For the Integrity of Soccer

Aloud the wind doth blow . . .

The game is not only about La Liga, the Premiership, Serie A and the Champions' League.  It's also about Sunday League games, pub teams, youth leagues and matches played on wet and windy fields on public parks when it is still officially winter.  But in all of the games, the tensions are the same--the competitiveness, the physical play and conning the referee to get an advantage of some sort.  Take last Sunday in Stretford, in the Manchester Publicity League in northern England.

Of Bars and Posts and Memories, and Rooney's "red mist" . . .

This morning as I was reading the report of the Fulham/Liverpool match, some memories of my years in the North American Soccer League came flooding back from more than a quarter-century ago.  Not waves of nostalgia for the days gone by, but ripples of amusement at some of the foolishness of those days.   "I summon up remembrance of things past..." as Shakespeare wrote in a sonnet, and what I summon up from years ago causes me to smile today.

It will stop only if we stop it !

I am accused occasionally of being hard on referees, and as often complimented for being so.  But I don't think it is unreasonable to expect someone who is paid to do an enjoyable weekend job to put some effort into it.  As a player I suffered under the boot of incompetence, and now as an observer of referees, I judge that little has changed.  Most referees do the minimum required to get games, and few and far between are the ones who treat the task as a profession.

My last post referred to amateur games in Sacramento, and then not a day later I came across the challenge that Wayne Rooney made on Aliiev in the world cup qualifier against Ukraine:

"Where have all the ref'rees gone . . . When will they ever learn?"

Over the weekend, public television had a fundraiser, which featured as gifts some CDs and a documentary DVD of the great American icon, activist, folksinger and all-around good guy Pete Seeger.  For an hour or two I was drawn to watch it, despite the interruptions from pitchmen.  The program brought back my time in graduate school in the sixties, the exciting incendiary decade with its turmoil and triumph, death and ultimate deliverance.  I hadn't realized that so many of the songs we sang were written by Pete Seeger, who is soon to be honored on the occasion of his ninetieth birthday.

The title is from the great anti-war song "Where have all the flowers gone?"  I used it because although the original song has a tone of despair, it succeeds because if we don't acknowledge we have a problem, we cannot bring about changes of any kind.  So it is in soccer, as I saw clearly (again) recently . . .

The Referee as Policeman, not Jurist.

The incident involving Friedel and Torres in the EPL game last week had certainly produced some ruffled feathers here and there in the referee community, not only on this site, but on SocRef and Big Soccer.  Even Graham Poll (yes, that one) has squawked about it in the MailOnline.  Those in the flock with ruffled feathers are generally concerned that the FA's refusal to add a suspension to Friedel's expulsion undermines the referee (and by extension) all other referees.  But does it?  What is the role of the referee?

Joy to the World: My Three-DOGSO Night !

This last Saturday I went down to the bay area (Cupertino) to look at an academy game where a national referee candidate was being assessed for next year's national test, and then on Sunday I went over to Sacramento to watch some Central California Soccer League matches to see if local referees are paying attention.  While this was going on, the Premiership was taking one step nearer to deciding the championship as Manchester United faltered and Liverpool seemed resurgent.  And of course, MLS started up, and, if you read BigSoccer (http://www.bigsoccer.com/), you will know that the league began with a little controversy here and there.

So here's a treat for you: three games, three incidents in-and-around the goal in three matches to see if FIFA's intent to change the game by instituting an expulsion for blatant fouls, cynical chopping and cheating to prevent a goal has worked.  Monday evening then, was my three-DOGSO night.  A reminder: DOGSO will work only if every referee does the job he or she is supposed to.  We are the agents of change that the game needs...  Take a look.

Clarifications: infernal handball; eternal triangle . . .

Amid all the benefits of communicating via the internet, I have to concede one disadvantage: that dispatch sometimes produces doubt.  In the last few days that has happened twice with posts I have made, so herewith a couple of elaborations, one on the identification of illegal handling, the other on the purpose of the triangle in the graphic sent out to illustrate the game-management model by the federation.  I'll handle the handling first . . .

Lots of work to be done . . .

With the "new" direction the referee program is taking, all the information has to reach every registered referee and every new recruit as soon as possible, and that is a tall order.  Not only that, but it has to reach every assessor and every instructor.  It means that in each state association, a lot of people are going to be very busy during the coming months getting the word out to all officials.  Take a look at just one element . . .

A few years ago, FIFA revamped the Laws of the Game.  The last time that had been done was before the second world war, so changes were overdue.  But in the revision, FIFA left out what to me was the most important International Board Decision (IBD) for Law 5.  It was IBD 8, which concerned itself with the referee interfering as little as possible, that he has a duty to penalize only deliberate breaches  of the law, that constant whistling for trifling or doubtful breaches produces bad feeling and loss of temper of the players, and spoils the pleasure of the spectators.  IBD 8 was the living heart of refereeing, beating in every single match, and if referees did not grasp its significance, they could rip it out in a mistake that took the life of the game.

The Directives are available online

CHICAGO (March 10, 2009) -- The 2009 U.S. Soccer Referee Directives are now available online. They can be found under the Referee Development area on the U.S. Soccer webpage. The ten (10) Directives are provided to assist in the management of games at the highest levels and, hence, are of interest not only to match officials but coaches and administrators as well. The objective of the Directives is to provide a more unified and consistent approach in key areas of game management.

100% Misconduct - Tactical and Red Card Tackles (.pdf)
Assistant Referee Involvement (.pdf)
Contact Above the Shoulder (.pdf)
Dissent (.pdf)
Free Kick and Restart Management (.pdf)
Game Disrepute and Mass Confrontation (.pdf)
Game Management Model - Flow Risk Taking Game Control (.pdf)
Handling the Ball (.pdf)
Injury Management (.pdf)
Managing the Technical Area (.pdf)

Some much-needed light relief

Manchester United won yesterday and advance in the European Champions League to the final 8, but the manager, Alex Ferguson, was not happy was some parts of his team's play.  He accused them of showboating with flicks and back-heels and passes to nowhere when the game wasn't already put away.  But he's a Scotsman, many of whom are known for being dour (look it up).  (I once had a Scottish father-in-law who was dour, so dour that before he knew where I was from, told me that the two kinds of people he couldn't stand were Catholics and Welshmen.)  At half-time in the United match, Fergie gave his boys a right talking-to, and they straightened up.

The last few posts here have also been very serious, and I think it is time for some light relief from studs and elbows to show the skills that are great entertainment, even if Fergie believes that you can do without them.  So click here for nothing but pure enjoyment, and, if you ever played, you are entitled to show some admiration (and envy) at the skills displayed in showboating.