Comments on: Review of Best Of The Midwest Tournament http://www.columbussoccerref.com/review-of-best-of-the-midwest-tournament/2008/05/27/ Observations, opinions & other ramblings of a soccer referee Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:59:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: CSR http://www.columbussoccerref.com/review-of-best-of-the-midwest-tournament/2008/05/27/#comment-179 CSR Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:26:02 +0000 http://www.columbussoccerref.com/review-of-best-of-the-midwest-tournament/2008/05/27/#comment-179 Philip> I know some tournaments live and die by "the almighty schedule". But in my conversations with tournament officials I never got a perception of 'stay on schedule uber alles'. And the match I mentioned was only the second match of the day on Saturday. While I didn't mention it in the original entry, the two older officials I worked with on Saturday showed up for the match a whole five minutes before the scheduled start of the first match. So they certainly didn't help matters any. But I think this raises a philosophical question. If a tournament schedules matches so tightly as to allow only 5 minutes for halftime and 10 minutes between matches - and the port-a-johns are 1.5 fields away - then the matches ARE going to fall behind. And that's not accounting for the fact that if it's a high-level tournament, you WILL have send-offs (which need to be documented). At that point, is it fair to the referees to be expected to bail out the tournament administration for their poor planning? Is it fair to the players to have their match - which they paid damn good money to play - shortened by such a large amount? Personally, I have to answer "no" on both counts. This is why I will never shorten a match without the tournament director ordering me to do so - AND - the coaches for both teams knowing before-hand. Now, I won't add time - for ANYTHING - but it will take quite a lot for me to shorten a match. Philip> I know some tournaments live and die by “the almighty schedule”. But in my conversations with tournament officials I never got a perception of ’stay on schedule uber alles’. And the match I mentioned was only the second match of the day on Saturday. While I didn’t mention it in the original entry, the two older officials I worked with on Saturday showed up for the match a whole five minutes before the scheduled start of the first match. So they certainly didn’t help matters any.

But I think this raises a philosophical question. If a tournament schedules matches so tightly as to allow only 5 minutes for halftime and 10 minutes between matches - and the port-a-johns are 1.5 fields away - then the matches ARE going to fall behind. And that’s not accounting for the fact that if it’s a high-level tournament, you WILL have send-offs (which need to be documented). At that point, is it fair to the referees to be expected to bail out the tournament administration for their poor planning? Is it fair to the players to have their match - which they paid damn good money to play - shortened by such a large amount? Personally, I have to answer “no” on both counts. This is why I will never shorten a match without the tournament director ordering me to do so - AND - the coaches for both teams knowing before-hand. Now, I won’t add time - for ANYTHING - but it will take quite a lot for me to shorten a match.

]]> By: Philip http://www.columbussoccerref.com/review-of-best-of-the-midwest-tournament/2008/05/27/#comment-177 Philip Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:44:59 +0000 http://www.columbussoccerref.com/review-of-best-of-the-midwest-tournament/2008/05/27/#comment-177 Love the blog, btw. Love the blog, btw.

]]> By: Philip http://www.columbussoccerref.com/review-of-best-of-the-midwest-tournament/2008/05/27/#comment-176 Philip Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:17:16 +0000 http://www.columbussoccerref.com/review-of-best-of-the-midwest-tournament/2008/05/27/#comment-176 Perhaps the "older gentleman" referee cut halves short because the game started late and he was trying to maintain the tight schedule? Perhaps the “older gentleman” referee cut halves short because the game started late and he was trying to maintain the tight schedule?

]]> By: Alex http://www.columbussoccerref.com/review-of-best-of-the-midwest-tournament/2008/05/27/#comment-124 Alex Thu, 29 May 2008 20:33:21 +0000 http://www.columbussoccerref.com/review-of-best-of-the-midwest-tournament/2008/05/27/#comment-124 great write up.....It drives me nutes that I am waiting on a tournament still to pay....I will avoid non-cash tournaments in future also... great write up…..It drives me nutes that I am waiting on a tournament still to pay….I will avoid non-cash tournaments in future also…

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