Need Help

[mississippiump]

I am currently umpiring baseball and am looking to add another sport to officiate. I am interested in soccer and have contacted my local parks & recreation department to help get me started. I have been watching as much soccer on television as I can and have been to a couple of matches this past spring. I played as a kid but really never got into it much. I'm going to need some help from some of your guys that have been refereeing for a while on some of the laws of the game and how to administer them. I'm starting at a really low level and hope to work my way up through the years. I am attending a basic referee clinic in August for the upcoming season so hopefully I'll pick up on some stuff there but it's always good to get input from the veterans.

I need someone to explain to me the use of the yellow and red cards. What are they for, what's the procedure for using them, etc. . . I almost wish we had these in baseball!!!

Also, please explain to me the difference in a "direct free kick" and an "indirect free kick".


Thanks for your help,

Jerry

[cbfoulds]

Your "basic clinic" SHOULD cover everything.

More than any other sport I know of, soccer is serious about teaching refs the rules [excuse me: "Laws"] of the game, and employing only "patched" officials.
Full answers to your questions are WAY beyond anything you should look for on any 'net forum. Overly simplified:

Yellow cards are "cautions" for certain player misconduct [which may, or may not also be a "foul"]. Red cards are signals indicating an ejection because of serious or repeated player misconduct [which, again, may or may not also amount to a "foul"]. The circumstances under which a card is issued, and of what color, are a significant part of "basic training" for soccer refs.

A direct free kick is what it sounds like: a free kick which may score a goal DIRECTLY: i.e., w/o touching another player. An INDIRECT free kick must touch a player other than the kicker before it passes the goal line for the goal to count. Again, the awarding of various sorts of free kicks is extensively covered in soccer ref Basic.