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Message: [QUOTE="Cowtown, post: 1023511, member: 2350"] Aw geez, I'm watching the Masters already ... I'll get you for this, dawg ... ;) I watched the clip several times and also read the responses here in this thread. There are a few things to consider. First a little story. When you begin reffing, you ref the rules you know, because that's what you know. Then after your rules knowledge improves and you're better prepared that way, you ref the players because that's what you see: players. And after a few years of that, you begin reffing the game. Or you should anyway, and it's a major step up. So, in no particular order, here's my take. So, it's important to know what kind of game it had been up to that point. Things that happened previously, calls you made, calls you didn't, would bear on how you handle that situation. You can't look at a call like that in isolation and know how to handle it. There may have been some bad blood from a previous incident, or perhaps 3 had flopped on someone else earlier in the game? It all has some bearing. While I generally agree with the sentiment in the article accompanying the vid clip, I'm not so sure that it shows what the writer is advocating. To begin with, the quality of the video is not good, it has a different angle from what the ref saw, and it doesn't show everything. The kid in the dark jersey (3) does in fact extend his left arm in the direction the kid in the white jersey (21) fell (the right extends as he's falling so there's nothing there). It's also quite possible 3 did push 21 to some extent, contributing to his "fall." Notice he did take a few steps toward 21 prior to the actual "shove/flop." It's also possible (I can't see, though) that 21 grabbed his wrist and pulled 3 toward him. Like I said the video quality isn't good. About the ref, and observations made regarding her. Refs in those games (looks like a grade 7 level or so) usually aren't terribly experienced. Often they're volunteers or a first year type. It's actually harder to ref that level because you never know what players will do, and believe me they'll do some weird . :) So let's not be too hard on them for that. Also, if you watch the action you'll see by the time she gives the ball to the inbounds passer, the two kids have moved away such that she's effectively straight-lined (and yes, maybe her partner was also) and can't see who caused what. And we all get caught like that once in a while. Another comment was made alluding to what's called preventative officiating, ie using your voice, and it's a great game skill. Blow your whistle, walk over to the kids and say something like, "If you two want to play the rest of the game, knock it off." Show 'em your war face, LOL! :mad: Also tell the defender he has to give the guy without the ball a step, to try to create some separation. And if they persist, the double foul is probably the right way to go. And if they get stupid again, ask the coaches to take them out for a spell. If the coach protests, I'd say "Work with me coach, I can make sure he sits for a [I]long [/I]time, if you know what I mean ..." And as usual, this is just IMHO, and I'm not always right. [/QUOTE]

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