January 17, 2025 at 3:21 am

A Ref Endured Abuse From An Angry Parent During A Soccer Game, So They Corrected His Misunderstanding Of The Rules After The Game And Embarrassed Him In Front Of His Friends

by Michael Levanduski

Source: Shutterstock/Reddit

Being a ref for kids’ sports can be very rewarding, but dealing with the parents can be a nightmare.

What would you do if one of the parents was loudly criticizing you when they didn’t even know the rules of the league?

That is what the ref in this story had to endure, so after the game, he told the parent about the rule, and now the parent is angry.

Check it out.

AITA for humiliating a dad for not knowing the rules of soccer?

I (m18) am a soccer referee. I have officiated since 2020 and have played soccer for 12 years now.

I have been wondering about this for a while now.

Last weekend, I was officiating a few games for U10 boys.

For ages 10 and under in the select league I was reffing, there is a special set of rules.

Interesting rule.

There is a line called the “build-out line”, and it is essentially a line on both ends of the field (about 10 yards in front of the goalkeeping box).

So long as you are behind the line, it does not matter where the players on the opposing team are.

You can be past the defenders but not pass the build-out line, and score.

In an older age group, offside would apply and this would not be allowed.

However, this is very clearly written in the rules and in the last game I reffed, one of the kids on the blue team scored 3 goals this way.

Behind the last defender, but not passing the build out line, so they all counted.

Every time, some dad from the team that was losing kept screaming that I had no idea what I was doing and that every one of the goals was offside.

At least someone was trying to correct him.

I heard one of the parents say “it’s onside because of the buildout lines,” but it was very quiet.

The dad continued to shout but I ignored him, and the game finished with his team losing 6-0.

At the end, he was swearing to a bunch of the parents on his side, and I heard him say “this ref is terrible”

I walked over to him after I blew my whistle and said “every one of those goals was legal because of the buildout line rules. You should consider learning the rules of the sport before you sign up your own child and swear in front of a bunch of kids.”

Some people hate being corrected.

He looked like he was about to explode.

Some of the parents looked angry too and his little circle went quiet.

He started clapping sarcastically and said “way to keep it professional, sir”.

I then left.

I told my parents and my mother laughed.

Dad isn’t wrong.

My father told me I shouldn’t bother associating with people like that and it makes me stoop to their level.

AITA?

Not only did you help to inform him, but actually did it in a fairly nice way. Well done.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say.

This person points out that it is a league rule, not a soccer rule.

Source: Reddit/AITA

Yup, he wasn’t lowering himself at all.

Source: Reddit/AITA

Here is someone who thinks he should have handled it sooner.

Source: Reddit/AITA

This commenter says he handled it calmly and professionally.

Source: Reddit/AITA

This person thinks he is too nice.

Source: Reddit/AITA

I think he handled it brilliantly.

He could have even done it sooner.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.