AboutJohn Cummings Expertise Do you have a call made by the referee in last week`s match puzzling you? Are you a referee who may not be certain that what was done was the right thing to do? I shall be glad to entertain any questions about officiating soccer. The more the players, coaches and supporters understand the referee and his/her decisions, the more fun we can have on the pitch.
Experience After coaching my son's travel team, I have been USSF State Referee, State Assessor, Assignor and State Instructor in addition to having been a college NISOA referee,a NISOA clinician, a NISOA assessor and a high school referee.
Question Does a referee have the right to place hands on a player? Example: high school player given yellow card, leaving field, line ref places hand on players chest and shoves him backwards back onto field. If not supposed to what is the ruling number in the ref rule book?
Answer Sorry to hear of this incident. Not a good situation.
While there is nothing in the "rule book" about refs touching players, most referee instructors advise referees to avoid touching players whenever possible. Every clinic I have attended has urged referees to not touch the players even when moving a wall or trying to get a player's attention. Incidental contact can be tolerated, but otherwise, no contact should be made, much less shoving a player.
From what you have stated, I would venture to say that the referee may have acted in such as way so as to possibly make him/herself civilly or even criminally liable. I would hope that your coach and/or the player documented the incident and reported it to at least the referee association or to the governing athletic body so that such behavior can be addressed.
Referees are hard to find and harder to keep. If this ref is a good ref who made a mistake, he/she should be counseled and monitored for further misconduct at a minimum.
I am sorry this happened, and I hope the rest of your season has been fun.
