Red or not

[Robin]

I had an U18s game this morning which was very scrappy and very boring, I had a player from the white team and a player from the blue team who were not happy with each other, they squared up and swore at each other, In my head I was ready to send them off at any minute but I said to them calm down before you get sent off or cautioned, 10 minutes later they catch up with each other and start again and I say to both managers either you take them off for 10 minutes to cool down or I send them off. Both managers were more than happy for that and both players went off for 10 minutes.

Was I right in doing this to diffuse the situation or should I have sent them both off cos the squaring up and language was awful but Im newly qualified from September and have not sent anyone off yet and don't really want to but I know its all part of the game but I try and keep everyone on the pitch for as long as I can.

Should they have been red carded or was I right in diffusing the situation?

Its still classed as youth football although its an U18 game so dont want to brandish red cards etc...

 

[ref craig]

Maybe for the second time they squared up then u should of cautioned them for adopting aggressive behaviour then got the captains in as well to calm them down and remind them of there language

 

[haywain]

you might want to take a look at the keeping all of the players on the pitch thread, Robin. it might offer some interesting and useful insights.

personally, depending on how i saw the situation, they'd have been cautioned or sent off for the second offence and i would not have given the managers the option of taking them off.

of course the managers were happy, no fines, no suspensions............but, sadly, no lessons learnt....at least not the right ones

 

[Robin]

Thanks for the reply, they didn't square off or swear at each other when they came back on so I thought I did well to diffuse the situation but I felt a bit let down for not being a bit more harsh when it first happened...

 

[ref craig]

Or ok then robin exactly as @haywain stated maybe cautioning them in first instance and calling in the captain to deal with there language would of serviced

 

[haywain]

I felt a bit let down for not being a bit more harsh when it first happened...

Hey, Robin, on Saturday morning, acting as a CAR, i missed a misplaced header from a player on my son's team which went straight to an opposition player standing two yards offside on the penalty spot. i flagged the offside and, although i was happy that, being clueless about where the ball had come from, i had no option but to flag (part of the ref's briefing for those who still operate on the dark side) and was happy to be corrected by the referee.....it is still wandering around inside my head....oh, the pain of wanting to be the best that we can be

 

[Robin]

I know what you mean @haywain...I did 2 games yesterday one in the afternoon and one in the morning...I did not enjoy them because of certain decisions I gave. I felt really let down because I did not man up as such and do the right thing, its probably the first time since September of being qualified that I thought this is really bad I should not be doing this but to be fair it was probably my first really bad mistakes since September so I thought I have done ok to get his far.

 

[Cheshire Ref]

Robin, you are a human being and we humans make mistakes. The best piece of advice I was ever given was by a Premier League assistant referee who said learn from your mistake's but you have to move on, park it and move on. You will make more that is for certain but its making them that will shape you into a good referee. I had a game this season (that I was assessed on too) where I just thought oh dear, what were you doing out there. But personally I now see that as my best game of the season because it taught me so much, that day I took a load of personal and work related stuff onto the pitch with me and had a nightmare, so now I prepare differently and do things differently thanks to that awful game....touch wood I havent had one since either!!!

 

[Ryan Owens]

Being that I'm not there to teach, I think any time you can successfully manage a situation and not have to go to the book it is a good thing. However, a big word of caution: now that you're getting into Open Age matches, know that most adults do not respond to time outs. Pick your times very carefully on how to deal with this issue in this way.