Representing Arlington from the Sidelines:
I recently attended a weekend soccer game to
watch some young players enjoy the game of
soccer with their friends and families.
The level of play in the game was fairly high
and the teams were equally matched in
ability. The referee system was a center and
2 assistant referees, the best system
available to manage a game. The coaches were
offering instructions and feedback to the
players in a positive manner and the players
were competing hard, but in a fair way. You
could see that the kids were enjoying the
match. What a great way to spend a weekend
morning!
Then something completely innocent happened
that changed this wonderful scene.One team
played a ball behind the defense into space
for one of their forwards to run on to for a
fast break. The AR on that side took a few
steps to keep up with the play and then
determined the attacking player was offside.
The AR stopped and raised his flag
indicating the offside. The play happened to
be on the opposite side of the field forcing
the referee to view the play with his back to
the AR. Because of that, the referee allowed
play to continue not realizing the player had
been determined to be offside by the AR. At
that point, you would have thought the
referee had committed a felony because the
parents of the defending team erupted. “Hey
Ref, look at your linesman”” “Offside”!
“Offside”! One team was cheering the player
on and the other was screaming at the
referee. And, the kids were oblivious to all
of it because they just wanted to play.
From that point on, every call the referee or
AR made was met with harsh, verbal criticism.
Both team’s parents began to question every
foul and offer up every opinion on what was
happening during the game. Some of the
parents on one team were even calling the
opposing player’s cheaters, which of course
made the opposing parents irate. The level
of play dropped because the players were
convinced that the referee was “out to get
them”. The demeanor on the sideline became
aggressive because of the comments by other
parents. And, every call against one team
was viewed as a make-up call for the other
team. It was a really disappointing change
in the way the game was being played and
enjoyed.
I happened to be close to one team at
halftime and was able to listen in to the
coach’s halftime talk. The first thing this
coach said to his players was they had to
refocus on the game and not be distracted by
what the parents were saying to the referee,
the players or to each other. The 5-10
minutes of halftime was used to try to keep
the players from being distracted by their
parents instead of positive feedback on how
the game had been played or some minor
adjustments in tactics. The players were
completely caught up in the situation
happening on the sidelines.
The game became one in which everything the
players and referee did was commented on and
complained about. I was standing on the
sidelines where the teams were and listened
as every player that came off the field
either complained about the behavior on the
far sideline or the referee was doing a
terrible job. They had become completely
distracted by things that were out of their
control and all of this because of one missed
call. Which, by the way, did not result in a
goal for the attacking team because the
goalie had made a terrific save.
Please be aware of your behavior on the
sidelines. Your comments
to the referees and players have a huge
impact on everyone’s enjoyment of the game.
Young players can pick their parents voices
out of a crowd very easily and when they here
those voices and what is being said it can
really affect the way they view the game.
Represent your community and team they way
you would represent yourself in your
professional life. Everyone makes mistakes
and if a missed call is the worst mistake you
will have to deal with on that day count
yourself fortunate!
