I had intended to try the new camera at junior soccer this afternoon but I was asked to be linesman at the games for both Michael (under 12) and Kathleen (under 14).
I wasn’t brought up following soccer, I take only a passing interest in high-level matches and unsurprisingly I know very little about the rules.
I know that only the goalkeeper can use his hands and that tackling with the arms isn’t allowed. I know there is something called offside, but the finer details of this escape me. An attacker can’t be in front of the last defender without the ball, was my limited understanding.
There is no offside in Australian rules football and offside in rugby is easy to understand. In soccer you can apparently be standing around offside, that’s okay, but if the ball is passed to you then you get pinged. Then there are various exceptions like if you are running onto the ball. I hope I got that right.
Anyhow, I never learnt the fine details during Michael’s game and nobody questioned my performance except a lady who called out that “linesmen should wear see-through clothes” as I blocked her view.
I had hoped to test the camera at Kathleen’s game, but again I was asked to run the line in the absence of any other bored-looking mug.
At half time the officious referee took me to task and laid down the law. Fair enough he tell me that I should stand still when waving my flag instead of running along the touch line like they do in rugby, but I thought his manner a bit harsh.
In the second half he totally ignored my offside calls and one of them cost Kathleen’s team a goal.
I’m not cross about this, however if a parent gets roped into a task he or she should have some encouragement and respect from the experts, even if they are volunteers themselves.
