Junior/Youth Bit of feedback/questions

[RomfordRef]

Hi there,

Had one of my first matches a couple of weeks ago and I have another tomorrow, I just had a couple of questions. The questions are in relation to an U11 game.

1) Orange vs Blue, right at the end of the match and a loose ball bounces towards the orange keeper, he has plenty of time and space to comfortably collect it. I think to myself "As soon as he releases the ball up field I'll blow for full time." After he collects it, a good second and a half later a blue striker goes running into him recklessly, and knocks the keeper to the floor in pain. Clearly a foul, I blow for full time, considering that if I give a free kick I'll just be ending the match after it's taken anyway. Thoughts on this?

2) Orange player goes down in which is a 50/50 challenge. I allow the play to continue not thinking it's a foul. He is on the floor and looks up, as he does, a blue players attempts to cross the ball to another player. The ball hits the orange player on the floor in the face from about 6 feet away. Admittedly, unsure what to do, allow play to continue. I don't feel any law has been broken and the blue player was not being malicious, merely trying to make a cross.

3) A player presents himself to me out of nowhere crying and hurt. I honestly had no idea what was wrong as he was nowhere near the action. Luckily the ball went out of play moments after so he could seek help from his manager. If play were to have continued. Should I have stopped the match? If so, would I restart with a dropped ball?

4) In all honesty, I was very lenient with the players on the pitch only blowing for a handful of fouls all match. There was a lot of tackles I may have blown for had it been an adult game, but as it was U11's and the skill level really was rock bottom I allowed them to go. After the game, a spectator gave me his opinion on this, and it has me questioning my approach.

All in all I felt the game went pretty well, and I'm excited for my next match. Although I've got to admit, being the man in the middle was a lot harder than I was expecting it to be! Never again will I shout in disbelief at a Premier league Ref's decision...

Any other advice is also appreciated..

 

[Padfoot]

1. Give the foul. Shows that you've recognised the offence and dealt with it.

2. At that age if there was any doubt about the safety of the player on the floor I would be stopping the game to check. Depends on how hard the ball was hit, obvious signs of injury/distress etc

3. Yes, stop the match and check on the players welfare....they are 10/11 yr olds after all.

4. If it's a foul....it's a foul, regardless of age or ability. In fact you could say it is more important at the early ages to pick up poor challenges as otherwise how do players learn? If you let these challenges go unchecked then the players will think that they are perfectly acceptable and keep doing them until someone gets injured.

 

[Brian Hamilton]

Hi there,

Had one of my first matches a couple of weeks ago and I have another tomorrow, I just had a couple of questions. The questions are in relation to an U11 game.

1) Orange vs Blue, right at the end of the match and a loose ball bounces towards the orange keeper, he has plenty of time and space to comfortably collect it. I think to myself "As soon as he releases the ball up field I'll blow for full time." After he collects it, a good second and a half later a blue striker goes running into him recklessly, and knocks the keeper to the floor in pain. Clearly a foul, I blow for full time, considering that if I give a free kick I'll just be ending the match after it's taken anyway. Thoughts on this?

2) Orange player goes down in which is a 50/50 challenge. I allow the play to continue not thinking it's a foul. He is on the floor and looks up, as he does, a blue players attempts to cross the ball to another player. The ball hits the orange player on the floor in the face from about 6 feet away. Admittedly, unsure what to do, allow play to continue. I don't feel any law has been broken and the blue player was not being malicious, merely trying to make a cross.

3) A player presents himself to me out of nowhere crying and hurt. I honestly had no idea what was wrong as he was nowhere near the action. Luckily the ball went out of play moments after so he could seek help from his manager. If play were to have continued. Should I have stopped the match? If so, would I restart with a dropped ball?

4) In all honesty, I was very lenient with the players on the pitch only blowing for a handful of fouls all match. There was a lot of tackles I may have blown for had it been an adult game, but as it was U11's and the skill level really was rock bottom I allowed them to go. After the game, a spectator gave me his opinion on this, and it has me questioning my approach.

All in all I felt the game went pretty well, and I'm excited for my next match. Although I've got to admit, being the man in the middle was a lot harder than I was expecting it to be! Never again will I shout in disbelief at a Premier league Ref's decision...

Any other advice is also appreciated..

1) Reckless action - get treatment for the keeper, caution the offender, let the defending team restart the game with the free kick and end the game. I don't care about the age group, this player needs to be educated regarding his behaviour.
2) Allow play to continue but only after a quick check on the orange player to make sure he hasn't suffered a serious injury. Being struck in the face from the ball from that distance can cause injury, particularly for younger players. It pays to be careful where head injuries are concerned. If there is any doubt about the player being ok, stop the game immediately and have the player checked.
3) You did the right thing. You don't know how the player became upset. Play on until you can find out the reason then get them assistance if required.
4) Every spectator unless a neutral, qualified match official will have some bias towards one team or the other which will influence his/her opinion. That said the skill level has nothing to do with whether they are fouls or not, just whether they infringe the laws

Glad to hear you're excited. Keep that feeling with you to help you through the not so good times. You will shout, but only because you may not understand the decision or believe you are working from a position of knowledge, so are entitled to question the decision.