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Considering the quality of officials we had for youth football this season, they were overpaid.
 

discochris said:
Considering the quality of officials we had for youth football this season, they were overpaid.
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If they were high school kids, they likely don't get paid the same. Youth officials are set up to fail. They put the least experience officials on games with the least experience players and coaches and it's a recipe for disaster. I assure you that if you are competent, look the part, professional, etc. you will move up quickly where the games are much easier to officiate.
 


I would be soooooo obviously biased against certain teams. I have no doubt I'd get my ass kicked by some parent. Probably a grand parent.

It would be amazingly fun.
 

Face The Facts said:
Curious what pay would be a for a game.
I can make bad calls and put up with bad coaches as much as the next person.
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Probably better!

It is a crisis for sure.
No refs = not as many good ones


the most frustrating thing is when some officials literally don’t know a rule and then get offended when coaches get frustrated. Officials need to have patience with coaches as they are learning, coaches need to have patience with officials while they are learning.

No doubt we need to turn the tide and start growing the pool
 


Soccer has a severe shortage too. Pay is alright but if you don’t need the money all the bull shit from parents and coaches makes it hard to justify the time commitment to be an official.
 



MaxyJR1 said:
If they were high school kids, they likely don't get paid the same. Youth officials are set up to fail. They put the least experience officials on games with the least experience players and coaches and it's a recipe for disaster. I assure you that if you are competent, look the part, professional, etc. you will move up quickly where the games are much easier to officiate.
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No, they weren't. They were old farts. I'd say over our 8 games (I'm a coach BTW) with 2 officials each, we had maybe three good ones total that knew the rules, cared about the kids learning the game, and made calls fairly. The others either just didn't care, didn't understand the rules, or chose to enforce penalties arbitrarily.

Case in point on the last one. A kid on the other team took a swing at one of our kids and socked him in the gut right in front of the ref. He threw the flag, but then decided not to actually enforce the penalty, calling it a learning experience. The kid should have been ejected, but at the very least, we should have got the 15 yards. Another instance, the ref told us we had no timeouts left (we had two) because it was obvious he wanted to go home.

I get that there are missed calls, and you don't want youth football to be a penalty fest, but some semblance of competence would be nice. It was frustrating too, because the kids on our team all knew when a bad call or non-call was made, and they didn't understand it.
 

Officials feel protected when the PA announcer reads that "sportsmanship" crap before games start.
 


I was a hockey official for many years. Now retired and wished I had taken up football. My legs wouldn't help me now to do it at all.

The key quite often separating the good officials and the bad officials is simply to know the rules and communicate with your partner if you have doubts about a call that was made in between periods etc.. You learn from those calls. Knowing the rules would solve a lot of problems for everyone including coaches and fans.
 



discochris said:
No, they weren't. They were old farts. I'd say over our 8 games (I'm a coach BTW) with 2 officials each, we had maybe three good ones total that knew the rules, cared about the kids learning the game, and made calls fairly. The others either just didn't care, didn't understand the rules, or chose to enforce penalties arbitrarily.

Case in point on the last one. A kid on the other team took a swing at one of our kids and socked him in the gut right in front of the ref. He threw the flag, but then decided not to actually enforce the penalty, calling it a learning experience. The kid should have been ejected, but at the very least, we should have got the 15 yards. Another instance, the ref told us we had no timeouts left (we had two) because it was obvious he wanted to go home.

I get that there are missed calls, and you don't want youth football to be a penalty fest, but some semblance of competence would be nice. It was frustrating too, because the kids on our team all knew when a bad call or non-call was made, and they didn't understand it.
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Sign up.
 


As a father of two children who just completed their youth sports careers, the overwhelming issue with attracting officials is parents. It is not even close. Don't get me wrong, there are some coaches who think they are the next Bear Bryant or Scotty Bowman. But it is not even close with the abuse these officials take from moron parents, most who don't understand the rules themselves.
 

Northeastgopher said:
Soccer has a severe shortage too. Pay is alright but if you don’t need the money all the bull shit from parents and coaches makes it hard to justify the time commitment to be an official.
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Yeh, soccer has it's issues right now.
What's worse about that one is many parents feel the need to yell, and the simply don't understand the rules. Many don't really understand the game even and appaud any shot while yelling "SHOOT!"

The other thing that doesn't help is many of the coaches feel they are being "well-meaning" by trying to educate the new refs, but the referees are young and easily intimidated and sometimes scared. You have 14 year old's reffing 12/13 year old games and coaches who are 50 years old barking. Many of the kids simply are afraid to blow their whistle to call a foul.
 

Five for fighting said:
As a father of two children who just completed their youth sports careers, the overwhelming issue with attracting officials is parents. It is not even close. Don't get me wrong, there are some coaches who think they are the next Bear Bryant or Scotty Bowman. But it is not even close with the abuse these officials take from moron parents, most who don't understand the rules themselves.
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I saw several instances of that this season. In one game, our opponent's fans got them an unsportsmanlike call, and in a game before ours, a parent got kicked off the sidelines. Then there was the coach that was filming the game with his phone, and then shoving it in the ref's face to show what he was doing wrong. He was told that if he did that again, he'd no longer be coaching.

We had a great group of parents and kids and so did the other teams from our district.
 

I think something not being mentioned enough, especially at the high school level, is that lower level games are played at like 4pm. Lots of jobs don't let you leave at 2:45-3pm to drive 30 minutes to a JV game so you can get dressed and ready for the 4pm kickoff.
 

upnorthkid said:
It’s across all sports. Helicopter parents are making it less fun and respect for officials has plummeted. Hockey is also getting crushed right now
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My brother was a ref in FB and BB for over 40 years. He retired because of the parents abuse and in some cases physical threats after the games. He loved it and was still physically able to do the job. He loved the athletes but got tired of all the abusive parents and sometimes the coaches. It's not enough money to put up with all these " experts ".
 

They had a terrible shortage this year. Wonder what happens after this year and the following year?
 

I saw several instances of that this season. In one game, our opponent's fans got them an unsportsmanlike call, and in a game before ours, a parent got kicked off the sidelines. Then there was the coach that was filming the game with his phone, and then shoving it in the ref's face to show what he was doing wrong. He was told that if he did that again, he'd no longer be coaching.
discochris said:
We had a great group of parents and kids and so did the other teams from our district.
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Saw a coach forfeit after his parents we’re getting unsportsmanlike penalties. He was a volunteer with no tie to the team other than coaching them.
 

I had an acquaintance (won't call him a friend, because I don't like him) who did some hockey games as an official. He refused to do any boys games - he'd only do girls games because the parents weren't nearly as crazy.
 

In 2000, before my kids were old enough, tried to get the Blaine Soccer Association, which was in total disarray and contention over parental interference, to elect a new board of local businessmen and leaders. I also suggested that no board member should have relatives playing in the league.

I was booed down, and a woman in the audience actual said “What a f*cking retard!” Board members and parents laughed.
 

I hope they don't pay the BIG refs that much money. If it's results based.................
 

Anyone take in the meeting? If not, here is a link to the material.
 

highwayman said:
In 2000, before my kids were old enough, tried to get the Blaine Soccer Association, which was in total disarray and contention over parental interference, to elect a new board of local businessmen and leaders. I also suggested that no board member should have relatives playing in the league.

I was booed down, and a woman in the audience actual said “What a f*cking retard!” Board members and parents laughed.
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Having been on some boards myself, this is an often overlooked aspect of the problems that are infecting youth sports. They are rife with nepotism and despotism when those who are concerned question some of the brutal decisions that can be made, particularly in the smaller sports where there is far less oversight. Generally when you see a horsebleep coach continue to be placed each year, there is a friend(s) on the Board that are responsible.

This is the one caveat that I am willing to give unreasonable parents. Sometimes they are justified in their frustration at the overall youth sports culture. But it should NEVER be taken out on innocent officials during a game.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
If they were high school kids, they likely don't get paid the same. Youth officials are set up to fail. They put the least experience officials on games with the least experience players and coaches and it's a recipe for disaster. I assure you that if you are competent, look the part, professional, etc. you will move up quickly where the games are much easier to officiate.
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I have a buddy that umps. He said much the same thing about youth ball. He said he got yelled at more than once by parent coaches for not "being in position" to make a call after he's moved to a base where a play should be made, and then a kid throws it to a different, wrong base for some odd reason, the play breaks down, and he's running all over the infield trying to figure out what the hell is going to happen.
 

I have a friend/client/peer who doubles as a PAC-12 ref, Linesman specifically. Cool watching his games on TV, he always lets us know which games he's doing. He says It's his passion, and hopes to make the NFL at some point, which I wouldn't rule out. His crew seems to get the better PAC-12 games and he was actually selected to do the CFP National Champ game last year (or the year before?).

Anyway, I'd always meant to dig more into his path, how he got to the Pac-12, as he's a relatively young guy, etc. Generally all I ever talk to him about are specific calls he made, some of the coaches he deals with, etc.

I always thought it would be cool also, but that ship has sailed!
 

Umpired baseball ever since I was a kid. Almost every kid is good, most parents too, but there are a few that are just awful. And without exception that parents and fans that are really letting the refs have it would never referee or umpire a game themselves.

I always wonder about the abusive parents in the stands. Do they think there is a line of people waiting to officiate these games? Drive off enough officials and your kids will have no games.
 

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