Thursday evening after Alaster Dropper’s funeral, I coached my son’s U12/14 4 x 4 soccer team then officiated a U8/U10 boys game.
The game I officiated was a chippy affair and I was concerned someone was going to get hurt from the rough play.
So, I threw two—yes two—yellow cards on players on the green team. That’s a lot of yellow cards in any soccer game, particularly 4 x 4. I probably threw three or four yellow cards the entire spring season when I was officiating U12 8 v 8 games.
Anyway, one of the boys I carded was the son of one of my good friends. I had lunch with him the next day. I asked how he son was taking the yellow card incident.
“Oh, he’s fine. In fact, when I asked him about it he said, “That’s ok, Dad. He’s a newbie ref. He’ll learn.”
I laughed my butt off for a good minute after I heard that.
After my laughing jag, I told my friend, “You know, you’re son’s right—to a point.”
I think the young man is going to be just fine.