No soccer, or Tour today ... just me on a bike for a great cause

Full details on the event can be found here.

Cycling does not have hooligans huh ...

... I beg to differ.

Mark Cavendish 'sprayed with urine' and abused by fans during Tour de France time trial after Tom Veelers crash

Mark Cavendish was left upset after being drenched with urine during Wednesday's time trial as his fellow Briton Chris Froome led the chorus of dismay about the spectre of hooliganism appearing again at the Tour de France.

The festive atmosphere on the route to Mont Saint-Michel was interrupted disgracefully by the abuse thrown at the British champion, culminating in a bottle of urine being sprayed over him.The Manxman’s French team-mate Jérôme Pineau said he felt “ashamed” about the episode as it appeared that Cavendish was targeted because of his part in Tuesday’s controversial sprint finish in Saint-Malo when some other sprinters blamed him for the clash with Tom Veelers in which the Dutchman suffered a heavy fall. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of The Telegraph.

Kicking Back Comments: What was I saying about the race referees applying the rules to all? Well here it is. While the referees have certainly made their decision, other riders, the general public, and future races, have made theirs.

Let's just say the referees don't see it the same way as nearly everyone else.

Should it matter?

Well there are times when a stadium is filled with boos because the home team did not get a break fan(atics) thought they deserved,  and sometimes the stadium is filled with boos because fan(atics) just got a better look than the referee at what was on the jumbotron.

I will let this audience decide for itself based on the incident.

The lesson here is there is no such thing as a friendly match.

Even in an event that is defined with civility, there can be trouble hiding around every corner. Be ready for it.

Tacks on the road last year, urine poured on a former world champion this year ... what's next?

Good on FIFA

So I whined here not that long ago about Sepp visiting Palestine, and opined to employ some "balance" in his visits from Sepp playing the joker again.

Well, honestly, good on FIFA and Sepp for visiting both Palestine and Israel as reported here.

I stand by my thinking that FIFA does not want to get wrapped up in the conflict of the region, but, so long as FIFA is even handed with its comments, UI can see no real harm coming.

If however, FIFA choses to take a stand with one or the other, it is going to get exactly what it desserves ... a heap of trouble.

Blame the engineers ...

FIFA CONSIDERS SCRAPPING 3-D COVERAGE OF WORLD CUP

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — FIFA is considering scrapping 3-D broadcasts of the next World Cup, describing ESPN's decision to abandon the format as another setback for the technology.

The sports network said earlier this week that there weren't enough viewers in the United States to make 3-D broadcasts worth the investment, and ESPN's dedicated channel will close by the end of the year. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of the AP.

Kicking Back Comments: I am of course kidding about the title of this post, as it would seem fairly clear that if ESPN made the decision to invest in the technology knowing that only 6% of household can utilize such a stream, and only a small percentage of those would actually watch the World Cup, it is the folks in marketing who wanted to do it in the first place that would seem to have erred.

I would think the question of "does the market want it?" would be answered before "how do we build it?" in this consumer setting.

Then again that might me the engineer in me talking.

Last ... but not least

On July 2nd I posted the Region I Massachusetts Youth National Appointments.

I did neglect to post one announcement however, which was Randall Kelly, who has been invited back to Nationals this year.

Well done Randy!

Another fabulous video from US Soccer

This one is on concussion awareness, and is a MUST WATCH for all referees.

Keep in mind, as a referee, you are not there to administer medical advise or treatment, simply direct the player if they look to be in distress to a supervising adult or trained medical staff.

There is no harm is erring on the side of caution with head injuries.

When in doubt, stop the game, and get help. No one who really is concerned about the participants of a match will question such a decision.

There are bad days ... and there are BAD days

Many thanks to regular readers Matt A. and John U. for bringing these articles forward (oddly coincidentally) on the same day.

First is a local (to me) referee assault.

Alleged attack on referee lands soccer player in court

LYNN — A judge released but ordered an East Boston man to stay away from his soccer league after police said the man and his two brothers attacked a referee after he issued a red card.

“I think he really enjoys the league, but understands,” court-appointed defense attorney Daniel Werner said when the judge issued her ruling. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of ItemLive.com and here, with a video interview with the referee from WHDH.

Kicking Back Comments: Foremost, Kicking Back wishes Mr. Garcia a speedy recovery. Cowardly assault on the referee aside, I applaud the trial courts decision here. I agree it is unusual to set a cash bail for such an event, even one as heinous as putting a referee in the hospital for a couple of days for a mass confrontation  but I suspect the judge, and both attorneys knew that (a) the suspects would deny everything, and (b) there is little chance of actually getting them back in court.

I also applaud the judge for recognizing the role the referee was acting in for the match. Check out the article for the particular quote.

So where are we now?

We have a referee who will never, on his own admission, referee again, with a broken facial bone, players who have allegedly committed assault and battery on a referee, likely never to show up in court, and a league that should take and face, some significantly stern action.

What can US Soccer do? How about Mass Soccer?

Likely nothing, as on a cursory look, the U.S. Latin Soccer League is not affiliated with either.

Take a look here for the affiliated adult soccer leagues in MA.

A word to the wise, unless the league is affiliated, there are few remedies outside those at law that can be brought to the bad actors. Also, it is far more difficult to assure compliance to common sense safety rules (e.g. having a detail officer at every match) and compel a league to take such action. Further, while US Soccer has an insurance policy that would cover (I am guessing) some of the damages that have occurred here for the referee, it would not apply, even if the referee was a registered US Soccer referee, as (and again I am assuming based on info to date), the league is NOT an affiliated US Soccer league.

IN SHORT, DO NOT EVER REFEREE AN UNAFFILIATED MATCH. THERE IS A HEAVY PRICE TO BE PAID IF THINGS GO WRONG.

Here is where there "rubber meets the road" for these referees however, and they should group together and take the issue to the league, and refuse to work another match until life suspensions are handed down to each player involved, and the team is tossed from the league from the rest of the season. Or maybe a petition to the Lynn board of parks to show what this league has been up to and pull their current field permit?

Just a thought ...

Now as a second thought, MA Soccer and US Soccer should be at least "made aware" of this stuff, by what mechanism I have no idea, as should USLSL seek membership in the future, they might want to be aware of what history it carries.

But, with every ying, there is a yang, and as the title of this blog entry implies, there was a referee who had an even worst day.

As gruesome as it is, please check out Brazil soccer referee killed during match; his head displayed on stake midfield from Fox News. 

Fox does draw a poor comparison at the end of the article however, somehow thinking (other than causing death) that the stoning, quartering, and beheading or a referee, is in the same realm as the shooting death (~100 bullets were found in Mr. Escobar I believe) of a player who scored an own goal ... and as speculation has it, was killed by gamblers for not making the point spread.

Somehow I'm just not seeing the two as similar.

#lettedride

Interview courtesy of NBC

A truly outstanding individual, and teammate. One we should all be proud of.

Law 15 Redux

Remember how I had said Law 15 was "Just a way to restart?"

Don't believe me ... take it from FIFA, here.

... and I have to say US Soccer continued to step up their game making this material available to all.

How @LeTour Robbed @iamtedking and why it matters to referees

So many have been following the criminal mistakes the Tour de France has been making over the opening stages of the tour.

We started with the Orica Green Edge Bus getting wedged under the finishing banner in Stage 1 as we can see here.

Now by itself, this is not a huge deal as frankly, crap happens, and the bus driver made a late decision to go to the finish line, and paid the price frankly by getting stuck under the banner.

Some poor planning on OGE, and maybe even on The Tour for not being more careful.

It is the series of events thereafter however that are really putting Le Tour in a very poor light.

Now, while the bus was getting un-wedged from the banner, the peleton was speeding to that very finish line at speeds around 30MPH. Fearing the worst, the race referees made the on the fly decision to make the finish for the stage at the 3km sport, where there are also cameras (because of there is a crash in the last 3km, all riders get the same time who are involved).

Fair enough, and while the 3km mark was particularly dangerous to finish in, they went with it (Hindsight would have provided the better answer of neutralizing the stage I think).

So with riders getting cross-eyed from oxygen debt, word went out on race radio the finish would be at 3km, not at the finish line.

Now forced to reorganize their teams faster than had been expected, chaos in the peleton ensued and riders scrambled for position. The result, a crash at the 6km mark that caught all of the major contenders, and some of their teams. Some were injured, some seriously, such as NH native and ultra domestique for Cannonade Pro Cycling, Ted King who separated his shoulder in the accident, yet finished, and rode in stages 2 and 3.

On seeing this occur, the race judges made an immediate decision that because they changed the line to the 3km mark, and the crash occurred at the 6km mark, 3km form the NEW finishing line, all riders would get the same time.

This did not sit well for many and the organizers were heavily criticized for their decision.

Stages 2 and 3 go by relatively uneventful from the outside, but many riders were still suffering greatly from their injuries from Stage 1. Even with this being true, these riders were able to make the time cut for each stage (generally a % of the finishing time where riders must finish, or be faced with the possibility of elimination).

Stage 4, the Team Time Trial (TTT) was up, and within the first 150m Ted King was dropped, unable to keep up with his team due to his injuries. He did fight the entire ride however, and clock in at an average speed of approximately 28 MPH ... with a separated shoulder.

At the conclusion of the stage, Cannonade and Ted were told he would be disqualified due to being outside the time cut by 7 seconds.

An international outcry ensued after the decision was renderend by Vicente Tortajada, Le Tour referee jury president. Echos of this protest are still occurring.

Particular commentary, and video about the incident, and the outpouring of support can be found here, here, here, and here.

Now, horrible decision aside, based in history where other "contenders" have been outside the cut, and been allowed to continue, or even the fact that the organizers themseves were the cause of the crash in Stage 1, which was the cause of the injuries, and the cause of being outside the time cut, the worst of it was the president of the referees explanation of the decision.

In short, "... the rules are the rules ... ."

A note to the Tour:
I think Mr. Tortajada is going to be very sorry later in this Tour he ever said those words.

A note to referees out there:
Don't ever say that, you will be sorry you did.

This dear friends is one of those "put on your big boy pants moments" where empathy wins over the text of the regulations. Ted should have been able to ride.

But you may say, he was outside the cut, how can they do that?

The same way they did for others in the past, my taking into account the totality of the situation, and the principals the sport was founded on. Courage, determination, dedication.

As a referee empathy needs to trump the LOTG in some situations where a good decision, needs to outweigh a correct one. What we have here is a decision that is technically correct, and practically wrong.

Also (and referees take note here too), it has limited the decision making ability of the 100th Tour referees to EXACTLY what is in the text of the rule book. They have said it themselves "... the rules are the rules ... ."

To bind yourself to a series of words is a dangerous pretext. Any good referee, any good manager, wants flexibility to deviate when it is necessary to do so. This moment comes when they recognize that strict application of the rules will actually do harm to the spirit of what they are employed to protect.

Mr. Tortajada forgot this completely in his ruling on Ted King.

If the opportunity arises again in this Tour, he will be forced to employ his same singular stance on the topic, and recite the text of the rules.

If he does, good on him for being at least consistent, if not a robot.

If he does not, especially on July 14th if a Frenchman is involved, doping will be the least of Le Tour's problems in 2013 and beyond.

No soccer ANYWHERE today ... BUT ...

THERE IS LE TOUR!!!

So there is lierally no live soccer on national TV on the 4th, but there is other time during the week.

That said, there is a killer stage (Stage 6) of the Tour that is going to be another day for the sprinters.


EN - Analysis of the stage - Stage 6 (Aix-en... by tourdefrance

This Tour so far has seen a number of bizarre and fantastic sights.

A team bus stuck under the finishing banner.

An unexpected Radio Shack yellow jersey for a couple of days.

And for me a "live Tour report" as a friend of mine had the chance to visit at Stage 4, and met some of the boys from Garmin. Just outstanding stuff.

Copyright TD Productions

After my ride that day ... you can bet I am eating crapes, drinking wine ... and watching Peter Sagan take the day. The man is redicilious on a bike. Just watch this one ...

Who does Ben Olsen have to blame?

Apparently it is the referees who are at fault for only getting 9 points in the 17 matches he has had. Which is the very worst in MLS.

He should have stopped when he said, “... nobody wants to hear the coach in last place complain about the referees.”

You're right Ben ... we don't. But that didn't stop you, did it.

You can see (and hear) the rantings here, courtesy of NBC Sports.

I've opined about this in the past, specifically about Jay Heaps and the Revolution ... do we really think referees have as much leeway as coaches? Ben has been terrible this year, and yet, DC has trotted him out at the helm 17 times.

Would a referee get that kind of response at the MLS level?

Mind mind is made up ... what say you?

Region I Massachusetts Youth National Appointments

*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BY THE MSRC ***

It is with great pleasure the MSRC announces the selection of Massachusetts referees Anthony Brossi, Ian McKay, and Alexandria White to the US Soccer Youth Nationals.

Brossi, McKay, and White will join other referees from Region I, and all other US regions at the US Youth Soccer National Championships which serves as the crown jewel of competitive youth soccer with the nation's top 88 youth soccer teams.

Congratulations to all, and best of luck in these last steps of your youth soccer refereeing career.

More Bribes from FIFA?

Fifa: Brazil World Cup to have 'cheapest ever tickets'

Tickets for next year's World Cup in Brazil will be "cheapest ever", football's governing body Fifa says.

Fifa Secretary-General Jerome Valcke said 70% of the matches would cost less than in previous events; ticket prices will be announced on 19 July.

Mr Valcke and Fifa President Sepp Blatter praised the Confederations Cup in Brazil which ended on Sunday. ...

See the whole story here, from the BBC.

Kicking Back Comments: Can you see FIFA sweating now?

I don't think they are done yet ...

Will $100M End the Protests?

Brazil to get $100M from FIFA

FIFA president Sepp Blatter responded Friday to criticism of the cost of staging the World Cup in Brazil by pledging to give at least $100 million from profits back to the country.

Soccer’s governing body gave South Africa $100 million to invest in development projects after the 2010 World Cup, but it had not previously said it would establish a similar “social fund” after the 2014 tournament for Brazil. ...

See the whole story here, from The News Tribune.

Kicking Back Comments: Ignoring the obvious bribe FIFA is trying to pay the Brazilian people ... my question is ... will it work?

I am not at all convinced an afterthought of FIFA paying for some of the money they are going to earn is going to do it frankly.

Time will tell, but if I had to guess, I would say FIFA is in for a bit more.

Say it with me ...

FC Kansas City player copes with tragic death of husband

Jaime French stood patiently on the sideline, waiting to enter the first professional soccer game of her career. Before the whistle sounded, though, French took a moment to glance across the field and into the stands. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of The Kansas City Star.

Kicking Back Comments: Sadly, part of life is loss, and Ms. French certainly has endured her share given this story. The Game can certainly bind us, even in the face of such tragedy.

Soccer is Life.

BRILLIANT Rip on FIFA!

How delicious: Sepp Blatter has kicked off Fifa's Arab Spring in Brazil

The Fifa president's masterplan to return the World Cup tournament to the continent of its inauguration is backfiring

It may be a little early to call this, what with several days of theConfederations Cup and an entire World Cup to run, but there's a nagging sense that Sepp Blatter is somewhat miscast as a Brazilian counter-revolutionary.

At time of writing, Fifa had yet to request covert support from the CIA in the form of arms shipments and financial backing. But with protests in Brazil continuing to make the most explicit of links between the money the country's government has spent on Fifa tournaments, and the money it hasn't spent on less uplifting things such as healthcare and education, Herr Blatter finds his usual arsenal increasingly wanting.

What is he to do, for instance, about the most prevalent slogan of the ongoing protests: "Fifa-standard", which deliberately applies the language of the World Cup bid to the comparatively unfavourable quality of Brazilian public services? In any normal circs, of course, Blatter would simply sue the placard-waver for unauthorised use of the Fifa imprimatur, but even his army of Zurich lawyers might struggle to persuade a court that demands for a functional transport system count as "ambush marketing". ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of The Guardian.

Kicking Back Comments: Absolutely brilliant article, worth reading every single word ... twice.

I Think Thou Doth Protest Too Much

Fifa must silence strip-poker 'liar' - Ramos

Spain defender Sergio Ramos on Tuesday urged Fifa to denounce the Brazilian journalist who claimed that the world champions had played strip-poker during an alcohol-fuelled party at the Confederations Cup.

The report, which appeared on website Globo Esporte, said members of the Spain squad had invited women back to their rooms following the opening 2-1 win over Uruguay in Recife on June 16. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of SuperSport.

Kicking Back Comments: FIFA the great protector of rights. Ha.

I think this is a great ploy by Brazil to rattle a few cages before the final. Based on the reaction of Ramos, I think it's working.

Where are all the fans?

FIFA Disappointed with Under-20 WCup Attendance

ISTANBUL (AP) -The empty seats that have greeted teams at the Under-20 World Cup in Turkey are a disappointment to FIFA.

Jim Boyce, the chairman of the FIFA Organizing Committee for the tournament, said Monday that he was unhappy with the turnout that has averaged only 4,828 spectators for the first 12 matches at the six sites.

If the trend continues, it would be the lowest attendance ever for an Under-20 World Cup dating back to 1977 - the next lowest being an average of 9,667 in the Netherlands in 2005. Several sites, including Istanbul, were far below the average with the opening France-Ghana match only attracting 2,800 fans in a 50,000-seat stadium. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of NBC Sports.

Kicking Back Comments: To heck with FIFA's expectations, I do wonder what is driving this behavior. Only about 5000 spectators have turned up for the forst 12 match on average, and the opening match in a 50000 seat stadium did not even have 3000 spectators!

What's going on?

It's too bad too as the U-20 is a great place for players and referees to really sharpen up in preparation for tournaments like the Olympics and World Cup. It often provides glimpses of the future of many stars.

A Trifecta from the Dutch Referee Blog!!

@DutchReferee has been busy and gives us (3) GREAT articles from the footballing world.

First, is Headbutting a Teammate, and I think @DutchReferee asks exactly the right question in what now? Or if the ball was in play?

Comment on his blog as there is a good discussion going!

Second, is the incident I was asked about recently in the Confederations Cup in, Change decision: Irmatov gives penalty … oh no, a goal. You can bet I am commenting on this one soon.

Finally is an AR turned graffiti artist in, Going crazy with referee spray at u21 WC. Note to the AR with the spray can ... you are supposed to mark 10 yards out ... it's just paint, not a forcefield in a can.

Great stuff from one of our own in Europe!