Coach/referee arguing calls

[Woodenstick]

Had a youth game this week and the blue coach argues a call. Blue goalie reaches out of the crease and clamps, red attackman checks goalie's stick outside of the crease, I do nothing, coach yells for interference. At the quarter I explain the rule to the coaches for both teams, the red coach says, "Of course that is the rule," the blue coach proceeds to argue I have it wrong and that he knows I am wrong because he is a referee.

Is it just me? I find that if someone identifies themselves as a referee to bolster their credibility when questioning a call, they almost always have no idea what they are talking about.

[LaxRef]

Had a youth game this week and the blue coach argues a call. Blue goalie reaches out of the crease and clamps, red attackman checks goalie's stick outside of the crease, I do nothing, coach yells for interference. At the quarter I explain the rule to the coaches for both teams, the red coach says, "Of course that is the rule," the blue coach proceeds to argue I have it wrong and that he knows I am wrong because he is a referee.

(Official throws flag)

"Great! Well, then I don't have to tell you what this flag is for! And you must already know that it's going to be a one-minute penalty and that it's nonreleasable!" :nahya:

Is it just me? I find that if someone identifies themselves as a referee to bolster their credibility when questioning a call, they almost always have no idea what they are talking about.

That wouldn't work around here, since we know who the officials are and aren't. The guy may well be an "official" at some level, but the fact that he tells you he's a "referee" and not an "official" is a good tipoff that he's clueless. But mostly I think this is a ploy to try to intimidate you.

[spenny]

its the same thing as "some of my best friends are [insert ethnicity here]"

[BlueJaysLaxFan]

LR's correct: if he is a boys/mens lacrosse official (unbeknownst to you in this case), then he should know better and now has to focus on coaching for a 1 min NR man down, if not you called his bluff with the USC penalty.

I've posted once before about the fact that we have a few officials who also coach youth (and one at varsity), and the youth coaches/officials do try to call (biased) penalties from the sidelines, or will try to ask me leading questions. I ignore the clutter from the sidelines anyway, but I also find that these officials will wait until the half to point out a few things that they would like to have called, though not in an intimidating way. Overall I've not had any major issues with these guys.

I personally think that if you are coaching, use your knowledge of the game to be a better coach instead of wasting time trying to sway your fellow officials.

[3rdPersonPlural]

This is a good justification for refs to mix up who works with whom and meet (even if for grilled meats and old wine) now and then.

I'd do LaxRef one up on flagging the guy:

One minute USC for arguing. Add a minute for either impersonating an official or being an official who doesn't know his goal crease priviledges rules, and one more minute for claiming to be an official and not knowing that arguing calls is counterproductive.

I wonder if I could report that as 'illegal schtick'?

[CardinalPuff]

(Official throws flag)
That wouldn't work around here, since we know who the officials are and aren't. The guy may well be an "official" at some level, but the fact that he tells you he's a "referee" and not an "official" is a good tipoff that he's clueless. But mostly I think this is a ploy to try to intimidate you.
really?....i admit i am relatively new at officiating (4th year) but i had never heard this before....thanks for the tip!

[LaxRef]

really?....i admit i am relatively new at officiating (4th year) but i had never heard this before....thanks for the tip!

Well, maybe I was being a bit harsh there, but the fact is that all of the officials on the field are officials, but only one of them is the referee (same in football and other sports, I think). So, unless you're always assigned the position of referee, the correct thing to say is that you are a lacrosse official and that you officiate lacrosse.

BTW, the officials in lacrosse are all equally empowered to call fouls, but in the case of a dispute the referee has the final say. The referee is also in charge of the crew and gets to decide things like whether you wear long or short sleeves that day and who buys the beer.