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Why are only two referees assigned to each game at such a big tournament? Smaller tournaments I can understand there is not alot of money to be made but something the size and stature of the viking cup? How much more monies are we talking about? Why have three referees at the semis and finals if two were enough for most of the tournament?
What message are we sending?


During the regular season I believe the answer is that the AD's do not want to pay for the third referee. The referee assigner for the Columbia district has told them all that he will assign three if they request it. I was at Irmo last year and we had three for all of but two home games. We also had 3 referees for every game at the Hungry Howie's tournament. My experience has been that 3 referees will be provided if the coaches/AD's request 3.

As far as the Viking Cup, it could actually be for the reason the coaches always seem to think: "There aren't enough referees". There were six tournaments running simultaneously in the Columbia district this weekend and the referee pool may be a little thin to provide three officials for that many simultaneous games.