Sigi Speaks out – on Sigi

Little by Way of Regret about his Controversial Comments

May 11

Sigi Schmid spoke today about the possibility of MLS levying fines on him for his controversial comments about referee Tim Weyland, in the aftermath of Sunday’s 1-1 draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

He told reporters, “I don’t know. I can’t ever speak for the league. Have I gotten fined in the past? Yeah, I got fined in the past once. As I said, it’s just disappointing. And hopefully it’ll be something that will be looked at. It doesn’t change what happened. And I do feel that the situation of the, whatever you want to call it, the melee, the fracas, the altercation that occurred, I just think that could’ve been managed better. I think it could’ve and should’ve been managed much better.”

My Father was a Referee

Asked about his previous fines, he revealed, “I probably said something like the referee was horrible, awful, terrible, or something like that. So I’m not exactly sure. Let me say this, it’s a tough job, refereeing. It’s not an easy job. My father was a referee; obviously not at the MLS level. But he was a referee for 25, 30 years. So I know it’s a tough job. I know the abuse that they take. And he used to referee not only the youth games and stuff, he used to do the ethnic leagues and all of that. So I understand that. And believe me, he pounded the rules in to me day in and day out. But I think it’s a tough job. It’s difficult. But you’ve also got to have a feel for it.

Just like there’s good soccer players, and there’s excellent soccer players, and there’s outstanding players, and there’s average guys. Just like it’s the same thing that’s true about surgeons; just because you have your medical degree doesn’t mean that you’re a particularly gifted surgeon. It’s like with everything, and the same thing with referees. Just because you have a badge and you’re a referee, there’s some that just innately have a better feel for it than others. That’s just part of the process. You keep trying to figure it out and improve the ones who you feel need improving, and continue to try and put guys on the field that are just a little better than others.”

Looking forward to the game in Dallas, Sounders FC’s first ever visit to the Lone Star State, he acknowledged that the club’s roster is actually fairly well-equipped to deal with the absence of James Riley.

“I think we have options. Obviously, we’ve had to replace people in the past. We had to replace (Fredy) Montero. We had to replace Kasey (Keller) the one game. And now we have to replace Riley. As I’ve always said, it’s all about the players that are available to play, not about the players who can’t play. We have options. We looked at a couple of different scenarios today by playing Zach Scott on both sides of the defense, looking at Tyson Wahl as an outside back as well, just different options. (Nathan) Sturgis can play on either side right or left. We have different options we can look at.”