SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer Absolutism With HS Officials

I recently witnessed a high school official proclaim imminent domain and absolute power at a scrimmage match.

He seemed to be relishing his role as the "main event" and provoked and antagonized not one, not two, but three games of not only poor officiating, but self-aggrandizing banishment of match personnel and handing out cards like beads at Mardi Gras.

What is the realm of power that officials truly have over high school matches? Should they be the "law" from the time of arrival or should they act as gracious guests and participants of the game -- not try to be the show!

I think he has refereed some matches that I have been a part.

Talon,
I can feel your anguish when it comes to the way that some officials act when they referee a game. There needs to be the understanding that as it pertains to the rules that the official is the head person out there. They are the one with the whistle, and usually they try their best to do the best job that they can. There are those unfortunate few that use the position of referee to their advantage. There are some things that can be done when this is the case. I am sure that the SCHSL would like to be contacted if there are major problems with officials. Here in Illinois we have the IHSA that has a lot more control than the SCHSL may have. We are rated by both coaches every game, and we usually get rated by officials associations and get ranked into the top "15" officials that each coach must turn in to give credit to good referees. Each official must also be rated by fellow officials before they can continue on with their IHSA certification. You start out as a registered referee, move to a recognized and then move to a certified referee. Each takes at a minimum two years to do. You usually don't get any sectional or supersectional matches unless you are at least a recognized referee. Maybe you should press the SCHSL to enforce some way to make referees accountable for their actions. It is imperative that as an official that they show up, do their job, and draw as little attention to themselves as possible. But it must also be understood that during a match a referee must have total authority in order to make sure that a game doesn't get out of hand. Kind of one of those damned if you do damned if you don't things.....Hopefully you won't get any more bad referees for the rest of the season!

Below are some cut and pastes off of my officials page offered by the IHSA

How the Ratings Percentile is Determined: All ratings in a particular sport that are received during the current school term, plus the two previous school terms, are averaged and then divided by the number of ratings. The result is that an official who works often (and is rated often) will generally receive a better ranking than an official who obtains a high average on just a handful of ratings. These numbers are sorted from top to bottom and divided into 100 groups of equal size. The officials in the highest group are assigned to the 99th percentile, the next group to the 98th, and so on down to 0.

How the Top 15 Percentile is Determined: All Top 15 Lists in a particular sport that are updated during the current school term, plus the two previous school terms, are used. Officials receive points based on their position in the lists: 15 points for each 1st-place mention, 14 points for each 2nd-place mention, and so on down to 1 point for each 15th-place mention. The total points are sorted from top to bottom and divided into 100 groups of equal size. The officials in the highest group are assigned to the 99th percentile, the next group to the 98th, and so on down to 0.

Key to Ratings:
1 = Qualified to work state final contests
2 = Qualified to work sectional contests
3 = Qualified to work regional contests
4 = Qualified to work varsity contests
5 = Qualified to work underclass contests only

Requests for Improvement
in Specific Phases
Received From Officials
BOYS SOCCER Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5 Phase 6 Phase 7 Phase 8 Phase 9
2006-07 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Key to Phases:
1. Rule Knowledge
2. Physical Appearance
3. Mechanics & Signals
4. Positioning
5. Game Management
6. Attitude & Professionalism
7. Consistency
8. Judgment
9. Reaction to Pressure

Hope that helps and hope it gives you some ideas!

Soccerboy, that's awesome! However, I don't think SC would ever be able to objectively rate officials, because they're always given a free pass by the HSL, regardless if they're competent or simple idiots. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of idiots involved in officiating and that ain't changing.

cause there is no money in it...and usually alot of traveling

Since my husband is a HS ref I can honestly say that there are a lot of idiots, but there are also a lot of good ones. My husband is one of the few that still believe in a warning unless it is an obvious foul. Perhaps if more people did complain to their local assignors (in writing)then some of these idiots could be cleared out. People like the aforementioned ref give all refs a bad name.

PS- you ain't kidding about the money part!

Maybe the coaches could give the ref a yellow card for a bad call...

Can we have red flags that we throw on the field for a review? I would be willing to loose a time-out..

There are far more good refs than bad. The problem is, once people have a bad game from a ref, they tend to automatically jump to the conclusion that all refs are bad. The same thing happens with teams. You can have one jackass on your team and the next thing you know people think your team is full of jackasses. Refs are people just like coaches and players. Sometimes I have bad game as a coach and I admit it. Sometimes, dare I say, players have bad games. Sometimes officials do. I think if officials were more candid about their errors people would be less ticked off and critical, rather than the reverse. Having said that, I've had good officials tell me they've not seen a foul or blown a call. That's what makes them good - honesty.

Hmmmmm, I don't know about underpaid??? Most officials make comparable compensation as head coaches and in many cases more.

$35 a game x 2 games per night = $70 x 5 nights per week = $350 per week x 10 weeks = $3500 for regular season. That's a lot more than most coaching stipends and all they have to do is show up and officiate and "be the show."