Player and Referee Brawl

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by Rich

Who would put up with stuff like this? As a profession/avocation why do we tolerate such shitty pay and treatment?

I know you know all this, but I'm going to say it anyway for others who might not know.

There will ALWAYS be people in our avocation who will sell their souls to the devil. Either because they really want the money or they're trying to win favor with an assigner. The money, the "prestige" of the assignments, etc. is more important to them than sticking up for themselves, their fellow officials, and the avocation. Many of the assigners for this type of ball just want the money and everything else is secondary; they don't want you to "rock the boat" by making calls that might not be popular. If you do, you'll be complained about and not used anymore. Tournament directors are in it for the money, too; if "coaches" don't like the way the games are officiated, they'll go to another tournament next year and the TD won't get their entry fee. So, for many (not all) of these events, the officials who take the games are at the mercy of what the assigner wants, who is at the mercy of what the TD wants, who is at the mercy of what the coaches want–and that is, to be able to behave however they choose because "we paid to be here."

Since there are plenty of officials for whom the money is of primary importance, tournament directors and assigners have no reason to negotiate for higher pay and better working conditions. It truly is sad, but all I can control is what I do. And I simply don't work this crap anymore. If I was a younger official trying to get experience or a broke college student trying to make money, my mentality might be different. Thankfully that's not the case.