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Anyone looking at the referee registration data in Minnesota for the past several years will notice one single glaring statistic. Each year roughly half of all new referees quit after only a single season of officiating. When asked why they quit, the overwhelming response of these referees is that they could not handle the verbal abuse to which they were subjected. In other words, each season the vicious mouths of soccer fans chew up and spit out another generation of would-be referees. Of course, this sort of turnover is extremely detrimental to soccer in our state leading to a situation where each year we are forced to rely on a whole new crop of brand new referees for a large number of games. Instead of being able to nurture young and inexperienced referees into seasoned veterans, these promising individuals quit in disgust far before they have matured into experienced professionals. Of course, I am not speaking to every soccer mom and dad out there: most of you behave like responsible adults. However, for those of you who think that you have a constitutional right to abuse officials, allow me to offer up several cliches to think through before you scream at the men and women in black. "Pick on someone your own size." The most disturbing aspect about the rapid turnover of officials is that those quitting the profession are overwhelmingly young kids. Think about the psychological damage that is done when a grown adult berates a 12-year old linesperson. It should be clear to any reasonable adult that verbal abuse of those persons who are 20 and 30 years younger than you is cruel and completely inappropriate. These young referees are children, and children make mistakes. They do not make bad calls on purpose, and they simply need to learn from their mistakes through experience. What they don't need is someone the same age as their father or mother insulting them and calling them worthless. "What goes around comes around." Have you ever wondered why it is so hard to get good referees as you yell at those officials at your game? As I have detailed above, referee abuse only serves to reduce the number of qualified officials willing to referee games. Therefore, every time you yell at the referees, you lower the chances of getting quality referees for your games in the future. "Put your money where your mouth is." If you think it is so easy to be a referee and can't believe how that person in the middle could possibly miss such an easy call, try becoming a referee yourself. I myself became a referee because I was fed up with what I thought was incompetence by the referees officiating my youth games. I quickly learned that refereeing is much more difficult than I ever could have imagined by observing from the sidelines. Even refereeing a handful of games will give you a whole new perspective on the difficulties referees have at their job. "If you can't say anything nice..." Trust me. Referees know when they have made mistakes and when they have had a bad game. Do not go up to a referee after the game and question their decisions. With all due respect, what do you expect the referee to do? The game is over and the decisions (right or wrong) have been made. It is better to simply get in the car, buy your kids Dairy Queen on the way home, and cool down at home. Problems with the referee are best handled by the coach or team manager who can report the performance of the referee to the league scheduler. Your questioning of the referee can only lead to problems. "Call it both ways." Unfortunately, the only times we referees hear from the fans after the is when they disagree with our calls. Please be as quick to congratulate a good performance by a referee as you are to condemn a bad performance. We referees don't officiate for the money or the power but rather for the love of the game. It is always nice to know when we are appreciated. "Act your age." Ultimately, you should all remember that your
presence at the field is a privilege and not a right. Unfortunately, too
often the players act more maturely than their coaches and parents, and
until spectators learn to behave like adults, they can expect that
officiating will remain dominated by raw, inexperienced referees who have
not yet been frightened away from the game with a few thick-skinned
individuals who manage to survive the tough first years sprinkled
throughout. Officiating is hard enough on new referees. Don't make it
harder.
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