This was a comment that I heard from a parent when I was standing next to the touch line.
For context, I normally do OA games but given it's so hard to find a ref for youth games I occasionally take charge of my son's team. I actually find it harder than OA football, identifying fouls can be really tricky. Today my son's team 8-0 and with 2 minutes to go I heard this comment. Throughout the game my son's team had been first to every ball, they competed well and showed a determination to win the ball. I penalised them a couple of times for using an arm but otherwise it was shoulder to shoulder with the other team dropping to the floor at the slightest sign of contact. Their manager spoke to my afterwards and said he knows they have been placed in the wrong division after losing a few players in the close season and the couple of games so far have been a complete mismatch.
Back to the comment. I told the guy that his comment was out of line and outrageous. Of course he justified this by saying I had missed fouls. He then went on to say I couldn't do anything blah blah to which I told him if I heard another comment from him I'll be abandoning the game and he can explain to the other parents why his behavior caused this.
At the end of the game I spoke to the away manager and told him about the comment I had heard. He agreed it was wrong. I explained I had grounds to report this to county but given he was on the other side of the pitch and had been a pleasure to deal with i'd give him the opportunity to deal with it. I bumped in to him in the car park after and he apologised and said the parent would be dealt with as the club have a great reputation. The individual was the parent of one of the new kids to the team.
Very sad to think these people are out there and have an influence on kids so young The other issue is that it puts off other parents from stepping up so we end up in a vicious circle where the expectation is for me to ref. That situation would be very intimidating to someone who hadn't experienced it before so why would they volunteer? No wonder we have such a problem with retention/recruiting new refs.
For context, I normally do OA games but given it's so hard to find a ref for youth games I occasionally take charge of my son's team. I actually find it harder than OA football, identifying fouls can be really tricky. Today my son's team 8-0 and with 2 minutes to go I heard this comment. Throughout the game my son's team had been first to every ball, they competed well and showed a determination to win the ball. I penalised them a couple of times for using an arm but otherwise it was shoulder to shoulder with the other team dropping to the floor at the slightest sign of contact. Their manager spoke to my afterwards and said he knows they have been placed in the wrong division after losing a few players in the close season and the couple of games so far have been a complete mismatch.
Back to the comment. I told the guy that his comment was out of line and outrageous. Of course he justified this by saying I had missed fouls. He then went on to say I couldn't do anything blah blah to which I told him if I heard another comment from him I'll be abandoning the game and he can explain to the other parents why his behavior caused this.
At the end of the game I spoke to the away manager and told him about the comment I had heard. He agreed it was wrong. I explained I had grounds to report this to county but given he was on the other side of the pitch and had been a pleasure to deal with i'd give him the opportunity to deal with it. I bumped in to him in the car park after and he apologised and said the parent would be dealt with as the club have a great reputation. The individual was the parent of one of the new kids to the team.
Very sad to think these people are out there and have an influence on kids so young The other issue is that it puts off other parents from stepping up so we end up in a vicious circle where the expectation is for me to ref. That situation would be very intimidating to someone who hadn't experienced it before so why would they volunteer? No wonder we have such a problem with retention/recruiting new refs.