Sunday bloody sunday

No I didn't go to a U2 concert. However, I saw red this weekend. First game was Northwest and Folsom. Was pretty cordial in the beginning as we had a mystery of where the game cards were. I had the same two ARs in the match that morning as I did last night and while they didn't fully dress the part, they did do their part. Considering referees were a rare resource I decided not to go on my soap box on dress and appearance.

The first half was good with very little fouls and pretty much a clean game. At the final minute I called a Folsom player for offside and a second or two later he decided to kick the ball away. I booked him for delayed restart. Ended the half shortly. Second half, it was like I was reffing a different game as both came out on fire. I booked one player, number 17 for charging the keeper, but it was a reckless challenge as he did try for the ball, but nailed the keeper. Booked a couple more players for a reckless challenge here, and a dissent there. Warned a Folsom player he was looking at a Persistent Infringement on the next problem. He cleaned up his act. However 17 of Northwest wasn't so cautious so after a Folsom player cleared the ball, 17 went in for a very late tackle. I gave him the second yellow, and then said...hmmmm you look familiar, looked in my book, and by the time I pulled the red, he was off the field. Had the Northwest coach yell at me for something that may or may not have happened, and against my better judgement, I stopped the game taking the attack away from Folsom. Felt real bad about that one. It was 2-2. I gave 3 minutes of stoppage which Northwest capitalized and scored. One of the Folsom players wanted me to end the game, but the majority wanted to play it out. So I played it out and then ended the game. Losing coach commented me on a job well done. The winning coach, mister big mouth, actually apologized to me for yelling. I told him he really hurt my feelings in a sarcastic voice. He said, "I know and I feel really bad about it." So it ended in a nicer note.

My U16 girls championship match was another story. You would picture two teams nearly equal in skill. This wasn't the case. El Durado had a full team and two assistant coach. Rivercity had a team of 11 and one coach. Explaining to the Rivercity coach what would happen in the event of a tie, he said, "It's not going to end in a tie."
Ammie who was one of my ARs said, "He's awfully confident."
I took another look at the team and said, "Or he's prepared for an awaited beating."
Turned out I was right. However River City came out fighting. Literally. They were committing most of the fouls throughout the match. I nailed one for persistent infringement and one for kicking the ball away. I almost nailed another for Dissent. I just told her to zip it. Before the first goal of El Durado, the team lost two goals from offside. The coach of El Durado decided he was going to work me. After a little of this, I told him, "No more." Then El Durado got a break when a Rivercity defender put her hand up for handling the ball. No DOGSO in this one because it wasn't goal bound. I just gave the penalty kick, which she was scored on. The second goal, now Rivercity was trying to get an offside call. I told the defender at that point to zip it after she tried the dissent by talking loudly to her player how we were unfair. So my AR was either consistently right or consistently wrong. The El Durado coach decided he was going to work me some more. Big mistake. I told him he was on notice. He asked, "Am I cautioned?"
I said, "You catch on quick." Didn't have another problem with him. In fact he was pretty sporting in the second half.
Rivercity decided to pour on the attack. In the 4th minute of the second half, the El Durado goalkeeper picked up the ball from an oncoming Rivercity player. That player pulled back when she knew she was beat, but a second Rivercity player decided while the keeper was standing with ball in hand, to go in for a nice tackle, sending the keeper flying in the air, no chance of getting the ball, didn't even make an effort to avoid the keeper. My hand was in my back pocket while hitting the whistle hard. Sent her off for serious foul play. Game ended 10 minutes early because the Rivercity coach had enough after losing 6-0.