The Washington Post had a great article regarding the decrease of referees in soccer and other sports and what is causing the issue. The conclusion is that most of it can be attributed to abuse from parents, coaches, etc.
The full article can be found here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/highschools/verbal-abuse-from-parents-coaches-is-causing-a-referee-shortage-in-youth-and-high-school-sports/2017/06/16/cf02a016-499a-11e7-a186-60c031eab644_story.html?utm_term=.4f107205c738
It is something that I had said was one of my reasons for ceasing to referee high school, it was the loss of decorum and the hypocritical aspect of high school that stated that the soccer field (or any other sports' field for that matter) was an extension of the classroom.
Anyway, it was good to see the Post having a say, being accurate and measured in the piece and also it was great to read some names of people that I admire being referenced in the article. Take a look and hopefully in your area things are a bit better.
1 comment:
Had a fantastic match Saturday, single-elimination U17 boys with with winner headed to quarterfinals. Great competition, great crew, and I was completely absorbed in the match. AR1 had mentioned some parents being vocal at the half but seemed like he was OK. With 15 minutes to go and Blue scoring to go ahead, AR1 calls me over and tells me a Yellow parent has to go due to escalated personal attacks. Amazing and once again, parents playing a completely different game than their kids. Ironically this happened just after my AR2 pulled me over to address inappropriate disrespectful comments from a Yellow player. And when the Yellow coach went completely nuts because I made the correct handling call (against his team), I realized that team has a definitive culture problem. Times like these remind me why I don't take lower level matches, and also makes for interesting contemplation about why USA didn't make the World Cup. No respect for the beautiful game.
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