It's a matter of perspective ...

For those of us who have followed, and follow the adventures of the star ship Enterprise, the image to the left may be familiar. It is from the second season, and is episode #33, broadcast on October 6, 1967, Mirror - Mirror. A full briefing can be found here.

This episode goes into an alternate universe Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Uhura and their mis-adventures on the ISS Enterprise (as opposed to the USS Enterprise).

I can see the eyes rolling now, both from my wife and a certain FIFA AR that has been checking this blog out recently and understands my love of Trek lore, and asking ...

What's the point?

Things can look polarized at times, really one way, and not the other. But, if you stop and change your perspective, it can open up a world of possibilities.

Here is a little bit of a disclaimer, and a little bit of a glimpse into a behind the scene look into what is going on here at Kicking-Back. Both can be handled in one bite.

From a disclaimer standpoint, I want to be clear that I am not intending to give out any sort of referee advice that is sanctioned by US Soccer or the National Office. (Your crazy if you listen to me anyway) A far better forum for technical questions is here. This is a tremendous site that is moderated by who I would consider is one of the great minds of the game in the US, Jim Allen. He has quite a staff behind him too as noted in the about page. This team of folks have helped shape the referee program at the National level for some time, and is an excellent resource for questions about the laws and their application.

This blog is not intended to be instructional in nature in any official capacity. I do wear that hat when I am asked to referee a match or provide an opinion and advice to other referees and soon-to-be referees from an assessment standpoint, and maybe (likely) an instructional one.

This fora was originally conceived (over 50 posts ago!) and continues to be a free exchange of ideas that relate to refereeing in the context of the game, and the greater game of life. While it will contain specific advice and reference about the LOTG, it will in every aspect attempt to be technically correct and consistent with the advice given to us as referees ... and more.

I do hope however it provides more than text of the laws, or interpretations that are well understood. It is my intent to make people think about how small things, seemingly meaningless details at times, can make a big, big difference in the game, and life outside of the lines. There are others when it will be a repost of some event that may be relevant to what we are discussing at that time, or just something out of the blue that seemed fun. In all cases however, it is intended to be worth the read.

In short, I'm trying to get everyone to think a little off the beaten path. Sometimes it is just in the form of a reminder, sometimes it is just the ramblings of someone who has been there ... as so many of us have. We are after all, one community with many common experiences.

In all cases take the posts with the grain of salt they are intended to have standard with them. As a great assessor once told me, "Take what you like and use it. Just throw away the rest".

Show me the money!!

I caught an article the other day where this very satirical cartoon of Joseph "Sepp" Blatter, President of FIFA came from. It goes into some interesting detail about how much money FIFA is theoretically going to make in the 2010 World Cup. This article from playthegame.org, estimates FIFA will make between $3.2B and $4B (yes Billion with a B) over the course of the tournament.


Now a disclaimer, and it is above and beyond the Legal Stuff disclaimer. I am not knocking FIFA for making money, and I certainly do not agree with everything the linked web site states about this, or some other topics they report on. I have spent a significant amount of my life attempting to attain membership into this organization as a referee, and if really lucky I may be able to do so via another avenue someday. So believe me when I say, I am not knocking them.

It did get my wheels spinning however regarding the inflection point of money and refereeing at the local levels. For the remainder of this post, please ignore the professional level on up. It is a given that money plays a role and just how much we will explore sometime later. For now it is worth exploring to the youth and amateur referee some places where money plays a role.

So think about your local matches on Saturday. What does money have to do with them? Well, I live in a town that has a really nice athletic complex, and to offset that cost, there is a fee that we pay, per player, per registration. So I have sunk several hundred dollars into each of my little cherubs before they even get to the field. When they get there, I really appreciate when a referee shows up, on time, and in a uniform, any uniform.

This has nothing to do with their competency as an official, it has nothing to do with being fair or that little Jimmy and Jenny are having fun. It has to do (for some) with, I paid for this? 

Sounds harsh huh ... it is. This is a whole new level of being judged for a referee ... a monetary one.

Here is another one for you.

So State Cups are going on in just about every state right now, and from there some will earn a spot to their Regionals, and for a very few from there, the Youth Nationals. Guess who is at these tournaments ...

College recruiters.

Did you know that a private college these days costs about $26,000 per year?

That is insane.

What may be even more insane is the large number of high school players that are competing for the small pool of scholarship monies, and the lengths parents will go to make sure their kids get a shot at it. There is a reasonable argument that this is something good parents do while not taken to the extreme. [One day I will relate the story about a local youth meeting I was in where a mother jumped to her feet and exclaimed, and I mean *EXCLAIMED*, that her daughter was going to be the next Mia Hamm. Her daughter was 5 and the mom's complaint was about how poor the coaching was at that level ... no BS, true story]  If I am ever faced with the situation I will let you know what I decide as as I sit here tonight writing this, I can't say with certainty what I would do.

So what else is at stake in such matches?

Coaches jobs.

Yep, even some youth club coaches do exceedingly well for a salary and losing a Regional Championship match may be a ticket to getting fired. That was tough to get my head around at first. Here I was 19 or so years old and I was told that a coach could lose a job because of my decisions.

It was a lot to consider back then.

My only though is be aware of it at the level you are refereeing at. For the referees in South Africa now, their country is on their shoulders and that weight is far more than someone losing their job. In some cases it can be much, much more. (Remember Andrés Escobar?) From there it trickles down ... all the way down to that 6 v. 6 match in the park on Saturday morning.

Doesn't mean as referees you should change a thing for this reason, certainly not any calls. It is just something else to be aware of and think about when you are out there.

Please read the disclaimer ... please ...

Being a technology professional, I am always on the look out for something cool or informative in the electronic frontier.

Being a legal professional, I am always leery of what I just saw, or shared, will get me into, or those I associate with, in trouble.

I think this some of these fall more in the latter than the former (somewhat).

Before proceeding, please take a moment and familiarize yourself with the Legal Stuff portion of the blog which basically says ... it's not my fault.

With that I ran across a referee section of a 2010 World Cup Blog that on the surface looked pretty good. I am interested to see what the authors have up their sleeve as some of their posts were both cutting, and funny.

Again, please read the disclaimer ... please ...