Persistantly infringing

[wardtc]

I was working a HS Varsity game this weekend. Pretty much even contest the first half but blue had scored twice. At half my partner and I talked about we expected an increase in intensity for the second half and the need to be on our toes.

In the second half white could not mount any offense at all. At most they crossed midfield with 2-3 attackers and lost the ball about 30-40 yards from the goal. As the half went on, and as they attacked, the blue team would begin to foul them. A trip, a hold, another trip, etc..... After about 3 of these, I started to get irritated, and as I called the fouls told the blue defenders to knock it off and start playing soccer. The fouls continued. A blue defender then 5 yards from me grabbed the white attacker by both shoulders to keep him from the ball. I blew the whistle, stopped the clock, and issued a yellow card to the defender. I went over to the blue bench (all the way across the field) and explained to the coach the specific foul (holding) and that I had had enough of this nonsense and had issued the caution for persistantly infringing. As he started to complain, I told him that I was not here to negotiate with him, just to inform him, and started back to my position. I restarted the game and 3 minutes later observed a blue defender pull a white shirt. I then issued another caution. The rest of the game (10 minutes or so) was sloppy but the fouls did stop.

The game ended with blue winning 4-0, but get this..... As we were leaving the field, I heard the white coach tell his players that things could have been different IF THE REF'S WOULD HAVE DONE THEIR JOBS RIGHT! -wow!