so dawgfan,
are you saying that the ball would not have gone in had the whistle not been blown? Could your keeper have gotten back up to stop it? Or was it fast enough it would have gone in anyways....could this just be a point for you to argue the outcome of a game? I would agree that there are some referees that need to get better at what they do. But you are only going to make 50% of the people happy 50% of the time as an official.
I posted this stuff under another topic, but I will post it here again as to how we as referees get rated and ranked here in Illinois. I am by no means saying it is the best way, but at least we are held to some accountability.
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!
