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"3) If I'd known it was that easy to get rid of them, I'd have told them that I was working every single game ever!!!!"
I gotta ask, is this the problem?
Did/do you have specific issues/problems with certain teams you work in this league?
TD's/Host's or whomever is putting on this tournament, are in it usually for one thing, to make money. At least in my experiences, tournaments are fund raisers.
Let's see, do I lose out on X teams fees (3 teams X 250-350 bucks per) or do I hurt one umpires feelings?
Seems a no brainer to me from the TD's perspective.
Your assigning organization is somewhat in the same boat, they generally get a cut for each assignment, no? Do they lose X amount or do they hurt one guys feelings? Do they back one at the expense of all the others?
I was faced with a similar situation, a local BB Pres. and coach I'd umpired disagreed with my " verbatim, by the book ruling" and stated to my UIC, "we will not play if this guy works." He was an uniformed, unknowlegable, loud mouthed hot head and really had no clue but, he was still the boss, it happens.
My association and fellow umpires backed me all the way, at the risk of losing lot's of money.
And unlike you're scenario it was all up front, communication was candid and open. My association confirmed to the Pres that; "we do the assigning not you." I was assigned the next game "the pres's" and additonal upcoming games as well the following week, this was also communicated to the pres.
I feigned injury and sickness and said "sorry boss I can't cover those games, please find someone else."
They did and all were happy and content including me. I was not willing to jeopordize a good thing for my association just so my feelings would go unhurt, this was a youth league, they had seen enough of this pres's antics already and didn't need any further embarrasing moments via him, and it was a great local training ground for our newbies, noI to mention a cash cow, I know a good thing when I see it..
So give em the benefit of the doubt, but do indeed keep digging and certainly communicate with your assigning body to get the "no stuff" details of the situation.
If it was really the TD's decision then I would be hesitant to hang your assignor just yet. Just a thought, but unless you've signed agreements between your assoc. and the leagues your covering, you're assoc. really has no choice but to swallow some pride and cover the games the way the customer wants it or move on and find something else, not always a viable option these days.
Express your feelings with the assoc. E-board or whatever mechanism is in place, perhaps at one of your all hands meetings? Get this in the open, then attack it as an association in a "consolidated manner." Perhaps an amendment to your by-laws, if a blue gets singled out and banned for no good reason, we'll pay him a stipend anyway, file it under travel, or misc. funds and move on.
Continue to work hard to make teams say; hey, if this guy "isn't" working this tourny, we won't show up."
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SLAS
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