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Post by bogan on Dec 5, 2020 18:35:57 GMT -5
A total mess. The fields were worse than a horse track-muddy/slick.
The A/R kept slipping and falling and couldn’t keep up with play. I really felt for the guy. Watched a few games other than the one I was there for...tough sledding for all the teams-no pretty soccer being played. Not the kids fault-just a slog. The only thing I can say good about that place is that they now have bathrooms. Praise Jesus.
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Post by kidsocceruber on Dec 5, 2020 18:51:16 GMT -5
We played at Mt Carmel, those fields were just as bad. The grass somehow was high and slow, and there was standing water and mud in front of one of the goals we played on. Asked the refs to do something about it and they said there was no sand, no rake, nothing, and if we didn't think it was safe to play we could opt out...gee thanks.
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Post by rifle on Dec 5, 2020 23:14:12 GMT -5
A total mess. The fields were worse than a horse track-muddy/slick. The A/R kept slipping and falling and couldn’t keep up with play. I really felt for the guy. Watched a few games other than the one I was there for...tough sledding for all the teams-no pretty soccer being played. Not the kids fault-just a slog. The only thing I can say good about that place is that they now have bathrooms. Praise Jesus. GSP has been on of the best surfaces whenever I’ve been there. That’s a shame. We played at Mt Carmel, those fields were just as bad. The grass somehow was high and slow, and there was standing water and mud in front of one of the goals we played on. Asked the refs to do something about it and they said there was no sand, no rake, nothing, and if we didn't think it was safe to play we could opt out...gee thanks. Should have asked the host club or the county facility staff instead. Refs I’m sure we’re just as pleased as the players to have lousy field conditions. |
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Post by Keeper on Dec 5, 2020 23:52:44 GMT -5
We played at Mt Carmel, those fields were just as bad. The grass somehow was high and slow, and there was standing water and mud in front of one of the goals we played on. Asked the refs to do something about it and they said there was no sand, no rake, nothing, and if we didn't think it was safe to play we could opt out...gee thanks. At least you had Refs. We had a 7:25pm kickoff turned into 8:00pm because there were no Refs assigned to the game. Gsa had 20+ teams pull out or not fill up their brackets yet they couldn’t get enough Refs for their games. Obviously the decent Refs went to State Cup and Norcross Cup. |
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Post by bogan on Dec 6, 2020 13:02:09 GMT -5
A total mess. The fields were worse than a horse track-muddy/slick. The A/R kept slipping and falling and couldn’t keep up with play. I really felt for the guy. Watched a few games other than the one I was there for...tough sledding for all the teams-no pretty soccer being played. Not the kids fault-just a slog. The only thing I can say good about that place is that they now have bathrooms. Praise Jesus. Even worse today. What a mess. Couple UFA 06 Gold players got hurt-I hope nothing serious The fields don’t drain well-too much clay. Need to put sand out...lots of it. |
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Post by rocko1989 on Dec 6, 2020 14:36:33 GMT -5
We played at Mt Carmel, those fields were just as bad. The grass somehow was high and slow, and there was standing water and mud in front of one of the goals we played on. Asked the refs to do something about it and they said there was no sand, no rake, nothing, and if we didn't think it was safe to play we could opt out...gee thanks. The only thing the refs could do is declare the field unplayable, thus no game. It is not their responsibility to fix the fields. A small repair of a goal net is about the limit of what the ref can and should do. I guess they can talk to their assignor, however I would imagine the assignor was already aware of the field conditions. |
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Post by kidsocceruber on Dec 6, 2020 15:15:10 GMT -5
We played at Mt Carmel, those fields were just as bad. The grass somehow was high and slow, and there was standing water and mud in front of one of the goals we played on. Asked the refs to do something about it and they said there was no sand, no rake, nothing, and if we didn't think it was safe to play we could opt out...gee thanks. The only thing the refs could do is declare the field unplayable, thus no game. It is not their responsibility to fix the fields. A small repair of a goal net is about the limit of what the ref can and should do. I guess they can talk to their assignor, however I would imagine the assignor was already aware of the field conditions. They told us they couldn't find any sand, who they was I assume facilities was involved because it came up during the game prior at 8am. It does go back to the people maintaining the fields, or lackthereof in this case. All I know is it's not the parents responsibility to fix the fields...when I used to play softball someone always had a rake and sand somewhere, not sure why it would be so difficult for a tournament director to make sure the fields were playable but what do I know. |
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Post by slickdaddy96 on Dec 7, 2020 7:55:17 GMT -5
We played at Mt Carmel, those fields were just as bad. The grass somehow was high and slow, and there was standing water and mud in front of one of the goals we played on. Asked the refs to do something about it and they said there was no sand, no rake, nothing, and if we didn't think it was safe to play we could opt out...gee thanks. At least you had Refs. We had a 7:25pm kickoff turned into 8:00pm because there were no Refs assigned to the game. Gsa had 20+ teams pull out or not fill up their brackets yet they couldn’t get enough Refs for their games. Obviously the decent Refs went to State Cup and Norcross Cup. I can attest to all the good ones being at State Cup and Norcross Cup, because my son's team has some real horrible ones down in Mt. Carmel this weekend. We had an AR in 2 of our 3 games where she never even put up her flag to signal direction of out of bounds, goal kick, corner, or anything except maybe 2 or 3 times a half. She was there for a paycheck and was checked out. Then the last game on Sunday had a referee that was blind and left his cards at home I guess until the whole defensive line and half or mid field complained about the fouls and lack of offsides calls to the point of all of them getting yellow cards including my son who was getting beat up to the point of wanting to throw a punch and who also is a referee and knows the rules. Complaining by our kids is very uncharacteristic so it was definitely bad, and as a referee if you have 6 kids on one team and the coach of that team complaining to you about lack of calls maybe you should do some self reflection of the fact that maybe you are missing things. I am certified to referee as well and honestly I can attest to it being a fairly poor officiated game as well. I'm shocked my son's coach didn't pull the kids off the field for safety reasons. As far as field conditions go at Mt. Carmel, I guess our team got lucky. All the ones we played on were soft but playable. |
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Post by kidsocceruber on Dec 7, 2020 8:08:17 GMT -5
At least you had Refs. We had a 7:25pm kickoff turned into 8:00pm because there were no Refs assigned to the game. Gsa had 20+ teams pull out or not fill up their brackets yet they couldn’t get enough Refs for their games. Obviously the decent Refs went to State Cup and Norcross Cup. I can attest to all the good ones being at State Cup and Norcross Cup, because my son's team has some real horrible ones down in Mt. Carmel this weekend. We had an AR in 2 of our 3 games where she never even put up her flag to signal direction of out of bounds, goal kick, corner, or anything except maybe 2 or 3 times a half. She was there for a paycheck and was checked out. Then the last game on Sunday had a referee that was blind and left his cards at home I guess until the whole defensive line and half or mid field complained about the fouls and lack of offsides calls to the point of all of them getting yellow cards including my son who was getting beat up to the point of wanting to throw a punch and who also is a referee and knows the rules. Complaining by our kids is very uncharacteristic so it was definitely bad, and as a referee if you have 6 kids on one team and the coach of that team complaining to you about lack of calls maybe you should do some self reflection of the fact that maybe you are missing things. I am certified to referee as well and honestly I can attest to it being a fairly poor officiated game as well. I'm shocked my son's coach didn't pull the kids off the field for safety reasons. As far as field conditions go at Mt. Carmel, I guess our team got lucky. All the ones we played on were soft but playable. Yeah the quality of refs was poor at best. We had a guy that either blatantly wasn't making calls or was just blind. One call "missed" had someone thrown on the ground by both shoulders, but beyond the bad/no calls someone could have really gotten hurt. He did warn the parents to stop yelling about it or he'd throw us all out, so there's that. Don't get me started on offsides...We had one called where there were 2 defensive players 5 feet behind ours before the pass and at least two others either just missed or not understanding the rules. Ok sorry I got myself started. We didn't lose any of the games but they were very sloppily officiated. |
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Post by slickdaddy96 on Dec 7, 2020 8:56:36 GMT -5
I can attest to all the good ones being at State Cup and Norcross Cup, because my son's team has some real horrible ones down in Mt. Carmel this weekend. We had an AR in 2 of our 3 games where she never even put up her flag to signal direction of out of bounds, goal kick, corner, or anything except maybe 2 or 3 times a half. She was there for a paycheck and was checked out. Then the last game on Sunday had a referee that was blind and left his cards at home I guess until the whole defensive line and half or mid field complained about the fouls and lack of offsides calls to the point of all of them getting yellow cards including my son who was getting beat up to the point of wanting to throw a punch and who also is a referee and knows the rules. Complaining by our kids is very uncharacteristic so it was definitely bad, and as a referee if you have 6 kids on one team and the coach of that team complaining to you about lack of calls maybe you should do some self reflection of the fact that maybe you are missing things. I am certified to referee as well and honestly I can attest to it being a fairly poor officiated game as well. I'm shocked my son's coach didn't pull the kids off the field for safety reasons. As far as field conditions go at Mt. Carmel, I guess our team got lucky. All the ones we played on were soft but playable. Yeah the quality of refs was poor at best. We had a guy that either blatantly wasn't making calls or was just blind. One call "missed" had someone thrown on the ground by both shoulders, but beyond the bad/no calls someone could have really gotten hurt. He did warn the parents to stop yelling about it or he'd throw us all out, so there's that. Don't get me started on offsides...We had one called where there were 2 defensive players 5 feet behind ours before the pass and at least two others either just missed or not understanding the rules. Ok sorry I got myself started. We didn't lose any of the games but they were very sloppily officiated. LOL, I would be willing to bet the referee in my son's game and the referee in your kid's game was the same one. It sounds very familiar. He did threaten the coach and the sideline, but we don't get animated unless our kids are potentially at risk of being injured. It was a GSA team we were playing sandbagging in a lower division as well as they were a full SCCL division higher than my kid's team. Not saying home cooking was going on. I honestly don't think it was home cooking. I think it was just subpar officiating. I know where I'm not putting in to work in the future if those referees are local there. I don't want to have anything to do with any of those referees and officiating with them. |
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Post by Upper90 on Dec 7, 2020 9:51:51 GMT -5
It is unfortunate that field conditions were poor & reffing was subpar. BUT did you at least enjoy quesadillas, tacos, & fresh fruit? 🤔
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Post by guest on Dec 7, 2020 11:40:55 GMT -5
GSA Ref Assignor on Sunday: ‘2500 fewer refs now than a year ago’. I reffed 6 games this weekend. Many Academy games had one boy or girl crews. If renewals is any indicator, plan on having even fewer refs next year.
The takeaway: plan on either having fewer scheduled games, more one man crewed games, more last minute cancellations due to no refs and overall worse officiating. The proverbial chickens have come home to roost. We’ve been hearing stories of criticizing the refs for years. The supply of cheap youth refs has dried up. Fewer playing soccer at all. Those that do still play soccer don’t want to put up with parents and coaches. Those who can put up with it are not being allowed to ref in this Covid environment by nervous parents. I have three refs in my house. My middle stopped playing soccer years ago but still has ref certification. Is not renewing. Direct quote: “I’d rather work at Publix bagging groceries”. Me: “For less money per hour?!” Him: “Yes”.
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Post by parent2000 on Dec 7, 2020 12:06:24 GMT -5
Our team played at Bethesda Park in the Norcross Tourney and for all four games we had good refs. Better than most of the refs we had all season. Didn’t agree with all the calls (wink), but the games were evenly called and kept under control (safe). A good weekend overall.
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Post by atlfutboldad on Dec 7, 2020 12:17:10 GMT -5
Why did GSA move their tournament to the same weekend as Adidas Norcross Cup? Originally it was supposed to be next weekend. For state cup there really weren't that many games, only 10 right? But I have no doubt many of the best refs were there.
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Post by soccernoleuk on Dec 7, 2020 13:04:57 GMT -5
I thought the GSA fall tournament was always the first weekend of December. If it was moved, it might be due to SCCL scheduling. All the SCCL teams have games this coming weekend since FC Alliance was scheduled on 12/12 all season, and now some teams also have a makeup game against SSA on Sunday.
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Post by slickdaddy96 on Dec 7, 2020 13:36:56 GMT -5
GSA Ref Assignor on Sunday: ‘2500 fewer refs now than a year ago’. I reffed 6 games this weekend. Many Academy games had one boy or girl crews. If renewals is any indicator, plan on having even fewer refs next year. The takeaway: plan on either having fewer scheduled games, more one man crewed games, more last minute cancellations due to no refs and overall worse officiating. The proverbial chickens have come home to roost. We’ve been hearing stories of criticizing the refs for years. The supply of cheap youth refs has dried up. Fewer playing soccer at all. Those that do still play soccer don’t want to put up with parents and coaches. Those who can put up with it are not being allowed to ref in this Covid environment by nervous parents. I have three refs in my house. My middle stopped playing soccer years ago but still has ref certification. Is not renewing. Direct quote: “I’d rather work at Publix bagging groceries”. Me: “For less money per hour?!” Him: “Yes”. My son and my home referee assignor said that not having a spring season lost them a ton of teenager and college type referees because they were all dependent on money that spring season and didn't get any and then went and found jobs elsewhere and won't be coming back. I think that issue is the biggest issue with not having enough referees that and the ones that are still a little afraid of covid to continue refereeing games currently. The amount of referees will pick back up next fall or next spring when covid is behind us. In the meantime if a club or organization really wants referees they better start looking at their pay structure and up the pay. That will attract more to certify and to stay. Right now it seems like I certified at the right time and can make a ton of money on the side (not my day job) doing it when I want to and can also be more choosey on my games, and being assigned higher level games due to lack of referees right now. |
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Post by bogan on Dec 7, 2020 13:44:17 GMT -5
Our team played at Bethesda Park in the Norcross Tourney and for all four games we had good refs. Better than most of the refs we had all season. Didn’t agree with all the calls (wink), but the games were evenly called and kept under control (safe). A good weekend overall. Our refs were good too at GSP. As I mentioned earlier, it’s too bad the fields were in crummy shape. *We had older crews. |
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Post by Keeper on Dec 7, 2020 14:19:19 GMT -5
Why did GSA move their tournament to the same weekend as Adidas Norcross Cup? Originally it was supposed to be next weekend. For state cup there really weren't that many games, only 10 right? But I have no doubt many of the best refs were there. It’s always been the first weekend of Dec like Norcross Cup though last year they did try to move the Showcase to the weekend after. That became a cost issue as two weekends = two tournaments and twice as much work so why not go back to one and make more money for Nuno and Campbell. |
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Post by Keeper on Dec 7, 2020 14:24:24 GMT -5
GSA Ref Assignor on Sunday: ‘2500 fewer refs now than a year ago’. I reffed 6 games this weekend. Many Academy games had one boy or girl crews. If renewals is any indicator, plan on having even fewer refs next year. The takeaway: plan on either having fewer scheduled games, more one man crewed games, more last minute cancellations due to no refs and overall worse officiating. The proverbial chickens have come home to roost. We’ve been hearing stories of criticizing the refs for years. The supply of cheap youth refs has dried up. Fewer playing soccer at all. Those that do still play soccer don’t want to put up with parents and coaches. Those who can put up with it are not being allowed to ref in this Covid environment by nervous parents. I have three refs in my house. My middle stopped playing soccer years ago but still has ref certification. Is not renewing. Direct quote: “I’d rather work at Publix bagging groceries”. Me: “For less money per hour?!” Him: “Yes”. Totally agree. So many have left and the only a small minority are quality Refs. I’m constantly bugging and pressuring my Middle and High school aged players to become Refs. It is getting bad that something needs to change. Friend of mine was up at Rabbit Hill for Gsa Cup and said their 9v9 game had 1 center while the Gsa game behind him had 3 Refs. Now why they can’t go to a 2 Ref system and split things like HS is odd. No Ref should have to try and cover a whole field like that. |
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Post by bogan on Dec 7, 2020 14:29:18 GMT -5
GSA Ref Assignor on Sunday: ‘2500 fewer refs now than a year ago’. I reffed 6 games this weekend. Many Academy games had one boy or girl crews. If renewals is any indicator, plan on having even fewer refs next year. The takeaway: plan on either having fewer scheduled games, more one man crewed games, more last minute cancellations due to no refs and overall worse officiating. The proverbial chickens have come home to roost. We’ve been hearing stories of criticizing the refs for years. The supply of cheap youth refs has dried up. Fewer playing soccer at all. Those that do still play soccer don’t want to put up with parents and coaches. Those who can put up with it are not being allowed to ref in this Covid environment by nervous parents. I have three refs in my house. My middle stopped playing soccer years ago but still has ref certification. Is not renewing. Direct quote: “I’d rather work at Publix bagging groceries”. Me: “For less money per hour?!” Him: “Yes”. Totally agree. So many have left and the only a small minority are quality Refs. I’m constantly bugging and pressuring my Middle and High school aged players to become Refs. It is getting bad that something needs to change. Friend of mine was up at Rabbit Hill for Gsa Cup and said their 9v9 game had 1 center while the Gsa game behind him had 3 Refs. Now why they can’t go to a 2 Ref system and split things like HS is odd. No Ref should have to try and cover a whole field like that. “ No Ref can cover a whole field like that.” There, I fixed it for you. 😬 |
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Post by Keeper on Dec 7, 2020 14:29:31 GMT -5
We played at Mt Carmel, those fields were just as bad. The grass somehow was high and slow, and there was standing water and mud in front of one of the goals we played on. Asked the refs to do something about it and they said there was no sand, no rake, nothing, and if we didn't think it was safe to play we could opt out...gee thanks. Supposedly AFU was wanting to close North Mt Carmel or at least certain fields but Henry County who rented them to GSA overruled it (didn’t want to lose the money). Typically gsa uses Afc lightnings McCurry fields but sounds like Fayette County didn’t want the large numbers at the parks still due to Covid. |
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Post by oraclesfriend on Dec 7, 2020 20:10:26 GMT -5
GSA Ref Assignor on Sunday: ‘2500 fewer refs now than a year ago’. I reffed 6 games this weekend. Many Academy games had one boy or girl crews. If renewals is any indicator, plan on having even fewer refs next year. The takeaway: plan on either having fewer scheduled games, more one man crewed games, more last minute cancellations due to no refs and overall worse officiating. The proverbial chickens have come home to roost. We’ve been hearing stories of criticizing the refs for years. The supply of cheap youth refs has dried up. Fewer playing soccer at all. Those that do still play soccer don’t want to put up with parents and coaches. Those who can put up with it are not being allowed to ref in this Covid environment by nervous parents. I have three refs in my house. My middle stopped playing soccer years ago but still has ref certification. Is not renewing. Direct quote: “I’d rather work at Publix bagging groceries”. Me: “For less money per hour?!” Him: “Yes”. Well it doesn't help that a number of youth refs (girls anyway) were at ECNL showcase in Greer or NCFC. My kid was and could not ref as a result and I know several of her friends were in the same boat. |
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Post by soccerloafer on Dec 7, 2020 20:54:40 GMT -5
I've posted before, and will post again. If clubs want good referees, they need to hire a Director of Referees - equivalent to a DOC - to recruit, develop, and mentor young referees. Until that happens, it's going to continue to be a crapshoot.
Assignors are responsible for placing referees on games, basically via spreadsheet. They are not into development, training, mentorship, etc. They are paid to place referees on games, period. Some are more involved than others, but they are not compensated for anything other than booking. There is very little quality control.
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Post by soccernotfootball on Dec 7, 2020 21:18:48 GMT -5
And had they canceled due to field conditions or other... I bet there would be non-stop bashing them for that. Can't win.
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Post by guest on Dec 8, 2020 10:59:29 GMT -5
I've posted before, and will post again. If clubs want good referees, they need to hire a Director of Referees - equivalent to a DOC - to recruit, develop, and mentor young referees. Until that happens, it's going to continue to be a crapshoot. Assignors are responsible for placing referees on games, basically via spreadsheet. They are not into development, training, mentorship, etc. They are paid to place referees on games, period. Some are more involved than others, but they are not compensated for anything other than booking. There is very little quality control. GSA has arguably the best DOR out there in Ricky. Training, mentoring, observing, always out in the fields. And still GSA had trouble finding refs last weekend. |
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Post by Keeper on Dec 8, 2020 13:49:32 GMT -5
I've posted before, and will post again. If clubs want good referees, they need to hire a Director of Referees - equivalent to a DOC - to recruit, develop, and mentor young referees. Until that happens, it's going to continue to be a crapshoot. Assignors are responsible for placing referees on games, basically via spreadsheet. They are not into development, training, mentorship, etc. They are paid to place referees on games, period. Some are more involved than others, but they are not compensated for anything other than booking. There is very little quality control. GSA has arguably the best DOR out there in Ricky. Training, mentoring, observing, always out in the fields. And still GSA had trouble finding refs last weekend. Yet Gsa still has some of the worst Refs in all the major clubs of Atlanta. 🤔 |
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Post by slickdaddy96 on Dec 8, 2020 16:28:35 GMT -5
GSA has arguably the best DOR out there in Ricky. Training, mentoring, observing, always out in the fields. And still GSA had trouble finding refs last weekend. Yet Gsa still has some of the worst Refs in all the major clubs of Atlanta. 🤔 I will disagree a bit. Every time I have been at the GSA main campus in Lilburn I have had decent if not great referees that engage the players and lighten the mood all while still calling a good game. Of course how many of those referees actually went all the way down to Mt. Carmel is another question. I know I got emails from multiple of the assignors I do games for begging for GSA's assignor to go referee their tournament this weekend. |
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Post by atlfutboldad on Dec 8, 2020 17:27:41 GMT -5
I'm glad we didn't play in this one.
I don't know about everyone else, but I'm getting tired of the GSA/Concorde tournaments being south of Atlanta for clubs located north of Atlanta. Again, all tournaments should have to be on turf. I hate turf, but at least its a consistent surface.
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Post by bogan on Dec 8, 2020 17:34:27 GMT -5
I'm glad we didn't play in this one. I don't know about everyone else, but I'm getting tired of the GSA/Concorde tournaments being south of Atlanta for clubs located north of Atlanta. Again, all tournaments should have to be on turf. I hate turf, but at least its a consistent surface. I don’t know, I kinda like the location myself...😬 But we do need more turf fields. |
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Post by guest on Dec 9, 2020 14:06:08 GMT -5
GSA has increased use of the turf lacrosse field at RHP and now added the new Dacula Park turf field to their options.
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