Reader comments
UHSAA in dire need of soccer officials

Not having enough officials is not a surprise when there have been stories printed about how many red cards are being given to athletes and coaches during the boys soccer season. Who would want to be treated with such open disrespect.

I am glad that SOMEBODY has finally taken up the deplorable state of high school officiating this fall. But the article, and the first post from "fan", completely miss the obvious.
UYSA is running twice as many soccer matches per week, right now, as UHSAA. They have three certified officials at 90%+ of their matches. How can they manage it, but not UHSAA? The answer is organizational ability in one, failure in the other.
UHSAA refuses to work with colleges for training to develop college-age officials. The states that do this never have shortages of young, trained, capable officials.
As it is now, UHSAA sits back with no program, and accepts, literally, whatever walks through the door. Regardless of physical ability, absence of training, language ability or certification.
The problem does not lie with scheduling or angry athletes run amuck.

Schools have tried to change start times but administration stepped in and said that they did not want to stay that late for soccer. If there was a problem with not enough officials then why did the state approve a new 2A/1A division. It is also sad that the newspapers know more about the officials problem then the coaches. I am a coach and this is the first that I have heard about the idea of changing games to different days. This happened with Boy's soccer going on probation as well. I heard about it from the newspaper and still have not heard officially from UHSAA.

I think the ussf referee's need to step up and quit complaining about doing high school games. For one it is actually a lot easier to become a high school ref than it is to be ussf certified. Abuse happens the same at high school games as club games. The pay actually is better in most circumstances and they pay for your travel.

From the standpoint of a fan, High School refs leave much to be desired. From outright bias to downright incompetence you see it all at the high school games. I hold the UHSAA accountable for all of it. Stop complaining and be creative in finding more and better officials or don't be surprised when the parents of a player who has been injured in a game that the officials let get out of hand institute a lawsuit.

The UHSAA would not have so many red cards if they would not do the "soft" Red card where the player gets to play the next game and the team can sub for them. If they were required to lose a player they might think twice about their actions. You can't tell me that soccer players are more abusive than Football players, Coaches, and Fans. There is just less tolerance for the behavior and Football refs don't give yellow and red cards they just throw a flag.

The situation is deplorable; I saw games with refs that were so crippled they couldn't run, and then they made inaccurate calls because they couldn't see what was happening. Having 3 refs was a rarity. It's not fair to the players that work so hard to know that they aren't being fairly reffed.
It would be simple to start half the games at 5:30; that is what the competition leagues do. Schools have administrators stay for evening football games; there is no reason that soccer games should be any different.

We might look at having teachers officiate at these games because the matches are quickly becoming intramural level anyway. Too many coaches and administrators are bowing down to the parental pressure to play everyone based on seniority, not on skill. This doesn't work in the drama department or vocal tryouts-skill is expected and needed to qualify- but everyone who shows up gets to play girl's high school soccer at our kid's school.

To Doug:

Your comeent is interesting. If you know so much or have such great ideas, why don't you ref the games. The UHSAA has their hands tied when it somes to officials. Yes they are responible for training them but what if they don't have any to train. That is why there is a shortage.

And remember soccer is a contact sport as well. This is such a sue happy society that it is ridiculous. To sue because your child got hurt playing in a contact sport... COME ON!!!

I coach 2 UYSA teams and have been to many high school games over the last 5 years. The officiating is horrible. I have seen many refs who do not understand the game of soccer and do not understand how it should be played. I agree that former players make the best refs. I also believe that better referring would reduce the number of red cards. When the officiating is poor, as it often is, players frustration levels and emotions rise quickly and players play in a manner that they would usually not play.

I also agree that I have seen far worse language and behavior at football and baseball games than I have seen at boys soccer games. If red cards were given out at football games, the numbers would far exceed soccer games.

As a parent, former coach and former referee, I think this article does a good job of highlighting a problem. I agree the refereeing could be better, but the problem is only amplified by the atrocious behavior coming from the stands and out of parents mouths. Part of the shortage of referees we are seeing comes from many enthusiastic, younger referees leaving the game because they are tired of the continual abuse heaped on them by the spectators. And to make matters worse, many of the comments I hear during games come from the ignorance of the fans as much as they are in response to poor referee calls. Let's raise the level of expectations for the referee's abilities and make our expectations commensurate with the amount we pay per game. Lets be better sports in supporting the referees who have a very difficult job. And parents, lose the football mentality and enjoy the game of soccer for its beauty and simplicity.

Soccer Coach -- I completely agree with your statements. I watched a football game the other night and watched two players go at it pushing each other and using foul language...no penalty, no warning, no ejection. If that would have been done at a soccer game both would have been thrown out. My son has played high school soccer for three years now and is getting ready for his senior year. I feel the officiating has deteriorated further each year. He plays club soccer and the emotions are still there, but the refs seem to control the game better and not even close to the number of cards as high school. I am not blaming the officials, I believe they are spread very thin and are often left to ref with only two refs leaving them out of position.

Soccer is a physical game, but it isn't any more physical or emotional than any other high school sport, but more penalized. I wish they would start the Varsity games later so that we can get the better refs, not just those that are available. I believe it would make a huge difference.

I am an official in a different sport. The UHSAA is having a tough time getting officials for all sports. As stated earlier, many young officials don't last very long because of the abuse they receive from players, coaches and parents. If some of these parents who believe they know the rules would just give it a shot once, they would realize how tough the job is. After buying uniforms and equipment and many times traveling over80-90 miles round trip, the mileage pay and official's pay doesn't come out too great. Those of us who stay in the game do it for the love of the game, not the money.

Hopefully, many young men and women will give officiating a shot and not be 'turned off' by some of those bad-mouthed kids and parents. We need to do something to bring up our numbers. Parents - give officials a chance; encourage the coaches; pat the kids on the back. Make high school athletics something fun and enjoyable for all. Don't thin out the ranks with abuse. If you do, our kids will continue to have a shortage of officials and we will all suffer the consequences.

I played High School Soccer for four years, and I have coached for one year. I would love to have the game later in the evening, but our administrators said it was not worth it to turn the lights on to play at night. They should do the J.V games at 5:00 and the Varsity games at 7:00. It is hard for students to miss class so they can travel to away games. Also students would be more likely to go to the games if it was later. It is hard to ask fans to stay after school for a couple of hours for a soccer game. Let them go home, and then come back to enjoy a game under the lights. When I was a freshman we did 4 night games a year and they were the best attended games of the season by far! Then they quit doing it for some unknown reason.

Parents you are out of control! Have you ever thought that your kids look up to you? Well they do and your half the problem when fights break out on the field. When your child can see you attacking refs and being abusive they feel that it is ok to do it too. Complain about the refs but you don't step out there do you? Be better examples and help solve this problem with solving yourself!

I thought the referees in 2A did okay. There were some bad calls, but there were also a lot of good calls. A guy that did games in the Gunnison-Salina area was very good. And I didn't hear a lot of complaining from fans. But that's probably because most folks in that area are still learning the game themselves.

It's not that they know or don't know the game. The more games they start to watch the more they are going to start to think they know the game. The real problem is no matter how much you watch your son or daughter play, your focus is your child or your child's team. Refs have the job to watch for fouls and anything that is against the rules, fans don't. Of course you think your right but how many parents have actually took a ref class, a coaching class, or truly learned anything about the game? Most of the time you won't even find the players complaining but the know it all parents will be freaking out on the sideline. In Italy for a while they didn't even have fans at the games, who says we need them. All you need is players, coaches, and refs. You go to a game you can always hear the parents yell, "Let the kids play, don't choose it for them ref!" Parents let the kids play and just be quiet unless your going to cheer for your team.

I agree that soccer games should be held in the evening. I love to support the local high school team in my community and I attend all of the home football and basketball games. I also love to watch soccer but I also have a job and cannot watch games at 3:30.

By moving soccer games to the evenings, (5:00 and 7:00) UHSSA would get better refs and better community support for both girls and boys soccer.

Having played, coached, and refereed at the high school level, my opinion is that principals need to break open their wallets to turn on the lights. That's the only solution that will encourage growth in the sport and protect the referees. Night games are exciting for the studentbody and comfortable for spectators. You can't just start play at 5:00 because you have to fit in a JV and a Varsity game on the same night. It gets dark too soon if you don't start at 3:30. The abuse is only a small part of the problem. The difference with soccer is that the fans are right on top of the field and right in a ref's ear, whereas in football they're in stands separated by a track. Playing the games at night under the lights would also solve most of the abuse problems because the spacial separation between fans and officials is greater. That's easier for everyone involved.

I have ref'd in three states over the course of 20 years and Utah fans are by far the worst when it comes to sportsmanship, settle down and let your kids be proud of their parents, not make apologies for your behavior.

If you charged for attendance at soccer games at all levels like basketball and football games you would thin out some fans, then you could have monies available to have administration patrolling the sidelines and removing fans that do not adhere to the schools, regions, and states sportsmanship policy.

Attendance is a privilege not a right, you follow the rules and you can stay to watch'm play, you don't, you walk. If you refuse to walk, administration calls 911 and you are escorted off to jail for trespassing. Sooner and I don't much later; fans/people would get a clue what is acceptable behavior.

I know as a football official, having a track between us and fans resolves allot of problems between fans and officials. I know at a recent Friday night game we were having some problems with fathers on the sidelines, so at half-time admin moved them away to the stands, problem solved!!!!