Needham Tournament

[Unregistered]

People love to link and run.. There are rules that IF the player is protecting himself and/or at point blank range where unavoidable, then it's not an offense.

However, most times we are know what this foul is, and how many times the call is missed.

A Handball is a handball.... Except for those who hide behind a link..

It's not missed. It doesn't exist. There is no such term as "handball". You've obviously never officiated a match before. If you did, you would know better.

[Unregistered]

People love to link and run.. There are rules that IF the player is protecting himself and/or at point blank range where unavoidable, then it's not an offense.

However, most times we are know what this foul is, and how many times the call is missed.

A Handball is a handball.... Except for those who hide behind a link..

Good god.

[Unregistered]

Does that include you?? Or are you the exception?!

If by exception you mean I see what I think I see and whether I agree with a call or lack of a call I keep my mouth shut because I realize nobody in a folding chair in earshot of me, never mind the kids, wants me spouting off about the refs, then yes, definitely exception rather than rule.

Try it yourself, you'll thank me eventually...and so will your kid.

[Unregistered]

Refs have been OK, not great, but OK. ARs not so much. I've seen a range of excellent and brutally incompetent.

Parents, of course, are worse.

Wrong. If a ref never called handling whenever the ball touched a field players hand, they would be right much more than they would be wrong.

Furthermore, the interpretation is deliberate not intentional as is often misquoted. For a ball to be handling the player must have been able to avoid the contact and chose not to. In the vast majority of cases, when the hand is in a natural playing positiin , contact with the ball is not a foul.

[Unregistered]

If by exception you mean I see what I think I see and whether I agree with a call or lack of a call I keep my mouth shut because I realize nobody in a folding chair in earshot of me, never mind the kids, wants me spouting off about the refs, then yes, definitely exception rather than rule.

Try it yourself, you'll thank me eventually...and so will your kid.

Don't need to take advice from you, you pompous ass!

Try not to break the folding chair when you sit in it tomorrow.

[Unregistered]

Wrong. If a ref never called handling whenever the ball touched a field players hand, they would be right much more than they would be wrong.

Furthermore, the interpretation is deliberate not intentional as is often misquoted. For a ball to be handling the player must have been able to avoid the contact and chose not to. In the vast majority of cases, when the hand is in a natural playing positiin , contact with the ball is not a foul.

Thanks for clarifying this!

[Unregistered]

Wrong. If a ref never called handling whenever the ball touched a field players hand, they would be right much more than they would be wrong.

Furthermore, the interpretation is deliberate not intentional as is often misquoted. For a ball to be handling the player must have been able to avoid the contact and chose not to. In the vast majority of cases, when the hand is in a natural playing positiin , contact with the ball is not a foul.

I'm guessing this was in reply to #13, not #14.

[Unregistered]

Refs have been OK, not great, but OK. ARs not so much. I've seen a range of excellent and brutally incompetent.

Parents, of course, are worse.

Needham allows anyone and everyone to come down and ref. What it is that you have a mix of locals in the area of the u15+ games (most of what is north of mass pike is just that) which are still assigned to them to fill the games for those who are unwilling to travel. I saw a couple refs obviously reffing a lot higher than they usually do. And then you have those from other states that come and they have to believe the word of someone else.

[Unregistered]

Refs have been OK, not great, but OK. ARs not so much. I've seen a range of excellent and brutally incompetent.

Parents, of course, are worse.

???? In most cases the Ref work a 4 person system --

i.e they rotate through (ex 1st game AR, 2nd game break, 3rd game center ref, 4th game AR)

So, if the Refs are OK - the AR should be OK -- They are the same person (just different games)

Complete agree about some of the parents

[Unregistered]

Needham

a handball a handball... How people refer to it in slang fashion is really irrelevant.. we all know what the foul it... it's missed alot... And perhaps misinterpreted too....

Back to original topic, do you have anything good to post about Needham...

So far the refs have been actually VERY GOOD in the games AND I haven't seen anything too out of hand from any of the parents.

It's been a very nicely run and organized tournament.. The only thing the organizers could have done better is fix the weather... It was supposed to clear up this weekend and now I hear rain all this afternoon... Seriously?

[Unregistered]

a handball a handball... How people refer to it in slang fashion is really irrelevant.. we all know what the foul it... it's missed alot... And perhaps misinterpreted too....

Back to original topic, do you have anything good to post about Needham...

So far the refs have been actually VERY GOOD in the games AND I haven't seen anything too out of hand from any of the parents.

It's been a very nicely run and organized tournament.. The only thing the organizers could have done better is fix the weather... It was supposed to clear up this weekend and now I hear rain all this afternoon... Seriously?

On the subject of handball - NO. NO. NO.

It is not missed a lot. I am a parent and not a soccer referee, but I know enough to know that most parents DO NOT know what a handball is when they see it.

There is a lot more to it than the phrase "hand ball" implies.

Other than that, I agree.

[Unregistered]

???? In most cases the Ref work a 4 person system --

i.e they rotate through (ex 1st game AR, 2nd game break, 3rd game center ref, 4th game AR)

So, if the Refs are OK - the AR should be OK -- They are the same person (just different games)

Complete agree about some of the parents

Right, same person, but different jobs during different games. Because you can pull off one doesn't mean you can pull of the other.

[Unregistered]

Right, same person, but different jobs during different games. Because you can pull off one doesn't mean you can pull of the other.

So you are saying the good refs but horrible ARs? I find that laughable at the youth level.

Anyone who is remotely competent at the center will be able to manage as an AR.

[Unregistered]

we all know what the foul [is].

Couldn't disagree more...reading here and listening on the touchline tells me parents aren't refs, so no, we all don't know.

[Unregistered]

So you are saying the good refs but horrible ARs? I find that laughable at the youth level.

Anyone who is remotely competent at the center will be able to manage as an AR.

I said what I said, but if you need a more detailed explanation, fair enough.

Among the games I've been at (seeing at least 3 different crews) I've seen a wide range of effort and competence from the ARs, mostly better, but not by a wide margin. Some have been excellent with a consistently high level of effort and professionalism, but I've also seen some who have either been consistently in poor position due to a lack of fitness (older, heavier, etc.), questionable competence (one in particular was egregious, perhaps a lack of experience), or both. One of the worst ARs was a substantially better center ref. He wasn't particularly mobile, but that lack of mobility didn't impact the game as much, and by my judgment he worked harder on the pitch than on the touchline.

From the center refs, I've seen some top notch, but when I haven't, while the physical effort or communication might not have been perfect, again, it wasn't resulting in negatively affecting the game. And by that I don't just mean the calls they're making, I'm also talking about presence. When I see a ref or an AR attend to the details of each task, whether that's emphatically indicating advantage and play on or being able to hear an AR's flag, I appreciate that kind of work.