PWSRA WEEKLY REFEREE BROADCAST MESSAGE -- 06/20/2008
TEST YOURSELF
Team A is awarded a free kick. B4, B7,and B9 set up about seven yards away. A6 asks the ref for "10 yards." The referee should:
a. Go to the spot of the foul then pace off ten yards
b. Quickly and emphatically indicate to the attackers that they may not now restart play until given a clear signal to do so
c. Display a yellow card to either B4, B7, or B9 for Failure to Respect the Distance
d. Both a & b
ANSWER AT END
TEN THINGS I THINK I THINK (WITH CONTINUING APOLOGIES TO PETER KING)
1. Happy times for assignors: Seeing "No games with Issues" meaning every future game has a ref who has accepted their assignment
2. Happier times for assignors: Seeing "No future Games" and no games that aren't verified
3. Happiest times for assignors: Delivering checks and thanking each ref who worked this season. Checks will be mailed on Friday June 20.
4. For those who see deductions beyond membership fees, please feel free to contact me if you have questions. Hopefully the fees are clearly marked and generally fall into half-game fees for being late up to and including full-game fees for no-shows. These fees come from the recommendation of the Referee Advisory Committee, a committee consisting of a number of referees including youth referees as well as very experienced referees. One can appeal to the PWSRA Executive Board if you feel being held accountable for being late to or missing a schedule assignment is unfair.
5. If you are late to or miss an assignment and do not contact your crew or the assignor chances are close to 100% that you will be fined for that game
6. There are seven sendoff offenses
a. Denying a Goal by foul
b. Denying a Goal by Handling
c. Spitting
d. Abusive, offensive, or insulting language
e. Serious Foul Play
f. Violent Conduct
g. Second caution in the same match
Dissent is not a sendoff. If it shows contempt for the referee or referee's decision by using abusive, offensive, or insulting language then it is not dissent - it is abusive, offensive, or insulting language.
If there are simultaneous infractions, one must select the most serious one. For instance, a reckless tackle in the penalty area that denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity, would be written up as Serious Foul Play as that is more serious then denying a goal scoring opportunity.
6. What happened to my girls? Went to see our undefeated Courage team play featuring Sydney Fisher, Sarah Jones, Claire Meyers, Angela Ruf, and Kristina Tkac (Alyssa Hester was injured) on June 8 and they suffered their only loss of the season. The ref couldn't have been that bad, could've he?
7. I still don't understand some severe weather policies. At a tournament in Fairfax Co. this past weekend severe weather moved in. Lightning was observed and players were forced to leave the rubberized field where they were playing so they stood next to it. Under a tree.
8. ARs -- Please don't be signaling while you run with the flag. If the ball goes out, STOP, signal clearly, drop the signal, then move to the next position (level with the ball or 2TL defender).
9. TV Schedule: U.S. Men vs. Barbados. World Cup Qualifier. Sunday June 22.
Live on ESPN Classic and Galavision 3:00 PM ET. The U.S. leads this aggregate goals home and home series 8-0.
10. And some non-soccer quick hits of the week:
a. We will be winding down on the broadcast messages for the summer. Not the number, just the amount of content. Keep reading the Test Yourself questions.
b. I will be turning my attention to another sport I love to follow: professional cycling. Next week I will be a course marshal for two stages of the Tour of Pennsylvania, the richest race in the world for Espoir-class ("hope" i.e., Under -25) riders. $150,000 will be up for grabs.
c. Of course there is another stage race starting in France on July 5.
d. Down on the Mall at lunchtime for a friendly pickup game of Ultimate (sometimes called Ultimate Frisbee but no self-respecting player would ever use anything other than Discraft). Game in progress, almost finished because lunchtime is about over, and a woman comes over and tells the players they have to "leave now." The players asked her why and it turned out she had a permit for setting the Mall up for the Cure -- a worthy cause for sure. The players asked her when they were setting up and she said "about 4:00 p.m." It was 12:30 p.m.
The players explained they had about 10 minutes left and she stated "I don't care -- we have a permit."
Why people go out of their way to annoy others who are doing nothing wrong, I'll never understand. She could have enjoyed sitting on her golf cart and watching the game for 10 minutes but decided instead to exercise her power simply because she could. Referees often fall into this trap, especially when they believe they have power over spectators. If people are doing nothing wrong, leave them alone.
MORE GRADUATES
No complaints for leaving anyone off last week's list but in looking over the list I know we forgot...
Wren Satterley who graduated from Osbourn Park H.S. We don't know her future plans but she has the most interesting name. She was named after the Wren Chapel on the campus of the College of William and Mary.
Barry L Sherry
PWSRA/PWSI Head Referee
www.pwsra.org
TEST YOURSELF ANSWER
b. ATR 13.4 ENFORCING THE REQUIRED DISTANCE
If the referee decides to delay the restart and to enforce the required minimum distance, the referee must quickly and emphatically indicate to the attackers that they may not now restart play until given a clear signal to do so. Under these circumstances, an attacker who restarts play without a signal should be verbally warned and, upon repetition, be cautioned for unsporting behavior. The free kick in such cases must be retaken, regardless of the result of the original kick. An opponent who moves closer to the spot of the kick (from any direction) before it is taken must be cautioned and shown the yellow card if the referee has delayed the restart to ensure that the opponents are at the minimum distance.
While you will not find it written not to pace off (one-two-three etc.) 10 yards, at the higher levels both instructors and assessors will instruct you to learn to use the markings on the field to estimate 10 yards and simply move to the spot. Similarly, when counting the number of players, you won't find it written but it is considered bad form if not unprofessional to "air count" players. That is, there is no need to point in the air to 11 different players when counting. Simply count without pointing.
