Don't forget your watch!
Last year I was assigned to referee the middle of a high school boys varsity
game during a weekday. I rushed directly from work to the game location,
which had a scheduled start time of 5:00 PM. Upon arrival and changing into
my uniform, I realized that I had my dress watch with me instead of my
soccer
stopwatch. I requested my assistant referees to keep back up time during
the
pre-game discussion. We started the game 8 minutes late due to some
visiting
team delays in arriving at the field, and the field had a scoreboard
timeclock. I noted the start time on my watch, and started the game.
I quickly forgot that we had started the game 8 minutes late, and when my
watch approached 40 minutes after the scheduled start time of the game, I
looked over at one of my assistant referees and gestured that I thought I
had
one minute left---he nodded in a way I thought was his concurrence with the
time. Therefore, when 1 minute elapsed, I blew the whistle and ended the
first half. The players stopped play and looked confused as I walked off
the
field. When I reached the sideline, my assistant referee pointed to the
scoreboard clock, which prominently showed 8 minutes remaining.
Embarrassed, I walked back to the center circle and restarted play with a
drop ball, trying to ignore the chuckles of the players, coaches, and
spectators, and acted like I knew exactly what I was doing!
The End!
Anonymous -Fox40 Whistle Winner
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