Referees: The Newly-Discerned Enemy
Image courtesy of thestate.com
By CAROLINE CANNATA ‘22
On the field, more often than not, players and parents designate the referees as the enemy, rather than the opposing team. Sure, referees aren’t always right, but this does not justify the surmounting levels of violence seen in youth sports.
Last Saturday, at the Boy’s Varsity Soccer game, following Milton’s goal that led them to victory, a Noble’s parent said, “F*** you, reff! Shame on you!” as the whistle was blown. As unfortunate as this behavior is, it is not uncommon. In fact, according to today.com, 70% of youth officials quit before their 3rd year on the job, and in youth soccer, a reported 80% of officials quit before their first completed year. These studies claim the numbers have increased as a result of the uptick in violence seen at children’s sporting events.
According to a New York Times article, Mary DeLaat, a Milwaukee area basketball referee, shares, “When I got into officiating, I looked forward to doing the youth games; I didn’t know that was where most of the trouble was.” DeLaat, who began officiating in 2014, has since then quit.
With shortages of officials across the country, scores of youth and high school games have been cancelled. This shortage has thus led to the desperate employment of unprepared referees, which in turn leads to bad officiating. Parents get mad, referees get impatient, and all hell breaks loose.
This ill-mannered behavior is traced back by sports analysts to parents’ desire for their children to succeed in sports. According to the same New York Times article, many parents will invest, on average, from $2,000 to $20,000 into their child’s athletic future. They believe they are ensuring the success of their child and protecting their monetary and time investment by challenging calls with hostile language.
DeLaat continued, “When something isn’t going right with that plan, the blame has to go somewhere, and often it’s the referee. It’s our fault.” The penalties for unwarranted violence have now exceeded the boundaries of the sidelines. Nearly 20 states have increased the legal punishment for assaulting a sports official by making the offence a discrete, independent category of crime.
As awareness grows around this issue, parents have been reevaluating their behavior at their children’s minor league games. Caught up in the heat of the moment, frustration can get the best of us. Before you direct a few exploitives towards the referee, remember these referees are simply trying to do their job, just as you are trying to enjoy the game.