OT: High school football officiating shortage

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/sports-official-shortage-reaches-crisis-level/article_dfb87734-30be-11ee-b4c9-f70b7bafd39c.html

 

I've debated becoming a High School football official for the last couple of years. This year I think I'm going to jump into the fire. Attend my first meeting tomorrow night, hopefully officiate an intersquad scrimmage later in the week and the following week is week 1 of the high school football season.

 

A recent local news article (linked above) for my county reports that the shortage of high school football officials has reached "crisis levels." They only expect to have 40 officials, enough to make up only 8 of the five man officiating crews that are expected to officiate the 13 or 14 varsity football games each week. As a result, the number of games that will be played on a Thursday night is expected to jump from 36 last year to 59 this year. 

 

The article mentions that the shortage of officials is a nationwide problem. Curious if Buffalo is having the same shortage. It would appear the decrease in total number of kids playing football hasn't helped the official shortage. The shortage would only be relieved if High Schools started eliminating their football programs all together. 

 

Nobody really does it for the money as the article mentions the rate is about $67- $85 per game. For me I've just wanted to do it to give back to the game that I love, keep my mind sharp, and be a part of a team.

 

Curious to know if any fellow forum members have current or past experience officiating at the high school level and what their thoughts are. 

 

 

[That's No Moon]

12 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/sports-official-shortage-reaches-crisis-level/article_dfb87734-30be-11ee-b4c9-f70b7bafd39c.html

 

I've debated becoming a High School football official for the last couple of years. This year I think I'm going to jump into the fire. Attend my first meeting tomorrow night, hopefully officiate an intersquad scrimmage later in the week and the following week is week 1 of the high school football season.

 

A recent local news article (linked above) for my county reports that the shortage of high school football officials has reached "crisis levels." They only expect to have 40 officials, enough to make up only 8 of the five man officiating crews that are expected to officiate the 13 or 14 varsity football games each week. As a result, the number of games that will be played on a Thursday night is expected to jump from 36 last year to 59 this year. 

 

The article mentions that the shortage of officials is a nationwide problem. Curious if Buffalo is having the same shortage. It would appear the decrease in total number of kids playing football hasn't helped the official shortage. The shortage would only be relieved if High Schools started eliminating their football programs all together. 

 

Nobody really does it for the money as the article mentions the rate is about $67- $85 per game. For me I've just wanted to do it to give back to the game that I love, keep my mind sharp, and be a part of a team.

 

Curious to know if any fellow forum members have current or past experience officiating at the high school level and what their thoughts are. 

 

 

There's a big shortage around where I live also. The Delaware officials association nearly went on strike over pay rates. Their argument was the 3 states surrounding Delaware all paid more and they could just take games there instead rather than in Delaware 

 

All sports are having big problems getting officials right now. The older guys are retiring, not as many younger people are getting into it, and a lot of people are quitting because of spectator/athlete/coach misconduct and abuse of officials. As you said it's not a lot of money. You do it because you like doing it and there's only so much crap people are willing to take. My kids are both athletes and I'd never advise that they get into officiating. I'm an athletic director, coach, and former official and I'd never officiate again. Ever.

[Big Turk]

Who wants to put up with the type of abuse officials at those levels get these days including physical confrontations now which are becoming more and more normal for basically no money?

 

No thanks.

[Big Blitz]

We were “warned” at our football parent meeting the schedule could change due to this here in Virginia.  
 

Emphasized the money was a problem but the real issue is the players, coaches, and even parents.  Getting disrespected from everywhere and everyone during games.  And the number of ejections has skyrocketed.  

 

It’s absolutely embarrassing.   

[Reks Ryan]

27 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

I've debated becoming a High School football official for the last couple of years. This year I think I'm going to jump into the fire. Attend my first meeting tomorrow night, hopefully officiate an intersquad scrimmage later in the week and the following week is week 1 of the high school football season.

Good for you.  Is it really that little prep to become a certified HS official in California?

[US Egg]

Sign of the times. It’s only going to get worse. 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

7 minutes ago, Reks Ryan said:

Good for you.  Is it really that little prep to become a certified HS official in California?

 
I believe it is quite a bit more typically.

 

Their on-line schedule shows meetings and spring football scrimmages starting all the way back in May. 
 

But standards are loosened when in times of crisis. I’ll know more when I attend my first meeting tomorrow night. Maybe they will keep me off of games for a while until I get up to speed. 

[section122]

I officiate hs soccer and have for the last 10 or so years.  Money is not bad usually around $110 a game.

 

The problem is the parents.  No other way to put it.  They think their kid is going pro no matter their actual skill level.  They think you are out to get their kid and ruin his dreams.  I have been approached coming off the field with a cell phone in my face even which is a pretty funny story. (If you want to hear it lmk)

 

I will say though I generally don't have too much of a hard time.  I don't listen to anything from the crowds and stay calm when talking w coaches.  Don't be afraid to say you might have missed it just doing your best. 

 

After 10 years most coaches know me and know how I officiate.  I am a spirit of the rule and not letter of the law kind of guy so I tend to let the kids play and only call what is necessary.

 

Most of my board is retired guys and college kids.  Im a rarity in my early 40s and there is only one other guy my age who does it.

 

 

8 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

 
I believe it is quite a bit more typically.

 

Their on-line schedule shows meetings and spring football scrimmages starting all the way back in May. 
 

But standards are loosened when in times of crisis. I’ll know more when I attend my first meeting tomorrow night. Maybe they will keep me off of games for a while until I get up to speed. 

 

You will likely start as a probationary official which means you will do modified and some lower stress games (think very good team vs bad or 2 bad teams).  There is no real way to do the job other than to do the job.  Have fun with it though, guys that take it to serious suck to ref with and burn out quick.

[947]

Same problem here in Illinois. I've noticed a lot of the officials they do have are old guys, when those guys age out, it'll get worse. Good for you for helping out.

 

I've seen the same with umps in HS baseball. Games cancelled because no umps available, or having to play with only 1 ump.

[KDIGGZ]

To get $50-100 a pop for the abuse and stress, it's not worth it. Coaches, parents, players all treat you like crap. Miss a call and people literally want your head on a stake. I'm sure people could think of a million better things to do with their time 

[Charles Romes]

Went to a play-it-again sports to pick up some used cleats and the soccer bin was 50 times more full than the football bin.  Looks like football is on the way out. 

[Johnny Hammersticks]

They literally can’t pay officials enough money here in Vermont (I think they’re paying $85-90 per game plus mileage), and having been a varsity lacrosse coach for 9 years I completely understand why.  State regulatory agencies, such as the Vermont Principals Association here in VT, need to implement state-wide zero tolerance policies for fans and and make sure they are enforced.

 

How they handle it now is by giving a “bench misconduct” penalty to the home team and warn the fan(s).  If it continues they can eject the fan, but I’ve only seen that happen once.  

[Mr Wild]

Some of the high school sections got rid of travel pay for refs.  So you do not get reimbursed for gas.  So its better in Rochester and Buffalo then the Southern Teir.  Nonr of the refs from up north want to drive to rural areas for the same pay as one 5 mins down the road.

 

We have the same 6 refs ref youth, modified, jv and varsity.  They are working 6 days a week of games.  They have asked me to join but I just cant

Edited August 6, 2023 by Mr Wild

[scuba guy]

So as others have said have fun.

But in your meeting you will here the words don't coach just ref.

 

I officiate soccer football and swimming of which 2 are over in laye fall and swimming goes till February with the boys season.

 

With all of my sports here in Monroe County we as officials can remove people on the spot security is there and the parent or parents don't get a second chance.

 

In swimming you just walk up and down the pool deck really easy. Judging diving is the hardest but the kids all have sayings for the scoring so you just have to laugh. Parents don't ever get in your face.  

 

But if your a dude and you are referring girls just don't stare in bad places.  3 of are officials can't go to a school because of that. And yes swimming is the highest paid job for referring.

 

And yes we too only had 32 officials last year for swimming and need 3 per meet 4 of are meets had no officials at them which means the meet does not count and all times if qualified for sectionals are not valid.

 

Soccer I always go to the far side of the field don't have to listen to it.  

 

In football I through the field look at the coach and say you shaw that and than I move on.  FYI most coaches saw it before you did trust me they make the big seen to support there players.

[Big Turk]

43 minutes ago, KDIGGZ said:

To get $50-100 a pop for the abuse and stress, it's not worth it. Coaches, parents, players all treat you like crap. Miss a call and people literally want your head on a stake. I'm sure people could think of a million better things to do with their time 

 

Now add that they increasing resort to violence against officials and it has happened from many angles...parents, coaches and players increasingly almost to the point it's considered normal.

 

Used to be that was unthinkable to do that but not anymore.

[Rubes]

Thought about reffing years ago. Friend of mine happened to be doing it and his advice was that he wouldn’t get into it anymore because of the abuse. Seems like it would be fun but who wants to be a target like that on a regular basis?

 

[Mr. WEO]

[Captain Hindsight]

1 hour ago, Big Blitz said:

We were “warned” at our football parent meeting the schedule could change due to this here in Virginia.  
 

Emphasized the money was a problem but the real issue is the players, coaches, and even parents.  Getting disrespected from everywhere and everyone during games.  And the number of ejections has skyrocketed.  

 

It’s absolutely embarrassing.   

I always wanted to be a ref but talking with a few guys about the abuse from parents and multiple death threats they had received, I opted out 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

1 minute ago, Captain Hindsight said:

I always wanted to be a ref but talking with a few guys about the abuse from parents and multiple death threats they had received, I opted out 

Yikes 😬 

[PetermansRedemption]

I officiated for 7-ish years in the Buffalo area. Also did D3 college for a year. I enjoyed the officiating aspect. I plan to go back someday. It’s either an old man’s game or a young man’s game. I used to wonder why the average age of officials is so high. After having a family, you realize it really isn’t compatible. It’s a huge time commitment. You either have to do it while your kids are older, or while you don’t have kids. 
 

As others have said, if you can’t put up with abuse, this isn’t for you. I was former military and have thick skin to verbal abuse, so it was no problem for me. The worst abuse is at the little league level, as you go higher, the fans get farther away and the coaches actually get paid, so they don’t want to be ejected.
 

The pay is not good, oftentimes can be comparable to minimum wage after factoring in gas. You get $60-$90 for a high school game. You arrive 1.5 hours early to have a pregame and the game lasts 2-2.5 hours. So you’re talking about $15 an hour not even including the gas cost. As someone else said, we didn’t get mileage. You get paid the same wether you are commuting 5 minutes or 45 minutes. 
 

I’ll end by rant by answering your initial question. Yes, Buffalo has a shortage like the rest of the country. But it is not as bad as many other places have it.

[JerseyBills]

How do you get to be a cfb or nfl official? Do you work your way up or is there tests

[That's No Moon]

1 hour ago, Big Turk said:

 

Now add that they increasing resort to violence against officials and it has happened from many angles...parents, coaches and players increasingly almost to the point it's considered normal.

 

Used to be that was unthinkable to do that but not anymore.

I had to have refs escorted to their cars by state troopers twice this year for middle school basketball.

[PetermansRedemption]

8 minutes ago, JerseyBills said:

How do you get to be a cfb or nfl official? Do you work your way up or is there tests

Many, many years. In the Buffalo area, it takes about 2 years to be a regular high school official, 4-5 years to be a varsity high school official. After being a varsity level official you can apply to D3. After a few years cutting your teeth at D3 you can apply for a D1 position. But you need to have a lot of good tape and references to be considered at that level. It’s hard to make a D1 conference, it’s basically impossible to make the NFL. You have a better chance of winning the lottery. 

[Augie]

1 hour ago, Johnny Hammersticks said:

They literally can’t pay officials enough money here in Vermont (I think they’re paying $85-90 per game plus mileage), and having been a varsity lacrosse coach for 9 years I completely understand why.  State regulatory agencies, such as the Vermont Principals Association here in VT, need to implement state-wide zero tolerance policies for fans and and make sure they are enforced.

 

How they handle it now is by giving a “bench misconduct” penalty to the home team and warn the fan(s).  If it continues they can eject the fan, but I’ve only seen that happen once.  

 

Not football, where they always had some law enforcement, but our son had an AAU basketball game in Miami where the refs decided to halt the game until they could get police in the gym. What is this world coming to? We can’t watch some 14 year olds play basketball without restoring to criminal (literally!) behavior?  

[LewPort71]

To OP. Congrats on becoming a sports official for HS sports.  It is a great time commitment but there is a lot of fulfilment that comes with it.

I have officiated HS  soccer for 20 years but this year I am taking a pause in the action and will mentor the  young ones. My knees are a mess

and replacement is imminent.  In that time I  have only had one 'encounter' and it was mild.  A lady fan of the worst team in the area offered me her 

glasses after one match.   Listening to the fans is one thing I tell the new referees NOT to do.  Few of them played soccer, so they generally are not 

aware of what they are yelling about.  Alas, football is different as everyone in the stands thinks they are Ed Hochuli.

Advice.  Know the rules intimately and be confident of your calls.  That will reduce fan's abuse.

[HOUSE]

A very rewarding career, you will love the parents

 

 

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by HOUSE

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

3 hours ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/sports-official-shortage-reaches-crisis-level/article_dfb87734-30be-11ee-b4c9-f70b7bafd39c.html

 

I've debated becoming a High School football official for the last couple of years. This year I think I'm going to jump into the fire. Attend my first meeting tomorrow night, hopefully officiate an intersquad scrimmage later in the week and the following week is week 1 of the high school football season.

 

A recent local news article (linked above) for my county reports that the shortage of high school football officials has reached "crisis levels." They only expect to have 40 officials, enough to make up only 8 of the five man officiating crews that are expected to officiate the 13 or 14 varsity football games each week. As a result, the number of games that will be played on a Thursday night is expected to jump from 36 last year to 59 this year. 

 

The article mentions that the shortage of officials is a nationwide problem. Curious if Buffalo is having the same shortage. It would appear the decrease in total number of kids playing football hasn't helped the official shortage. The shortage would only be relieved if High Schools started eliminating their football programs all together. 

 

Nobody really does it for the money as the article mentions the rate is about $67- $85 per game. For me I've just wanted to do it to give back to the game that I love, keep my mind sharp, and be a part of a team.

 

Curious to know if any fellow forum members have current or past experience officiating at the high school level and what their thoughts are. 

 

 

 

If you're going to be a HS official, do it NY state as they pay much better.  I used to ref HS volleyball till I moved away in 2008.  Doing a JV then varsity back to back was around $90 back then and I recall we were going to be getting a fairly large increase the following season..  Plus I lived in Rochester district where they also paid mileage.  I lived in a NW suburb of Rochester and was doing games in Wayland/Cohocton which added close to another $50 in mileage which likely has also gone up as gas prices are also much higher. 

 

Recall Buffalo district didn't directly pay mileage, instead they had somehow calculated the average distance each official would to travel to the average school and everyone got that amount every match regardless how far you actually drove.

 

This was about 15 years ago, so who knows what the policy's are now.  Do recall in Rochester the AD's were beating on the assigners to assign officials with the lowest mileage even if that often meant having officials that really should be working lower level matches.  Didn't matter, $$ came first!

 

Moved to NC and we'd get around $60 and in the 5 or 6 years I was doing it, never got an increase, plus no mileage down here.  I stopped about 8 years ago mainly due to lack of time, planned to start again the following year, but never did and at this point, not likely I will bother as now retired and traveling too much.

[NoSaint]

3 hours ago, KDIGGZ said:

To get $50-100 a pop for the abuse and stress, it's not worth it. Coaches, parents, players all treat you like crap. Miss a call and people literally want your head on a stake. I'm sure people could think of a million better things to do with their time 

yup. You’d have to be a masochist, not a sports enthusiast, to sign up for the job. 
 

low pay, weekday games can conflict with standard work schedules by the time you bake in commutes and prep… even if you are excellent you are shredded by folks that barely understand the rules. 
 

sign me up for literally anything else. 

[Buffalo716]

2 hours ago, JerseyBills said:

How do you get to be a cfb or nfl official? Do you work your way up or is there tests

It's a grind like any profession

 

You start at the local high school level... JV first than varsity... Eventually maybe get a junior college or D3 game

 

Then hit up the MAC if you're in Buffalo and see if they need any officials... 

 

But you better have a resume

 

And it's a long grind... I still know division 1 refs to this day

 

And they do not get to enjoy and appreciate football... Because they are in the middle of it... And they don't want to get hit with any suspicion of fixing

 

They are refs and refs only they can't even be fans

Edited August 6, 2023 by Buffalo716

[oldmanfan]

My dad’s second job was officiating way back in the 60’s-90’s.  He did basketball, football, soccer, and baseball.  As an ump he got an offer to go full time with a shot at doing the majors but he didn’t want to be away from the family as much as the job called for.  Back then coaches, parents and kids had more respect for officials.  But now it’s ridiculous.  Parents with no clue about the rules or about the difficulties of officiating just yell obscenities, start fights, and all that kind of crap.  I considered following in my dad’s footsteps, but you could see the crap starting in the 80’s/90’s and it gets worse and worse.  So I said no thanks.

[Freddie's Dead]

I used to love umpiring softball.  While it sometimes got ugly, I was never in fear of life or limb.  Now, after two soccer refs have been killed, you'd never see me reffing anything ever again.  Good luck, stay safe.

[Aussie Joe]

Abuse of officials at junior sports is a problem world wide I would suggest.

 

Certainly see it on this side of the lake ..

[Let's Go Buffalo]

I used to officiate football, basketball, and baseball. Then I got into coaching. A few years back I tore my Achilles Tendon, and I kind sat out for a while, and then never got back into officiating. I enjoyed it, and it helped keep me in shape somewhat. When I first started, the fans really got under my skin, but after a few seasons, I just learned to tune them out, and it seemed to get better. I still coach, but haven't officiated in a few years. You'll earn your wings for sure!