We were at Christian’s soccer game today, waiting for it to start when the refs came around asking for a volunteer to be a line ref.
Initially, I sat back, since I know next to nothing about soccer. However, when they said that the game would have to be delayed and it was obvious that no one else on our side was going to step up, I went ahead and volunteered.
The sideline ref position is pretty easy actually; all you need to do is watch who kicks it out to determine which team gets the throw in, and then occasionally call “offsides” whenever that might happen. It was the latter that I was a little unsure of the details on (although after I got home today I confirmed that it was pretty much exactly as I had been thinking).
The problem came in when all these people behind me (parents sitting there watching the game) started complaining after a couple plays in which the other team scored a goal, stating (intentionally loud enough for me to hear without directing the comments “at” me) that it should have been called offsides.
Now, like I said before, I certainly could have been wrong, since I’m no soccer expert, but what I saw was the offensive team just plain outrunning the defenders. There were a couple times in which there were more than one such fast offensive player that had run past the last field defender, and if the one with the ball would have made a pass to them, then it would have been offsides, but the one that ran the ball up made the shot, so I didn’t see that as being offsides.
For all I know, I could still be wrong on that (and maybe one of you who know soccer better than I can tell me), but what I felt like doing was turning around and saying “Well, it’s good to know that we’ve got a bunch of soccer experts here; but I do find it odd that you take it so seriously yet none of you came forward when they were asking for volunteers. So shut up.” The only reason I didn’t say something to that effect was that these were parents on our own team, and I thought me chewing them out might make it a bit awkward going to games and such with them every week.
But seriously, these people need to get a grip. I thought I’d take this opportunity to share some general tips for soccer moms / dads / other fans out there:
- It’s only a game.
- Do not sit there and yell and scream throughout the game - you are making fools of yourselves. (see #1)
- If you have any experience with the game at all, why not step up when they’re asking for volunteers?
- If you don’t do #3, you have no right to get all worked up about the calls you don’t like. (Also, see #1 again)
