately affected my decision. The foul and location of the foul was intentionally handling the ball in the penalty box which resulted in denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity.

The kick was made outside of the penalty box. If imagining the kick from a downward view, think of an offensive end of a pitch. The ball was struck at the right end of the penalty arc, just a yard or two outside of the arc. The defender was standing at the tip of the goal box and I was positioned at the upper left edge of the penalty box. It was a good strike, but the defender had ample reaction time. As soon as the defender seen the strike coming towards him, he retracted his elbows into his body but started to position his hands up to protect his face. He then twisted his body right so that way the left side of his body would take the blow of the ball. However, that did not happen. The ball cleared his body but hit his hand, which was in a very odd position. If looking straight at the player his hands would be protecting his face, but since he twisted his body they now obstructed the path of the ball. As I witnessed the play that had just unfolded before me I said to myself, "I don't want to call it but I have to..." Then I blew the whistle for the penalty kick, which the attacking team scored upon. Was the coach ever so furious I made such a call.

The next play was very similar to the first but just at a different end of the field. The players were in reverse roles, meaning the defensive team is now on the attack. An attacker strikes the ball and the ball smashes into a defenders hand. Handball right? Not this time, the defenders arms were down at his side, he jumped and turned his side into the ball so it would deflect off his side. The ball did hit the players arm but the players hand and arm were in a natural position stretched straight down his body so they were out of the way. His hand or arm would not have obstructed the path of the ball. I did not blow the whistle for the penalty kick and allowed play to continue. This, of course, upset the very same coach.

As the game continues, towards the end of the second half, there is less than 5-10 minutes remaining. The score is 3 -2 with the away team leading, which is the team with the coach that is infuriated with me. This final handball foul I call is also against them. As the play unfolds, an attacker shoots on goal, it is deflected past the touchline which means there is a corner kick. As the kicker takes the kick, the ball is kicked high up into the air and drops directly onto a defenders arm where he was holding onto the waist of an attackers body.I was standing no more than 5 feet away from the kid as I was thinking in my head to let it slide, but I was already in the motion of blowing the whistle and ultimately finished my action. As I stood by my call the kid knew that I had to make the call and didn't protest. If the coach wasn't already angry enough with me after the first handball call I made against him, this only escalated things. It only got worse after the attacking team scored on the penalty kick, tying the game up to a finish of 3-3.

Out of the year and a half I have been a referee, I have never had a coach be so upset with me. I was only enforcing the Laws of the Game to the sport of soccer how I think they should be applied. In my opinion, I made the right call in all three scenarios according to the Laws of the Game. However, in the last scenario I could of made a no call and the game would have been a victory for the away team. It would not have been because I felt sympathy for any of the players or teams, but intentionally handling the ball and handballs ( both of which are the same) are a grey area in the Laws of the Game. Meaning, the interpretation of what is written in the book can be subjective to the play that unfolds in a game. Was the player intentionally handling the ball? No, his hands and arms were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. As I pondered the thought of if I had made the correct call I came to the conclusion that I should have let the foul slide simply because they were 13 years old. If the game were 16 years of age or above I probably would have made the same call I made on that day. No official of any sport will apply the rules to higher more competitive age levels as they would to lower age levels.

The Second Game

For this next game, I only have one scenario to share. It was a game that was very intense, a nail-biter, a U-18 Gold Division College Showcase final outside Richmond, Virginia. I traveled from Ohio to referee this tournament simply for the experience, and am I ever so grateful I did. Scouts from all over the country were here looking at players, scouting their potential picks for their University teams. It was a pretty high-caliber tournament. I officiated this tournament in November of 2016 and it was at the end of my first year being certified.

As I said it was a gold division final, and this particular play was towards the end of the second half and the game was about over. I was not the center referee, but a linesman or assistant referee. The referee that runs up and down the sideline or touchline with the flag. There was an intense play, fast ball-movement with a lot of bodies in the way. Just to paint a picture of how crowded the area was, there were probably at least 16 bodies in the area of the penalty box, 11 of which had to be in the goal box. The ball is being kicked as hard as it can be and bouncing around off of legs and bodies. While all this is going down I am standing at the corner flag area with my eyes glued down the goal line. So many bodies were in the way I could not see where the ball was except once it passed the goal line through the goal-posts. The rule for a goal states that the whole of the ball must cross entirely over the goal line in order for a goal to be scored. Meaning the entire ball has to cross the goal line.

This is where things become difficult. The ball is on the ground, the keeper is on the ground. The keeper has both hands on the ball and the ball is partially on the goal line and partially in the goal. I witnessed the keeper try to get up by pushing the ball off the ground but failed. She stumbled causing the ball to move further into the net, yet still on the goal line. Now as I witnessed this, she attempted to do the same thing and failed again, as she stumbled she crossed the ball entirely over the goal line, at the moment I sprinted towards the center of the field to indicate a goal had been scored.

That was it, that was my decision and I had made it. The center referee followed my signal and blew the whistle for a goal. Then the coach from the team that the goal was scored against cried out with an outrage claiming that there was fouling going on in the box, and that the ball was being kicked while it was in controlled possession of the goal keeper. This may have been true and is indeed a foul, but during the instant I made the call it did not strike my mind that that could have been the case. However, there were so many bodies in one location that it would have been difficult for even a skilled center or linesman to see such a foul. To this day I wonder if I made the wrong call and what would of happened if i didn't signal for a goal at that instant. I would not have signaled for a foul unless I seen one, but if I wouldn't have given the team that goal. Yeah, it was only a goal to a soccer game, but it matters to me because if I wish to improve at the job I enjoy doing I must learn from the mistakes I make. I believe I did learn from that mistake. Officiating soccer isn't like officiating most sports, higher skilled soccer officials will wait a second or two before finalizing their decision, and this scenario has helped improve the way I officiate.

Well Steemit users, I hope you enjoy the read. Just a little insight on the decisions I have made as an official and how I seek improvement in the job I enjoy. Perhaps this post might make you think twice before raging at a sports official of any sport for making a call that you, in your opinion, question. Please, tell me what you think and leave comments on how I can improve my blogging skills.