Protecting goalkeepers
Yesterday's game got a little bumpy at a few places. What I want to focus on was a single moment of the game in which I may have impacted the result...
I worked a middle school girls game yesterday afternoon.
The game got a little bumpy at a few places. What I want to focus on was a single moment of the game in which I may have impacted the result.
Here’s what I’m keeping with me moving forward!
An awkward collection with the goalkeeper
An attacker had a breakaway on a through ball at one point in the game and got to the ball at the same time as the goalkeeper who’d come out to around her penalty spot.
The goalkeeper collected the ball awkwardly and got her foot trapped under herself as she went to get the ball. From what I saw, the attacker made no contact (maybe veeeeeery slight) with the goalkeeper.
The keeper did stay down and I had to wave the coach onto the field. But the injury definitely did not seem like the result of the contact.
It made me monentarily flashback to my late AR offside call even though this situation was different.
Am I 100% sure about that? No! But based on what my eyes saw and what my gut was telling me, the awkward collection was the culprit.
Regardless of what actually happened, this raised the temperature of the game significantly because the coach was yelling at me the whole time he was coming on.
“This is the second time that’s happened!”
“You didn’t give a yellow the first time and now they have license to attack my goalkeeper!”
“You’re not protecting my players!”
“You’re letting this game get out of control!”
To be honest, it didn’t intimidate me at all. It didn’t come off to me as genuine anger. More like he was showing off for the parents who were there which I completely understand.
I ended up giving him a calm caution and explained to him quickly what I saw and why I didn’t give a yellow card. He understood and it seemed like we had an understanding and were on the same page. We were almost laughing about it. But I had to give the caution just to lower his temperature and make sure everybody knew this was my game to control.
The negative impact on the game
The goalkeeper did sub out after this play and never returned to the game.
This meant the backup goalkeeper had to play.
And as you can probably guess, middle school teams don’t have a lot of depth…
The game ended 2-0 with both goals being scored because of mistakes made by that backup goalkeeper.
Do I need to protect goalkeepers better?
I think the answer is yes.
I’m decent at blowing my whistle for a foul when there’s goalkeeper contact. I did in the game moment I described above.
But I don’t think I’ve given a yellow card for late contact on the goalkeeper yet. I just haven’t seen anything malicious, late or outside of a 50/50 ball.
I believe the reason is because I’ve been swept up in this narrative that goalkeepers are overprotected.
If you’re a serious soccer person, you know what I’m talking about. When watching high-level soccer, every little touch on the goalkeeper is a foul.
I don’t even know if I believe in that narrative! Goalkeepers often put themselves in risky positions purely based on what the position requires. I just know that up until yesterday, I may have subconsciously believed in it.
What I do know is that these attacker-goalkeeper coming-togethers are flash points. They can immediately turn a calm game into a blood-boiler. So it’s something I have to start giving extra attention to.
My takeaways:
In higher-level games, I think my bar is pretty good. Get good angles for the coming-together and blow for a foul if there’s any indecent contact. Even a hard challenge from the attacker on a 50/50 ball should probably be whistles since the keeper is probably sliding out and in a compromising position.
In lower-level games, I think I need to be a little more intense about warning players going near the goalkeeper. I don’t want to stop them from playing hard but until high school level, I should probably opt to make sure players are not making an unnecessary collisions.
I probably need to be better about how I escalate fouls like this and do it in a logical way. What I mean is I need to have a stair-step approach of steps that does eventually reach a caution. Warning > 2nd warning > caution if there are little, persistent fouls happening. I might even have to tighten that up to only warning > caution if I feel it’s appropriate.
I also need to just be aware that a 50/50 challenge like this can always result in a caution for the attacker. I have to heighten my senses in that moment and not be cautious myself to give a yellow I do see a reckless challenge.
P.S. I did go over to the coach after the game and had a quick 1-minute conversation with him. He apologized and said he appreciated me coming over to chat with him. I told him again what I saw and that I only cautioned him because I know he was playing a part for the parents of his players who were there. I also told him I have no problem with respectfully disagreeing with my officiating and that any respectful dialogue will help us both grow. What he did was nothing like this. I left the conversation respecting him and hopefully it was a mutual feeling.
Know a soccer ref? Feel free to share this with them 💙