November 6, 2008

The intent of this weekly newsletter is to provide interesting and useful referee related information for AYSO referees. Send questions, article ideas or comments to: Joe Eldridge, AYSO National Referee Administrator at WhistleStop@....

To Whistle Or Not To Whistle?

Things You Didn't Know About Things You Know Well

Referees must make quick decisions, and the luxury of time to think it over, look it up or discuss it with someone is not an option during the game. Test your knowledge and see if you can answer the following questions: 

What should the referee do and how is play restarted if a red team player with clear possession of the ball is about to take a shot at an open goal from just inside the blue team's penalty area when...

1.  A dog runs on to the field and interferes with the red team player thus denying the obvious goal scoring opportunity?

2.  A blue team substitute runs on to the field and interferes with the red team player thus denying the obvious goal scoring opportunity?

For answers, click here.

Tales From The Pitch

The Best Day Of His Life

Robert Niles, Region 13, Pasadena, CA

The day was cool and rain began to fall during the match, as I refereed my son's U-10 game. It was my first year as a referee and my son's first year in AYSO. At halftime, his coach put him in goal; a position that he had never played.

You guessed it--during the second half, one of my son's teammates clearly tripped an opponent right in front of the goal. We were in the penalty area, a direct free kick foul had been committed...oh no...a penalty kick was in order and my son was in goal! My stomach was in knots, but fair is fair, and I had to make the call.

I had a vision of my son, sitting on a therapist's coach, 10 years in the future, blaming everything that had gone wrong with his life on that day when his dad hung him out to dry at an AYSO game. I got everyone positioned, signaled for the kick, and, in what seemed like slow motion, my son made a beautiful save. His team erupted in cheers, with chants of his name. With a steeled look, he played the rest of the half, making several more impressive saves.

After the game, my son climbed into the back seat of the car, mud encasing his shoes, rain dripping from his chin, his teeth chattering from the chill. And he said, "This was the best day of my life."