I have never said anything on this message board that was critical of referees. In fact, I thought that the referees at the boys Northwestern versus Lexington game were good.
However, at another playoff game I recently watched the referees were atrocious. There wasn't bias; there was just incompetence. On many, many out of bound calls, the referees hesitated, looked at the players or listened to the crowd, waivered, and then made a call based on some multivariate equation that had nothing to do with who actually knocked the ball out of bounds. I've never seen anything quite like it. A player was pushed on the boundary of the box; turned and looked at the referee who told her he'd call it next time. The linemen would often not run up to the play on their side. Those are just minor examples -- there are many, many more. I believe 2-3 players were injured due to the referees inconsistency and inattention in this playoff game.
I've always attributed the relatively poor high school officiating I've seen compared to club (particularly to RIIPL-East) to the two man crews. Clearly, that's not all of it. I've seen more incredibly bad calls in one season of watching a high school team play than I have in 8 years of club play. At least for the high school playoffs, it does seem like a different system of selection is needed. And the ideas noted above seem like great ones for the referees to use to continually improve themselves.
