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Someone on another thread wondered why we need background checks since all our time of being on duty we are in front of such a large crowd of people. (He obviously doesn't work some of my freshman girls games where the total attendance in the gym is the two teams, the coaches, the refs and one mother from each team who drives the girls home.) The problem isn't that some ref is going to be feeling up a player in the middle of a game. It's that part of a pedophile's MO is to make friends with a kid, and establish a relationship so that later, an opportunity for the "action" will arise. In order to prevent that, the policy needs to be no contact or interaction of any kind.
Of course, with teenage refs, it may not be that simple, since most probably don't have a record, even if they've started into a pattern of abuse. I do think that guidelines for dress and for verbal and physical contact during the time around the game would help protect both the players and the refs. If they are friends off the gamesite (court or field), that's going to complicate things a little, but my guess is that once the situation is fully explained to both the players and the ref, and if an evaluator or AD can help facilitate that a little, it won't be a problem.
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