Question Number: 18938

Other 4/30/2008

RE: Level Doesn't Matter Other

Chris of Albuquerque, NM United States asks...

This question is a follow up to question 18844

Just offering more of my two cents for Pete -- I just can't help it. I referee both soccer and basketball. Let's start with what I know to be true.

In soccer, if a coach berates a referee -- in a FIFA rules scenario, he's expelled for behaving in an irresponsible manner. In a "modified rules for youth soccer" world, he's yellow carded for dissent and possibly red-carded for his idiocy if the ranting continues.

In basketball, if a coach berates the referee crew enough, he's "teed" up (technical foul). Two T's and it's an early bath, a report to the proper authorities, and the bum sits out at least one game.

Those are the two sports I know personally. Let's go to others for a moment...

We've all seen the footage in baseball of a coach disgracefully kicking dirt on an umpire's shoes and seeing the ump do the "you're outta here!!" gesture and running the coach. So we know the mechanism is in place for baseball when a coach goes over the line.

Insult the chair/referee in tennis, you're disqualified.

What I want to know is whether or not Pete is seeing a pattern here? Let me bring up another tidbit: remember the movie Jungle Book? They beg and plead for somebody to referee. Once a humble animal steps forward, the fangs are literally beared in seconds. That's what we of the referee populace deal with every week.

What Pete asked was a rhetorical question. He knows the answer. The ref is the person in charge of your game that day. Telling him he or she is not doing his or her job is about as counterproductive as telling the police officer writing you a speeding ticket that you hope the county can spend your extra money fattening his ass with donuts that every cop eats fourteen of every day.

And finally, let's not forget the "walk a mile in their shoes" test. You want to talk, Pete? You want to do that back-handed bull faeces about "two people who are perfect, the Pope, and the Ref," go become one. Go stand in the middle of a U10 girls game where every parent on the sideline is just itching to give you a verbal proctological exam filled with some of the most ignorant bile coming out of their mouths that you can imagine. Go do a tournament game or two on a field full of 13 year old boys or (so-called) adults in a recreational league.

Then come to the rest of us (the rank and file) and tell us how much we all suck with that backhanded crap. You want to criticize? Grow a pair. Walk a mile in our shoes (or boots, as they call them across the pond).

Utter crap...

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Hi Chris. I think your words can stand on their own. Thanks for writing

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Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Chris,
I almost passed on this one because I am unsure if reiterating everything serves a useful purpose but I do feel strongly that to marginalize detractors actually lends them strength when they cast stones at the ivory towers. LEGITAMATE differences for what passes as acceptable human behaviour certainly has divergent themes in the world as of late. Soccer as the beautiful game of life that it emulates has its own demons that we work through to make it a better sport for all.

Open dialogue with contrary individuals is always hard to fathom when our own ideals are clear and precise in our own world. Pete, in my opinion, fully understands the reasoning behind in not arguing with a referee he simply chooses to consider his right to react is up to him not for us to tell him that he can not!

I generally use the word *COULD* as it implies choice but unacceptable behaviour if it is truly harmful to someone not just an irritation, no matter by who, a referee, a coach, a player or a spectator must be addressed in some fashion.

As a coach I have been outraged by the antics of some referees and understand why the desire to overreact to some things is very strong and difficult to control. I have overstepped the technical area and I fully expect to answer for it if and when I do. I and Frankly? I suspect Pete knows this as well.

On the rare incidents where a referee with no integrity takes to the pitch just how obvious is it? We know there have been allegations of bribes and pay offs in certain leagues at the elite level. People will believe in the possibility of injustice because of the rampage of injustice that assails us everyday on the bloody TV, newspaper and radio. Perhaps we are fascinated by the carnage more than uplifted by the good stuff which except for a glimpse of here and there is not always easy to find.

I have endured referees who through misapplication of law created replay of matches for our team. While reasonable behaviour means not to explode on his butt like the worst rash or roughest TP imaginable it is unfair to not address issues which affect the health and safety of my players. Accidental as the mistakes maybe if I know they are mistakes while I will record and report, if necessary, you can expect me to try and gain the attention of the referee even if I understand the consequences of doing so. I want to reiterate these are rare occasions and one need not dish the referee for all to hear just because of anger.

As much as a reasonable coach will provide tactical information and remain in the technical area so to a reasonable referee will understand that soccer as a passionate and emotional roller coaster there are moments when the screams are louder or longer than others. It is because the ride is not always even or at the same speed and to some extent a referee does lay some of that track. Frothing and wild eyed rhetoric is not of use and such antics should get one removed but rational and reasonable dissent is not a requirement to send off a coach who is a tad upset about which direction the train is headed for. Warning and if repetitive could bring about that result but it should be noted the MAIN reason we dislike a coach mouthing off is it is intimidation of younger or inexperienced referees who crash the train trying to get it back on track far more often than a legitimate what the ? by a coach

Our own biases and prejudices affect how we will see something or how we CHOOSE to perceive it and in what layer of truth we wish to squeeze it into the overall picture pie!
Integrity is a commodity of character not of position; while we can record and report conduct of those who in our opinion fail to measure to the standard we apply. I know from both happy and grim experiences that truth is a multifaceted creature and contains at least three sides to any version of it.

In history free speech is always paid for by the blood of others as *free* is often a mistaken term for things that no longer cost what they once did.

The point we or I try to get across to those that see a game of fun as an instrument of doom in the hands of an incompetent official when things are not going according to expectations is to measure the expectations with a healthy dose of reality, reacting in positive ways to find solutions and fix problems not create more. Generally the issues are more in the way of being unable to agree to disagree rather than specific misconduct unacceptable as human behaviour which appals us all..

In a recent high profile match a losing coach confronted a referee on the field and was sent off for this incident. The coach KNEW he was going to go but felt he must TEST the mettle of the referee and try to motivate his players. When questioned after the match he said it was a great game. No mention he was dismissed and no mention the referee failed them.

People who know if they cross the line and are willing to take the consequences we can at least accept that measure of emotional carnage. Those that are bewildered or incredulous often fail to comprehend that reasonable behaviour applies to them is a very specific sense and that blaming others rarely gets the job done. Sorting out real issues requires understanding and corrective action that is based on what we actually do not simply mouthing off claiming the right to do so is in the charter of rights! Why is the right to say better than the right not to listen? This is often vindication of ego more than righteous indignation or fixing a problem.

As a player, coach or parent it is ALWAYS a collective right to leave the field, take your ball and go home if the game is not one that you enjoy. One can record and report the details as perceived by them and submit them regularly as monitoring on a consistent basis set apart patterns rather then a single misplaced virtue or mistake.
We might have to deal with the unpleasant aftermath but God gave us free will and choice it is a shame we squander that privilege so often on the things that are so easily corrected, our own accountability!
Cheers


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