Quote:
Originally Posted by rockyroad
I freely admit that I have NOT travelled the country like you have, Tom. Having said that, in your travels have you ever seen black, Asian, Hispanic, or female refs who have been promoted because of their race/gender/minority status???
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I have. Similar to Jeff's observations about playoffs in his area, there are people who get games because of a perceived need to have racial or gender balance in a crew for certain games. I have actually been told directly, "We need 2 women and and one male on this game." I have seen it as well, especially regarding gender in advancement in girls and women's basketball. There simply aren't enough women coming into officiating every year to fill the perceived need to have women officiating women. And I say "perceived need" because I have yet to talk to one single coach that prefers women to men officiating their game; they don't like officials doing their games that are not ready or not good enough on ability, they just want the best. I have seen often where they get rated vs. each other for advancement and not vs. the entire pool of available talent.
Unscientifically, I would say that the percentage of female officials in any high school association is 10-20% at best. Therefore, there will be more qualified males than females available for promotion. And yet there are cases of women advancing more quickly, not because they are the best available, but because they stand out when compared with the available pool of female officials.