I had a 7v7 semifinal and was the only official in the game. I asked the Blitz assignor why they don't use ARs and it's because he can't get enough people for the games in the first place so they sacrifice ARs on those games so they can hopefully be full crews in the 9v9 and 11v11. I can say that we get abused physically in tournament weekends. I did 9 games from the start of the tournament until my last game at 4:30. 5 games on Saturday and I'll be honest I think 4 is my limit at my age and with the knees I have. I actually felt fine for my 3 games today. My feet are sore but the knees feel good. I can say for certain that a lot of refs who are assigned to games tend to bail late in the weekend between injuries or getting abused by coaches. My 13 year old got some flak on a U7 4v4 game that was a blowout. And the coach was so upset at his parents he pulled his team off the field and had the match abandoned. I got flak from a winning team parent whose team was up 13-0 with about a minute left, and I called a handball on them. Dad starts yelling "are you freaking g kidding me". I just put my hand up and said "that's enough".
I was pretty even tempered this weekend. I can always tell the teams (and coaches) that don't like games to be even a little bit .
My favorite was a u13 girls final. Blitz vs Celtic. I think the Celtic team was an upper tier team, maybe an RL side. The Blitz team was maybe a 3rd level team. Celtic was very good. Blitz coach harping about every throw in that didn't go his way. Me and the AR on that side we're in good position to see thing a clearly and we were on the same page for every call he questioned. He also griped because I restarted with a drop ball after a collision between his player and the opposing GK. There wasn't a foul on the play. Keeper got hurt, her team got possession, I blew the whistle to stop play and check on her. Restart is a drop ball, I back the blitz players up the required distance (4 yds), Celtic restarts and in 3 passes they have a break on goal and a scoring chance. Mind you the drop ball happened about 3 yards outside the Celtic penalty area. Blitz Coach is screaming about it being my fault that I gave them a drop ball that almost resulted in a goal against. And this coach has been around a long time (he's also an assistant for the Union girls soccer team). It kills me coaches don't know the laws of the game and the constant updates and clarifications.
Favorite game was a U12 final, TSC vs Union SC. Some decent quality soccer. Union SC scored a crazy goal to go up 4-2, where a kid took the ball out of the air just outside the TSC area, juggles it in the air 3 teams and then whips a volley over the keeper from 20 yds on a real nice golazo. It was actually a well played game. TSC GK made a tremendous save on a PK and his team got a nice break right after. Probably the hardest I had to work all weekend as there was a lot of action end to end in that one. TSC had good tactics and understood what they were taught and needed to do, they weren't as individually sound technically as the Union SC team. Union SC had a true hold up 9 who was a load to handle and Union SC had some more clinical finishing.
2 more tomorrow at Metro, then I get to rest for a few days
