INcident today

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[ltorrington]

I was umpiring for my clubs lowest mens team today
it was 5-1 then the team scored to make it 5-2 ,
one of their players exclaimed it was outside the circle, but i saw that it wasn't , my colleague and the other players felt this way too.
The player then asked me about it in a polite way and i casually said that it didn't matter as they were 5-2 up anyway and should get on with the game.
The final score was 5-5 
after the game had finished their captain accused me of cheating saying that i had said it wasn't a goal to one of his players, despite giving the goal and therfore the final score should be 5-4 to his team.

Any thought on things i should/n't have done

[aussieump]

I was umpiring for my clubs lowest mens team today
it was 5-1 then the team scored to make it 5-2 ,
one of their players exclaimed it was outside the circle, but i saw that it wasn't , my colleague and the other players felt this way too.
The player then asked me about it in a polite way and i casually said that it didn't matter as they were 5-2 up anyway and should get on with the game.
The final score was 5-5 
after the game had finished their captain accused me of cheating saying that i had said it wasn't a goal to one of his players, despite giving the goal and therfore the final score should be 5-4 to his team.

Any thought on things i should/n't have done

Your decision to award the goal was one you made on the information you had seen, so that is fine, the aspect of talking with the player and making the comment was probably the thing they have taken the most concern with, so my suggestion is to not make such comments and then you do not get yourself in such a position. Just need to be careful on your choice of words.

If you had just said  " it was a goal or I saw it as inside" and left it at that then all would be fine.
Hope this helps

AU

[justin]

Absolutely, AU, those sort of remarks have a habit of coming-back to bite you on the bum

Saying "It doesn't matter, anyway" would've suggested to me, as a player, that you were not really sure....and it appears that you were

[aussieump]

Justin, they can come back to bite you, as this one would appear to have done to ltorrington,
hopefully the lesson has been learnt

AU

[Paul Watts]

what they said 

[ltorrington]

yeah i agree with you all, but it was such a low level game ( sussex div 3, old experienced men and young inexperienced boys ) and i was just trying to defuse the irate player, to keep the game enjoyable by all and didn't really think of how my comment could have been misconstrude. Will think before opening mouth next time 

[redumpire]

Whenever there's a disputed call when I'm umpiring, I just say something like, "Well, sorry, but that's the way I saw it".  That's not simply saying "I'm right", because I might not be; but the finality of the statement gives a clear message (I hope!) that I'm not going to change my mind even if the player is convinced that I'm wrong. 

If - on the other hand - it is patently obvious that I've made a mistake, I will change the decision.  There's no point insisting that you're right when everybody else is telling you that you're wrong...

[Grumpy]

Saying nothing is a good rule of thumb. If you speak in this instance ' the ball was in the circle' was all that was needed.

[Kilmory]

yeah i agree with you all, but it was such a low level game.....

To you it is just a low level game, but not to the players playing it. To them it is the best level they can play at, at this moment in time. I think it's safer to treat every game as if it is the most important of the day. And handle the players with that in mind.

[controller]

It does not matter what you say, at that standard of play, they all think whoever you are umpiring for, is cheating, even if you have given them 3 goals and they draw.

[justin]

I suspect this thread has suffered from just a touch of overkill 

[keely]

No kidding.... YIKES! 

No need to be slinging mud. Not only is the over-generalization completely uncalled for, it doesn't help the situation nor our general relationship with players!

[foozbear]

I had a similar incident....but kinda different....

a player came in and hit the ball from outside the circle...I called 16.

the coach went nuts....yelling and shouting....it probably didnt help that my girl plays in a team he coaches either. (maybe a case of over familiarity)

so anyway...not thinking this could affect much, didnt really worry too much.

anyway the other team with happended to be coached by my team mates wins the game 1-0.

the coach comes up and says it WAS IN ....I said I was standing 5 metres from the hit and there was green between the line and the ball when he struck it.
he asks me to ask his player if it was in the circle....to which I had to respond "I fully expect him to say he hit it in the circle." the coach tells me he is an honest kid...and wouldnt lie.  Now I saw him talking to him as he came off...so I said..."what exactly are you impling about me?"

thats stopped him...

another one was a short corner...wasnt stopped outside the circle....hit in...16.  the players start freaking out....and it was funny as the team consists of three umpires...so we all know each other. anyway...i told them its didnt go out and played on.

after the game the player (umpire) was talking and I overheard..."that was a ballsy call."  maybe I did get it right?

[justin]

I hope you were not referring to my mild comment here, K?
(but perhaps to the one before it?)

[redumpire]

another one was a short corner...wasnt stopped outside the circle....hit in...16. 

Erm, foozbear, the ball doesn't have to be stopped outside the circle at a PC - it just has to travel outside the circle.  Here's the rule:

13.3 Taking a penalty corner:
j. a goal cannot be scored until the ball has travelled outside the circle