The Dwindling Numbers of Sports Officials - Time Out #485

Yes, faithful readers in Our Town and far beyond, Christmas Day is only 4 days away. The greatest of all holidays will be here soon. May you and yours have a wonderful day of worship, fellowship, laugher, conversation, food, gift-giving, and whatever your family chooses to do. Christmas is such a special time!   Family, family, family.

     OK, let's discuss an ongoing problem that is relentlessly growing without interruption. It affects more and more people across Our Country every day. It is an issue some of you know about, but, gradually, more and more folks are becoming aware of this unpleasant problem. And, most importantly, the "solution" is most certainly a LONG way off.  

     Simply slated, all competitive athletic events, at the high school level and below, are experiencing an  acute (almost at the 911-stage) shortage of athletic officials.   

      I have commented on this unfortunate subject in the distant past, but chose to discuss it again, sincerely hoping it might motivate someone out there to help bring about some positive changes to this growing, ongoing problem.  

     For the 58th consecutive year, I registered in 2024 to officiate high school football in Our Great State.   Because of my active registration, I receive regular e-mails and texts from both the state officiating office in Oklahoma City, and school athletic directors/football coaches/administrators/fellow officials/etc. During the 2024 high school, junior high and younger-players football season, I received many (3x more than last year) desperate communications asking any available football officials to work games. Most were a few days in advance of the actual game(s), but some were  immediate distress calls, needing officials that SAME DAY!  Readers, some Oklahoma high school football games are being played with 3 or 4 on-field officials, instead of the needed 5  Remember, folks, without officials, there is NO game. This possibility places a major inconvenience on hundreds of people who have made plans, spending their time and money to attend the scheduled athletic event. One method administrators are attempting to deal with this major officiating issue is to play games on non-traditional days. In the case of high school football, this is usually Thursdays and/or Saturdays, instead of normal Friday Night Lights. These changes have helped ease the problem some, but up to now, not nearly enough. Like it or not, administrators/football coaches are going to have to play their games on alternate, non-traditional days. To me. this major change HAS to happen.  

     What else can be done? I am certainly glad you asked.

     !) Double the officials' game fees. More money for the game officials won't solve the problem, but it will help. Money usually helps most problems. 

     2) Provide better game day facilities for the officials. I am not talking about 5-star hotel-type rooms, but most of the time, the dressing/showering conditions are not adequate. For many schools, this factor is not important, so their athletic officiating facilities reflect their lack of attention to them. 

     3) Provide adequate security for the officials on-site. In today's complex American society, the unexpected can happen during an athletic event. More and more "fans" cross the line of acceptable behavior during athletic games, and need to be dealt with accordingly. 

     4) The host school should provide a representative on-site, meeting the arriving game officials. This host lets the officials know if something is needed during the contest, the host will be there to manage the issue. Many schools attempt to do this item, but it is not as inclusive as is needed.  Some schools do not provide a host at all, Simply put, the home school administration needs to let the officials believe the home school actually cares about the officials' well-beings. 

     In closing, I will say, consistently, the major reason athletic officials quit officiating, or potential officials never sign up to try it, is the verbal abuse factor.  And, the verbal abuse most commonly cited by officials is the verbal abuse they receive at the lower (ie, pee wee) levels. Yes, the lowest age-level verbal abuse, (aka, where most the players are under 12, with the junior high level being the next most-intense verbal abuse). Overall, this is an current American society problem (verbal civility issue), not likely solved by tomorrow, in  my humble opinion.   

     However, the glass is half full. We CAN do better concerning this difficult topic! The real questions are will we, and when?