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Welcome
to the new online home of the Fairfield-Suisun Youth Soccer League
Referee News
REFEREE NEWS
Important Referee Announcements:
Ø Payments for Youth Refs: Payments are based on a spreadsheet in which information from the game cards is entered into an excel spreadsheet.
· If you didn’t turn in your game cards, your check probably won’t get written. That doesn’t mean that you won’t get paid, but you’ll need to contact me and work out the details before we can pay you.
· I’m still carrying around about half of the checks for August refereeing. L Any checks still with me at the end of Saturday will be mailed out with the September checks. Be sure to turn in your game cards – that’s the equivalent of your time card!
Ø Don’t be afraid of your whistle!! We’ve received emails back from parents/coaches that are misunderstanding the rules, in part because many of you in the younger age groups are being very nice and not too strict. Please remember that you play a critical role in helping the little players (and their enthusiastic adults) learn how the game is played properly. Make them keep both feet down on a throw-in. Don’t let them push, charge, pull, trip, spit. Give an IDK to the opposite team if the kickoff is sent backwards rather than forwards. Show your red card to the kid that drops the F-bomb when he misses a goal. Check the modified rules for your age group. Most parents stay calmer when everything you see is called, so issues are less likely.
Ø Sideline Behavior: The league is experiencing behavior issues in nearly all of the age groups – not most games, just the few that make our jobs more difficult. Before games, please remind the coaches that they are responsible for their sidelines. If there’s a problem with sideline behavior, please direct the coach to correct it. If the coach fails to do so, it’s your call to continue the game and write it up or end the game and write it up. Every referee will make mistakes; as we were reminded in our referee classes, referees are like field conditions – none of us is perfect. It’s the coach and teams responsibility to play your call.
Ø Profanity: Please remind the coaches before the game that the league has a zero tolerance for offensive language. My request is to remind them before the game starts to give them an opportunity to remind their players and parents. It will be much more pleasant to not send anyone off for language than to do so, and more pleasant for the players as well. If you are working with ARs, please be sure that the coaches understand that any game official can signal the call for this. We call what we see and what we hear. Profanity is an automatic send off.
Ø Referee Development: Bill Peete, the instructor for our licensing class and one of our in-service classes, is working games with several of our youth referees that have moved up to center U12 and U14 games as part of their development. This is a pilot effort to help development the competency of our youth referees to enable them to cover more league and club games. Referees currently in this program have 3+ years of experience, request games on a regular basis, and have challenged them to take on the harder games in the older age groups. If there is interest among our referees, youth or otherwise, we’ll expand the development program later this season or next year.
Ø Extra Help Needed: Adult referees or experienced youth referees: Please let me know if you can add an extra hour or two onto your Saturday schedule to be available to advise our newer referees. This can be a big help towards developing confidence and skill, and a great way to spend your Saturday while injuries heal!
