Week 2 Recap

There are a couple of things from week 2 that need to be improved upon. First are what we commonly refer to as "foot faults" on kick ins. A "foot fault" or an illegal kick occurs when the plant foot of the player taking the kicker is entirely on the pitch and not being making any contact with or being behind the touch line. Think of it akin to a player stepping entirely onto the field of play while taking a throw in. Of course there are venues where the touch lines are close to a wall or other obstacle and discretion can and should be exercised by the referee, if there is at least two yards of space for the player to take the kick in the kick in should be taken as required by the law. The other issue with kick ins has been getting the defensive players, regardless of field size, to move back a minimum of 5 yards from the point of the kick in. Many of you have been doing well with this, enforcing this early in games so it doesn't become an issue later but we need everyone to make sure this is enforced properly. There is a video on the assigning site that shows a "foot foul" that was not called. Take a look at it so you see exactly it is we are talking about. (for reference, there was 5 yards of space behind the touchline at that game because it was from a LI Futsal match).

Even in venues where the touch line is close to the wall or bleachers, a kick ins like this needs to be called. Not only does the kicker place his foot completely on the field of play, but he also did not place the ball properly. This is not helping the younger players develop properly and will be an issue for future referees who do enforce it correctly but will face dissent as a previous referee let the players get away with it.

The one thing that has been really getting under my skin is referees addressing spectators. If you have an issue where a spectator is disrupting the match in a negative way, talk with the coaches and put the responsibility of controlling or removing that person, if you feel it necessary, COMPLETELY onto the coaches. If the coach(es) fail to do so, terminate the match and write up a supplemental report. John and I do read every single one so make sure you have all the information needed otherwise will will not have what we need in order to deal with the situation properly.