Some of the greatest teams, clubs, players and coaches in the United States, but the referees need some work. It's embarrassing, actually. If your child is a goalkeeper, expect them to be injured. I just watched a Steve Martin lookalike referee whose fastest speed was a walk let a girl kick my daughter in the stomach while she had the ball in her hands, no foul called. This happens all the time. These people are paid and half don't even know that a ball has to be completely across the line to be out of play or to score a goal. The AR's can be influenced by the crowd and coaches. They're not volunteers, they are paid by the teams and Cal South should do something about it. Realistically, a referee's first priority needs to be safety, period. Make those calls, get the game under control, then worry about making calls. I've seen girls push, play dangerously, and blatantly foul so many times it's ridiculous. You've gotta make those calls refs, that's your job. Get them some training. Make sure they take it seriously. Then get them more training. read more

Horrible referees for 15u semifinal state cup. So Disappointing!!!! AR called handball and couldn't say who it was on. Multiple bad calls. Center referee was lazy! read more

Completely unprofessional and inept group of individuals. From board member Grant, down to the refereeing officials, incompetents runs rampant throughout this organization. In all of the years my child has been playing soccer , I have never seen such inability to create a safe and fun soccer experience. In one weekend of soccer I personally witnessed fights on the field involving parents and players and more broken bones that I can count. Including a serious injury of a broken clavicle of one of our teammates; right after we told the official he needed to calm play down and start handing out cards. All the parents on our team unanimously voted that our club will never play in another tournament this joke of an organization puts on. read more

It is bewildering that one takes on a task and then makes such little effort to do that task correctly. A group of girls playing U11 soccer sign up for a tournament in California called the La Jolla Labor Day classic. The girls paid in order to compete in this tournament and test their skills. Their families payed the fees as well as the cost to travel from Las Vegas to La Jolla, and hotels, some with siblings. They took the time to travel the 300+ miles. They respected the schedule and showed up at each game. They played hard and conducted themselves with the greatest of sportsmanship. They not only won every game they had, but they shutout every team they played against. The organizers were informed early on that they had made a clerical mistake and listed their house team in a bracket in which they were not actually playing. Everyone thought common sense would be applied after the first day of the tournament reflected the error and the girls were sure that after winning their third straight game 4-0 they would have the chance to play for the Championship. To everyone's surprise the organizers decided it was the right thing to do, to take their house team--who never played against the girls-- and place them on top of a bracket they were not a part of. This resulted in them playing a team they already defeated 4-0-again for the championship. In short, the tournament organizers robbed our girls, who traveled down from Vegas, of the opportunity to play in a Championship that was rightfully theirs to play. They allowed a team that only had 14 points and that had been defeated once, tied once and won only one game take the place of the girls that had been undefeated with 28 points in the tournament. Why? This was very easy to fix. They had inverted two teams on the schedule. Team "Matrix" had played all the teams in the B bracket and should of played in the championship representing that Bracket. The girls ("The Heat SFC"), played all of the teams in the A bracket and should of been allowed to represent that bracket in the championship. The organizers did wrong and failed to simply take a minute and make two phone calls to fix their mistake. Shame on them! The "RSL AZ" team knew they had no business in the championship and should of forfeited their spot to the Heat SF girls instead of playing a game they did not earn. Shame on you too! #lajollalabordayclassic #lajollasoccer read more

This is legalized money syndicate, all behind "for the kids" fiction. fact is this all exist to charge fees for association, to pay state lawn's, and of course they provide independently contracted referee's. State cup in February?, the coldest month, is it "for the kids", or your association needs money for next calendar year ? kids playing in rain , hale and wind in february near the freezing point. Kids probably getting pneumonia after this!!! read more

Bottom line many referees in this league put your kids health in danger. They do not take their job seriously, are poorly trained or both. Frequently they let dirty and aggressive play continue when they have had ample opportunity to make calls that would discourage dangerous behavior and keep control the game. This is negligence in its purest form. I have seen too many instances of passive referee behavior which has led to multiple injuries and serious concussions. A class action lawsuit against this league would get their attention and finally make kids the priority. read more

I have altered my coaching style and thereby effectiveness due to the Cal South coaching courses ('E', 'D' & 'C' ). Ian, Santo, Sean, and Memo care about minor children playing the game of soccer, and make every effort to help coaches correct how they teach children. They help show how we keep it fun and enjoyable relative to the child's age through various topics in the various different courses they teach. These are such helpful instructors that I cannot sing enough praise regarding their efforts. Regarding referees: After a referee is certified grade 8 (i.e. a couple hours of online classes and a 4 hour in class session), they're certified to referee competitive games and get paid. HOWEVER, IT'S ENTIRELY UP TO THE ASSOCIATION THEY JOIN TO ENSURE COMPETENCY PRIOR TO ASSIGNMENT TO COMPETITIVE MATCHES. Unfortunately, there are generally speaking not enough referees to cover all of the games which need coverage. As such, some newer refs sometimes find themselves with the whistle rather than the flag who are probably not quite ready to take the whistle just yet at the level they were assigned to assist at. If a parent or team official has a problem with how a referee officiates a match, they need to go to the referee's assignor, NOT CAL SOUTH as the assignor is very experienced and in a position to give the ref the assistance/instruction he/she needs. I've gone to the assignor right on the pitch and through email. It's right on the bottom of the match report, or through the tournament venue. If parents and team officials keep screaming at refs, the referee shortage will continue to increase, you'll get more newbies and thus incompetence every year, and seasoned folks will quit giving availability for matches. Frankly, the parents and team officials have created this problem, NOT Cal South. read more

I do not wish to speak for this Association as a whole as I have never been a player or a coach for Cal South. These divisions I still have the upmost respect for. However, its the referee division I do not think so highly of. This review is not to bash the Cal South Referee Association, however it is meant to shed light on those people who are interested in joining this division. There are no list of contacts directly for this referee division, so I am writing to the Cal South association as a whole. I am originally a referee from North California, who grew up in a respectable referee association. I have joined a referee association called the Valley Referee Association earlier this year. They are located in Granada Hills, which is in the valley in the west side of LA. One thing they really don't tell you when you join the association is that there are dues to pay to be part of the association. I was never told this when I first joined, nor was I able to find this information on the pages of their website. They charge 10% commission per game that you ref. That doesn't sound terrible, yet there is a bigger problem in this. I have no record of the commission they take out. All I have received at the monthly meetings (first Thursday), that are scheduled in the middle of the week, is a check and a blank piece of paper. It is a major concern because it feels like I get paid a lot less for a group of games that I refereed, and I have no idea how much money they are taking out because they have failed to give me a record of it. In emails that I have sent to the President of the Valley Referee Association and the Vice President, I have asked for payment records for each game as well as asking for an explanation about association dues. For some reason, they never decided to reply back to these emails. I tried to contact them over the phone, but they are not easy to get a hold of. If you actually want to have a full conversation with them, you have to talk to them at the beginning of the monthly meeting. So that's exactly what I did. A couple days ago I went to the monthly meeting and asked for the fifth time what these dues were. They shortly put it as a 10% commission they charge per game. I then asked them why this information is not mentioned on the their webpage or any of the emails sent between them and I. They didn't really have a reply. I asked if I can receive a record of the charges being pulled from my paychecks. They said they don't supply that. It was at that moment, in a professional fashion, that I asked my name to be taken off the list. They were nice enough to take me off their list, but the damage has already been done. I will not lie, I do feel like I have been scammed out of money at this association. If you don't think this is a scam at all, then I would ask you to reread this review. My last job for them was four games I refereed in Camarillo which, ultimately, I received only $31.80 without any record of payment breakdown. If this is not a scam, then I don't know what is. The last time I went to the meeting to pick up a paycheck, the vice president didn't want to even hand over my check. He went through his stack of envelopes twice and claimed he didn't have a check for me. Once I mentioned that it was for the Camarillo tournament, the President went over the list and explained my envelope was second in the pile. The president then told me however that the check was not written yet due to charges he argues should be taken out of my paycheck. I then asked him nicely to write a check for me with the charges fully written out so i could see what he's talking about. After all, it had been months since I have refereed that actual tournament. He refused to do so right then and there while I was waiting in line. Maybe by now you can understand my frustration. I have decided to contact the chairman of the Cal South referee division earlier today in order to voice my displeasure in this particular Valley Referee Association and appropriately asked help in finding another association in my area. The main Cal South page with all the different associations are very hard to understand. It takes too much time and energy to individually contact each association to find out the areas they work and how they function as an organization. He failed to give me this help. From what I took from this conversation over the phone is that the chairman wouldn't give me any important contact information to help with a new transition to another association inside Cal South. I told him about the association dues that I didn't have on record for myself and he didn't care. This conversation went nowhere. This review is me explaining the troubling process I had the misfortune of dealing it. I am speaking up for myself because I don't want other people to be taken advantage of with bad service and people being disrespectful by this unit. I suggest those interested people to look elsewhere. This is not a place to be. read more

Cal South is Excellence is Soccer. I'm glad I grew up playing Cal South Soccer and that I'm now playing in Cal South Adult Soccer.