[wardtc]

Nevadaref,

Thanks for the link. I took two days to read it with my mouth falling to the floor! I certainly wish that this link was provided to us as we went through the training. It answers a lot of questions and generates a thousand more. In looking at this information, there was no foul by the keeper, the call was wrong.

I will study this more in depth and reflect on some games I've worked and some things I've seen (two players challanging deep in the corner, attacker following the ball in to the keeper, two players going to head the ball, A defender who trips over the foot of an attacker who just shot the ball, etc,etc ....).

Also I had the opportunity to work with a very experienced ref in a HS game on Tuesday, What a difference from what I do. It was like you mentioned before. Whistle, point, give the signal, move on. The guy was a pro. We talked a little about my USSF game during halftime. Same message. Don't tell them how to play, you're not the coach! Just make sure they have the right equipment, and begin calling what you see. If it keeps up, caution for persistant infringement. If the coach starts yelling, caution for dissent. If the fans go crazy, it's the coach's problem, stop the game until they deal with it. The one thing that he told me too was, I need to be less of a softy (sounds just like your reply). The concern is not that the game is stopped and the kids don't get to play, but that the kids learn if the fans don't behave there are consequences for misbehaving.

I've got a lot to learn. Thank you for taking the time to point me in the right direction. I'm sure we'll be writing a lot more.