Will a shortage of officials mean fewer youth sports games in the future?
On their website, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) is making an appeal to officials who have left to get back in the game. They have streamlined the process to return in an effort to regain some of the officiating experience that has been lost. Many officials have opted out for health reasons during the pandemic or realized they didn’t miss it when games were canceled in 2020 and decided not to go back. But we have been losing officials—and potential officials—for years thanks to poor treatment from coaches and fans.
The WIAA has good reason to be concerned
The statistics in Wisconsin in fall 2021:
Fall 2021 there were 543 fewer football officials in Wisconsin than in 2020. Athletic directors moved games from Friday night to Thursday or Saturday to find available officials.
The number of registered officials for basketball and wrestling had declined by over 40% since 2010.
The total number of registered officials had declined by 39% from 2010 and was down by 1,400 from just the previous year.
The problem with officials is nationwide
A Chicago Tribune story last fall acknowledged that a good number of officials aren’t coming back after sitting out during the pandemic. However, it’s just one factor. Personal costs to the officials include clothing and transportation, as well as time away from their family. For some the need to leave work early poses a problem with their job. But poor treatment is likely the biggest reason we are losing officials.
In the largest survey ever, with over 17,000 responses from high school officials across the country almost 48% of male, and 45% of female officials indicated they have felt unsafe or feared for their safety because of administrator, coach, player, or spectator behavior. Over 57% of the respondents believe sportsmanship is getting worse.
The official shortage hits small towns hard
Athletic directors are feeling the pain. Before all high school sporting events in our town, there is an announcement reminding people to respect the officials that has expanded to include information about the shortage and a plea to think about becoming an official.
My husband worked in school sports for over 30 years as a coach and athletic director. He has officiated basketball for middle and high school games for nearly 15 years. He knows from his years as an athletic director how difficult it is to get officials for middle school games and happily takes those jobs. This year he’s worked more junior varsity and a few varsity games as well.
In previous years, he worked one or two games a week. This year his January and February calendars are full—he has three games almost every week. He gets emails daily from athletic directors desperate for officials. He has worked two games in one night when a ref couldn’t make it at the last minute. He took a game at 2:30 one afternoon and drove 50 miles one way because he was the caller’s last chance to find someone and not cancel the game.
What will it take for better sportsmanship?
The shortage of officials is a big problem that does not bode well for the future. It should serve as a wake-up call to athletic directors and coaches to hold themselves, their players, and their fans to a higher level of good sportsmanship.
I’m sure most fans in the stands are not aware of how much effort goes into making sure the kids can play. But if they did, would they behave better?
Youth sports depend on people willing to coach and officiate. Younger officials who are treated poorly will probably not want to continue. Older officials will eventually retire. High school athletic associations, community recreation programs, and club sports cannot host games without officials.
For those of us who are not officials, the least we can do is be respectful of the people who are. After all, how many of us would be willing to take this job?
“The challenge of officiating can provide some great personal rewards. As an official you must make instantaneous decisions, resolve conflicts and deal with stress and pressure. You are in a position to be a positive role model around children and young adults.
Sports officials must be able to bring control to chaos; understand fairness; promote safety and encourage good sportsmanship. A sports official must have the positive characteristics of a police officer, lawyer, judge, accountant, reporter, athlete and diplomat.”
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