Nearly every referee in Region 13 is a volunteer, and many are children. Taking anger out on them, as AYSO puts it, affects everyone and the future of the game. When referees walk away, games do not get played.
AYSO adopted the U.S. Soccer Referee Abuse Prevention standards into national policy effective March 2025. Area 1C approved its implementation protocols in July 2026 and enforces them across all nine regions, including Region 13, beginning with the Fall 2026 season. The program is known as RAPP.
What we expect from everyone
Referees ref, coaches coach, parents cheer. The call on the field stands.
Frustration over a call is understandable, and a muttered “ugh, she missed that one” is part of watching sport. What is not acceptable is dissent taken to a public, personal level: “you suck,” “how much is that team paying you,” “you’re an idiot.” There is also never a reason to touch a referee outside a handshake.
Coaches are responsible for the conduct of their players and their spectators. Under the U.S. Soccer policy, a referee is protected from the moment they arrive at the venue, including the parking area, until they leave it, and also at later times when the misconduct is directly related to their duties for a match. Online abuse after the fact is covered. The same protection extends to a referee’s family or household, and to a guest they brought to the match.
What counts as referee abuse
RAPP is narrower than general misconduct. It covers language and behavior that is extreme and deliberate, and that causes significant harm or shows a material lack of respect. Ordinary dissent is handled on the field, as described in the next section.
Verbal abuse falls into four levels:
| Level | Behavior |
|---|---|
| 1 | Verbal taunting: insulting, belittling, insinuating, or taunting that undermines referee authority |
| 2 | Harassment or intimidation: retaliation, abusive or threatening language |
| 3 | Threats or derogatory language: aggression, attacking, cyberbullying, doxing, threats of violence |
| 4 | Offensive or discriminatory act: discriminatory or derogatory words or actions based on race, skin color, ethnicity, nationality, social origin, gender, disability, sexual orientation, language, or religion |
Physical abuse falls into three levels:
| Level | Behavior |
|---|---|
| 1 | Minor or slight deliberate touching: tapping a shoulder, touching the chest, bumping, pulling on a jersey |
| 2 | Intentional confrontation: pushing, grabbing, pulling, squeezing, pinching, lightly slapping, using an object in a non-striking manner, damaging property |
| 3 | Violent contact: hitting, punching, elbowing, kicking, biting, spitting, choking, tackling, throwing or using an object, or using any part of the body in a striking manner |
The U.S. Soccer Penalties Matrix sets minimum sanctions for each level, in games or in time. It is a floor, not the final word: repeat offenses multiply, offenses against a minor carry more weight, and the Area disciplinary panel may go beyond the minimum at the direction of the Area Executive Board. Region 13 sets none of it.
U.S. Soccer draws a line the AYSO summary above does not. Assault is deliberate physical action against a referee, and abuse is extreme, deliberate, non-contact behavior causing significant harm. Once either is verified, the person is automatically suspended until a hearing is held. Behavior that falls short of those definitions but still causes harm, which covers most taunting and belittling, is handled under U.S. Soccer’s gross mistreatment framework and does not carry an automatic suspension. Report all of it either way. Which category an incident falls into is not the referee’s call to make.
Dissent: warn, caution, dismiss
Most sideline behavior never rises to a RAPP violation, and referees should keep using the tools the Laws of the Game already provide. Do not be shy about using them.
A typical progression:
- First instance, from a player, coach, or spectator: warn them that the comments will not be tolerated.
- Next instance, for players and coaches: issue a Caution (yellow card). For spectators: ask the coach to intervene, with a clear message that the next instance means ejection from the field.
- If it continues: Send-Off (red card) for the player or coach, ejection for the spectator.
This is a guide, not a required sequence. Region 13 policy is explicit that there is no requirement to warn or caution before dismissing a coach; how far you go depends on how bad the behavior is. Go straight to a send-off or ejection when the situation calls for it, including when the behavior involves:
- Foul language or actions
- Racial, gender, ethnic, or religious slurs
- Abuse directed personally at you or at a player
After a dismissal, the person has to leave
A dismissed coach or an ejected spectator must leave the sight and sound of the field. Do not restart the game until they have. If a coach does not leave immediately, or a spectator does not leave promptly after you have asked the coach to handle it, terminate the game and report it. You are not required to play on.
Report it
Region 13 cannot address this problem without knowing where and when it is happening. Report every incident, including ones you resolved on the field.
During a match, you may stop play and ask the coaches for help, including help identifying a spectator by name. Issue the caution, send-off, or ejection the situation calls for, then carry on with the match unless the conditions in the previous section require you to terminate it.
Immediately after the match, contact the Regional Referee Administrator by phone, text, or email. Use whichever is fastest; do not wait to write something up. [email protected] reaches the RRA, and the referee tent or your division coordinator can give you a phone number on game day. The RRA notifies the Area Referee Administrator that a report has been made.
A preliminary determination follows, made by the RRA for games inside Region 13 and by the ARA for games between regions. If it looks like a RAPP violation, they will ask you for a written report: a Referee Report if the person was a player or coach, an Incident Report if a spectator. You email that report to the Area 1C RAPP Administrator, the RRA, and the ARA together. It needs the specific language or actions, the name of the person responsible, and enough match detail to make sense of the situation. Sending it is your step, not the RRA’s.
Also file the Referee Incident Form so Region 13 has its own record. This is a Region 13 form and does not by itself satisfy the Area 1C reporting requirement above.
From there the RAPP Administrator investigates and decides whether to refer the matter to the RAPP Disciplinary Panel, which determines sanctions. Appeals go to the U.S. Soccer Appeals Committee within 14 days. The full sequence is in the flow chart.
You will hear how it ended. The RRA notifies whoever made the report of the panel’s conclusion, and for a youth referee, notifies their parent or guardian. Reports do not disappear into a process.
Anyone can report an incident: assistant referees, coaches, players, and spectators. It does not have to come from the center referee. That said, when abuse happens during a match the center referee is the one primarily responsible for recording and reporting the facts.
Reports about a referee’s performance rather than someone’s conduct toward a referee go to the Referee Feedback Form instead.
Documents
- Respecting Our Referees (2026) — AYSO summary of the standards, abuse levels, and consequences
- Area 1C RAPP Implementation Protocols (2026) — how the program runs across Area 1C, including the disciplinary panel and the reporting steps
- Area 1C RAPP Flow Chart (2026) — one-page diagram of the reporting process
- U.S. Soccer Policy 531-9 (2026) — the federation policy the program is built on, with the Penalties Matrix and the appeals process
- Region 13 Respect the Referee Policy (2022) — Region 13’s own zero-tolerance policy and coach responsibilities, still in effect
The current Penalties Matrix and national materials are at ussoccer.com/rap.
Contact
- Referee questions and incident reports: [email protected]
- Phone: 626-316-6900
- Game-day emergencies: 626-702-AYSO
Related Pages
- Refereeing Overview — Getting started as a referee
- Referee Resources — Documents, forms, and newsletters
- Laws of the Game — Official rules
- Region 13 Policies — Conduct policies for all volunteers
Last updated:
