I reff'ed a girls youth game yesterday for the first time and noticed that I tried to apply the LOTG based on their ability. It's fair to say that the level of physicality was much lower than I have been used to, the girls weren't flying in to tackles and most of the 50/50's were very fairly contested. I maybe gave 8 fouls the entire game. Overall it was a very respectful game between the two teams. One team generally had stronger girls than the other team who were smaller and more skillful.
The only real flashpoint of the game was in the second half when the blue team were running in to the penalty area and the white team dfender (who was much bigger than the attacker) stepped across her with some, albeit minimal, contact and denied her the opportunity to shoot. The blue team girl did not fall to the floor and the ball ran out for a goal kick. I was about 6 yards behind the girls and had a great view.
To the bemusement of the white team manager and their parents, I gave the penalty. If I had been in their position then I too would have wondered why a penalty was given in all honesty. What really surprised me was that none of the girls appealed for the penalty and not a single girl on the white team complained or asked me why. Normally you would know you had got it correct/wrong based on the player reaction so although my gut was a penalty, the reaction didn't confirm that either way.
The penalty was scored but it didn't change the result. Reflecting afterwards I gave the penalty due to the conditions of that individual game and the type of competitiveness I had seen leading up to that moment. It's playing on my mind a bit and although I think I got it correct, if the game had been more physical then it wouldn't have been a penalty unless the player was wiped out in that situation.
Is this how you should apply the LOTG based on age/ability (and possibly even gender)?
The only real flashpoint of the game was in the second half when the blue team were running in to the penalty area and the white team dfender (who was much bigger than the attacker) stepped across her with some, albeit minimal, contact and denied her the opportunity to shoot. The blue team girl did not fall to the floor and the ball ran out for a goal kick. I was about 6 yards behind the girls and had a great view.
To the bemusement of the white team manager and their parents, I gave the penalty. If I had been in their position then I too would have wondered why a penalty was given in all honesty. What really surprised me was that none of the girls appealed for the penalty and not a single girl on the white team complained or asked me why. Normally you would know you had got it correct/wrong based on the player reaction so although my gut was a penalty, the reaction didn't confirm that either way.
The penalty was scored but it didn't change the result. Reflecting afterwards I gave the penalty due to the conditions of that individual game and the type of competitiveness I had seen leading up to that moment. It's playing on my mind a bit and although I think I got it correct, if the game had been more physical then it wouldn't have been a penalty unless the player was wiped out in that situation.
Is this how you should apply the LOTG based on age/ability (and possibly even gender)?
