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On Aug. 7, 28 students sat in a Frederick High School classroom to learn those rules during a soccer referee class sponsored by the Western Maryland Soccer Officials Association. The three-hour session was part of an 18-hour course in which students learn the ropes of soccer officiating.

Upon completion of the course and an exam, students are certified to referee recreational soccer games, said Steve Horton, regional instruction coordinator for Maryland Soccer Referees. The organization teaches classes in Frederick, Westminster and Hagerstown.

Students pay $30 for the course and $40 for referee certification. The course ran from July 29 to Aug. 14.

"We try to give them the rules and few basic techniques to get them started," said Horton of Mount Airy.

When Horton introduced Wayne Wray of Sykesville, a national referee emeritus who began officiating in 1981, the class applauded.

"How many of you have ever clapped for a referee before he entered the field?" he asked. The room fell silent.

Many of his students either play or have played soccer, and their relationships with officials have not always been warm.

Tyler Bryant, 15, a rising junior who plays soccer at Middletown High School, said "you just kind of yell at the ref," when he or she makes a bad call.

Nevertheless, he said the class has given him "a little more respect" for referees, and he hopes to find a job refereeing soccer games when he finishes the course.

Three graduates of the Maryland Soccer Referees course have gone on to referee at the national level, Horton said. "The youngsters are the ones with the future in it," he added.

Wray, wearing a black-and-yellow referee uniform, talked about fouls and misconduct in soccer, which usually stir the most controversy in the game. He also told the class how to respond to rule violations and what kind of penalties to assess.

"Spitting at an opponent? Yuck!" Wray said. "Not very nice, and also a red card."

Players can be ejected from the game as a result of serious misconduct. The referee signals these offenses with a red card. Players are given a warning for less serious offenses by signal of a yellow card. If a player receives two yellow cards in one game, he is sent off as if receiving a red card, according to Law 12 of the International Football Association's "Laws of the Game."

Head-butts receive red cards as well. "They happen more often than you think," Wray said.

Phillip Harper, a 31-year-old who played soccer for Virginia Military Institute and Frostburg, listened intently and frequently answered Wray's questions. He said the classes "open your eyes and invite you to a different perspective."

Soccer has grown tremendously in Frederick, and refereeing is good way to give back to the community, he said.

Horton said refereeing "more or less pays for itself," because he runs up and down the field with a bunch of kids. "How cool is that?"

Cautionable offenses (signaled by a yellow card): unsportsmanlike behavior, dissent by word or action, persistently infringing the Laws of the Game, delaying the restart of play, failing to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner kick or free kick, entering or re-entering the field without the referee's permission or deliberately leaving the field without the referee's permission.

Send-off offenses (signaled by a red card): serious foul play, violent conduct, spitting at an opponent or any other person, denying the opposing team a goal by deliberately handling the ball (except for goalkeeper), denying opposing team obvious goal by committing indirect or direct kick offense, using offensive language or gestures, or receiving a second caution (yellow card) in the same match.

Source: The International Football Association's "Laws of the Game"