Man, I have my fair share of stories where I've had to deal with complete and total dicks. I work as a youth soccer referee and I am proud of it. When I'm working, I look and act like a professional, so I get pissed off when some stupid idiot parent that knows nothing about the rules of soccer starts bitching at me because little Johnny fell over and hurt his knee. Coaches do the same thing, just louder and with seemingly more authority. Half of them don't know the details of the rules, which I know like the back of my hand, yet they still disagree with everything. The one thing that sucks is that I can't speak my mind when I'm reffing, because the coaches will refer me to my bosses and to the league, and then I'll be out of work and forced to quit being a referee, so I have to grin and bear it, but where I draw the line is when the same people keep on me for random useless trivial things that don't matter and, even if I did make a mistake, didn't cost their team a thing. Thats when I get to go up to them, face to face, and tell them to shutup or they watch the game from the parking lot. I don't get a kick out of doing that, but when I have to, they shut up pretty damn quickly.

At the same time, I am also a youth soccer coach ( I'm only 17 and volunteering this much when a senior in high school- dealing with loads of homework- makes for some games to be pretty stressful. What makes the game worse is when I see referees that just don't care. They show up late, arent dressed in the uniform, and don't know the rules. This just pisses me off because being a ref is a pretty well paying job in my area. For reffing the age I coach, these kids are getting $27 US PER GAME!!! Thats around $25-$30 an hour, which is a damn sight more than what people at the local McDonald's get. Refereeing is one job that a kid can get and be proud of- I mean damn, who else has the power to control a soccer game, to enforce rules and be leader??? SO when these people take advantage of the high wages and just don't care, they should be sacked.

One last thing- before the game, I take the time to introduce myself to the coaches or refs, whichever situation I am in, so a note for anyone out there who plays/coaches/refs soccer or any sport, say hello, good game, and good bye. It makes all the difference.

Wow, that was kinda long. But I'm glad to get it off my chest.

[Edited by joshldoherty on 10-08-2003 at 04:06 PM]