Question:
In a recent U13 girls soccer match, a coach (on the losing team) was actively abusing the center referee. As a result, spectators from the same team followed suit; in essence causing a free-for-all of verbal abuse. With 20 minutes left in the match the same coach’s daughter was (slightly) injured. The reaction to this, by the coach, was a slew of curse words as he proceeded to step on the pitch and remove his daughter. When told by the center referee that the coach’s behavior would be outlined in the match report, the coach proceeded to “abandon” the match; instructing his team to gather their belongings and leave. The referee did not abandon the match so would that mean that the team “forfeited”? To give some background, the match was not particularly physical and there existed no calls by that center referee which warranted this reaction. I couldn’t find anything in the LOTG which covered this, could you please give me some guidance? Thank you so much!
USSF answer (November 10, 2008):
Guidance: The result of the match is not the referee’s problem. Full details of everything that occurred must go into the referee’s match report. The competition authority resolves the problem and the referee has done his/her job.
The guidance you request was quick and simple, but the entire problem could have been avoided by doing something fundamental early on. If, after issuing a warning to the coach about his behavior, he persisted, then he should have been expelled from the game for irresponsible behavior. The referee seems not to have given that warning and then allowed the problem to become worse.
