6 days later, the conclusion of the Madrid Sur Cup

6 Referee appointments, 9 Assistant Referee appointments, and 2 fourth official appointments later, we have reached the end of the Madrid Sur Cup, and oh boy, what a journey. I have officiated matches at levels ranging from U13 to U19, and have had games pass without a single caution and games where I have send offs. I got to experience such a different style of play and different attitude towards the sport, while meeting some fantastic young men and women from around Europe. In a few hours time, I will be in Lisbon beginning the next phase of my refereeing experience with the Iber Cup, an even more skilled, more international, larger, more prestigious tournament than this past one. I reckon we are up for the challenge as referees and will seize the chance to shine on an even bigger stage. 

Half-time selfie from earlier this week

Today was finals day at Madrid Sur Cup, the most important day of the tournament, and all eyes were on the fixtures today. I was put in charge of the first match of the day: an under 13 boys final. I had the privilege of refereeing with a truly world class team, and they performed phenomenally. On the line, I had Sarah Grundy (eng) and Ryan Corno(eng), while Matthias Raeymaekers (Belgium) was my fourth official. I began the game quite nervous actually, it was intimidating to be refereeing a cup final with so much on the line. The game was quite harmless to begin with and I tried to play a minimal role. around the 20th minute, a striker went down just atop the penalty area after a very benign challenge by a defender. While there was slight contact, the striker (in true Southern European fashion) flung himself to the ground. There was enough contact that I was unable to punish the striker for simulation, but it was clearly not a penalty, and both assistant and fourth official agreed, the supporters and team however did not. The game began to escalate, but I was able to bring it back under wraps, and ended the half with one caution to a player for a reckless challenge, and the score was 2-0. The second half began very physically, as the losing team tried to level the tides, and I ended up issuing two more cautions throughout the course of play to each team respectively for unsporting behaviour. With about 10 minutes to go, the losing team got one to bring it to a 2-1 score, and it became very tense. Shortly after this, one of the winning team's managers after Matthias had warned the bench to tone down their outbursts, let fly with a particularly direct and confrontational string of actions and words. When Mathias came over to quiet him, he brushed him off to continue his verbal onslaught, waving his arms around in both of our faces, it was an easy decision to eject him from the match. He left pretty quickly after, and I expect he knew before partaking in this outburst that he would be ejected. The final score was 2-1, but not before I cautioned a winning player for delaying the restart, and then cautioned a losing player for dissent. 

The one thing about the Spanish that I have learned this tournament is that they are incredibly sore losers, and will argue anything if you try and talk to them, thus our strategy during matches has evolved to pretending we do not speak a word of Spanish, and avoiding conversation all together. While this prevents you from man managing like I do in Canada, it allows us to avoid the protests and dissent. This is similar to how referees deal in the World Cup as opposed to local fixtures from their home country. 

The other final I was involved in was the Under 17 boys final as a fourth official. I was part of a team comprised of Craig Simpson (eng), George Warren (eng), and Ben Judd(eng). Contrary to what I just wrote above, as fourth official, I need to utilize my Spanish and use it to cool and control the benches. For those of you who do not know, the fourth official's responsibilities and duties are to control the benches, manage subs, communicate added time, to fill for any injured referee, and to assist with the game management. Normally, fourth appointments are quite routine and are mostly sitting keeping stats, but today I was quite involved. Craig called a great game, and his style was very similar to mine, letting the game flow and only intervening when necessary while still keeping control. He managed the game extremely well, and had issued a couple of cautions in a 0-0 game at half time. Early in the second half, after going down 1-0, a player who was already on a caution was beat, and then lashed out with a very reckless, borderline excessive force kick at another player, Craig gave him his second caution and sent him to the stands, which then lead the player (a good foot taller than Craig) to come right up against him in a threatening manner. I believe that the player would have struck Craig had one of the offender's team mates not stepped in (thank god). The offender than went at the other team which created a mass confrontation situation. Unlike hockey referees, we are not instructed to actively involve ourselves, rather the ref and ARs enter the pitch and triangulate the incident, keeping players out and recording information of who to discipline. As the fourth official it is my duty to keep coaches and substitutes from entering the pitch. I had both team's coaches and one team's subs try and enter the pitch, so I quickly stopped the subs before they entered. While I was dealing with the one teams coaches, I saw the other teams coach half way to the brawl, I rushed over and settled him down and dealt with the incident. Craig had a great rest of the game, and all three referees were top notch  and kept anything else from occurring, the game ended 1-0. 

The top group of referees in the tournament are given the U19 final appointments, and it was a great match with which the referee team did phenomenal. 20 year old German national  Patrik Feyer was in the middle, while British assistants Mike Ryan and Sam Anderson were on the line for him. The game was a great game, and ended up with a 3-1 final, with the losing team only having 9 men on the pitch after having one sent off for his second yellow for chasing Sam down the line with dissent, and losing one to injury with no remaining substitutions. Great game and its been great befriending these fantastic referees who are all joining me in Lisbon. 

I can say with absolute certainty that the Madrid Sur Cup referees are absolute class, even Bongyi, the Hungarian who eagerly accompanies his breakfast with a beer and a smoke (he would always sober up before matches). Its been a fantastic time here, and I look forward to new pitches and players in Lisbon, and wish all the best to everyone I have met here. 

Thanks for reading everyone! 

Kevin

Playoffs, days 4 and 5 of the Madrid Sur Cup

We have now settled into our routine and I have begun to appreciate the variety of personalities we have aboard with us here. The number of different cultures present is still nothing compared to what it will be at Iber Cup, but none the less, it is an interesting dynamic among referees here. The styles on the field are also very unique and different between referees. At the Madrid Sur Cup, we have 4 Croatian referees, while they are an intimidating bunch at first impression; they are in reality quite humorous and they love to sing their Croatian chants on the bus. Yesterday, while being an Assistant referee, one of the Croatians, Tomislav expelled a manager from the sidelines without ever using the referee. While this is pretty unorthodox, I am impressed. Apparently in his broken English, he said to the coach, "sit down, next time you out." Next time came around and the coach decided to whine some more, so Tomas said from the line,"Ok, now you go" and gestured to the stands. Here's a picture below of Tomas in his "tourista" get up which he shows up to games in. 

Wouldn't want to cross an Eastern European dressed like that. 

Match day 4 signifies the start of playoff fixtures, and my assignments came down from the top for 3 U15 boys round of 16 matches (AR/REF/AR). I was quite pleased with my team for a couple of reasons. First off, while I love the international experience, being able to speak in English with all 4 officials makes it so much easier. Secondly, the fellows I was reffing with have become some of my best mates (their British must be wearing off on me). The choice in team was reflected on the field, and I reckon the communication and team work between officials was phenomenal and led to well called games. With clear pre game instructions on all games, we were able to get through quite well including getting a non-call in the penalty area spot on. Since this was knockout fixtures, it was quite heated, as the losing team's tournament dreams were over. At the end of Scott's routine game (I was AR1) the players had seen Dan's (AR2) wrist watch read 2 minutes less than full time. This is because this particular referee watch reaches the prescribed time and then begins to count down to mark stoppage time. This led to a mass confrontation between the players and referees which was handled phenomenally. I believe Scott gave 4 cautions at the end of the match in this incident but sent them on their way, very calmly handled, and the three referees did well at remaining calm and sending the players on their way incident free. My middle referee went quite well, and it helped to have strong assistants, very routine, and I am getting used to this high speed, high control style of play, just in time for Lisbon. 

My team for day 4 was me, Scott Robertson (eng), Dan Patterson (eng) and not pictured, Matt Sell (eng). Took some convincing to get Scott to hold up the Canadian flag

Day 5 presents the quarterfinals and semifinals, and I received an assignment of a middle for the Under  19 quarter finals. Right away, in the tunnel, I could tell I was handed a lit match, and it was over a can of gasoline. It was up to me whether I extinguished it or I let it burn into an explosion. The two teams were from the same club, but it was apparent the animosity between the two of them, I was in for a treat... My team was me, Jack Hennessey (eng), Sergio Bannahas (Esp), and Raul Alonso (esp). The match was intense right from the get go, wraught with dissent, fouls, malcontent, and complaining, my arm was twisted into calling an aggressive game to try and keep control. I had to issue several cautions early on, and this would prove monumental later in the game. The game was 1-1 near the 55th minute, when I witnessed two players go at it in the corner, when the ball was played clear, I saw the frustrated defender throw  the other player down in a reckless manner. I issued a second caution and produced a red card, now this is where it gets interesting. I had the captain of the team opposite the player sent off plead his case and ask me to recall the card, and allow the player to play. I thought this was odd, but as a referee I knew I had made the correct call, so I told the captain to be on his way and continued play. I later realised this was because they were both from the same club and wanted to have whichever team made it to the semi finals play full strength. The game deteriorated and i did what I could to retain control of the match. It was slow and ugly, and the Spanish are very sore winners and losers. In the end, it went to sudden death PKs, and after the 7th shot, the team at full stregnth had won. 

Hindsight is always 20/20, and looking back, there are a few things I would have done differently. First off, I am too used to our nice Canadians, and am fine with chatting with players, as I can manage them fine in English. With the Spanish, if you talk to them, they take that as an invitation to argue. Next, I reckon I ought to have cracked down earlier and prevented anything from escalating, but ultimately, after speaking with my assistants, they agree that the match was set to burn as soon as it began. I was really excited to get the quarter final assignment as its a high level match, but that is not near as excited to get my appointments for tomorrow. All we can do with the challenging matches is learn from them, and get better and better. 

Tomorrow morning will come the finals for the Madrid sur Cup, very much the pinnacle and final goal of all referees here at the Madrid Sur Cup. While there are 35 referees here in Madrid, there are only 5 finals to be refereed, making a total of 20 spots (ref, Ar, Ar, fourth). The five referee spots are the most covetted spots in the tournament. Imagine how thrilled I was to be announced as the referee of the Under 13 boys final match. This will be a fantastic opportunity, an while there are 20 spots among 35 referees, I have also received a fourth official appointment for the under 17 boys. This is largely due to the fact that I can communicate (sort of) with the Spanish coaches, but nonetheless, it is fantastic to get to be a part of two final appointments, a real priviledge. 

I will write about the finals as well as giving my final remarks and comments on the tournament tomorrow at the Madrid airport on my way to Lisbon, and I already feel like I have come so far and made so many meaningful friends throuhgout this one week, I will hate to see them leave. As for those coming on to Lisbon, let's take the chance to be great and show the world what we're capable of. 

Day 2 and 3, completion of the group stage

Day 2's matches brought with them their own sets of challenges and rewards. I was refereeing in rotation with Leonel Abreu (Ven), Michael Ryan (Eng), Sergio barragan (Esp), and myself. We had 4 games so one in each role, throughout the night of Under 16 boys. The thermostat at the beginning of our first game read a balmy 39 degrees Celsius, welcome to the desert. We were being assessed on our last three games, and needed to bring out a good performance not withstanding the number of games in the heat. To top it off, the tournament was run late so we did not get our usual breaks between games so we were exhausted. 

We were using unconventional communications gear brought by Leonel, which was walkie talkies linked up with a headset, and while it was useful, it was not the easiest to understand. The three matches which I was A/R and fourth all went well, the games varied from routine to very heated. The highlight of the matches would have had to be during Leonel's middle, when the Venezuelan referee had spoken only in English to the players and had pretended to not understand Spanish, up until the moment where he heard something he did not like. At this point, he whistled and turned to the player, and in perfect Spanish (his native language of course) said, "you think that because I do not speak Spanish to you, I do not understand it?" and then proceeded to book him, plot twist. 

The Canadian style of refereeing is very British, and quite unlike the Southern Europeans or South Americans. In Canada and Britain, we are much more tolerant towards trifling offences, and tend to attempt to man manage before throwing around cards. In Graham Poll's book, Seeing Red, he speaks of this difference, in the fact that British referees tend to let slide tackles with the studs up go when there is no contact with the player, only the ball, whereas European's punish this. The attitude itself is quite different surrounding the soccer, much alike the attitudes between the Canadian and Spanish professional team differ. The Spanish are dramatic, intense, and yappy, but they are the best. 

In my assessment of my second game, I received a 72 on the British scale in which 70 is an acceptable standard and 80 is a near perfect game. I wasn't satisfied with this, and the reason I got this was my management of the players was suited to the Canadian players and not the Spanish, and I  did not manage a penalty properly. I will have to adjust my refereeing to meet the demands of the Southern European game. During the day I went into Madrid to see the palace and a monastery and just hang around the old city. After my matches, I went along with a great group of guys (6 brits and 1 polish) to Madrid to see the nightlife. After asking for directions from many people, we stumbled across a Spanish night club and got the entire experience, from Spanish club music, to a live bongo drummer. It was a great time to meet so many Spanish people and I am so glad to have learned Spanish in school as it has proved invaluable this trip and I have become a translator, navigator. I can now say I have danced the night away at a Madrid Disco in flip flops It was a great life experience, and I am glad to say I can check that one off my bucket list. 

The Match day three team of me, Sergio Barragan (esp), and Paul Noble (eng). 

I woke up for our daily morning meeting, then proceeded to go back to bed and wake up at 2:00 pm. While I would love to credit this to jet-lag, I reckon it was more due to last nights antics. The way I see it, is you must work hard to play hard. Match day 3 began with a lot of sleeping, followed by three very routine fixtures (U14, U14, GU17). The most interesting moment was when I applied the skills I leared at the CDSRA's man management session and as an assistant referee, I saw a player kick another player with the studs when they were both on the ground, then the other team was wound up. I had the referee send off the player, and then we made sure no fights ensued. They were very routine, and this now concludes the group stage. Tomorrow should bring some interesting playoff soccer, and tonight should bring some well needed rest, that is until the group of Croatians started drinking at a "quincenera" that was happening near the hotel. 

Cheers, 

Kevin Tupper

First Impressions, day 1 matches, and opening ceremonies of the Madrid Sur Cup

0This evening I took a moment to think for a second during half time of the match I was refereeing, and then it finally hit me, that I was refereeing two U16 clubs from Spain in a tournament in Madrid, wow, what an experience. So far the trip has been a unique chance to really see soccer in a different light and to meet some fantastic people. It began yesterday when I arrived, and I instantly met dozens of people from around the world. 

After just over 24 hours in Madrid, I have met so many referees from all different backgrounds, mostly around 18-25 years old. The majority of referees here are from England, but I have also met refs from Cyprus, Spain, Poland, Venezuela, Belgium and Italy. I am sure I will meet more people in the next week at Iber Cup, as from my understanding, this tournament serves well as a precursor of sorts to the bigger, more international, and more prestigious Iber cup. 

I arrived yesterday just in time to attend the opening ceremony of the Madrid Sur cup, and was given a great window into the coming week. It was unorganized, but was still unlike any thing at any tournament in North America.  It began with a great deal of milling about outside, but it gave me a chance to meet many of my colleagues for the week. The focal point of the ceremony was a bongo band, which was then followed with all teams and referees walking around the pitch. It was quite a nice stadium, home to a league two team in Spain, seating around 4000. It was quite something to walk the pitch surrounded with cheering fans, an attitude that I do not imagine will last. 

The first day was very Spanish, that is very unorganized, spoken nearly entirely in Spanish, and allowed me to bear witness to some very good soccer. We received our assignments in the morning, and I was to referee, and do two assistant referees of under 16 boys matches. I was with a Spanish referee who spoke no English and an English Referee who spoke no Spanish. My limited Spanish has proved essential, and I have turned into a translator for the group between the Spanish organizers and referees and the British referees. 

My game went very well, I was assessed by a Spanish Football Federation assessor who spoke little English, and his comments regarding my performance was that it was "muy bien" or "Very good" so hopefully my marks are reflective. It was an interesting dynamic to referee two Spanish teams, the Spanish do not like their referees and are very eager to protest all calls. Using my Spanish on the field was something I was grateful to have. While I was able to communicate to the players during the breaks, my language during play consisted primarily of "no, no, no" "juega (play)" "Vamos (lets go)" and  "Calmate (calm yourself). I did not end up giving any cards, and the final score was 6-1 Morejas over Torremar. 

After my match, I saw the tail end of a u16 match refereed by three british referees. In this game that ended 4-3, the referee and assistant did not call a penalty which the losing side was convinced was missed. I was not there so I cannot speculate, but what I did see was a referee get chased from the pitch, and then while walking him to the bus, we were approached by numerous screaming spanish fans, irate with anger over this call. When you are the best  football country in the world, the football is taken seriously. The tournament directors were saying that this is not unusual for Spanish fans. 

Today (June 25) I went into Madrid, and will be refereeing another three matches tonight. I am refereeing with Leonel Abreu, a Venezuelan first division referee, and will be getting to use both the beeper signal flags and the communications headsets, I am excited to try this, and will update on how the game goes.

The floods have receded back home, and I hope that the city is beginning to return to normal. No pictures yet as i can't get my photos up, they will come soon. 

Departure at last!

The time has finally come to begin this journey, and it has already been quite the adventure just to get to this point. Thursday the 20th, I received an evacuation notice for my home in Discovery Ridge. We were among the first group of people to be displaced by the so called "flood 2013" I was very fortunate to have packed all my belongings for the Europe trip that morning, so I loaded it all into the car, then rushed to assist my neighbours in sandbagging their basement from waist deep water that was rising fast. Water is fascinating, it is so immensely powerful and a truly unstoppable force, and the City of Calgary rapidly learned of its destructive capabilities. While I ended up staying at a friends Aunt's house that night, my family made the mistake of staying at the Eau Claire Sheraton, only to be evacuated from there the following morning. 

Friday was my High School Graduation for which I was the Valedictorian. Having rushed out of my evacuated house, I had thought to grab my suit and gown, but had forgot dress shoes, so there I was in flip-flops and a suit. I was lucky to be able to rely on the kindness of strangers and my friend's Uncle was able to lend me a pair. The city was in a state of emergency, and the flooding was unlike anything we had ever seen. The entire downtown was shutdown, and it seemed every major bridge in the city was underwater. Needless to say, getting anywhere was a nightmare, but I was pleased to see a nearly full graduating class eagerly walk the stage. I believe my Valedictory address went well, and it was vey well received, even my awful puns! 

Saturday, it appears as if the flood has begun to recede, but the city is devastated. The entire downtown core has been shut down, evacuated, and flooded, along with 25 community evacuations. The city estimates that over 175000 people have been displaced, and yet only 2500 are using emergency shelters, what a great testament to the open hearts and resilient attitudes of Calgarians. One of the tremendous positives of this disaster is how well the city, the emergency responders, and the people of Calgary have acted. They have ensured the safety of all of us, and worked tirelessly to save our city. We were allowed to return to our house today as it remained high and dry, but there are many who aren't so lucky, like the Calgary Saddledome.  

I have made it to the airport, and that is what matters! The final preparations are in place for the two tournaments and it is hard to believe that they are so close now! Tomorrow night in Madrid, I will be participating in the opening ceremonies of the Madrid Sur Cup, and have picked up a Canadian flag and will be representing our nation proudly. I was gifted numerous pins and coins from the Alberta Soccer Association and the Calgary District Referees Association, so I will most definitely be showcasing these two fantastic groups. Our Madrid Assignments will be given at the meeting and I will be sure to pass them on along with pictures of the opening ceremonies, I can't wait!

As for the IBer Cup, it seems as if all is set to go and is ready to begin, my final assignments are the same as what I posted earlier, except for two of the games on the Tuesday and I am now an Assistant Referee during a match with Athletico Madrid, wow. I have begun to connect with various referees at the tournaments through social networking, and have been getting to know the Quebec contingent as well as many of the internationals. One of the fun events that is in the works is a referees tournament to take place June 30th. We will play 6v6 and against other teams of referees while the match is reffed by our assessors. As our Quebecers are in Porto until the Evening, I offered my services as a free agent and was signed to a team comprised of 3 Frenchmen, 2 Italians, a Swede, a Brit, and me. While 4 of the 8 of us turned out to be goal keepers, I think we will compete for the title and be a force to reckon with. We will play teams such as the Scandinavians, the Polish, and a few teams from multiple countries. You know the tournament is coming up when the newspapers have an entire page on the tournament! I cannot wait!

I will be updating the blog as much as possible over the next two weeks, and will be including lots and lots of pictures! Stay tuned.

18 Days until takeoff! Updates on Elite group and referee assignments.

Wow! It seems like just last week that I found out that I was accepted to go referee the Iber Cup, when in reality, that was last July! I still remember jumping up with excitement when I read the email, and the number of times I had to read it to believe the opportunity I would have. Almost a year later, here we are in June, ready to begin the experience of a lifetime.

The Iber Cup, being Tournaments Abroad's flagship tournament, has always been a showcase for international referees, and they are constantly seeking to extend its reach and bring it to an even more international level. This year, as a pilot project, they have created an "Elite Group". This 15 referee group will be headed by Mr. Joao Capela, a fifa referee who regularly referees the Portuguese first division (pictured right). The selection process began with a test on the Laws of the Game. The questions were quite challenging, and required a thorough knowledge of the intricacies of soccer. My response to the test ended up being 10 pages long, and I remember rushing to finish while at a friends ski chalet for the weekend. The results were so invariably well crafted that Mr. Capela and Daniel Curcio (president of Tournaments abroad) decided that they required more information, so they asked for a personal statement on our motives and background as a referee. I wrote about my humble beginnings as a referee, and passions for the game that we all love, and to my delight, I was selected to be a part of this elite group.

This elite group is comprised of 15 referees selected out of the 140 attending the tournament, and to quote directly from the letter they sent me:

The elite group will be a very intensive development and training program with daily sessions that will spam over the entire day. At the beginning of the tournament you will be asked to attend an introductory meeting and also undertake a battery of fitness tests at the University of Lisbon while the rest of the week will be organized as follows: in the morning, general warm up with all referees and indications on personalized warm-up to be done before each game; in the afternoon recovery practice sessions and technical practice; in the evening meetings with assessors and coaches to analyze the day’s performances as well as referee patterns and time motion.

It sounds like a phenomenal experience and I am thrilled to get to participate in this, and willdefinitely keep you posted as to what the group entails when I find out more.





because it's the cup

The Iber Cup will be taking place over the first week of July, and prior to refereeing there, I will be officiating the Madrid Sur Cup in Getafe, Spain. This is quickly approaching, and I have learned a lot of details regarding what will be occurring. The tournament is not nearly as international as the Iber Cup, with approximately 40 international refs, and primarily Spanish and Portuguese teams. Considering that these are two of the best football nations in the world, one cannot complain. During the tournament, we will be staying in Bungalows, and refereeing games nightly. They will also be treating us to luxurious local meals such as Paella, and Squid "a la Andalusa. The Madrid portion of my trip will be a great chance to meet the referees, get accustomed to the fast paced and skilled European soccer, and enjoy the beautiful area. Better keep practicing my Spanish.

On a final note, we received our tentative assignments for the first two days of the Iber Cup today, and I am very excited to be a part of some very high class matches, including the likes of Sevilla FC, and Southampton FC, and teams from India, Croatia, England, Norway, Spain, and of course, Portugal. My match schedule is as follows, keep in mind that this is subject to change.

July 1

• 15:30 U15 Fourth Official, Southampton FC (Eng) vs. AD Barroselas (Por)
• 16:45 U15 Assistant Referee 1, Kenkre FC (Ind) vs Almada AC (Por)

July 2

• 9:00 U13 Fourth Official, Pro Touch SA (Eng) vs. CAC Pontinha (Por)
• 12:45 U13 Referee, NK Hypo-Limac (Cro) vs. GD Fabril (Por)
• 18:15 U16 Assistant Referee 1, Sevilla FC (Spa) vs. IL Stalkameratene (Nor)
• 19:30 U17g Assistant Referee 1, Real Betis Balompie (Spa) vs. Baerums Verk IF (Nor)

Sounds like I will be a part of some fantastic matches, hopefully I am able to perform well enough to earn some high level middle games, and most importantly earn playoff and especially final assignments, that would be a dream.

I will be blogging , much more frequently as the tournament approaches, giving updates as they come, and keeping everyone informed as to my assignments, and also all of my game reports when I reach the tournaments. Thanks for taking the time to read through this, and I always appreciate feedback either by commenting on this blog or emailing me kevintupper@live.com

Read more on the tournaments at http://www.ibercup.com/home/en and http://www.madridsurcup.com/Pages/Default.aspx. Find out more about Tournaments abroad here: http://www.tournamentsabroad.com/home.html