In the past 2 1/2 months, this forum only has 7 or 8 contributors, although several topics have had hundreds of views.
Does that mean
- the topics are not interesting, or
- the topics are well covered, or
- the rest of you readers are not interested, or
- those of us who contribute are so far off, no response is possible, or
- other forums are better (if so, which), or
- all soccer officials know everything, or
- no soccer officials can type?

:confused: :) --- :confused: :) --- :confused: :)

Hey CecilOne,
I just come over from the Basketball board and see what other guys are doing. Just visiting.

Thanks.

P.S. How can soccer get by with one official on the field of a sometimes rough game with no stops when Football has maybe 4 or 5 guys to call the game and they get to have their little huddle after every call?

We can't.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Stan

Quote:

P.S. How can soccer get by with one official on the field of a sometimes rough game with no stops when Football has maybe 4 or 5 guys to call the game and they get to have their little huddle after every call?

That's why when I get too old to referee soccer; I intend to take up football...maybe even basketball.:D
Actually CecilOne and I have had this discussion before, on another board. I suspect that officials are not expected to call everything that happens on the soccer field. The laws of the game are specific that we are not to call trifling fouls and on other fouls we have the choice of recognizing the foul and allowing play to continue because the fouled team gains an advantage.

How do soccer refs do it with one guy? Well, in fact we have three refs and when we're working well as a team there are few situations we can't handle, assuming the center is doing his job. NFHS 2 man is another story-- almost impossible to do the job we'd like to do in those circumstances.

As far as where everybody else is--no ideas; maybe we're spread across other sites and boards.

CecilOne,
Glad I found you folks! I was looking for exactly this type of forum with officials with enough experience to transcend the rules. I'll stick around here for a while, I think I can really learn something.
Take care!

Are you involved mostly with NFHS or USSF? I hope you meant "transcend" as understanding the rules and spirit of the rules, and not bypassing or recreating them?

CecilOne,
I have no affiliation with either body. I played for 10 years in the States, but I have not played actively in Europe where I have lived for a number of years. I am following the high school level very closely because I have friends and family involved. Most of my (limited) take on officiating comes from my experience as a youth ref; it was a challenging and fun job! I would like to get into coaching and officiating in the future. Once you've been bitten by the soccer bug, it's a life-long addiction!

CecilOne, by "transcend", I indeed meant:
- administering all the rules fairly and consistently,
- using common sense and good judgement,
- AND applying years of experience.

For instance, when you see world-class officials like Anders Frisk of Sweden, who always manages to keep 22 primadonna egomaniacs somewhat under control for 90 minutes, you begin to appreciate what officiating is all about.