SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP Referees

Over the past year it seems like the quality is dropping off quickly. I coach at two age groups and I am around HS soccer and this spring has been especially poor. I'm not sure what the reason is or how they can address it, but the more coaches that I speak with they all seem to think there's been a decline in quality as well. My personal opinion is especially at the younger age groups your getting $24 an hour. That's 50k a year if it was a full time job. So it's not like they are not fairly compensated. They need to step up and do the best they can. It's pretty bad when 9, 10, 11 & 12 year old kids are waiting to see who show up because they already know who's does a fair job and who does not.

I agree with some of what you're saying. Officiating could be better.
But suppose you're located in Mount P, and are assigned 2 youth games in Summerville. You work approximately 2.5 hours, plus about 1:15 total round trip driving. That's 3:45 of actual time for 48 bucks. That's less than $13/hour, or about 27K/year.
You make more on tips at a carwash.

How many of them are claiming it as income on their taxes? It's pure cash. if you are doing it for extra money then be professional about it and do your best.

From the sidelines, have you ever yelled at a youth or high school player about how incompetent he is? About how terrible her first touch is? About how poor his shooting ability is? About what an idiot she is? Probably not.

Now, have you ever yelled similar things at a 16 year old referee working his first season of U-12 games? Or a 20 year old college student working her first HS season? If so, then you are part of the problem. There is an incredible turnover rate of young referees, mostly due to the abuse they take from coaches and parents in their first year on the job.

If the young referees don’t stick around after their first year, they never become good referees. Sure, a lot of the young referees start out for the money, but I can guarantee that the vast majority stay in the game, and strive to get better, because they love the game and they love to give back to the soccer community. That doesn’t happen if they get abused by coaches and spectators expecting FIFA level referees for recreation level soccer matches.

No youth or HS referee is making $25 – 50k per year. In fact, few if any MLS or FIFA refs are making that kind of money.

Before you complain about the declining quality of referees, think about your own actions towards the young ones, the ones that may be the great referees next year, or five years from now. If you want to yell at an old guy like me, go for it. I can handle it. If you want to yell at a new ref, please don’t. Much like new players, we need to help them develop, not drive them away from the game.

I really agree with all of this. We don't have many good refs in our area. We have some that are particularly bad. And the same parents scream and yell at them every.single.game.

Why should any referee strive to call a good game when so many parents act like idiots at the games. These refs are not world class refs. They are calling high school games and youth sports games in little old South Carolina.

I hate it when I hear the parents yell at a ref when there is a foul, and the ref has blown his whistle to call the foul, and the parents are still screaming at him.

There are obvious calls that refs miss, they are not perfect, but some parents are such morons to think they have to scream and yell all the dang time. Seriously?

That's why the pool of good refs is missing....idiot parents. (And before anyone asks, I don't ref, I don't have a family member that refs, and I don't have a vested interest, other than seeing the quality of referees increase.)

We parents are the reason good referees are slowly disappearing. Until the parents learn to control themselves, it will only get worse as the years go by.

I very rarely yell anything towards a ref unless it involves a safety issue. I've never seen a call changed by yelling. If I have something to say I usually ask at the half or after the game why a call went one way or another. In fact I expect parents on the teams I coach to keep their mouths shut towards the refs. As far as your point about the younger refs, I think they do a pretty good job, their effort level is good and they admit to errors or apologize when you approach them professionally. I've had two veteran refs take a pretty nasty stance with me when I ask them question or express a concern. All I am saying is that it is my personal opinion (and I coach almost every weekend 10 months a year) there has been a drop off in the quality the past 2 years. I have seen the more bad calls (& in their defense they are calling equally bad for both teams) this past year than ever.

Jobu: I agree. You take a check, you do a job. My point was, nobody is making THAT much as a soccer official.
As to the relative merits of young or old officials, I'd say this: Incompetence and lack of effort know no age limit. Several years back, I stood outside the door at an officiating certification class. Inside, a middle-aged slob/official, who was AT LEAST 30 pounds overweight, was railing on how little "young" officials" know or care about the job. He proceeded to blame most "problem" situations on young officials, and he was barely able to drag his sorry butt out of the desk chair. Meanwhile, a handful of teenagers sat and listened to his diatribe, while the instructor did nothing to question his physical or emotional fitness to officiate kids. HELLO?
Last year, I watched a highly regarded older fellow from Columbia work four tournament or post-season games, from the center circle (as ref) or 5 yards behind the play (as AR). This is not a unique problem.
The older guys, for no reason other than seniority, get more and better assignments. Time for our local assigners/evaluators to lop the dead wood and change the face of the game.

Ok guys. I have to agree with some of the things you are pointing out. I am a Referee, Instructor, Assessor and a Mentor.
To start things out, we can hardly say we do it for the money. I worked 12 months out of the year doing youth, Development Academy, PDL, college, pro, instructing and mentoring. I made $11,529.88 last year. I put 23,478 miles on my vehicle just for refereeing. I traveled out of town to tournaments that did not pay me for the games i worked. I was away from my family for extended periods of time. when i got home i had reports to fill out and paper work to send in. Enough about the money that you think we make. I Instruct new referees and try to give them the guidance and skills to step on the field and do the best they can do for the game. Understand that some have played, some have not and some have seen it on TV. Refereeing is a learned profession. Just like a great soccer player did not have perfect shots on goal the first time he stepped up to take that winning PK. We have to give them a chance. It is hard to do your job when parents/coaches are yelling constantly that he missed this and he missed that, what game are you watching. I still hear this and i have been doing it for a few years. Young referees do not know how to block it out. Like it was said earlier, are you yelling this at the players on the field??????

I am sure there will be more to talk about. We are working with all referees in the Charleston Area and in South Carolina to better their performance and skills. And i close by saying, Entry Level Referee Courses are given and if any of you would like to attend please sign up. We may be able to teach you something or you may be able to teach us!!!!!

well, speaking from a coach, a ref and a player, i can agree with everything you are saying. To be honest, the parents on the sidelines are a real problem for the AR that has to deal with them. the center ref can typically ignore the parents, if he/she chooses to do so. Coaches can be just as abrasive to the AR on that side and can also be ignored if the center offical wants to. Players are a different story. Dealing with players who complain about every call and wine about not getting a call are the true issue that i dealt with as a coach.
Now.....i was one of those players who gave the refs an earful. I was also one of those coaches who gave the ref and earful. All of that led my players to trend in the same direction. I did take the stance to my players telling them that it was my job to talk to the ref and their job to play. Unfortunately, that just doesnt always work and the players will show their displeasure in different levels.
I do not ref or coach any longer. I am getting back into playing and do not yell at refs any more. Getting older and seeing all the bad stuff that i can now see from another view, makes me see what the real issues were and continue to be. All levels of all sports are going to have fans who dont like the calls that a ref makes. Parents and coaches have to keep this in mind and teach the players that it is a game that is meant to be fun and competitive at the same time. If the ref is truly awful, and i admit that there are some of those, report him to the assignor at the end. But dont just send it reports on the bad ones without commending the good ones. The assignor needs to know who is doing good and who is doing bad, but if all he hears is the bad, he may not listen to the complaints as much.
Get a handle on the yelling and screaming and i think you will keep refs around. The pay isnt bad. Travelling 20-30 minutes for work is something refs choose to do to make some cash. it fits the high school and college kids perfectly, but they wont listen to the bickering. Once you lose a young ref, they probably wont come back.

I do not endorse parents going over the top on officials, but I do think an official, regardless of age, should be able to handle "X" amount of second-guessing/booing/comments. If you can't FROM THE START, you're probably in the wrong line of work.
That said, show me ANY job that comes free of pressure, responsibility and/or supervisory heat, and I'll show you a long line of applicants.
One final comment: Many officials assume parents/fans know little about the game, its laws and refereeing in general. Not necessarily true. A lot of us know the game and its laws VERY well. Some may have officiated another sport at a higher level than high school, and understand the job quite well. Assuming otherwise, and/or saying as much DURING or IMMEDIATELY AFTER a game, only adds fuel to the fire.