That Weekly Round-Up

Happy weekend, all y’all! It’s been a crazy week here in The Bluegrass up on my hill! Five days of refereeing. Two different sports. And starting the great cleanout of 2025.

Second Soccer Tournament for the Year

The first day of the soccer tournament went super well, with no real issues. I handled my business because I'm good at what I do. I had two whistles and two assistant referee jobs. Fans and coaches challenged three calls. But as I explained my ruling, they understood because I know my shit.

No fewer than seven players tell me I was their favorite referee. The AR heard parents say they understood the game better with me as the referee. I also heard, "Oh, thank God it's the good ref." It feels good when I hear such things. I'm a good referee, but imposter syndrome is a real issue.

The second day went as easy until the Under 11 Cup Final I centered. The scheduler assigned me to an AR. The young man scheduled for the whistle asked off because he had refereed the team 3 times already.

The game went well until the final 12 minutes of the game. One poor child gave away two own goals. It happens. With 12 minutes remaining, a close play happened at the goal line. The 14-year-old AR signaled a goal. I called the goal good. And then hell unleashed.

A spectator came on the pitch to confront me over the goal. I red-carded him. His wife also invaded the pitch. Second card. This is not allowed at any level. This group of four family members were also hurling abuse at the 14-year-old. This whole family yelling about how 'it's a free country,' and if 'you can't take this abuse, you shouldn't be refereeing.' This is not a level of spectator behavior that is acceptable.

At one point, with 12 minutes left in the match, I suspended the game. I was ready to abandon the game because I felt my junior referees weren't safe. The tournament director asked me to finish the match for the kids, as did the two coaches. The kids were yelling at the mob "come on, it's U11 soccer, why are you being dumb?"

I told the director we could continue if I didn't hear another word out of the problem section. It had become obvious they weren't leaving without a sheriff's escort. Some member of the mob yells, "another word."

This infuriated me, so I started to abandon the match. But the Tournament Director's eyes had a silent beg. And it was parents from the host club that were causing the issue. When I say that the last 12 minutes of that game were the most pure moments of soccer I've seen in a long time. The kids more or less passed the ball around for 12 minutes. Everyone was over it.

After the game, the coaches thanked us for finishing the match. I escourted both teenagers that were working with me to the tournament office. The first time I've ever felt unsafe for the people I was working with.

I had a moment when I thought about selling my gear and walking away. Because I don't enjoy taking abuse from parents. I opted to not do this because it's my job to be ready to stand on business.

Aftermath

Later that evening, I emailed the two lads who worked with me telling them they did a good job. I wanted to make sure I told them I was proud of them after the stupidity of the parents. Their comportment was top notch!

In response, I get this message from the 14-year-old’s parent:

I cannot explain the feeling that gave me. This simultaneously made me proud and extraordinarily frustrated. The fact that he left a tournament feeling to the point where he felt uncomfortable refereeing again is unacceptable. I’m looking forward to seeing him at the next tournament. I would love to get a challenge/flip coin made up, because he deserves coin 001. Alas, I can’t afford them right the now.

Monday Night Soccer

I needed a palate cleanser after that nightmare. I had picked up a U-8 and a U-18 game on Monday night. The U-8 was silly fun. I enjoyed it, and had to balance between refereeing and coaching players for some stuff. The U-18 match though was great fun!

One of the players was the 18 year old AR I had on Sunday. The game was competative, and I had a blast refereeing it. It relit the fun that is football. My partner from the night before got a kick out of the fact that I consistantly use phrases like “we’re not playing football that way today, lads,” and “come on, lads, you all know better.” Kind of neat to have a teenager think something I’m doing is cool!

My Assistant Referee 1 was brand new, as in her very first game. I had to work with her to get her where she needed to be during the match.

One of the parents in this match is a referee whom I truly respect. I texted him afterwards. He responded with a load of praise that floored me.

Getting compliments from our peers is a wonderful thing, and to me, it really drove home that I’m doing it for the right reasons. And thus, ended soccer for the week.

Late Nights and Lacrosse

I love refereeing Lacrosse, but the mileage wears ya down. I had two trips this week to Bowling Green, which is 176 miles round trip. Didn’t get home on Thursday until like 12:00 Friday morning. Took care of business though. No issues thru any of the three games. I’m improving on the game.

Lacrosse hasn’t slowed down for me the way that soccer has, but I have to remember to be kind to myself here. I’ve a grand total of 11 lacrosse games under my belt. I’ve worked that many soccer games in a weekend before. I am definitely figuring out what I’m doing.

Woodchips Not Happening

I’ve not had the energy of the wherewithall to work on woodchips the last week. Hopefully, I can make time as I continue to build this new chapter of my life. I did grind some knives for my wife’s coworker, so something was in fact built this week.

Stay awesome.

Love one another.

Take no shit.