It’s wild when you see stuff like a referee punching a football player. Makes you think, right? How does someone who’s supposed to be in charge, keeping the rules, just completely lose it like that? It kinda reminds me of this one time, years back, wasn’t quite as dramatic, but still stuck with me.
That Saturday Morning Game
I was helping out coaching my kid’s soccer team. You know, little league stuff, maybe 8 or 9-year-olds. Supposed to be fun, teach them teamwork, get some exercise. So, picture this: typical Saturday morning, dew on the grass, parents setting up their foldable chairs way too close to the sideline.
We started the game against another local team. Everything was fine for the first half. Kids were running around, mostly kicking the ball in the general direction of the goal. Standard stuff. Then, second half started, and things got… weird.
The Shift
One dad on the other team started getting really loud. Not just cheering, but yelling instructions, almost screaming at his kid. Then he started yelling at the ref – who was just a teenager, probably doing it for like ten bucks a game. Poor kid looked terrified. Our parents started muttering, getting annoyed. You could feel the air change.
I tried to just focus on our kids, keep them positive. Told them, “Just play your game, have fun, don’t worry about the noise.” But it kept escalating.
- Their coach wasn’t doing much to calm the dad down.
- The ref started making shaky calls, probably intimidated.
- Our parents started shouting back about the bad calls.
Trying to Keep a Lid On It
I walked over towards the other coach during a break, tried to have a quiet word. Said something like, “Hey man, can we just calm things down? It’s just kids playing.” He just shrugged, didn’t really engage. The loud dad saw me talking and started yelling at me now. Accused me of trying to cheat or distract them. It was nuts.
My whole focus shifted. Forget coaching soccer tactics. My practice for the rest of that morning was pure crowd control. I spent my time trying to:
- Keep our parents from engaging with the loud dad.
- Encourage the young ref, tell him he was doing okay (even if he wasn’t really).
- Make sure our kids weren’t getting freaked out by the shouting.
It felt like trying to hold back a flood with a piece of cardboard. That dad was just relentless. He never threw a punch, nothing physical like that ref in the videos. But the aggression, the complete loss of perspective over a kids’ game… it was intense. He was acting like it was the World Cup final.
What I Took Away
We finished the game, thankfully without any actual fights breaking out. Shook hands quickly, got our kids, and left. Didn’t feel like a win or a loss, just felt… drained. I remember driving home and thinking, it’s just pressure, right? Or maybe ego? This guy probably had a stressful week, or maybe he just couldn’t handle seeing his kid not be the star, I don’t know.
But seeing that headline, “referee punches football player”, it brings that feeling back. That feeling of watching someone in a position of authority, or just anyone really, completely lose their grip because the pressure got too high, or their ego got too bruised. It’s a thin line sometimes, between keeping control and just snapping. Made me realize you gotta practice keeping your cool, really practice it, especially when things get heated. Because it’s way easier to lose it than you think.
