I just got done with my yearly recert and had a few disturbing things brought up in class and taught by the instructors. First let me preface this by pointing out that I am mired in the nether regions of Northern Michigan where most of the referees have never seen anything above a U19 contest. Also the instructors were all a long way from thier glory days of field officiating. Ivve seen smaller stomachs iin sumo wrestling. The scenario that really upset me was as follows.
Blue team has an injured player on the field AND possession of the ball.
Blue team player points at his injured teammate and kicks the ball out of bounds to allow him a stoppage to receive treatment. This happened in a FA Cup game involving Arsenal and as a matter of fact happened in the USA v Mexico game this week with no goal result. I said keep a sharp eye out for retaliatory fouling but nothing else as this is an unwritten rule. I raised my hand and asked if this is really what the federation wants us to do when refereeing a game. The outcome of any match is often unfair and the role of the referee is NOT to lie about a rule to achieve a specific outcome that the referee may feel is fair.