Paperwork

This past Friday I worked a double-header.  I was the Referee for the JV game and the Back Judge for the Varsity game.

In both games the home team was over-matched and lost by a wide margin.

In the first game, however, we had some issues.  There was a certain player who I flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.  You would think he would have gotten the message, but apparently that one flag wasn't enough for him.

Later in the game there was a scrum and he was beating his chest and beginning to taunt the other team.  I should have flagged him for his second unsportsmanlike foul (and, in fact, was reaching for my flag) when a team captain jumped in, grabbed him, started pushing him toward his sideline, and told me, "I'll take care of him."

Kudos to the JV captain for behaving like a captain, so I let that one go.

Then late in the third quarter there was a running play that ended by my Head Linesman.  When the play was over I saw his flag fly.  I ran over there and he was in the middle of telling two players they were gone.  So I calmed him down and asked what happened.  The home team player was twisting the ankle of the runner in an obvious attempt to cause, if not injury, serious pain.  Flag.  The visiting player, after player #1 had been pulled off, retaliated by kicking him in the head.  Flag.

Two ejections and I spent time on Saturday doing the necessary paperwork.

My supervisor called me this morning and wanted to debrief just to make sure that I wasn't changing my mind about the ejection after having the weekend to think about it.  That is SOP for our association.  I told him, "Nope . . . I'm positive he needed to be ejected."

The upsetting part of all this is that had I flagged him the second time, this incident never would have happened and the visiting player would not have been ejected.

I will remember that for next time.