Columbus Soccer Ref

I was recently pointed to Robert Evans’ excellent blog “For the Integrity of Soccer” where I was reading about an incident in Dallas. While it was often referred to, the video of the incident was never linked to. After doing some digging, I was was able to find it on YouTube - FC Dallas vs. CAP. In the match, the referee was assaulted amid a mass confrontation. Many of the comments at For the Integrity of Soccer about this incident opined that the CR was out of his depth and shouldn’t have accepted the assignment. Since I didn’t see the entire match, I can’t speak to that. But I think many of the comments did get the big picture - while it’s absolutely no excuse for assaulting a referee, the incident was brought on by the action/inaction of the referee himself.

The incident really begins 1:52 into the video when an FC Dallas player is fouled (hard) about 25 yards from goal. A side question I have is why wasn’t the defender cautioned for the foul? It certainly looked reckless to me, if not excessive force. But I digress. We see the referee recognize the hard nature of the foul so he sprints to the spot of the foul and gives his signal (which made me think a card was coming for the challenge). For the next thirty eight seconds of game time we see CAP players standing within 5 yards of the ball, clearly delaying the restart (and failing to respect the distance). We clearly see more than one FCD player motion to the referee to back up the encroaching CAP player (#7) and his buddies. Then, as #7 was finally moving back FCD siezed the moment and then took the free kick. The CAP players went bananas feeling they’d been victimized by unsporting gamesmanship - depsite their 38 seconds of cheating. So what should the referee have done? Well, first. . .he absolutely must make it clear from the first free kick that encroachment and delays will NOT BE TOLERATED. By verbally and/or visually backing up the defender(s) - and cautioning if necessary - he must set the tone early that in the match free kicks would indeed be taken freely. Even without that, he still had a chance to avoid the mass confrontation. As soon as it became clear that FCD would not be utilizing a quick restart (after 2-3 seconds, maybe) it would obviously be a ceremonial restart. At this point, he needed to take control and assert some authority/presence in the free kick by using proper mechanics for backing up a wall - demanding the kicker wait for a whistle, backing up the defenders (with cautions issued, if required), then taking his position and blowing the whistle to restart play. But regardless of the level of the match, to allow defenders to delay the restart for almost FORTY SECONDS is ridiculous and invites problems.

To apply this to refereeing youth soccer. I can’t even count the number of players I’ve encountered who think they only have to respect the required distance on free kicks if the
victimized team asks. Indeed, when I read Law 13 it discusses indirect free kicks, direct free kicks, kick-offs, and penalty kicks and in each instance it says “all opponents are at least 9.15m (10 yards) from the ball until it is in play”. Perhaps I keep getting the abridged version of the LoTG, but I’ve never seen verbage discussing “at the kicker’s request” or “if asked for”. Further, virtually no players (or coaches) seem to understand that there are seven cautionable offenses - and “Delaying the restart of play” & “Fails to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner kick or free kick or throw-in” are two of them. The 10-yard myth is so strong, I usually mention in my pregame with players that free kicks are supposed to be free and noone should have to ask for the distance to be respected. I wish I didn’t feel I had to do this, but that’s how strong I’ve seen the myth become. But as the players & coaches have become more educated in the game, why is the myth still so strong? I blame coaches and players for not knowing/understanding the LoTG. But I feel the most blame belongs to referees who don’t enforce the required distance, allowing the problem to grow for other referees. Now, if the victimized team wishes to take a quick restart, then I’m not going to step in. But if it’s obvious that it will be a ceremonial restart then the defender(s) will almost always get a verbal and/or visual indication to move back - at a minimum. Yet despite the pregame warning & despite the verbal/visual instruction to respect the distance I find it amazing how many players are shocked to see the yellow card when they persist.

To go along with all this. . .for you players. . .if you choose to plant yourself 1-2 yards from the ball immediately upon a foul being whistled against your team, expect to see a very quick yellow card from me! Let’s be clear here. As a defender in a free kick situation, there’s nothing you can do standing that close to the ball that isn’t delaying the restart of play. Further, this is tactical misconduct - delaying the restart of play so your teammates can set up their defense for the free kick. So in my mind, the yellow card you see could be for one of three things - delaying the restart, failing to respect the distance, or unsporting behavior (due to the tactical nature of the misconduct).
But seriously. . .this is a fast - and stupid - way to see a yellow card.