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High school refs have difficult job

To the Utah High School Activities Assoc.

Dear Gentlemen
You want good officials, then pay them. I have heard from the UHSAA that officials should not be in it for the money. Get Real! I don't any official that is there because they just want to be a part of the sport. Oh you will here officials say they are not there for the money, but that is all eye wash, you know the correct thing to say.

Here is an example: Football officials are required to be a game site 1 1/2 hours before the game, they are paid $50.00 for the game fee. Travel time from either home or job is not included. Officials will put in 6 hours total to officiate that game, during football season gas was $4.28 per gallon, that is just a side note.

You want good officials in all sports, PAY THEM. Another thing, quit using the same officials over and over again for your tournaments, quit protecting the good ol boys. Mr. Petty, you are a good ol boy, its time you open your eyes.

You must be kidding, you want to know why you can't get good officials and officials to stay. This is not 35 years ago when good official were around and they stayed, officials like Ball, Bero, Toole, Busico, Mendini, Burke, Hale and the list goes on. Times have changed, now its about MONEY. You require officials to attend summer camps and pay for it, out of their own pocket. Summer camps are run by coaches that have teams pay to play. The officials that work these camps should be graded and learn something from them, but they should also be paid for it. You want more officials, believe it or not, its a JOB, pay them for it.

I am an official now, and while I can truly say that I love the sports I oficiate, the money is definitely an issue. I also definitely believe there is a good ole boy problem, especially with football and basketball. The same guys do get all the good games. But one real problem is that there really is no mentoring program set up where the experienced officials work with and train the newer officials. If an experienced official was paired with a newer official (even for several games) the newer official would gain confidence and perhaps even the desire to stay with it as he or she learns to handle difficult situations, fans etc.

At 34 cents per mile and 50 dollars a game your not going to get good refs or refs that want to stay. Times have changed. I wonder what the UHSAA gets paid when they travel. Its lucky the gas prices came back down or you wouldnt have any refs that wants to travel. When gas was 4.20 dollars a gallon, the price of travel wasnt even talked about. Do you think that rural Utah is going to get good refs. No, when region play begins all the top notch refs will stay in the city areas, the new ones will have to be forced to travel. Utah wakeup do a survey from other states findout what the refs are paid for games and travel and bring Utah up to that average. Every year its the same debate about officials but nothing is ever done. Go ahead Utah keep losing refs, its the kids that are going to pay. The schools and the UHSAA have to put on their big boy pants and start paying the officials.

I thought soccor was such a nice sport. Thats what parents tell me, because they don't want thier children playing football.

...and where do you think all this money will come from, my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? In case you have not noticed, schools are broke.

All involved with youth sports should be compensated for their time at a fair rate. Coaches should receive compensation for spending time after school coaching the teams. Officials should be fairly compensated for their efforts as well. We always hear that club coaches are only in it for the money, they also should be compensated as they have to pay for gyms, insurance, etc.

If we want qualified people dealing with our youth's sports we need to adequately compensate them.

I agree that officials aren't paid enough. I'm a high school coach who officiated for a couple of years. I've been involved in athletics for 16 years. One thing that many of you don't know is that the high schools pay for the officials. Some sports such as soccer or baseball don't even take gates. Freshmen/sophs rarely charge to see their games but it still costs to pay the officials. I know in our school for one year it cost $36000 to pay for just officials which is about what the school took in for gates. Football brings in the most money but they don't see the gates because other sports don't make enough to pay for their officials. I agree totally that officials aren't paid enough, I also have seen the other end. I'm just not sure what the solution is.

Schools are broke......get real.....look at the miles spent on sending teams all over the state to play, the new gyms and score boards, look at the sports new uniforms, plus the hiring of people in the school systems that are not needed. The list is endless, instead of whining about the game last nite and how the officials took it away from you, do something to make it better. Three person crews, or better yet donate your time and go and officiate. Hey I have one for you instead of sending 3 or four coaches to coach a team, plus the wage to hire a substitute teacher while they are gone, lets cut that back and pay the official.

I am a fan that had kids in the system, that ran football operations, that officiated before my kids participated.
1) The school(s) find the money if they want. They spend extra with money coming out of the gate, snack bar, fundraisers. When officiating becomes a priority over sweats, shoes, camps, etc - the money's there.
2) Once the officials enjoy it again, they will be back.
3) You will still have problems with calls, some parents, etc. How the school deals with it will make it work or not. Our school typically has 3-4 administrators at basketball games and they police both fan bases. Once the fans realize it is happening they mellow. We have seen 5-6 ejections over the years and it definitely mellows the crowd out.

Now we just watch and enjoy. We know the officials and their tendencies. Our favorite crew is a bald, tattooed ex-player who loves to tweak the home team's coach. Home team gets very few calls in the third quarter. His partner is the great equalizer, losing team gets lots of leeway. The other prominent ref here is by the book and always uses an obscure rule or two each game.

I officiated high school basketball for eighteen years. I finally got out because of the politics. It is ridiculous to have officials evaluating officials. Just how good of an evaluation am I going to give another official when it is my spot that he might be taking. Get rid of the majority of the politics and you will retain more officials.

Use officials for the state tournaments who have earned the right to be there, not because they are one of the good ole boys. The teams have to earn there tournament berth, officials need to do the same.

Where does the UHSAA get their money to operate? Do the schools pay into the program. If the schools pay into the UHSAA to pay for people like Mike Petty then the money should be there to pay for officials. I know schools have money to pay teachers to be at the games, and the teachers don't even stay the whole game. Truth is the teachers make more money than the officials do at the game.

The officials need to band together and just tell the schools what the cost will be, not the schools telling the officials what they are willing to pay. Maybe its the officials that need to wake up. Instead of worrying that you might not get a game, stand up and say this is how much money we are willing to work for, and quit brown nosing to get games. You officials have all the cards, play them.

Mike Petty

Are you getting any of this.

I refereed high school football and had enough. No matter what you call on the field 50% of the fans are not going to be happy. I had unhappy fans follow me to my car questioning my calls on the field of play and was called plenty of names walking off of it.

Being a spectator in the stands the last few years, I feel sorry for those who ref games. Most high school fans are ignorant of the rules and think every call is a plot against their school getting the win.

Getting good referees should be a priority over sending schools on away to trips to Christmas B-ball tourneys.

Good piece, Amy. I coach and officiate high school soccer and enjoy both most of the time. 90% of the soccer officials I have worked with are good people and do a good job. Kudos.
As a coach, I will not schedule games with teams where the coach exhibits bad behavior. As an official, I will not take an assignment to a school with a reputation for poor behavior.
I think a significant problem for soccer is recruiting new officials. I have seen no evidence of the UHSAA implementing an effective recruiting plan. They occasionally ask us to find new officials, but there is no method, outreach or plan. It would help if did some real marketing.
Soccer fans aren't perfect but are usually less abusive than football and basketball. Recently, the high schools have had an administrator present at soccer matches. That has helped.
As to the money, while it could always be better, there are just so many demands on the school budget it is hard to take from Peter to pay Paul more. The schools are making a good effort to improve.

It may not be all about the money, but the money is important. So is crowd behavior. Why am I retired? It just wasn't worth it anymore. I miss the game, but not the bad behavior. I've seen players cringe at what their parents yell, but it seems that very few want to do anything about it.

Amy, great article!

I have been one who does yell at times. I am not sure if it the money thing or not in having quality refs. The one thing that I am sure of however is that the rural schools in girls basketball has the poorest quality of refs doing their games. I will do better at not complaining. My remarks can use some quality improvement.

Money is not the problem here. Parents are the problem for our officiating crisis. These people who pay $3-5 (or even free at many events) to get into a high school game think they can check their humanity in at the door. I love high school sports but when I attend a game I am forced to sit as far away from the parents as possible. Paying officials more is not going to give them thicker skin. We need consequences for parents and fans that can't control themselves. We need administrators with thick skin and require them to get in the stands and keep their fans under control. Instead, we let the parents run out officials and coaches.

If finding refs is a problem and this article is geared toward solving this issue; shouldn't we be talking about the benefits/requirements for joeschmoe like me of becoming a ref?

What does it take?
How much does a ref make per game (each sport)?
I know a B-ball ref can call a T on the fans, but what about other sports? Is there a punishment/incentive for a coach/school to keep their fans in check?

At least the crowd is not throwing batteries at you like they do in some countries.

Where do I sign up?

I officiated basketball at almost every level for many years. I finally left it after the good old boy deal got to me also. One time we used non official, unbiased observer crews to rate officials, but when the old timers (good old boys) didn't rate well the system was scaped (do you remember that era Mr Jim Gilbert)I would love help out, because I was a pretty good ref, but not until that all changes and it doesn't sound like it ever will