COSOA Website & Recruiting of New Officials: Please remember to periodically check our Association’s Website or give the website address (cosoa.org) to your friends who might be interested in officiating soccer games for information and contact numbers. This is the time to be recruiting new Officials into our Association (not two weeks before the start of the High School season). Thanks to John Aubry, our website is up and running again.

Mike Cleavenger: For those who didn’t know … Mike was injured in a car accident during the off-season. He is OK, but he suffered some spinal injuries which will in all likelihood end his ability to referee future soccer games. Mike has contributed greatly to our Association over the years and his on the field participation will be greatly missed. Please check up on his when you get a chance and encourage him to either become an Assessor, Instructor or Assignor … it would be a shame to lose Mike from our Association.

Tom Brown: I’m not sure about the exact date … but there ought to be a new baby in Tom’s house by now. Congratulations to Tom and his growing family. On a separate note, I do want to thank Tom for speaking on behalf of the referees outside the Portland area at a recent Referee Promotional Meeting in Portland. He spoke on behalf of folks interested in upgrading outside the Portland area. Please contact Pat Evoy or Tom Brown if you are interested in upgrading your USSF Certification.

Assignments: Since there won’t be any High School games to referee until next September (bummer!), send an email to Pat Evoy (coassign@oregontrail.net / USSF Commissioner) if you are interested in picking up any Youth games that might become available on the weekends. There are also many games in the valley which are always in need of officials (if you happen to be going over the pass and want to work some games on the other side of the mountains (they don’t have much snow over there).

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Please see information about upcoming Referee Training in Upcoming Events and Dates section!

I thought it would be a good idea to review the Deliberate Handling of the Ball in this Newsletter and its technical implications.

Referees are reminded that deliberately handling the ball is normally punished only by a direct free kick or penalty kick if the offense occurred inside the penalty area. A caution or dismissal is not normally required.

However, a player is sent off (Red Card) for preventing a goal or obvious goal-scoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball. The reason for the send off is not the deliberate handling of the ball, but the serious foul play or unfair intervention committed by the player.

There are circumstances when, in addition to a free kick being awarded, a player must also be cautioned for unsporting behavior. Examples of this are when a player deliberately and blatantly handles the ball to prevent an opponent from gaining possession of the ball. Another example is the player who attempts to score a goal by deliberately handling the ball. Again, the reason which would technically be cited for the issue of the card is not the deliberate handling of the ball, but the unsporting behavior.