Rolled for rolling eyes
Water polo ejections happen in many ways, but sophomore Olivia Lassa didn’t know chlorine in her eyes was one of them.
Evidently, the referee during one of her games with MVHS this summer did not feel the same way. When Lassa swam over a girl on the other team, the referee called a foul. As was customary, Lassa backed off, but then the girl swam into Lassa. The referee ejected Lassa; and in water polo, an ejection only lasts about twenty seconds. But then the chlorine in her eyes made the situation worse. She raised her head out of the water, and the referee thought he saw Lassa rolling her eyes at them. But really, Lassa had been recovering from the chlorinated water.
“The ref thought I had rolled my eyes because I had been swimming head down,” Lassa said. “But I was like ‘what’.”
That’s when the referee waved his red card and decided to roll Lassa, or eject her from the tournament entirely. To this day, she replays the moment over and over again in her head and still does not understand the decision.
“If you take your eyes out of the water, you might be like “Oh my goodness, light!’” Lassa said. “I mean, it’s the sun.”
As the sun set on Lassa’s tournament play time, she took the card in good spirit. But she does not — and may never — understand why she was carded.
Filtered out
Calling the referee an idiot didn’t help junior Cameron Feit’s case. During a De Anza Force game, Feit was frustrated with the referee’s call (and the fact that his team was losing). So he called the referee an idiot, and he received a yellow card.
“Games can get out of hand because the players care about it a lot more than the refs,” Feit said.
Still, Feit’s coach was angry with him for singling out the ref.
“In sports you’re taught to keep playing regardless of how the refs are doing and count on yourself to win,” Feit said.
Although Feit understands his action was brazen, he believes that sometimes players need to remind the referees to keep the game safe.
“Things start getting violent,” Feit said. “And you have to intervene and tell the referees they should be making a call.”
And Feit didn’t believe his card qualified as promoting player safety. Unless the words are threatening, he believes words do not warrant cards.
The other side of the card
As a referee of U9 competitive soccer, senior Allegra Ziegler Hunts feels bad when she has to card a nine-year-old.
“They’re clumsy […] and there’s not really any option but to card him,” Ziegler Hunts said. “So, sorry kid.”
With her experience on the other side of the card, she has realized coaches and parents obsess too much over the details. There are 22 players on every soccer field, and Ziegler Hunts keeps track of each player’s whereabouts.
“I think in soccer, cards tend to be used more to send a message to a single player,” Ziegler Hunts said.
On the other hand, in field hockey, where she plays center forward, Ziegler Hunts thinks cards serve as a message for an entire team rather than an individual. As a soccer player and a field hockey player, she noticed field hockey requires more fouls and referee involvement, while in soccer the fouls tend to flow with play.
But despite having a referee’s insight, Ziegler Hunts has still received what she believes was an unfair call. During a free hit in field hockey, she received a green card for being less than five yards away from the ball. But since there were no five yard markings, Ziegler Hunts still does not understand the referee’s logic.
“Sometimes the ref’s definition of five yards differs from reality,” Ziegler Hunts said.
It wasn’t the call, but the referee’s refusal to explain why he gave the foul that angered her.
“Mistakes happen,” Ziegler Hunts said. “I think the ref should’ve done a better job explaining it, because he refused to explain his card, which is generally not the right decision.”
