Timeouts in soccer?

Thinking that one person can have a decent angle on every contested play is crazy.

I just have not heard of a better idea yet.

I used to ref on a two-man crew with the two of us dividing the field into two triangles. I would have to think that is better than one whistle and two people holding flags.

 

Well, hell, let's put more refs on the basketball court, football field and baseball fields as well.

 

Point taken, but one?

One?

No fucking way can one person have the best veiw of, shit, 25% of the plays.

 

They've had timeouts in Massachusetts for eight years now. Some coaches use them; some don't.
The people who advocate it usually give pretentious reasons like "Coaches are educators and it's another chance for them to teach." and crap like that.
Another coach I know say if FIFA had timeouts it would cut down on the diving.

 

How? Players don't dive so they can get a drink of water or go over for motivational words from the coach.

You can if you hustle. And you don't need the "best" view. You need a good view combined with knowledge of the game.

 

It's been like that forever and has worked just fine.
But hell, lets change it for American highschools, ridiculous.

 

I'm a licensed official in soccer. The NFHS, NCAA and USSF all have different rules. (Note, FIFA does not certify officials, just governs the game.)

In NFHS, the clock is not a running clock anyway. After a goal, extended ball out of play or injury, the referee will stop the clock. So I really wouldn't have a problem with the idea of one timeout per side per game. One minute long, sort of like handball. Of course, with unlimited subs, it changes the game anyway, since you can really slow down the game by constantly running players in.

As far as the three man, three whistle system, the ARs should still run the field to call offsides, just like they would do with a one whistle system. The major difference is that they side refs can call fouls instead of just signaling the head ref. It's more of a modified two whistle system, which is the prominent system here, allowing for more coverage. I've never done the three whistle system. Don't know if I would like it.

Now, I have done a one man, one whistle system, mainly with middle school games. It's really tough to do. Offsides are usually thrown out the window unless it's obvious, and at that level, the players aren't usually good enough to hide it. Same with out of bounds. You just can't be everywhere on the field.

The problem with most officiating is simply not enough bodies and schools not willing to pay for multiple officials. In fact, for the most part, the only schools that do the three-man system are the private schools, and they are usually the better players anyway. I just got done with a softball game. Easiest 64.50 i've ever made.

 

Our state has a rule where if a guy picks up a second yellow and is shown red, the team gets to sub for him. The only way you have to play a man down is if someone gets a straight red.

 

Again, that's NFHS. It's called a soft red. If you get two yellows, you are shown both the yellow and the red and your team does not play a man down. If you have a yellow and pick up a red for a red offense, then you play a man down. There are few straight red cards. Believe me, I will try and find a way to do a hard red if I can. Don't like it.

 

Here is a novel concept, 1 ref 2 AR. Stopped time with timeouts is asinine.

 

New Hampshire has a yellow card rule where on the team's 10th one of the season the coach is suspended a game. A few years ago, Lebanon made it to the Class I title game against the hated rivals -- Hanover. But in the title game, Leb got a yellow, the team's 10th of the season. It ended in a 0-0 draw after 120 minutes. In N.H., they play a new game a few days later.

Now, the rub was this: The state coaching association never put into writing what the second game of a tie championship constitutes -- a new game or a continuation of the tie. Ultimately, the NHIAA decided it was a continuation, not a new game, so Leb's coach couldn't coach in that one.