At a referee meeting yesterday, we were briefed on one of the new directives from US Soccer. Last year in the MLS “Week in Review” series, US Soccer looked much more closely at the use of elbows in general as well as contact that takes place above the shoulders. This year, US Soccer has released guidance that all referees are to follow regardless of level of play. And when it’s all said and done, I think we need to be ready to see more red cards. I can’t guess how many more, but I’m sure we’ll see more. Bob Evans over at For the Integrity Of Soccer does a very good job covering the new directive, but I think it’s important enough that it’s repeated here as well. Read on. . .
1 - Does the player lead with the elbow or hand? Does the arm go up an in on the opponent? These are clear indicators of what the player has in mind and whether he is endangering the safety of his opponent.
2 - To go along with #1, is he endangering the safety of his opponent? Hard parts of the arm meeting soft fleshy parts of the head/neck should help your decision-making on this. But also factor in whether the offender should have reasonably known his opponent would be there. If the offender was merely backing up and unaware his opponent was behind him, it’s hard to say he endangered the safety of an opponent he didn’t know was there.
3 - When looking at the play, you should ask yourself did the player use his arm as a tool (to gain position, etc) or as a weapon? The answer to this will help you put the nature of the contact into perspective and guide you in the right course of action.
4 - Think before you act. When you blow the whistle for the foul, take a moment and see the result of the contact. Think through the play and think through the F-I-R-E principles (Frustration, Intimidation, Retaliation, and Establish territory) to help put the play into context. After all, play isn’t going anywhere. But for the most part a player coming up with stream of blood is usually a pretty good indicator of how hard the contact was.
But I think it’s also important to be sure of the nature of the play. That is. . .did the contact happen in the normal course of play? Did the player do anything out of the ordinary in initiating the contact or did the contact happen simply as a consequence of a player’s natural motion? And of course. . .did the injured player simply run into the other player’s arm?
I know for me, at least in the near term I will be incorporating this guidance into my pregame so my ARs are clear on how I plan on handling things and what I’m expecting them to look for. After all, how can they really help me if they don’t know what what I’m looking for. And in an ideal world, coaches would keep current with directives/position papers. But as long-time readers know, I’ve found most coaches really don’t know the LoTG well enough as it is, much less keeping up with all the latest directives. So because it will likely come as something of a surprise to coaches/players at the youth level, do you think it might be worth a quick word to let them know that we’re expected to look a lot more closely at contact above the shoulders? Anytime I expect the players & coaches to “just know how to play”, I’m consistently let down by how often they show how little they know. So I always wonder whether to bring up some things in a “quick word” before the match. What do you guys think?