On Sunday morning I had a veterans league cup game. It featured a Div 3 team vs a Div 4 team so perhaps no surprises that the Div 3 team won pretty convincingly. That said, the skill level was not the highest I have seen and at one point I was starting to think that if it was not for the penalties no goals were going to be scored.
Tempers rose at one point with a big case of ‘handbags’ between two players, starting with the usual “I’ve got to f**king work in the morning!” Normally I would just have a strong word the first time but on this occasion the players stepped over the edge. Not only was there significant pushing and shoving, it was accompanied by the usual ‘see you in the car park’ threats and swearing. I cautioned both.
Cautioning in Sunday morning football is a trial by fire. “It’s just Sunday football, ref” was the annoyed response. As I said to the Captains before the game, my refereeing style is that I referee to the game. If it is all clean passes and kittens then great. If it becomes narky then I’m taking action.
There were several penalties in this game. Two of them (against the losing side) provoked further problems.
The first was a cross into the box which hit the arm of a defender. The arm was stretched out to the side so no question of the penalty and this was not really disputed. However, as it was a blatant break-up of the attacking play I cautioned. Again, “It’s just Sunday football, ref” and “Get a grip!”. I cautioned for exactly the same thing in a Saturday game recently and the player accepted it and moved on. It’s an attitude thing.
The second was the goalkeeper shoving an attacker square in the back as the ball was sailing in from above. The problem here was that it was as a corner was flying in. Everyone was watching the ball whereas I was watching the players. The only people on the pitch that knew about the push were the goalkeeper and the attacker he pushed over! Oh, and me of course hence I awarded the penalty. Predictably, the goalkeeper protested his innocence and it was a REALLY tough penalty to sell.
By this point I was no friend of the losing team in the slightest and I was generally accused by them of ruining the game.
Looking back, I’m not sure what I could have changed but am welcome to any input. It might be telling that a referee I worked with recently (Level 4 and on the county Development Programme) said he basically gave up refereeing Sunday football because of how enforcing the Laws just gets you into trouble! After all, I’ve recently had Sunday teams turn up in black kits and not know what it means when you win the coin toss. Sigh.
Despite the above, there are some Sunday players and even entire teams with great spirit who both know the Laws and play with great sportsmanship. I just hope I’ll meet them more often!
You have kittens on the pitch? Wow, I never knew football could be so….. varied 😉 And what’s the problem with black kit? The All Blacks wear black, but I guess that’s rugby..
Hi Vanessa,
I wish there had been kittens. It would have made everything so very calming! Black kits are not permitted until you get to the higher league echelons (e.g. what you would tend to see on TV). Equally, referees HAVE to wear black and can’t wear the fancy coloured shirts until the same level. To confuse matters, this is different in Scotland…
Sometimes players overreact and for the same situations as in other matches they just explode. Think you best stay strong, as a referee many players are always not happy about your decisions.
I’ve heard many players say ‘come on, this is low level football why do you give cards’ (same with your Sunday games). That’s nonsense. I also dislike refs who do never give card in friendlies. Some offences (like hitting someone in the face) is just red, also in a friendly.
About the black shirts: refs can wear all colours here. But there are no black teams.