League Stories

Week 7 was a great one to be a referee. Two very close, well played and perfectly refereed games! TIDE LAWS OF THE GAME What happens when a player not on the field interferes or touches the ball before the ball exists the field of play?  It used to be an automatic yellow/blue card. Now it is an indirect free kick to the opposing team unless it is deliberate interference that impacts the play of the game. A blue card could be shown.  The Blue Card Award Honorable Mentions This week’s winner The Whole Match – Team Royal Blue and Team Orange. This one had a razor thin margin and

With warm weather and many TIDE players participating in Billfest, Week 6 was a bit sluggish. Some short benches aside, in true TIDE fashion, skill was on display. TIDE LAWS OF THE GAME Drop Ball. A drop ball occurs following the stoppage of play for any reason that is not part of the Laws of the game. While anything is possible in a sanctioned TIDE match, a defective ball, an injury or an animal that does not wear a tide jersey runs on to the field are a few Drop ball scenarios. The ball is dropped to the team that had possession before play was whistled down unless….. The drop

TIDE teams are really settling in. Organized chaos is now less organized chaos. Hints of strategy, formations, set plays and an increase in player interpretation of the TIDE Laws of the Game are evident. TIDE LAWS OF THE GAME Handballs. FIFA (in particular IFAB – interprets FIFA laws) laws have evolved year over year. When a ball touches hand, arm, shoulder, neck, anything close to an arm appendage and any play in the penalty area, referees are accustomed to the perfect pitch chorus of “Handball” that soon follows. I personally called far fewer handball infractions this year than I did last year because of the IFAB interpretation. If a hand/arm

The march to the Waddy Cup began in Week 3. Teams competed on a well-manicured pitch that did not diminish the TIDE skill on display. The only difference being, teams think they had an excuse. For those who don’t know, the Waddy Cup is named after the late Don Waddy. Don was a big part of the Cowichan and TIDE Soccer community. While I knew of Don for many years playing in Cowichan, I didn’t really get to know him until I made the transition to the referee’s union. When Don saw me modelling the referee jersey, he was quick to share his referee knowledge and was always available to

The tide has started to shift to spring energy in week 2. League figurehead and founding member, Mr. Rowlings was caught on a hot mic imploring team Silver to try and limit initial control of the ball to 3 touches. The executive committee has added a new rule to the TIDE LAWS OF THE GAME. Goalies are being asked to announce their presence when leaving their crease and charging toward a ball. Acceptable shouts include but not limited to “Keeper”, “I’m on my way” or “Decent Goalie”. The executive team is committed to promoting safe play and we as referees appreciate this adjustment. We will not blow a whistle on

It was nice to see everyone back on the pitch for another highly anticipated spring league. On a weekly basis I’ll share some referee insights for both spring league and FIFA rules so that you can completely understand a referee’s perspective and never question a call again. I’ll touch on what I’m seeing on the field and hand out what I’m sure will become a weekly must read, the Blue Card Award of the week. Spring League Rule – no deliberate going to ground. Tackling is obvious. Sliding or placing a hand or knee on the ground to block a shot is prohibited and will at minimum result in an