|
I want to approach this discussion from a couple points because I recently had a similar experience from an official's perspective.
First I want to address the "I draw the line at safety" mantra. This is a cop out, especially to blame the officials. If the game is truly "unsafe" then both teams are out of control. Every coach who's ever used that line in a game of mine is basically saying, "The other team is out of control so you'd better control them, but my team's playing perfectly fine." A coach has far more control over what his players do on the court then do the officials, and a coach genuinely concerned with preserving safety would recognize if the officials were "incompetent" and start coaching in such a way that forces his players to play within the rules. Accusing officials of creating an unsafe situation solely on the basis of their officiating is gutless in my opinion. Good officiating can keep control of games, but the players and coaches are the causes of a game getting out of control in the first place. If the two teams played on the street with no officials, the same crap would have happened, good officials do a lot to clean it up, bad officials simply allow the game to develop as it would have with no officials. With two well-disciplined, well-coached teams these types of problems tend not to occur. A failure by the officials to prevent problems is not and shouldn't be confused with the cause of the problems.
In relation to my recent experience, I feel that the more experienced official needs to recognize his partner's shortcomings and step up to control the game. That means he has to be a lead and pick up the slack for his partner(s) in that game and get those "need to get" calls. As an official, the worst thing that can happen in my game is for a game to fall out of control because I feel it is my responsibilty to control the game. There are many elements that can ruin a game, including the actions of coaches, but ultimately the crew lives and dies as one and if I see a partner who is over his head or struggling, I have to step up my game, and I'd expect my partners to do the same for me. In my opinion, I'd rather take all the heat and have to T a coach than lose control of the game. I recently worked several 3 person games with unqualified officials and got through a few, but one spun out of control and rather than blaming my partners for it, I felt absolutely horrible afterward because I wasn't able to work well enough with my crew to control the situation. I guess my point is that the most qualified official has a responsibility not just to call the game but to run the crew, control and manage the game.
Sorry for the lengthy post.
|