Happy Holidays all!

Hope everything is going well for you this holiday season.

Here in POV land, if you haven't subscribed to the feed, I was able to post two shows in one week. It had quite a bit to do with other people being available and being able to sit down and record. Show 014 features the return of Chris. We discuss his rise and fall in the world of refereeing and the causes thereto.

Show 015 (released less than a week later) brought Jadon back with his brother (currently living in Hawaii) Timon together for couple of rants about Washington State's treatment of soccer officials and a discussion regarding a comment on Show 014.

I thought both shows ended up being pretty informative for those who might not put energy into thinking what goes into officiating. I have to admit I don't often consider the trouble other sports must have getting and keeping officials, but I am sure the problems are not limited to soccer.

On the assigning front, the weather has had a negative effect on the last match day of the season and games were cancelled prior to there being any inclement weather (the call was made the day before based on the weather reports). If the matches would have been played at the times scheduled there wouldn't have been weather issues (the storm front hit several hours after it was expected). Then the weather has continued to get worse (or better if you like snow and ice) so the likelihood of rescheduling the matches looks unlikely (as neither of the matches were to determine 1st or 2nd place in their respective divisions). But I haven't heard "officially" that the matches will not be played so we can't bill the association for the remainder of the season. This also means, I, as the assignor, will have to wait longer to be paid for my services.

For those who aren't aware, assignors typically get compensated (if at all) at the end of the season. The current season has been running since the beginning of September and I probably won't get paid until the first or second week in January. Are there many positions out there that wait so long to compensate for work done? I think employers would have a difficult time getting people to stick around if they only paid once every 4 months. I could be mistaken.

There are now eight designs of tee-shirts available through zazzle.com (the link to Referee POV stuff is to the right). Help support the show and be snarky at the same time.

Thanks again.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

Is the season still going? Yes, the select program still has two more weeks of matches (but are taking the Thanksgiving holiday weekend off) so the last matches will be held on December 13. Yup, cold, muddy and potentially hypothermia-inducing.

I spoke to Jadon yesterday and with any luck he'll be able to sit down with me next week and we can get something posted in the next not too long.

I know I was hoping to get the podcasts (and this here blog for that matter) out a bit more regularly and shall continue to try. I will make efforts. But my efforts are often slighted by the reality of life.

Well, to complain about assigning more (which is the main reason I do it, to complain), I spoke to an official on Friday evening to confirm that he was, in fact, planning on doing a match he requested on Sunday but had yet to accept on our website. He said he was going to need to miss a fitness test that he'd said he take but since he asked for the match, he'd go ahead and do the matches instead.

As I am sure you can see where this story is going, you won't need to imagine my surprise when I receive a call Sunday 15 minutes prior to kick-off letting me know said referee hadn't shown up at the fields. I was working a Western match at the time and couldn't do much as far as calling people nor was I near a computer to see if anyone else might be available on a moment's notice.

After I'd left the Western match, I had a message from the official letting me know he just plain forgot that he had accepted assignments that day. So what do you do? Well, I wept a little.

Hey, be sure to check out the Referee POV t-shirts on Zazzle.com. More designs will be posted all the time.

Almost there.

Ok, so I almost promised the podcast last weekend and have obviously failed miserably at accomplishing that relatively simple goal.

I'd like to blame it on someone else but I can't. While I have been a bit busy, I imagine with a little better planning I could've magicked up something last weekend. But I had work and had to cover a match that was never accepted (and then had the pleasure of being not just drenched but also covered in mud). Yes, I am making excuses but I have reached an agreement with the Mrs. and I should have one evening a week moving forward to work on the podcasts I am producing.

Yes, I am currently putting two shows out. Unfortunately both suffer from the work on the other but I receive great satisfaction from producing each one and can't imagine giving either of them up. Besides, the other is of finite term so once I've completed it, I'll just be working on this one.

Is there a point to this ramble? Well, I am almost finished with Show 13 and tonight is my night to work on podcasts so assuming the problems I've been having with PayPal and Libsyn are straightened out, I should be posting later this evening (November 7th).

Thanks again to everyone for your support, input and content.

Is a new podcast EVER going to come out?

To answer the question above, yes. When, well, hopefully by the end of this weekend (so let's say November 2...perhaps 3). I've recorded stuff and have a couple emails and a voicemail so there's material, just not much time this week to compile it all into a real live podcast.

What happened this week? As many associations in many sports across the world, Whatcom County is always trying to get more people to become soccer officials. To this end, I've spent the last four evenings teaching 19 people a couple things they need to be aware of before stepping on the pitch as officials. Not everything mind you, that wouldn't be fair to those of us who have spent the last several years cutting our teeth in the trenches. That, and the Entry Level Course as designed by USSF doesn't do much for management techniques. It's more about learning the Laws of the Game and making sure you know when the ball is out of play. The 2009 ELC test, heavens. It is easier than the exams in the past, however, I do believe there is too much emphasis placed on when the ball is in play. Don't get me wrong, this is something important but a large portion of my class missed several questions because I, as an instructor, wasn't aware that the answers to some of the questions were silly.

An example, A direct free kick is in play when: the ball is kicked, the ball is kicked and moves, the ball is kicked an moves forward. Several students didn't listen (I administered the test orally to the masses) past the first choice as they assumed the ball would in fact move once kicked...an assumption I don't much blame the students for.

In other news, the select program in Washington has turned completely bonkers. This year, instead of scheduling the entire season at the beginning, the powers that be schedule the first seven weeks of the season then once the first six weeks have been played, they schedule the remaining three weeks of the season. I received the schedule for this upcoming weekend on Monday. Not particularly helpful.

At the same time, high school playoff matches are being handed to me, with two days notice in one instance as well as an overlap on Saturday with the 8 select matches already on my schedule.

While I am complaining (as is my right as an assignor), I am about yay close to completely covering the matches this weekend. However, I may be forced to work two of the matches in order to get enough bodies on the pitch. Normally I wouldn't begrudge working these games, but I seem to be coming down with a case of the ills and may or may not be feeling up to snuff after taking the kiddies out for some Halloweening tonight in the not so pleasant northwest weather.

Oh, and I will pass on the story of my worst match in some time on the podcast. Just something to look forward to...maybe.

The assignor blues

Just two more weeks of the high school season and the claws have come out. From the players, you may ask? Nope, fellow referees. There seems to always be people (and as a result, referees) who are quite sure they are never in the wrong and hold ill will toward those who bring up points of fact that contradict their world view.

Now, I have no proof that a particular referee is living under the delusion that their rump don't produce smelly but given a situation that recently occurred and the subsequent actions of this official, I have strong suspicions. Based solely on the questioning of this official's knowledge and applications of the rules of high school soccer, I wouldn't be inclined to suspect a vindictive retaliation. However, this particular official has gotten severely bitchy-cakes at another assignor in our association because of the level of assignments this official received. And after I called this official's performance at a match into question, not only did I receive a none too pleasant email regarding the incident from the official's pov but also this official has been giving back matches with little time for me to re-assign the match. And made no attempt to contact me to explain the reason for the latest give back. I wouldn't mind too much if it weren't for the fact that I am struggling every day trying to get enough officials to cover assignments and this particular referee assigned themselves matches every week at the beginning of the season.

Now, I love the self-assign feature our association uses but the way some people use it, just plain disrespectful. Before you say you are going to accept a match, check your schedule to insure you can actually do the match. And if something comes up, decline the match at the earliest possible moment, not a few days before. And if your schedule is odd, don't sign up for matches until you know for sure you can be there. It really is that simple but some people don't think this way.

I weep for our future.

The weekend is ugly.

Here it is Thursday and I've been sending out emails begging the referees in the association to help out this weekend because there are a ton of matches (well, a ton for a dinky little community like Whatcom County) because not only is the recreation season in full swing with 140 matches on Saturday. There are six select matches on Saturday and five high school matches (only one JV match in the bunch). I still need four bodies for the select matches and one for the high school matches.

Unfortunately, Western hasn't started up yet so several of the referees who usually pick up matches for us aren't in town yet.

I did get a fun call from one of the athletic director's today concerning a player who recently decided to get a nose piercing immediately prior to the beginning of soccer season. Now, every recreational season the referees have to deal with five and six year old girls getting their ears pierced and bursting into tears when we tell them they can't play with their earrings in. And without fail a parent will go nutty cuckoo about how their little girl can't take her earrings out for six weeks and that we are bad people for not letting her play, and so and so forth. But now we have a high school player who figures the safest thing she can do for her soccer-playing self is have a piece of sharp metal in her face while on the pitch. I'd start quoting Laws or Rules of Play or some such nonsense but let's leave it with, if something is dangerous to a player or others, it is not allowed on the field. And jewelry of any kind fits into the above category.

I told the AD, while I wouldn't caution the coach (as is the high school rule) for the nose stud, I would most likely tell the young lady she had to remove it and if she refused, she wouldn't be allowed to play. That would be, of course, if I was feeling in a grumpy mood. If I was well-humored, I told him I would let her know that she could wear it as long as she understood that if she bled out on the field from a shot to the face, I would not be held responsible.

Yes, I would certainly be held accountable if the young lady suffered injury on my field from wearing such an item (if I did, in fact, see said item) and could face a lawsuit (and most likely lose). Is it worth the potentially lost house for this silly youngster to keep her uber-hip nose stud in for 90 minutes? A close call, I know, but perhaps I'll err on the side of get off my field silly young lady.

Thanks again for stopping by and reading my griping.

Jonathon

Longest podcast yet.

The first weekend of select is almost finished (just another hour or so to go) and thankfully I didn't have to pick up any of the three matches scheduled today.

I did manage to pick up a couple of games yesterday, however, and as it was Saturday, it was the younger age groups. I was in the middle of a GU14 and BU15 match, neither of which was terribly eventful. No cards, one PK, one IDFK in the area and one thing I haven't had to deal with before. But I'll talk about that on the next podcast. The only real disappointing thing about yesterday is the ankle injury I sustained back at the PCC, has flared up again (perhaps it's the field conditions...or perhaps I'm just too darn old to be running around like a fool).

Regardless of swollen ankle or not, I will still be doing battle with three or more high school matches this week, the first of which is tomorrow and it should be a yawner. I can't figure I'll have any good stories about savage tackles, but I certainly could be deluged with stupidity from players, coaches and fans...be sure to check out Show 012 to see how moronic it eventually was.

I mentioned I'd be ranting about the irkingness of assigning in the blog, and once I get another ridiculous story, I'll be sure to pass it along here.

Please feel free to leave me comments (like shut your trap...if it was fun, you wouldn't get paid for it).

Thanks,

Jonathon