Officials Sock It to Sockers

SAN DIEGO —  Before the Sockers and the Tacoma Stars continue their playoff series, maybe it would be appropriate to define misconduct.

There are three types of misconduct penalties in the Major Indoor Soccer League, all of which came into play in the Sockers’10-4 victory Wednesday night as they opened their Western Division playoff series.

First, there’s the not-so-bad type called “ungentlemanly conduct.” All it gets you is a two-minute penalty for such acts as Socker Ade Coker’s argument about a penalty on a teammate Wednesday.

Then, there’s the more flagrant type called “unsportsmanlike conduct.” It gets you a two-minute penalty and a yellow warning card, such as Socker Brian Quinn and Tacoma’s Gary Heale received for a shoving match.

Finally, there’s the ultimate no-no called “persistent misconduct.” It results in an automatic ejection and $100 fine for arguing too much with the referee, as Socker Jean Willrich did.

Had enough of the penalty definitions?

So have the Sockers and Stars.

They came to see which team would be dominant on the field Wednesday night. But, instead, the game was dominated by more whistles than an attractive female draws at the beach.

Consider:

The Sockers, who set a MISL record for regular-season penalties, served 17 minutes for seven penalties. Tacoma served 14 minutes for seven penalties.

Each team received one yellow caution card, and the Sockers’ lost Willrich in the third period because of his red card.

It was enough to make Willrich see red afterward.

“I’m not a dirty player,” Willrich said. “I’m the captain. I can speak to the referee. When I did, he gave me a yellow card, a blue card and a Mastercard.”

On the play in question, Coker was called for fouling Fran O’Brien of Tacoma. Willrich disagreed with the call, so he decided to discuss it with referee Toros Kibritjian.

The situation went from bad to the worst possible when Willrich complained.

“I said, ‘For God’s sake, what’s happening?’ ” Willrich said. “I told him to let us continue play and he gave me a yellow card. Then we argued, and he gave me a red card. If I kick somebody, give me a red card. But don’t give me a red card for arguing.”

Willrich’s red card led to Coker’s yellow card.

“I got upset for what Jean got kicked out for,” Coker said. “O’Brien stopped in front of me and I just bumped him. All of a sudden, we had a two-minute penalty, then Jean got kicked out. Jean just told the ref, ‘Let’s be fair.’ ”

Was the officiating fair?

“To say what I should say would probably cost me money,” Coker said. “All I can say is if we’re going to get judgment calls on the field, let’s get someone on the field who can oversee the calls fairly. The videos (of the game) will show who’s right.”

Tacoma also had a complaint about a call that was not made early in the third quarter when the score was tied, 3-3. Socker goalkeeper Jim Gorsek threw a three-line pass to Quinn, who actually tried to catch the ball. The Stars thought it should have been a two-minute penalty for a hand ball.

“The officials didn’t know the rules,” Tacoma Coach Alan Hinton said. “It’s very sad when you don’t know the rules. We would have had a 5-on-3 for 3 1/2 if they made the call. That was our only complaint.”

The Sockershad a few more.