Referee shortage hurting soccer

During Alex Krelo's first season as a high-school soccer referee, he was part of a two-man crew that bossed a tight league game.

The high-spirited affair quickly turned ugly in overtime, however, when Krelo awarded a penalty kick against the visiting team.

The home team calmly converted the ensuing spot kick, and the coach of the losing team and several fans went ballistic.

The coach raced toward Krelo, who was still on the field, and launched a verbal tirade at the first-year referee, which Krelo said included several physical threats.

It didn't end there.

The losing coach followed Krelo to his car and continued to threaten him to the point that Krelo actually feared for his life.

"He was really ready to kill me," he said.

When the coach finally finished, parents from the losing team hurled more threats at Krelo.

Such incidents are one example of why the state arbiter has such a hard time retaining new officials.

Ideally, the Utah High School Activities Association would send three officials — one center referee and two referee's assistants — to every boys prep soccer game. The reality is another matter.

Severe referee shortages will force state arbiter Greg Warner to use two-man refereeing crews in roughly one-fourth of all soccer games this spring.

The so-called referee shortage has left the Utah soccer community to examine why such deficiencies exist and what changes might alleviate the problem.

The conclusions?

The majority of people involved with prep soccer feel that the main cause of the referee shortage is directly tied to poor sportsmanship from coaches and fans. Brand-new officials often suffer through their first season of abuse before deciding that refereeing just isn't worth it.

Awkward game times (most prep soccer games in Utah are played at 3:30 p.m.), mediocre pay and quirky rules used only in high school soccer are other factors often mentioned.