Here’s an interesting question for those of you in Recreational Soccer leagues U8 and above. If a player commits a cardable offense – will your refs actually show the card?
Our original referee coordinator felt it would be bad for kids self esteem to have the card shown to everyone so the league adopted a guideline that cards would not be shown and the referee would simply explain to the player what they were guilty of and also the coach. Obviously they would be sent off for a red card offense, but the card still would not be shown.
However, we found that not showing the card might diminish the meaning for older players. If a player committed a sending off offense – they should have the card shown to drive home the seriousness of their offense.
So we’ve revised our guidelines such that cards WILL be shown in U8 and above.
This may seem silly to more experienced leagues. But I’m curious if any of you out there handle yellow and red cards differently than standard FIFA.
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September 10th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
I haven’t refereed U8 for almost two decades, but the cards should be few and far in between. If you are a referee and you are pulling more then…I’ll be generous here..3 yellows in a season, then the referee really need to be looked at as a referee. In that age group talking is the best way to get through these players. If it’s one that is constantly fouling, then by the 3rd foul by the same player, I would as a referee look at the coach and say, “Hey, that is #3’s 3rd foul of the game. Deal with him or I will.”
You are not going to get much of anything else that warrants a yellow card and if it’s because the left the field without permission or entered the field, then the ref should be reported to the ref coordinator.
U16’s you have issues. U8’s, they are just learning the game.
September 10th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
I don’t think we’ve had a card in U8 yet. Our referees are VERY good at explaining things to the kids.
I think in U10 and U12 you start to see more competitive matches and a few players who will get overly physical, so after a warning or two – need a card. That was what spurred this post in the first place – we had a kid who stepped WAY over the line.
But I agree 100% – some refs can go card crazy and as a result, loss a valuable teaching opportunity. But sometimes a card is a card and that may be the way to grab a players (and parents) attention.