After taking a little time to read the whole thread, I guess I can interject a few things.
1) In Illinois we have a rating system in place to rate the officials. It is done by the coaches...and there have not been any huge defections. You would think that this would weed out the bad referees, but it does not. It just limits some of the worst ones from doing playoff games. There is a shortage of referees in our area, so the bad ones still have to be used on occasion. Our officials are also rated in a few other ways....on a top 15 list (each coach picks the top 15 referees that they would want to ref their games, and puts it on a list....this rating is compiled across the state...and the more top 15 lists that you get put on, the higher your ranking points are). We are also ranked on past playoff experience, knowledge of the rules, consistency of our calls, professional appearance (backscreen's ultimate definition of a referee, fitness), positioning during the game, and professionalism. I am sure there are other ratings that I am leaving out...but just so you know arrgy....it has not destroyed the soccer official profession here in Illinois.
2) I take what backscreen has with a grain of salt when it comes to fitness. I understand that you don't want a huge fat guy out there trying to keep up with play, or an 80 year old that can't keep up....that is just ridiculous. But your harping on fitness being the end all be all is a bit much. I am in pretty good shape...but could stand to lose that final 15-20 pounds. Like most referees...I have 3 kids, work a full time job, have to make all of my kids practices, after school activities, etc...and still have hobbies that I like to do outside of soccer. I also try to work out 3-4 times a week, and stay in shape. When it comes to working everything in during my week...I am not going to lie...I should work out more, but it just isn't going to happen. Backscreen, I have seen referees that are in awesome shape take the rules and twist them into something that makes the game of soccer painful to watch. There is WAY more than just pure fitness involved with refereeing a game. Your point is taken that you have to have people that are in reasonable shape to referee a quality game...but your enfatuation with it is extreme. You leave out so much more when you purely focus on fitness.
3) I also take offense to Backscreen saying that referees have no say in the games that they go do. That is the job of the assignor. Come on now, what crack are you smoking here? I am not going to drive more than 30 minutes normally to referee a soccer game any more (even if my assignor wants me to). Just isn't going to happen....there are plenty of coaches that ask for me to come do games in their area, but I have way too much going on to drive that far. So I limit where I am going to do games geographically. Secondly, I have certain places that I don't like to referee because they have rednecked/obnoxious fans that are beyond annoying....so much so that they cause problems in the stands with other fans, get into it with school officials, have no problems following an offical out to their car if their team lost and threaten them etc. I don't want to be anywhere around these types of fans, so I choose not to go to those schools/places. In fact, I tell my assignor not even to assign me a game at those places, because I will either outright refuse the game, or I will give the game to another referee to cover for me. I am providing a service by refereeing, and I am not going to go to certian schools/places...that is the end of that discussion.
4) In high school, we have 3 levels of officials here in Illinois. As a certified official, I can rate other officials, and provide mentoring to them on the field, and after the game. I try to do this, and I try to give constructive feedback to new officials. I also take to heart if someone is willing to tell me if I am out of position, or am doing something not up to par during a game. I may not like to hear it...but I know that I have areas to improve in too. I do like the leveling of officials.
5) Backscreen, I have messaged you before, and you never returned a response, so don't act all high and mighty.
Backscreen, what you say are excuses are sometimes just plain reality. We do have a shortage of officials where I live, not a smokescreen. You should see the amount of emails that I get to help out with more games because they can't cover all of the games that they have. the development of pride to get more young people into officiating is a noble idea. The unfortunate reality is that the young people that I talk to that quit refereeing was not because of lack of games/lack of quality games, it was that they were no longer going to take the abuse from fans and coaches. And I helped mentor these younger referees within our officials association. You are taking an over simplistic view of the situation, and are overlooking the reality.
