Classless in Columbus

Columbus Crew supporters throw beer cans at Portland Timbers players during MLS Cup Final

Columbus Crew supporters hurled more than a dozen cans onto the field after Portland Timbers winger Rodney Wallace scored in the seventh minute of Sunday's MLS Cup Final.

The poor sportsmanship by Crew fans came as the Timbers players were attempting to celebrate the goal near the corner flag. The players had to quickly run back to midfield to avoid getting hit by the cans.

Stadium staff quickly cleaned up the cans and play continued. The stadium announcer then reminded the crowd that throwing items onto the field could lead to ejection. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of Oregonlive.com.

Kicking Back Comments: I am incredibly disappointed by the fan(atic) reaction to pelt players with beer cans and bottles. I am even more disappointed by the stadium reaction to quietly pick up the discarded cans and bottles and announce to not do it again or we may eject you. I am most disappointed by MLS to not come out and have these folks arrested or at the very least ejected and required to take the "MLS Fan Conduct Class."

Let's face it, this is a way for MLS (among others) to jam up spectators that go way too far in their actions during a game ... like throwing beer bottles into the field. For the non-trival sum of $250, you have to take this on line course to get your "stadium privileges" back. Sounds like a no brainer.

It of course is largely symbolic and means almost nothing as from the web site itself "These are educational courses only. They are not a substitute for medical or psychological advice or counseling. They are not a replacement or substitute for in or out patient treatment for alcohol or substance abuse."

Even with available remedies and a truly no-brainer solution to the serious threat Crew fan(atics) placed on the MLS Cup this year, MLS is seemingly going to do nothing. Not even a mention from Simon Borg in his final episode of Instant Replay this year.

Fortunately, MLS treats its own with substance issues much better. Frankly, the way a league should. I would just like to see this responsibility extend to the safety of the players and referees involved.

And to complete the MLS trinity ...

... I offer the 2015 refereeing crew for the MLS final.

MLS Cup 2015: PRO announce refereeing crew for final

The 2015 MLS Cup will see Columbus Crew and Portland Timbers go head-to-head at MAPFRE Stadium, and PRO's Jair Marrufo will referee the game after the Organization named him as the center official for Sunday's showdown (4pm EDT).

Marrufo will be assisted at a sold-out stadium by Peter Manikowski (AR1) and Corey Parker (AR2). Chris Penso will be on fourth official duties, while James Conlee is the fifth official.

PRO General Manager Peter Walton told proreferees.com: "We have witnessed some very good officiating performances both in the regular season and throughout these Playoff games. ...

See the whole article here, courtesy of PRO.

Kicking Back Comments: There is a good follow up on PRO here focusing on Jair. While named MLS referee of the year in 2008, he has not been without his controversy throughout his career in MLS. Then again, what referee doesn't that has been around long enough. He also has some tremendous shoes to fill from his father, Antonio, FIFA referee from Mexico.

I am happy to see him with this match and wish he and his entire crew a great game!  

Professional Referee Organization names Hilario Grajeda referee for MLS Cup

Professional Referee Organization names Hilario Grajeda referee for MLS Cup

On Sunday night, we learned who will play in MLS Cup. On Monday morning, we learned who will referee the league's marquee match.

The Professional Referee Organization (PRO) announced that Hilario Grajeda will referee Dec. 7's final between Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake at Sporting Park, with Ismail Elfath as the fourth official and Paul Scott and Bill Bittmar patrolling the sidelines. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of MLSSoccer.com.

Kicking Back Comments: This is a bit of a "dark horse" assignment for me. Not because the crew is not deserving ... or "getting a shot," But more because Hilario referees the All Star Game this year.

Assignments (in all walks of life) are sometimes "political treats" given to some who are from a particular place, or have done particular favors for others. Also, and frankly, it is hard to pick from so many good folks ... or in other contexts ... equally skilled folks. So what can happen is the folks who decide, go with who they know best, which is often someone close to home.

This is true in life folks, and is certainly not limited to soccer.

But, I don't think this is the case here honestly ... in fact MLS and PRO have seen to go the other direction to a pure meritocracy for the referee by assigning Hilario to both matches.

Selection of Bill Ditmar to the final I think is terrific as well. He is a class referee who I have enjoyed working with several times and certainly did well this year in a field of very talented ARs and he too worked the All Star Game this year. Also, while I have not watched Paul, I genuinely have to believe that he falls in to the same paradigm detailed above.  

Finally, I am truly happy for Ismail. Being a 4th official on a Professional League final is an awesome responsibility that I can attest to personally. As a young professional referees, I am certain it is an event he will never forget in his life.

MLS Cup ... almost set

MLS Cup final matchup set: Sporting KC to host Real Salt Lake at Sporting Park on Dec. 7

After four weeks of MLS Cup Playoff action, we now know the two clubs that will contend for the MLS title on December 7: Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake.
WATCH: MLS Cup final, Dec. 7, 4 pm ET, ESPN, UniMas, TSN2, RDS

The 18th edition of the MLS Cup will hosted by Sporting KC at Sporting Park, in Kansas City, Kan. SKC host due to their superior regular-season record .

Sporting KC earned their berth in the final after coming back to beat the Houston Dynamo, 2-1, on Saturday night in the second leg of the Eastern Conference Championship. The two sides played to a 0-0 draw in the first leg. ...

See the whole story here on MLS Soccer.com.

Kicking Back Comments: Any bets for who the referees will be in 2013? Here is who has worked it in all time history. My money is on some "dark horses" this year ... but we will see.

Home Depot Center to host MLS Cup 2011

The Galaxy has played in Major League Soccer's championship event five times, successfully claiming the MLS Cup twice, but never in front of a home crowd. The team will have another shot at it this year as the MLS Cup 2011 will be take place at Home Depot Center on Nov. 20, the league announced Tuesday.

"We are extremely pleased to be able to once again host MLS Cup, our league's most important game, in the premier soccer stadium in this country, the Home Depot Center," Galaxy President Tom Payne said. "We would like nothing more than to be playing in MLS Cup 2011 at home in front of our fans." ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of the LA Times.

Kicking Back Comments: Well the venue is set ... any bets on who the referees are going to be? I have some thoughts ...

"I had a poor view of that particular incident." - Howard Webb

I should have shown Nigel de Jong a red card, says Howard Webb

Photograph: Kim Ludbrook/EPA

When Howard Webb took the field for the World Cup final at Soccer City last month, he was cheered by the sight of a small banner amid all the orange and red, the flags and the vuvuzelas, a message of support from home, no less. "It must have been English," he recalled. "It simply said: Can't play, can ref."

That statement was to be tested in Johannesburg in a way that nobody could ever have imagined, with Webb issuing 14 yellow cards. "On the day of the final we had several briefings from Fifa technical and psychological staff, and I don't think anyone foresaw the game being the physical encounter it turned out to be. We talked about the emotion, the styles of play, but no one said anything about it being so physical. ...

Masterful article continues here, courtesy of guardian.co.uk.

World Cup Final Analysis - Part Deux

Earlier in July the Massachusetts State Referee Committee provided match analysis of the World Cup Final written from two perspectives; One from a coach, one from a referee.

To summarize these analysis, each was edited to fit to approximately 700 words. However the full blown analysis was more in depth in both cases. Each is provided below for your reading enjoyment.

Special thanks to Glenn Buckley for authoring the coaches analysis, and Mike Singleton and Tom Goodman for their support from Mass Youth.

Special thanks also to Andy Weiss from the MSRC for hatching this one and making it happen.


World Cup Final 2010 Executive Analysis can be seen here, courtesy of Massref.


Full analysis from Glenn Buckley, Mass Youth Development Coach, is here, courtesy of Mass Youth.


Full analysis from Peter Kokolski, National Referee Emeritus, is here, courtesy of Kicking Back.

Ladies and Gentlemen ... Howard Webb

Howard Melton Webb, born 14-JUL-1971, hails from Rotherham, South Yorkshire England. Web has been a referee since 1993 and a FIFA referee since 2005. His FIFA bio is here, and Wikipedia page is here.

Webb will be joined by Darren Cann and Mike Mullarkey as his assistants for the final. No information at the time of this writing is available for the alternate referee, or alternate assistant referee.

Howard Webb's father was a referee and it was he who made his son aware of a referee's course. Howard passed the course when he was 19 years old and started refereeing locally. He became a referee in the Northern Counties East League in 1996. In the year 2000 he was included on the National List of Football League referees. By then he was only 29 years old. Three years later he was selected as a Premiership referee. In 2005 at the age of 34 he received his FIFA badge.

Webb will be the first Englishman sine 1974 to preside over a World Cup final where Jack Taylor was the last who refereed the Dutch loss to West Germany.

Webb is also the youngest at 38 to referee a World Cup final in 72 years, the last being Pierre Capdeville. 

During this time he has accumulated quite a record of matches as noted here by WorldReferee.com. Also of note is his discipline record statistics listed below:

Year	Games	Total	per game	Total	per game
2000–01	26	58	2.23	1	0.04
2001–02	32	69	2.16	5	0.16
2002–03	39	145	3.72	4	0.10
2003–04	34	92	2.94	9	0.26
2004–05	34	100	2.94	2	0.06
2005–06	47	117	2.49	7	0.15
2006–07	43	151	3.51	9	0.21
2007–08	38	128	3.37	2	0.05
2008–09	40	132	3.30	6	0.15
2009-10	35	124	3.54	4	0.11
Overall	368	1116	3.03	49	0.13

Webb's style is seemingly one of presence and communication, not strict discipline. This would seem to be emphasised in a recent BBC interview where Howard notes that, "being a good referee all comes down to the way you manage people and how you communicate with them".

NED v. ESP will be a significant test of that style as he leads us into the closing match of this quadrennial festival.