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Post by USCGamecocks on Feb 25, 2024 17:28:02 GMT -5
Probably isn’t on the radar for most of you folks, but the current MLS refs are in a lockout situation and replacement refs have been brought in. As some of you know, I’ve been reffing college games for a few years now and last night I was the 4th official for the Austin FC Minnesota game. I also heard that my application for a regional license has been approved. So I might have the opportunity to do a few more MLS games in an assistant capacity but likely won’t get an opportunity to be a center ref since I’ve only done amateur games. But with my regional license, I’m now qualified to do USL games as well as NCAA. But anyhow, it was cool to do a game with 20,000+ spectators. It’s a totally different environment than I’m used to.
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Post by tonythegator on Feb 25, 2024 17:58:06 GMT -5
I'm not really a soccer fan, but did watch a bunch of games while I was doing my home care recovery at my daughter's house. My son-in-law is from England. I know you enjoy it though and I am glad to hear you are enjoying your time with the sport.
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Post by tophb21 on Feb 27, 2024 12:19:36 GMT -5
That’s really awesome USCG!! Keep us posted.
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Post by CFF on Feb 27, 2024 18:16:58 GMT -5
Perhaps you could do the reverse Ted Lasso-Referree edition and come and officiate a few SEC football games. You could possibly start and be the best of the conference on day 1.
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Post by USCGamecocks on Mar 28, 2024 15:22:51 GMT -5
Perhaps you could do the reverse Ted Lasso-Referree edition and come and officiate a few SEC football games. You could possibly start and be the best of the conference on day 1. Reffing football is a fools errand. I don’t know why anyone wants that job.
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Post by USCGamecocks on Mar 28, 2024 16:00:39 GMT -5
So the contract dispute is over so I worked my last game this past weekend. It was a great experience as the last two I was an assistant referee. The jump in the speed of the game from college to MLS is huge. I’ll go back to college and start working in some USL games. I really hadn’t ever thought about reffing at higher levels than regionally but may have to see if I want to work my way up. After two years of USL, I’d be eligible for the MLS pool (but would need to be among the highest graded officials to get called up). But starting pay is 85k per year for what amounts to a part time job.
This was my first experience with VAR (replay for soccer) and it is definitely bad for the game. I think it diminishes the quality of referees as they err on the side of caution and use VAR to re-referee the game. For the most part, you are making judgement calls that rely on experience that cannot be replicated by technology. This has been observed in almost every sport that has used it. On top of that reviews ruin the fan experience.
For example, in one sequence, there was a tussle for the ball 5 yards from me and both players had a fistful of the others jersey so I didn’t signal to the match referee that there was a foul. The winger collected the ball, passed to another teammate who then passed to another teammate and finally they scored. Well VAR signaled to the ref to review the build up to the goal and finally disallowed the goal for a foul in the buildup. This took three minutes all the while the stadium is silent because they know the goal is under review. In the post-match review, my no-call recommendation was confirmed to be correct but because a goal was scored, VAR disallowing the goal was also deemed to be correct. So essentially we now have a double standard for what constitutes a foul because things look very different in real time versus frame by frame analysis.
And then you have offside…they draw lines on the players to determine if they are offside and they draw those lines on any body part so I can be standing in the same place and either be offside or not based on the position of my arm or shoulder. It’s completely absurd that mere inches (or less) now determine offside or not.
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