Respect the Ref
The ref is correct. Respect the Ref.
We are all very competitive. No one likes to lose. Teams lose at all level of sport. And we all need to be able to deal with a loss on the soccer field without blaming the ref. Your child’s time in the Club is in part about developing soccer skills and playing at a high level. The other equally (some would say more) important part is the process itself: commitment, dedication, teamwork and an understanding of how to deal with stress and adversity. Regrettably and inevitably, your children will experience calls in the non soccer aspects of their life that do to go their way.
We should not leave our players with the message that the only reason they lost a game is because a biased or incompetent ref blew a call. Stuff happens. Life is not fair.Teams should not be in a position where one or two calls change the outcome of the game. Refs are not biased. Parents are most certainly biased. Refs are human and can err but in general will not. The game is fast and is played all over the field and quickly. We do not have instant replay. Some professional leagues (not soccer though) do because they recognize that refs can miss a call in a rapidly moving situation. But a parent’s opinion of a play is most certainly not to be equated with instant replay. People (refs, spectators, players) do not see the same event identically. Eyewitness accounts of fast moving and emotion charged events are different and in the end unreliable. Compared to the ref’s perspective, what you see as a foul or not is a conclusion you reach with a different angle on the play, a real bias for one team, and, in all likelihood, a lesser understanding of the Laws and basic flow of competitive soccer.
When you tell the ref “hey, call it both ways”, you are likely demonstrating the well recognized and well studied(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3713/is_200708/ai_n21099904/pg_5) prejudice known as spectator bias, aka:
“a product of situation and individual experience…. (in which)
1. People structure problems on the basis of their own experience
2. Anticipations of what one expects to see bias what one does see
3. People seek information consistent with their own views/hypotheses,
4. People downplay or disregard conflicting evidence.
So, please respect the Ref.
Be a Ref
The MSC and the WYSL are very much in need of refs. The WYSL offers regular training course for parents and High school players. Our MSC ref coordinator, Peter Jurew (pjurew@yahoo.com) will announce the times and locations for these training sessions. Reffing is a great (and paid) opportunity for our HS students who will only be assigned games with much younger players. Please contact Peter if you have any questions about becoming a ref.
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