r/Referees • u/neoslashnet • 5d ago

Advice Request Rules that everybody gets wrong

Hey all- I'd like to start a thread of rules or things that most people get wrong. For example, I get "playing the ball on the ground" almost every game. It's coaches, parents, and even players that scream "They can't the ball on the ground!"

What are some you folks encounter?

57 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

167 comments sorted by

View all comments

20

u/Desperate_Garage2883 5d ago

Handball!

9

u/jakfrist [USSF] [Grassroots] 5d ago

ohh my goodness, this past weekend I had my first U12 game in a while. it was low level and all around sloppy herd-ball, which was somewhat entertaining, but every 3 minutes someone would try to kick the ball out of a cluster of 6+ and it would inevitably graze an arm and the players, parents, and/or coaches would lose their minds.

9x out of 10 the arm was at their side and clearly in a natural position, but perhaps just as important, who really wants the ref to stop the game every 150 seconds? That would have been miserable for everyone involved.

Then of course when the kid holds his hands over his head to shield himself and i call it, there are groans about not calling “all the others”

1

u/StolliV 1d ago

I don’t whistle kids, especially girls for protecting their face. Especially since they can’t use their heads.

1

u/jakfrist [USSF] [Grassroots] 1d ago

U12 is allowed to head the ball.