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.

We’re the newest member of the National Premier Soccer League, and we’ve just kicked off our season playing in the Northeast-Atlantic Conference of the league.

We play teams including Mass United, the Brooklyn Italians, the New York Athletic Club, and even a New York Red Bulls team.

Our team includes collegiate players from top programs, including Providence College, URI, and Bryant University. We also have top amateurs from all over the world, and they’re all dedicated to making this team a success.

This year we have seven home games, and we’d love to have your group be a part of it.

Our home field is Cranston Stadium, and we want to see you there!

For this upcoming game against FC New York, you can print this message and present it at the box office to save $2 off the price of a $7 admission.

So print it out, and print up our home calendar, and I’ll see you Friday night!

-Kabba

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:
  • outside the penalty area
  • outside the penalty arc
  • behind the ball

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/)

These are the clinics currently scheduled, to begin on the date shown:

Upcoming certification classes

Clinics are requested by local referee coordinators several weeks to a month in advance. Most of the clinics occur in January through early March and then again from late July through September. Keep in mind, the list is being updated constantly, so keep checking back until you find what you’re looking for. For more information, contact Al Ricci.

In order to register for a class, or if you are interested in hosting a clinic, please visit RIReferees.GameOfficials.NET.

Good Luck!

Referees on the waiting list below will be notified when a new class is available. Regularly scheduled classes for 2013 recertification will be scheduled in the fall.