Ref Shortage

[Player989random]

Originally Posted by Mbilica

Personally, I think the referee abuse and assault problem in soccer is a complicated one. I don't think soccer, as a youth sport, is any better or worse than another youth sport. If I had to rank them, I think I see more abuse in High School basketball than in any soccer games. Upper level youth and Amateur/pro adult soccer is actually better, in my opinion than the same level baseball games. Youth football is notorious and is the only for which I have seen officials requiring a police escort to safely get to their cars. So, I think society, as a whole needs to get on top of the problem of referee abuse and assault, and we shouldn't focus on one sport over another.

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When I was in HS I had a bunch of friends who did the little kid leagues to make some easy money. Nowadays I rarely meet a teenager working a game. They all say it's due to the crazy parents and the coaches who harass them. Say what you will about the "soft generation", but if you're 15, why would want to spend your weekends getting insulted by 40 year old parents?

Then add in the stress when you ref a HS sport, and bam, no one is signing up. I don't know how baseball is, but I've seen it in youth football, soccer, and basketball. It's evil all the way down.

I say we start doing what FIFA does after racism is reported in certain games; we block the games off from spectators. You wanna watch Lil'Johnny play, you sit it down and shut it up.

EDIT: To address the lack of a rating system that doesn't "adequately provide evaluations of referee performance.", the day I see an honest and fair assessment from a coach is the day I ref a perfect game. Send a tape in, pay to have someone analyze the referees, learn that your players connected 30% of their passes, had 15 turnovers, and lost the game their ****ing selves.