Terrible Ref?

This weekend in one of the games, I was AR2 (on the spectator side) for a 9v9 competitive U12 Girls match between TUSA and WFC. The WFC parents were seated right behind me, and a few of them seemed to particularly enjoy providing live commentary on my officiating. The only issue was their lack of soccer rule knowledge, but their audacity certainly made up for it. Throughout the first half, every call that didn’t go in their favor was met with complaints. I’ve gotten used to tuning out the crowd, but given that they’re U12 parents, I understand that many of them are new to the game and might attend more matches to support their kids in the future. So when I’m dealing with U12 and under age group games, I sometime tend to explain certain decisions after the match. But for the older kids, I let the parents rant all they want — it’s not my concern.

Just before halftime, on my side, TUSA took a shot from outside the box. At the moment of the shot, they had a forward who was in an offside position in the box, but after the keeper saved the shot, I mean she already finished the save and already tried to hold the ball with her arm but for some reason fumbles the ball, maybe because of the slippery, and it dropped to the forward’s feet, he was no longer in an offside position. He then followed up and scored. The WFC parents were livid, claiming it was offside. During the break, I made a point to walk over to them and say, "You think I’m a terrible ref, but ask yourself, why would a terrible ref be at your kid’s game? It’s because parents like you have driven the good refs away. You’re left with us ‘terrible’ ones who are still willing to stand here for your kids."

In the second half, TUSA’s goalkeeper kept pushing the limits when taking kicks, bringing the ball right to the edge of the box, releasing the ball inside before punting it outside. The WFC parents behind me were constantly complaining that I was blind and couldn’t see the ‘foul.’ Near the end of the game, WFC hit the post with a shot, and a player who was in an offside position followed up the rebound and scored. I raised my flag for offside, and the WFC parents exploded. They thought I didn’t call offside on TUSA earlier, without understanding that the situations were completely different—one was a rebound off the keeper, and the other was off the post, so the rules for offside don’t apply the same way. I bet if the law didn’t stop them, they would’ve happily taken me out. One parent even told me I’d ruined his weekend, which honestly gave me a little satisfaction.

Then, as I was leaving, I heard another parent yell from behind that they were going to report me. I actually felt a bit of sympathy because I’ve been in their shoes. I was once so frustrated by bad refereeing at my daughters' games that I tried to report it everywhere, only to get ignored. Things turned out I become a certified soccer referee. Even the compilation video of ref mistakes I posted on YouTube was asked to be taken down by the club chairman. Back then, I had to take it down, despite disagreeing with all his insincere, double-talking reasoning, since my daughters played for the club at that time. So I’m curious to see what reporting a ref actually accomplishes here in North Carolina. Is this where the sun shines?

After the game, I spoke with the WFC coach and told him, "If you’re going to let your parents act like that towards the officials, I don’t think coaching is the right job for you."