Assessing a Ref

The Ref asked me to watch his co-ed rec game and report on the refereeing in that contest. As noted in his post below, he has been, oh, a bit dissatisfied with the refereeing and, in particular, doesn't think the refs take the game seriously enough. After watching the game, I would agree that the level of refereeing is not great and that neither ref working the 2-man system is working all that hard.

There were few challenging plays during the game, no really significant blown calls, a few questionable whistles. On one play, the ref called for a corner kick, thinking the ball went off the GK. When the Gk said he didn't touch the ball, the ref changed the call. I don't think the other team was pleased. (It looked from where I was that the ball did hit the GK, but I was down the field on the other side of the halfway line.) The ref on the far side from where I was standing did little running (yes, it's really, really hot here and they were working several games, but still . . . ). He was in position to make a couple of offside calls, but only by happenstance did he saunter down there in time. Generally, he wasn't close to the 2d to last defender, especially when the ball got down low towards the goal line. His partner on my side also rarely ventured close to the halfway line, and neither ever pinched in towards the middle of the field when the ball was on the far side away from them. For example, on corner kicks, neither moved up to watch the action at the top of the 18. In their defense, the one time action called for a card, the near side ref was right on it.

The game was fun to watch, with some positive play by members of both teams. Many players had a good feel for the game and demonstrated solid skills. As for the Ref, he got himself fouled in the PA, the near side ref called it, and he easily placed the ball to the left side of the net as the keeper dove right. (Making up for a miss on a semi-break away from the right side, his shot hitting side netting.)