Boys’ soccer: Red card is no laughing matter for Carter

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Last week, a Carter player jokingly offered an official $200 to call the game his team’s way before a Citrus Belt League game against Eisenhower. The ref not only didn’t laugh, he issued the player a red card, resulting in his ejection from that game, as well as his team’s next game.

However, the player was spotted in attendance at the following game, a 4-1 victory over Rialto on Friday. That’s a no-no per Southern Section rules, and the Carter athletic director blew the whistle on his own team, resulting in a forfeit against Rialto.

Once again, I’m probably in the minority on this one, but the real problem I have with this situation is the soccer referee. He deserves the red card for misconduct.

Maybe the ref should read The Watch and the Whistle, by Christopher Seiwald. He can even skip right to the section about Misconduct violations, and what constitutes a yellow or red card. Check out the part where it says, `it’s best to start a game with deaf ears.’

Like a high school kid has $200 to give away.

A good friend of mine referees high school soccer in the Inland Empire, and he thought the referee’s actions were ridiculous. If he threw a red card for every taunt that was directed at him and his tight shorts before a game, he’d leave team’s shorthanded.

Unfortunately, he said, there are referees out there that have no conscience when it comes to ejecting players and coaches.

My friend kept going on and on, throwing out referee terms like ‘trifling and doubtful’’ and, as usual, his words began falling on deaf ears.

-- Dan Arritt

-- Image from www.wickedsunshine.com