Things Have Changed

When I was a kid and wanted to play soccer, I would pump a little air into the beat up old ball in my garage and just start walking to the local park. By the time I got to the playground I would have picked up a few other kids along the way, and joined in with whatever crowd was hanging around and got a game going. Maybe it would be 6 players on a team, or maybe 15, but we worked it all out, without referees.

Now we have organization. Now there are lots of people that work behind the scenes in order to get soccer games played. For every organized game you see there are probably more people not playing than playing. From local volunteers who may line the fields, to the trainers, coaches and referees, to the administrators who make out the schedules, on and on it goes. There are layers of people who work at the game in state, regional and national levels, all trying to get the games played.

All of these people are just as passionate about the game as are the players themselves.

And so it was that I found myself in Philadelphia over the last three days, surrounded by about 200 of these dedicated people, who were there to discuss such weighty issues as secondary insurance coverage and whether two or four people should be added to their Board of Directors.

There was not much talk about soccer. In fact, if it were not for the predominance of soccer-logo apparel being worn, a casual observer would have never imagined this was a meeting of the leaders in a sports organization. It sounded more like a general shareholder meeting of a Fortune 500 company.

Don’t get me wrong, the discussions were heated and at one or two times, downright contentious. These are passionate people, as I mentioned. But, just like after a hard-fought game at the local park, when the boardroom battles were over we were all able to go to the bar and drink a few pints together. (Well, maybe we did not go have a few pints when I was a kid, but substitute a can of tonic and you get the idea.)

Sometimes I don’t know if organization is always the best thing for sports. The games look nicer; the fields are more evenly laid out than the makeshift patches of ground we staked out as children, when two well-placed trees often served as goalposts. The uniforms are definitely classier, since we had none. There are lots of people that play soccer now, so I guess that means things are better.

But somehow I find myself lamenting the passing of a time when all of the extraneous BS surrounding a game did not exist, and we could just walk down to the park and play.

A funny thing happened........

So EPL is not playing this weekend (EURO2012 games), England does not have a game until Tuesday, so what should I watch....

Scanning the channels had me stopping at a Spanish channel showing Futbol Mexico. It was a Premier Division game. A couple of minutes was spent checking out the TV settings, is the ball really pink ?? Yes it is and hopefully in support of one of my favorite charities.

Referee awards a direct free kick to the attacking team about 10 yards out from the Penalty Area, ideal ceremonial free kick conditions. Traditonal kicker/defender/referee exchange of pleasantaries occurs at the ball. It becomes apparent that the kicker has asked for 10 yards. From his pocket, the referee takes out a spray can, sprays a short white line on the grass in front of the ball, paces 10 yards and then sprays another white line on the grass. The defensive wall lines up on the second white line and the kick is taken.
Research so far has not revealed that this is anything more than an experiment in Mexico.

Later, I watched highlights of SJ v DC. Other than the goals, the highlight(lowlight) for me fell in the realm of 'what will commentators say next'. An altercation between 2 players lead to both being sent off, with the apoplectic commentator telling his audience how bad the officials are because 'it is not allowed to show 2 red cards at the same time' HUH!!!!

Programming Note

Dear followers of Kicking Back:
Over the next few days I am going to be traveling and relatively "unplugged" (one might say "kicking back" - sorry). During that time I do not have any posts "in the can" ready to go (despite having lots of ideas), and will not be near any place that I will be able to post.

To that end, I leave you all to your wares and what looks like in this part of the US to be a very nice long weekend. I implore you all to get out and play/coach/referee/assess this weekend, as it looks like a beauty.

As always, JAFO and Nigel may jump in and sprinkle their wisdom on the topic du jour, however will be engaged no doubt in their own right. I will enjoy reading any posts should they do so, on my return.

Good weekend to all and thanks for reading.
PK

Byron Moreno Follow Up

Kicking back comments:

There are a couple of recent developments about this matter reported on earlier. 

First, is the fact that (shock) FIFA is not going to investigate the matter. Why you may ask? Ted Howard the Secretary General of CONCACAF, who also serves of the FIFA referee committee states that the referee committee is not an investigative body.

Now lets see, it has been stated that this referee was "ordered" to throw the ITA-KOR match and that corruption at the highest levels is going on, implying that FIFA referees are being corrupted, yet they won't investigate? Let's reflect briefly back to the World Cup this year. How many times was there an incident, and how many times was there an investigation? I would opine each, and every. Investigations at times ended a referees career. FIFA sees no issue investigating there.

Now, to be fair Howard may have meant any outside the field incidents such as this could not be investigated. But that too holds little water as FIFA at least sent a letter to North Korea to "investigate" if the North Korean World Cup team was being treated humanely.

Or it just may go under the adage that you can't find what you don't seek.

See a story here, that details some of these facts, courtesy of Goal.com.

Second, is how Mr. Moreno is doing in prison, and what continues to be a difficult road.

Byron Moreno Denies Trying To Commit Suicide & Receives Prison Counselling Following Drugs Arrest
The former referee Byron Moreno is receiving counselling in prison, but did not attempt suicide.

The former referee from Ecuador, infamous for his World Cup 2002 exploits in the match between South Korea and Italy, was arrested at John F. Kennedy airport, New York, for allegedly being in possession of six kilograms of heroin on September 21. ...

See the full story here, courtesy of Goal.com.

Where is FIFA now?

When Togo Played Bahrain, the Whole Match Was a Fake
Taking the Field as African Nation's Team, Impostors Lose Game but Net Fees

Bahrain's national soccer team needed to prepare for an important game. So it jumped at a chance to invite Togo, a small West African country with a highly regarded soccer team, to play an exhibition match.

At least $60,000 was spent on flights, hotels and other expenses, and in early September, the Bahrain team lined up against 11 players in Togo jerseys. The Togo players weren't as good as the Bahrainians expected, and the Persian Gulf team won 3-0.

In Togo's capital, Lomé, the Togo Football Federation was surprised not so much by the team's poor showing as by the game itself: On Sept. 7 the Togo team wasn't actually in Bahrain—but on a bus returning from an official game in Botswana.

TFF officials say the team in Bahrain was a fake one, which they suspect was organized by someone wishing to pocket some of the money spent on the event. ...

See the full article here, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.

Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows?

Credit to John Utter for spotting this one. It seems that Bolivian President President Evo Morales kneed an opposing player in the groin during a weekend soccer match against a team of political rivals after an apparent hard foul by the opponent. Read the story and see the video clip here.

This is an example about how the passions of sport transcend normal confines of behavior. Sports test our mettle and apply pressure that is unequaled in any other venue. We compete on a field against other people, but the true test is really against ourselves every step of the way. Can we handle it when someone takes a run at us? How do we respond when fouled? After we get knocked to the ground, what do we choose to do when we get up?

Soccer is life.

Did you hear that Sound(ers)?

AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

Congratulations to the 2010 Open Cup Champion Seattle Sounders who repeated as Open Cup champion with a 2-1 victory in front of about 32,000 fans at Qwest Field in Seattle.

Congratulations also for the refereeing team who did quite an excellent job to see this tournament to a fitting conclusion; Michael Kennedy, Tom Supple, Paul Scott, and Ricardo Salazar.

See one account here, courtesy of ESPN.

Liverpool Red Sox??

Liverpool Agrees to Sell Club to Red Sox

Liverpool Football Club said Wednesday it has agreed to sell the club to the owners of the Boston Red Sox, but the deal's fate is uncertain because the soccer team's owners remain opposed.

John Henry, a U.S. hedge-fund manager who owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team, has reached a tentative agreement to purchase Liverpool, the once-dominant British soccer team that has fallen on hard times. ...

See the whole article here, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.

Karma is a funny thing

Kicking Back comments:
I don't think we are going to see De Jong (of World Cup - Karate Kid fame) again anytime soon, certainly not on the Netherlands national side as he was summarily dropped today for a tackle that broke an opponents leg in 2 places.

I would opine that we are not going to see the referee for a while either as De Jong made the bone splitting tackle without even a caution.

Read the whole gruesome account here, courtesy of Yahoo sports.

FIFA Strikes Again

FIFA suspends Nigeria over government interference

FIFA suspended the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) yesterday because of government interference in the federation’s work.

The FIFA Emergency Committee listed several cases of government interference as justification for its decision to suspend the federation. ...

See the story here, courtesy of playthegame.org.

Upgrade Kudos - With a Twist

Many folks do not recognize the complexity of the "machine" behind the modern game. While I will not opine about the complex inner workings of the player side of FIFA, its national associations (e.g. US Soccer), State and local associations, I want to shed some light on the refereeing side a bit.

Ubiquitous to our lexicon is the term "referee". We are very familiar with who they are and generally their role inside the soccer field. Beyond that, there are a host of other actors that include referee administrators, referee assessors, referee mentors, and yes, referee instructors. It is this last group I will expand briefly on here.

Similar to referees within US Soccer, instructors too carry a grade such as instructor, state instructor, and national instructor. There are more, but you take my point I'm sure. Also similar, are requirements for grade retention, and upgrade such as classes given, and training received.

Many of these folks are active, or inactive former referees and have experience, sometimes a tremendous amount, with the game. Even with that experience, there is a fairly ridged training regime that goes into being an instructor, even to do so at a local level, for new referees. To upgrade to a state instructor takes hours of practical, and course work to learn how to shape the minds of referees at higher and higher levels. This requires not only a thorough understanding of the game, but also empathy for the plight of such a referee, combined with a healthy does of detailing "Law 18".

Recently there are two individuals I would like to recognize for their dedicated service to the instructor core (also noting their involvement as referees, assessors, and mentors), and congratulate them on their recent accomplishments.

Please join me in congratulating Peter Johnson and Peter Robinson for their recent advance to State Instructor. I continue to look forward to their work in turning out the quality referees of the future, and working with each of them along the way.

"The usefulness of uselessness"

I am a reader of Nature Magazine. It is really a fascinating magazine that deals with a whole bunch of heady topics that I like to distract myself with.

The other day I was flipping through the August 25th issue, and noticed an article named, "Quantum mechanics: The usefulness of uselessness", authored by Andreas Winter. An abstract of the article is here:

"A game for three or more players called 'guess your neighbour's input' reveals common ground between classical and quantum physics — at the expense of more exotic, super-quantum, theories of nature." (See Nature 466, 1053-1054 (26 August 2010) | doi:10.1038/4661053a; Published online 25 August 2010)

In pursing the article I ran across the following picture to illustrate what is going on in this super-quantum context, mouth agape. Now, I have used sport analogies often to describe a litany of things. This is the first time I have seen it to describe such a relatively complex topic.

Yet another example of what I am coming to call the "JAFO Paradox": Soccer is life.

With permission from Nature Magazine

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Kicking Back Comments:
There are times after I have had to send off a player when I have the very conscious thought of, "... what were they thinking ... ." Well the following article gets into the head of Ben Olsen a little, and to his credit, in his comments show he accepts personal responsibility for some of his past transgressions that led to some of his send offs.

While I note that these "mea culpas" do not include the present incident, and I don't entirely buy the "newness" he claims, it to me is of little consequence as he clearly knows when he has gone off the reservation. His comments are illustrative.

The former tenacious midfielder continued: "I have done things in this league that I have deserved red cards. I have raised my hand and said, 'Yup, I know what a red card is, I know what a suspension is, and I should've gotten one.' I am being fined for comments I made [to the officials] after I was thrown out, and I absolutely deserve that fine for my reaction. I've got to watch my mouth. I'm new to this."

A good quick read here, courtesy of the Washington Post.

Outgoing WPS Commissioner, In Her Own Words

Excellent interview here with Tonya Antonucci, outgoing commissioner of the WPS, about the league, its future, and some of the twists and turns along the way.

Gamer Alert Part Deux!

Photo courtesy Columbus Crew

FIFA 2011 XBOX Challenge

The Columbus Crew is set to host the FIFA 2011 Xbox Challenge on Saturday, October 23rd at noon. All gamers will meet in the newly renovated Upper 90 Club at Crew Stadium for the chance to compete for cash prizes, Columbus Crew memorabilia, and bragging rights over participating Crew fans. ...

Read the whole story here, courtesy of the Crew.

Tamberino stepping down from U.S. Soccer

Referee director Tamberino stepping down from U.S. Soccer

Craig Stouffer

It's got to be a bit ironic that a bit of non-D.C. United news that recently landed on my desk given the events of the D.C. United/Houston match earlier this evening. Nevertheless, here goes: U.S. Soccer director of referee development Paul Tamberino informed his colleagues this week via email that he will resign effective Dec. 1. An email to Tamberino seeking comment was not immediately answered. ...

See the blog post here, courtesy of the Washington Examiner.

Kicking Back Comments:
While I have not dipped into this story too much yet, this would qualify as a fairly significant shake up to MLS and US Soccer from a refereeing perspective. While no program is run by one man, Paul has been one of the familiar faces for some time.


More on this one to come as we close out this era. Early signs show caution in many for what is to come in 2011.

Gamer Alert! FIFA 2011 Now Available In The US

Photo courtesy EA Sports

For those of us who play the game virtually as well as actually, EA Sports has done it again! Now available "FIFA Soccer 11" is available on US shores for about $55 and by all accounts it looks pretty good.

It is available for PS3, XBox 360, PC, Wii, DS, and PSP platforms. For those who do not know what that is and are still using an Atarii 2600 gaming system, you may be able to find something here.

To me, the most notable feature of this game is the fact that you can, for the first time ever, have (22) players compete against each other. A real (11) v. (11) game, online.

When you do thing EA will include a referee? Some assistants? Nah.

Good review of the game here, courtesy of guardian.co.uk.

Boooooooooooooooooooooo

Photo courtesy markstivers.com

So there I was at the Revolution match the other night when they again seemed to implode near the end. At a point in the match there was a call that went against the Revolution, and a chorus of "Boooooo's" went out. My son who I was with at the match joined in and started to yell "boo" as well.

A brief yet interesting conversation broke out between us at that point.

PK: Why are you booing?
Jr.: Because everyone else is.

PK: Do you know why they are booing?
Jr.: No. Maybe because of the call the referee made.

PK: What was that call?
Jr.: I dunno. Handball?

PK: No. Did you see what happened?
Jr. : Nope.

PK: Then why are you booing?

From there just go to the top and repeat the loop a couple of times and you will get the flavor.

Point is that looking around not many people had much of an idea what had actually happened and how the referee handled it just right, regardless (irregardless in some parts of the country) of the reaction from the fan(atics).

Being a referee take a pretty thick hide, and an ability to filter the right protests to be considered for action. Everything else can be passed off as just noise.

Take heart dear refereeing friends, the next time you hear a chorus of complaints from a large group, it just might be because a group of lemmings just jumped off a cliff together. If you are doing your best, and think you got the call right, keep going. If you follow the lemmings, you take the chance of having your match go off a cliff, just like they did.

They Should Have Sent A Poet

Kicking Back is refraining from comment except to thank the provider of this article.

Soccer referee arrested in traffic incident

METHUEN — A soccer referee on his way to officiate a game at the Tenney School field was arrested after he refused to stop for a police officer and yelled obscenities Wednesday afternoon, police said.

School Resource Officer Michael Farelli was assisting the crossing guard with the lower school dismissal on Pleasant Street about 3:15 p.m. when an SUV driven by a man later identified as Joel Silverman, 55, of Nashua, N.H. pulled next to him and yelled out the window "who the (expletive's) car is this and why is it parked there?" ...

Full story continues here, courtesy of the Eagle Tribune.

NBA: Referee's Don't Count

The NY Times ran a piece the other day here talking about how the NBA intend to reign in players whining and in general carrying on in front of everyone when they may disagree with a decision from the referee.

I whole heartedly agree with the decision to do so as with any game, if it is not attractive to the spectators, there is a problem they need to resolve as it gets in the way of making money.

I can recall a similar problem a few years back in the "D League". There were some players who would get carried away, or even as a normal part of their lexicon would use the word "f*$k", as both an adjective and verb in every possible conjugation they could think of. The best of course when they used it as both parts of speech in the same sentence.

This had the predictable result of insulting the family of (4) who paid $30 of so to see a match on a nice summer evening on the cape ... for example.

This led to the predictable result of the league requiring the referees to be more stern about the language used by players and there was an expectation we would deal with it ... or the league will deal with us.

I have to admit, it did get better for a time, with the occasional slip that rang the top of the rafters. Over time it became more engraved to the players to just not do that ... and they responded well. I have my doubts personally about how the NBA players will react, but I guess we will see this season.

Where I laughed out load is in this part of the article:

League officials decided to crack down based on feedback from owners and market research.

While I agree this is a critical aspect of such a business, how about the abuse to the referees and respecting them as participants? How about respecting the game and not acting like a cry baby on steroids when something does not go your way? It takes market research and owners losing money to move the needle for something like this?

Yipes. I guess gone are the days of doing the right thing for the right reason. Generally it would seem our decisions are based on poll questions, and not a collective compass we have to keep our actions true.

We shall see how this one unfolds and how the NBA responds to the first sign of trouble.

I would opine the NFL has already summarily failed that test with allowing the Jets to allow Braylon Edwards a free pass on his recent DUI incident, as apparently there is no suspension on a first offence, regardless of how drunk a player was at the time of operation. Oh yeah, he's not being allowed to start on Sunday. I guess that counts.