RI State Referee Committee

Name: Steven

Bio: Steven Mauricio is the State Referee Administrator

Posts by SRA:

Procedure for Reporting Assault and Abuse

May 18th, 2012

Referees shall transmit a written report of the alleged assault or abuse, or both, within 48 hours of the incident (unless there is a valid reason for later reporting) to the designee of the Organization Member and the State Referee Administrator. For tournaments or special events, the referee shall transmit a written report to the tournament director on the day of the incident and to his home state SRA within 10 days of the incident.

Be sure to call the SRA on the same day that the incident occurs so we can begin the process immediately and review the steps that need to be taken.

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Spring Academy 2012

May 17th, 2012

The SRC will hold a spring academy session beginning on June 3 and ending on June 17. The sessions will be held at Wilson Park in North Kingstown in conjunction with adult games that will be held there. Referees 16-21 are encouraged to attend. Any referee interested in adult assignments is encouraged to attend. Referees will work for limited durations during the Sunday matches. Pre-game and game situations will be reviewed with a different mentor weekly. Registration is online at gameofficials.net.

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Pedro Proença heads all Iberian team at Munich’s UEFA Champions League final

May 17th, 2012

Pedro Proença’s final appointment, which was already communicated on Sunday, has unfolded to be true. He will head an all Iberian team of seven match officials including the Spanish ELITE referee Carlos Velasco Carballo from Spain.

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Club linesmen

May 11th, 2012

In the event that you need a volunteer for your match because there are not enough referees, * Club linesmen (not registered as Federation Referees) are limited to calling in and out of bounds only.

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Law 14 – The Penalty Kick

May 4th, 2012

Law 14 – The Penalty Kick

Introduction
A penalty kick is awarded against a team that commits one of the ten offenses for which a direct free kick is awarded, inside its own penalty area and while the ball is in play.

A goal may be scored directly from a penalty kick.

Additional time is allowed for a penalty kick to be taken at the end of each half or at the end of periods of extra time.

Position of the ball and the players
The ball:

must be placed on the penalty mark

The player taking the penalty kick:

must be properly identified

The defending goalkeeper:

must remain on his goal line, facing the kicker, between the goalposts until the ball has been kicked

The players other than the kicker must be located:

inside the field of play
outside the penalty area
behind the penalty mark
at least 10 yards from the penalty mark

Procedure
After the players have taken positions in accordance with this Law, the referee signals for the penalty kick to be taken.

The player taking the penalty kick must kick the ball forward.

He must not play the ball again until it has touched another player.

The ball is in play when it is kicked and moves forward.

When a penalty kick is taken during the normal course of play, or time has been extended at half-time or full time to allow a penalty kick to be taken or retaken, a goal is awarded if, before passing between the goalposts and under the crossbar:

the ball touches either or both of the goalposts and/or the crossbar and/or the goalkeeper

The referee decides when a penalty kick has been completed.

Infringements and sanctions

If the referee gives the signal for a penalty kick to be taken and, before the ball is in play, one of the following occurs
The player taking the penalty kick infringes the Laws of the Game:

the referee allows the kick to be taken
if the ball enters the goal, the kick is retaken
if the ball does not enter the goal, the referee stops play and the match is restarted with an indirect free kick to the defending team from the place where the infringement occurred

The goalkeeper infringes the Laws of the Game:

the referee allows the kick to be taken
if the ball enters the goal, a goal is awarded
if the ball does not enter the goal, the kick is retaken

A team-mate of the player taking the kick infringes the Laws of the Game:

the referee allows the kick to be taken
if the ball enters the goal, the kick is retaken
if the ball does not enter the goal, the referee stops play and the match is restarted with an indirect free kick to the defending team from the place where the infringement occurred

A team-mate of the goalkeeper infringes the Laws of the Game:

the referee allows the kick to be taken
if the ball enters the goal, a goal is awarded
if the ball does not enter the goal, the kick is retaken

A player of both the defending team and the attacking team infringe the Laws of the Game:

the kick is retaken

If, after the penalty kick has been taken
The kicker touches the ball again (except with his hands) before it has touched another player:

an indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team, the kick to be taken from the place where the infringement occurred (see Law 13 – Position of Free Kick)

The kicker deliberately handles the ball before it has touched another player:

a direct free kick is awarded to the opposing team, to be taken from the place where the infringement occurred (see Law 13 – Position of free kick)

The ball is touched by an outside agent as it moves forward:

the kick is retaken

The ball rebounds into the field of play from the goalkeeper, the crossbar or the goalposts and is then touched by an outside agent:

the referee stops play
play is restarted with a dropped ball at the place where it touched the outside agent, unless it touched the outside agent inside the goal area, in which case the referee drops the ball on the goal area line parallel to the goal line at the point nearest to where the ball was located when play was stopped
INTERPRETATIONS OF LAW 14

Procedure
Feinting in the run-up to take a penalty kick to confuse opponents is permitted as part of soccer. However, feinting to kick the ball once the player has completed his run-up is considered an infringement of Law 14 and an act of unsporting behavior for which the player must be cautioned.

Preparing for the penalty kick
The referee must confirm the following requirements before the penalty kick is taken:
- the kicker is identified
- the ball is properly placed on the penalty mark
- the goalkeeper is on the goal line between the goalposts and facing the kicker
- the team-mates of the kicker and the goalkeeper are:

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How refs can deal with spectator abuse

April 22nd, 2012

Abuse from the sideline is a very sad component of some youth soccer games. Many soccer refs quit during their first two years of officiating with verbal abuse from the touchline being the No. 1 reason for quitting.

If all of us understood that referees are human beings who make mistakes and have feelings like everybody else, plus that coaches and spectators are role models for their own children, so many of the discipline problems associated with youth soccer would go away. And your league’s Arbitration Committee would be about as busy as the Maytag repairman.

My Soccer America column in August 2010 was on how referees control the coaches who need to be controlled. Coaches only have the ability, per the Laws of the Game, to give tactical instruction from the technical area and that is it. It goes on to state that coaches “must behave in a responsible manner.” Certainly, for a ref to allow a coach to give a running criticism of the officiating hurts game control. Allowing constant criticism from a coach (or anybody else) contributes to an environment in which the players stop playing soccer and begin to focus on what the ref is whistling, which leads to more robust challenges and more vocal dissent.

I have also learned that referees who control problem coaches have a much easier time with that same coach should their paths ever cross again as the coach knows that he or she will not be allowed to dissent much at all.

Coaches are part of the equation of touchline abuse but what about abuse from the spectators? Many spectators have absolutely no idea what the rules say, especially in youth soccer, and the only soccer games that they have ever seen are their son’s or daughter’s. The great majority of problems with parents are avoided by officials who hustle, smile, are approachable, get calls correct plus briefly explain decisions that need to be explained.

Over the course of an officiating career, a referee will come across that rare human being who has very little experience with the game yet thinks he or she is an authority on the rules and does not respect the ref’s decisions or whatever brief explanation the ref may give. Just smile and move on.

But what if that spectator continues to yell? Once the ref figures out which team the spectator is rooting for, he or she could seek that coach’s help to control the spectator. Many youth leagues now require that the coach control unruly spectators. When a coach has been instructed by the referee to quiet the team’s parents, the coach can send over an assistant to deliver the message or be forced to deal with the parents while the game is stopped.

If the spectator(s) continue the poor conduct, the coach receives a yellow card (should the league want coaches to be shown the actual card) and later a red card if the poor conduct continues. Before it gets to that point, the ref explains to the coach that the game could be terminated if the conduct persists. Should the poor conduct persist, the referee terminates the game and files a report.

The referee should not confront the spectator as this will only add fuel to the fire. Thankfully, spectator behavior rarely gets to that level. I can only recall abandoning one of my games because of poor spectator behavior.

The league might have adopted a Zero Tolerance policy, which governs the behavior of coaches and spectators toward game officials. It is imperative for the ref to know if a Zero Tolerance Policy is in force for the game and how that league interprets zero tolerance.

Yes, some people take youth soccer way too seriously and one unfortunate consequence of this verbal abuse leads to the referees remaining often being overworked on weekends. I started refereeing when I was 16 years old and obviously stuck with it. But it struck me as odd when some adults 2-3 times my age at that time showed less maturity at a soccer game than the players a few years younger than me. I still see this lack of maturity in some of the adults today.

As Jim Tunney, who officiated in the NFL for 31 years, once stated, “My definition of a spectator is a person who yells at me for missing a subtle hold in the interior line and, after the game, cannot find his car in the parking lot.”

(Randy Vogt has officiated over 8,000 games during the past three decades, from professional matches in front of thousands to 6-year-olds being cheered on by very enthusiastic parents. In Preventive Officiating, he shares his wisdom gleaned from thousands of games and hundreds of clinics to help referees not only survive but thrive on the soccer field. You can visit the book’s website at www.preventiveofficiating.com/)

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Second looks are vital to upgrade officiating

April 8th, 2012

By Ridge Mahoney

Claims of inconsistency have arisen in the wake of MLS imposing harsher punishments for players’ transgressions, but critics miss the point that such reviews will increase consistency in the long run.

Jair Benitez, Danny Cruz, Brandon McDonald and Atiba Harris are the latest poster boys in a campaign being launched by MLS to crack down.

Critics were quick to point out fouls and other incidents that seemed equally unsavory or vicious and escaped further punishment, which is a natural offshoot of such procedures. As the league expands and adds games in different venues and playing conditions, the number of borderline situations increases, and so do the reviews of the reviews.

Benitez was suspended for one game and fined for violent conduct for throwing an elbow at Danny Cruz while they dueled for a ball in the D.C. United-FC Dallas game Friday night. Cruz received a fine for embellishment; he simulated being struck in the face.

Brandon McDonald, like Cruz a D.C. United player, was suspended for one game and fined for a reckless challenge in the same game. He tackled FC Dallas striker Blas Perez from behind.

Atiba Harris of Vancouver was also suspended for one game and fined for violent conduct. He elbowed Philadelphia defender Carlos Valdes in their game last Saturday, and was issued a yellow card for the offense.

Perhaps a dozen other incidents that occurred in the nine games played during the fourth week of the MLS regular season that seemed to be somewhat similar did not result in further punishment. “Inconsistency!” wailed the critics, and all I can say is, “Get used to it.”

News flash: there will never, ever, be the level of consistency from game to game that we all crave. Many soccer incidents are not nearly so cut-and-dried as, say, a home-plate umpire establishing his strike zone, or the rigid definitions on pass interference regarding contact between a wide receiver and a cornerback. The game is too fluid, the angles too numerous, the incidents too varied for widespread uniformity.

Soccer commentators say, rightly, that fouls for grabbing and pushing could be called on every corner kick and free kick. Football commentators say, also rightly, that offensive holding can be called on every play. The key factor in both situations is establishing a fine line between what is permissible and what is too blatant to be ignored. It’s not a perfect science and never will be, but a league – be it the NFL or MLS – can strive for a level of consistency through review and education.

The best we can hope for is what players and coaches want most: consistency from the officials within a particular game. The greater empowerment of referee’s assistants to call fouls as well as offside situations and balls out of play add a layer of difficulty to this operation, though over time as officials work with each other they get a feel for how the others call a game.

As evidence of the unique officiating problems presented by soccer, I submit: Over the past 10 years or so, I’ve been completely flummoxed as to what is handball and what isn’t. This isn’t unique to MLS; I’ve scratched my head at handball calls and lack of same in Merseyside derbys, Cascadia Cup matches, and Champions League finals. Deflections, rebounds, blocked crosses, weird hops, I’ve given up trying to figure it out. There have been all manner of directives and photos and charts released by FIFA during the past decade attempting to clarify situations but the same inconsistencies seem to persist.

I’ve also discussed with coaches and general managers one dreaded facet of officiating: calls which are guesses as to what the official thought had happened. It looked like the goalkeeper tripped the forward even though the contact wasn’t seen, so call the penalty kick. I think the player on the ground holding his face got hit by a forearm even though I didn’t see it, so I’d better pull out a card.

Not every referee can adhere to the credo, “Don’t call what you didn’t see.” Or maybe the referee did see the incident and wasn’t sure about the severity, so he issued a yellow card instead of red. If the league goes back and imposes a more severe punishment retroactively, in most cases I don’t have a problem with it for the following reasons:

a) Forcing a team a man down on a borderline call doesn’t serve the spirit of the game. Now if an official is constantly issuing cautions that upon review result in suspensions, that official isn’t doing his job properly. But if he’s unsure, he can err on the side of caution – pun intended – knowing the league can impose a harsher punishment. The German Bundesliga has been doing this for more than a decade and few other leagues have adopted the process. If the league can clearly establish what should be a straight red card, players and coaches and officials will know where they stand.

b) Reviewing incidents with the power of punishment establishes clearer strictures on what constitutes foul play, and increases the amount of relevant data not only for the officials, but for players, coaches, executives, fans and journalists. Over time, such scrutiny can improve consistency among officials and from game to game.

I will be interested to see how the hiring of English referee Peter Walton and the formation of a referee’s association, PRO, will affect the development of officiating in North America. One short-term remedy would be to adopt the use of goal-line officials as currently used in the Champions League and Europa League but doing math on that one can be daunting.

When a high-ranking MLS executive was asked about training, developing, and implementing goal-line officials, he replied, “It’s hard enough to get four [per game]. Where are we going to find six?”

He has a point.

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