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Originally Posted by mikeref
This is a no brainer for me...under no circumstances do I work a game alone. The liability factor is just too great. Forget about being the "nice guy" and "doing it for the kids" or whatever excuse you can think of. In today's society there will always be someone waiting to take advantage of the situation. I know it is sad to say, but it is the truth!! Besides, our state athletic association specifically forbids officials from working games by themselves. If there is not another certified official present..I'm sorry but the game does not get played!
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You must be fortunate enough to have a lot of officials working in your area. We service almost 70 high schools, meaning that we service boys and girls varsity, boys and girls junior varsity, and boys and girls freshman games, at those schools, as well as many middle schools that feed into those high school programs, with only about 220 officials. Weekend games, and night games, are usually not a problem, although we often have to schedule some officials for freshman/junior varsity, or junior varsity/varsity doubleheaders. The big problem for us are the afternoon freshman, and middle school, games, that often start at 3:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. Most of our officials, like myself, work regular 8 to 4, or 9 to 5 jobs, and can't make those afternoon games, so we very often have only one official scheduled for those games.
mikeref's statement above has a lot of merit to it, especially since his state athletic association forbids one official games, however, please comment on the following scenarios:
Your scheduled for a single varsity game. The junior varsity officials have already left the site (a problem in itself, as far as I'm concerned) when you get a call on your cell phone, five minutes before game time, that your partner has been in a car accident, or is very ill, and will not make the game, or you don't get a call because a scheduling mistake has been made and you don't have a scheduled partner. The bleachers are filled to capacity, the band is playing, the cheerleaders are getting ready for the game, the table has the scorebooks ready (OK, maybe I went too far), the local press, and cable television guys are ready, and the players are warming up. You call your assigner and find out that no other official is available due to scheduling, availability, illness, injury, etc., because it's a busy Friday night (the biggest basketball night of the week here in Connecticut).
Now, in mikeref's state, the decision would be out of your hands, since they forbid one official games, you just send everybody home, put away the balls, turn out the lights, and lock the gymnasium doors. In the absence of that state rule, what would you do? Here in Connecticut, and in Sudbury, Canada, and in Kansas, we would play the game with one official, and unless you are an experienced official like me, who's done quite a few one man games over the past 27 years, you could use some tried and true mechanics to follow.
Also, does mikeref's state athletic association cover middle school games, and other games such as recreation leagues, Catholic elementary schools, travel teams, AAU games, etc.? If these programs are not covered by the state athletic association rule, what would you do in a similar situation?
In addition, what happens, with only two officials at the site at 8:00 pm., in the fourth period of a big game, one of the varsity officials pulls a hamstring, or twists an ankle, or tears an Achilles, or tears an ACL? Shouldn't the remaining official have some type of plan as to how to best do a one person game? If sure that even in mikeref's state, you probably must start a game with at least two officials, but I doubt that when one official goes down with an injury with five minutes to go in the fourth period, in a two point game, that the state association makes you send everybody home, put away the balls, turn out the lights, and lock the gymnasium doors. We should all have some type of plan when we do a one person game.