-----Original Message-----
[mailto:] On Behalf of Doug Smith
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2001 1:49 PM
To: SOCREF-L@pete.uri.edu
Subject: Re: Timing of Justice
Steven
Ryono writes (many prior posts snipped):
<< I agree that an experienced referee will probably issue less yellow
and red cards. Of course the problem is that one has to accumulate
that experience. Hopefully less experienced referees will develop
their own style with that experience. >>
I'd like to expand on Steven's response.
In my
opinion, with respect to dealing with cardable incidents, there are
(at least) four phases that a referee goes through, in progressing
from newbie to old hand.
In the first phase, they do not (or at least not instantly) recognize
that a cardable incident was cardable. This is due to lack of
comprehension of LOTG, combined with lack of experience. Another way
of saying this is that beginning referees are not yet able to
integrate their understanding of LOTG with what they are seeing on the
field. This is why, for the most part, beginners are not assigned
centers of matches in which it is likely that cardable incidents will
occur.
In the second phase, typically after about 30 or 40 matches, they
begin to recognize when something cardable happens, and, regardless of
the needs of this match, issue the card. We might call this the "bull
in the china shop" phase. They would call themselves a "by the book"
referee.
In the third phase, the referee begins to consider whether this card
is needed at this time in this match, and follows the dictum "if I can
get the same result by talking to the player without issuing the card,
I have saved myself a bullet". Their card count drops drastically, and
this referee congratulates herself on being able to control matches
without flashing plastic at every opportunity. This works well for
about 4 troublesome matches in 5, and the referee leaves the pitch for
that fifth match wondering why the players are so unhappy.
In the fourth phase, the referee has seen enough matches (and matches
gone bad) to be able to recognize those incidents that demand a card,
NOT necessarily because the incident itself was necessarily so
vile, but because of what it did to raise the temperature of this
match past the boiling point. The players are reassured (by the card)
that the referee will protect them, and they can concentrate on
winning by being skillful rather than being overly aggressive.
[There may be subsequent phases, which DA, Esse, and others are more
competent to discuss than I am. I perceive that this is the limit of
my understanding on this topic.]
One of the things that makes this progression hard to learn is that
very few matches under about U-16 ever require the referee to enter
"phase four" territory. Referees who never do higher level matches
will never experience these "moments of truth". Indeed, there is
probably another quantum step lower, say about U-12, to separate
matches in which cardable incidents never occur from matches in which
they do, in which case this whole discussion becomes moot.
I hope it is clear that, at each transition from one phase to the
next, the lesson learned in the previous phase has to be unlearned.
That is, the survival skill that has best served the referee in the
past year or two is the very thing that must be modified to make
progress to the next level.
As always, the sad part is the number of referees who never figure out
there is a next phase.
In my view, this is the main reason that this forum is perceived by
some as being less than perfectly helpful for all referees. DA clearly
operates in phase four (if not higher) territory, and his posts
eloquently describe how to do so. I do not disagree with his views;
I'm just not sure how someone who has not mastered phase three can
even comprehend phase four. As a result, followers of this list will
read a mix of seemingly contradictory answers, based on what has
worked for each writer at their typical level of matches, and, if the
readers don't have the experience to adjust their game to the needs of
the match they are refereeing today, and attempt to apply the wrong
technique to the wrong level of match, well, the result will very
likely be the start of the circular flow in the porcelain receptacle.
My goal is not to discourage anyone from posting their views on any
subject, but rather to help everyone be aware that the level of a
match should and must influence the referee's approach to, and, by
extension, what the appropriate advice is, for that match.
In other words, YHTBT is always a prerequisite for ITOOTR.
Doug Smith
USSF 06 USSF Instructor USSF Assessor
NISOA NF Oregon
