NY Metro ISOA News

Shirt Pulling

The NCAA soccer rules are very strict and specific regarding shirt and shorts pulling. From Page 74 of the 2007 NCAA Soccer rules book:

A.R. 108. A player holds an opponent by grabbing his or her clothing. RULING: Caution the offending player and award a direct free kick or penalty kick if the offense occurs in the penalty area.

We need to be consistent applying the Approved Ruling.

A Story from Werner

I received this email from long time ECAC assignor and NISOA Life Member, Werner Rothschild today.

Funny thing happened the other day. I wanted to watch a H.S. game in Syosset and went there to find a girls’ varsity game in progress. Just before half time one of the officials who knew me called, “Werner did you see that play?” I said, “Yes.” and the whistle blew ending the half.

A parent of one of the players comes over to me and says, “Your name is Werner? ” I said, “Yes.” He said, “Is your last name Rothschild?” Again, I said, “Yes, why?” He said, “You were my father’s soccer coach at CCNY in 1951!!” Unbelievable, you never know what can happen when you go to a game. Here is the real kicker (no pun ) he said, “You have not changed a bit from the team photograph in my father’s yearbook!!!”

Werner spends most of his time now in his Deerfield Beach, Florida residence, not far from where many former NY Metro ISOA members live.

Ejection Procedures

As a reminder, if you are the ECAC assigned referee and have to terminate the game or eject a player, make sure you fill out and submit the ECAC ejection/termination online form. In addition, you have to fill out and submit the Supplemental Ejection report. If the ejection is for fighting, you must notify the Region 2 coordinator, Neil Edkins via email. You can download these forms and view these links in the Library and Documents section of our web site.

Delaying Free Kicks

This is an excellent article with tips and techniques for dealing with players from the offending team who delay free kick restarts.

For the Integrity of Soccer: PAY ATTENTION TO THIS ONE !

Match Preparation

Has this ever happened to you? You show up at a site for a scheduled match only to find neither team had the game scheduled. If this has never happened to you, you are either very lucky or you know how to properly prepare for the game assignment. Now that you are assigned games from several different assignors and their particular web site (or in the case of the ECAC, two assignment pages for a single game in the metro NY area), there are going to be conflicts.

I suggest you check the home institution’s athletic web page as well. Most schools have their schedule and athletic department contacts listed. If you have a scheduled match that is not shown on the host school’s web site, you should contact the athletic department to confirm the game site and time. If it’s a CUNYAC game, you should contact the athletic department in all cases since venues and times change frequently. This simple procedure takes only a couple of minutes. Verifying the game details and coordinating communication among the officiating crew is part of your professional responsibility. If you are too busy to do this or think it is not your responsibility, do not accept the assignment.

You can read more about referee match preparation in our Clinicians’ Corner.

Availability Update

If you haven’t updated your availability recently, take a few minutes and do it. You can find all the local assignors’ web pages on our web site.

Communication Before The Match

Each official is responsible to ensure they communicate with the other members of the officiating crew at least 48 hours before game day. If you do not speak with the members of the officiating crew, you must receive positive confirmation that your message has been received. If you leave a voice message and do not receive a prompt response, call again. If you send an email and do not receive confirmation, you must continue to attempt to contact the crew members.

Some of our members are very technologically adept and can respond to a wide variety of communication methods. Other members are not as savvy or do not have access to technology in their work environment. The recommended 48 hour buffer is generally adequate to ensure satisfactory communication among the crew.

In the event of a time or venue change within 48 hours of the originally scheduled start time, we strongly recommend telephone contact and confirmation. Please keep your contact information up to date with the Chapter Secretary and the assignor’s web sites.