Pushing, crying, and other 8-year-old fun

The past few of Spencer's soccer games that I have attended, I have been pressed into refing service. His AYSO games almost NEVER have a ref (really, what do we pay for /huffily). The last AYSO game was notable for the pushing during the first half. Our team was mostly the victim, here, but we had one REALLY REALLY good push right before the half. The pushee (is that a real word?) was the coach's son. He (the coach) was practically on our half of the field with steam coming out of his ears by the time the reverberations of the half-time call had died away. "Don't let your kids push!" Oh, and he also accused this pusher of trash talk. When I asked Spencer about it later, he said this boy says things like "Happy Hanukkah." Trash talk indeed. Fortunately, I could see where this was going, and I informed him that I was going to ref the second half. When everyone got out there, I got out my teacher voice (similar to the mommy voice, but more serious) and told them there would be no more pushing. They obeyed. Mostly.

At the AYSO game, and then at the comp game I refed next, a boy was pushing another boy so hard that when the pushee (you know what I mean) moved, the pusher fell down. And got kicked/stepped on. So the person who had the penalty called on him was the one crying. Ah, good times. I might be late to Spencer's next game. Just sayin'.