u/bardwnb

Recently on a few occasions I've been AR for a game played under USSF auspices (so standard IFAB laws), where the referee has warned players at check-in that equipment problems after kick-off will result in a caution (e.g. "make sure all jewelry is off before we start, otherwise it's an automatic caution"). On at least one occasion the referee put the warning to the coach, saying first card would go to the coach, then to the player. Similarly, on a game I was present at as a spectator, I saw a card given to the away coach for earring that were on during play. All of these were very experienced referees who I've worked with and generally know there stuff.

Now, I know that high school rules in the U.S. under NHFS do specify the "first card to the coach, second to the player" for equipment issues, but that's not explicitly in IFAB laws. I believe the referees in question also do some high school, so may just be mixing systems. That said, is there any justification in IFAB laws for giving cautions to players or coaches for equipment issues discovered after kickoff?

Law 4.1 says that "The players must be inspected before the start of the match and substitutes before they enter the field of play. If a player is wearing or using unauthorized/dangerous equipment or accessories, the referee must or the player to:

• remove the item
• leave the field of play at the next stoppage if the player is unable or unwilling to comply

A player who refuses to comply or wears the item again must be cautioned."

I suppose that could be read as saying that if you warn players at check-in to remove things and they don't, they are wearing the item again or refusing to comply, and must be cautioned, but the mention of "stoppage" implies that if unauthorized/dangerous items are found during play, they get at least one chance to remove them. Nothing in law 4 about coaches, but maybe you could stretch "lack of respect to the game" in law 12?

I imagine this is a common experience: AR puts flag up for offside. I, as referee, miss it in the moment with my attention on the play (maybe for good reason, maybe not). Players or coaches start shouting "Look at your AR!" or similar. While nominally helpful, the tone and subtext of these shouts is often "Look at your AR[, idiot]!"

How do you deal with these situations? On the one hand, in my experience they are almost invariably correct that the AR has a flag up that I would want to stop play for, but at the same time it does not seem to help the tone of the game to allow that kind of aggrieved shouting.

(Obviously the best solution is to not miss a flag, or else to use comms, but the one isn't realistic and the other isn't allowed for USSF grassroots).

You watch a possibly game-winning goal in the World Cup, and your first thought is "ooh, that was a great advantage call," and barely pay attention to the shot itself.

(In this case inspired by the second goal in the Spain-France semifinal, but not the first time I've done it during this year's tournament!)

I did a 12UB semi-final at a tournament yesterday, with AYSO Select/Alliance teams (so, a step above the usual rec skill level, but still pretty low-skill). Generally pretty clean, but a couple of kids attempted challenges that completely missed the ball, and would have been card-worthy had they not also completely missed the player. E.g. a studs-up slide tackle that was too late to catch anything, but a second sooner or a foot to the left would have been ugly. I allowed play to continue since there was no contact or trivial contact, and yelled at the kid in passing to be more careful, "If you'd hit him that would have been a card", something like that.

As I've been reflecting on it afterward, I'm wondering if I ought to have called PIADM and given an IFK to the other team. It's not something I remember seeing done (of course the most most common PIADM offenses at the youth level are the classic playing-on-the-ground or high kick near an opponent, the latter of which I know I'm pretty bad about calling). Anyone ever applied PIADM this way, at the young/rec level or otherwise?