Think of all of the fun times you had and the memories that you made when you were playing sports in your youth days. Nowadays, some kids aren’t able to experience this because of a steep decline that is taking place when it comes to officials. The question is, why is this happening? And why is it happening now?
While there isn’t an official answer, there are many good guesses on why people don’t want to be referees today. According to a writer on refrsports.com, there are a plethora of reasons why this referee shortage is plaguing places all around the United States. These reasons are low compensation, intense scrutiny and abuse, hostile working environments, and limited career progression.
While asking fall sports officiating teacher at Lake Middle High School, Daniel Sears, the thought-provoking question on why he thinks there has been a shortage of referees, he has a pretty good idea when it comes to this topic.
“There are definitely a couple of solid answers to that question. The things that really stick out to answer your question are the fans, the coaches, the pay, and lack of interest in that certain sport.”
While all of these answers could be very good reasons for the decline of officials, one of them really stood out, which was the fans.
There have been many instances of referees getting verbally abused by fans. When Principal Mr. Harold came into our class and spoke about his experiences of being a referee, he mentions that the fans are very hard to deal with, especially because most of the calls you make never satisfy everyone, and there will always be fans chirping in your ear about how bad the call you just made was.
Another question that Sears answered was when asking him if his officiating class will help the decline of referees.
“I think this class will help with the shortage when it comes to the long term. I could see some of my students picking it back up in college to make some money. It’s not a lot of money, but it’s pretty good especially because of how flexible your schedule can be.”
It is very apparent that he believes in his students and that they will help with this traumatic decline.
