A Rat

[Terrapins Fan]

Originally Posted by genetoy71

Somehow I'm not sure we're getting both sides of the story regarding this association split. Five of the best officials in the association leave along with this person and two of them are college level officials, and we're supposed to believe that all of this happened because someone lost an election?? Seems to me like there's more to this than what we've been told.

We are a board of about 50 officials, the majority over 50, as I am, he was younger at 41. 10 years experience, The others that left were all around the same age and younger, they were not happy with their progress in the association, Personally I don't blame them but if they had been patient their time would have come.

I don't know how this is going turn out yet, but I do know that having to associations in a small area is not good. Not good for wages not good for assignments.

One of the people who left and is a college official, Ran for interpreter and lost to. Another ran for secretary and lost. So there's a lot of ego involved here.

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by Terrapins Fan

We are a board of about 50 officials, the majority over 50, as I am, he was younger at 41. 10 years experience, The others that left were all around the same age and younger, they were not happy with their progress in the association, Personally I don't blame them but if they had been patient their time would have come.

I don't know how this is going turn out yet, but I do know that having to associations in a small area is not good. Not good for wages not good for assignments.

One of the people who left and is a college official, Ran for interpreter and lost to. Another ran for secretary and lost. So there's a lot of ego involved here.

Perhaps they feel that your association is too much of a "good ol' boys" network for them to reach their goals. After all, you say you don't blame them for not being happy and that they're relatively young–common complaints of disgruntled officials. And the reality is, "their time will come" simply isn't true all the time.

It is true that many officials that complain about politics have an overinflated opinion about their abilities. It is equally true that many officials cannot advance for no reason other than the good ol' boys system, and acting like that's not true is just disingenuous.

I am not saying I support them forming a new association; simply trying to interpret their frustration. And again, paying lip service about "sticking together" and officiating being a "brotherhood" is great except at the end of the day, this is a business.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Terrapins Fan

We are a board of about 50 officials, the majority over 50, as I am, he was younger at 41. 10 years experience, The others that left were all around the same age and younger, they were not happy with their progress in the association, Personally I don't blame them but if they had been patient their time would have come.

I don't know how this is going turn out yet, but I do know that having to associations in a small area is not good. Not good for wages not good for assignments.

One of the people who left and is a college official, Ran for interpreter and lost to. Another ran for secretary and lost. So there's a lot of ego involved here.

Like SC said, it sounds like you might have ran them off as much as them leaving. If they were good, even better, why would you think it is fair to make them wait their turn?

[Nevadaref]

Competition is the American way.
Numerous successful companies began because an employee became disgruntled with the current leadership and decided that it was better to depart, start his own business, and do it better.

There is nothing wrong with what is taking place in your area. Competition will sort it out.

As far as elections go, I've found that true democratic votes don't usually serve the best interests of an officiating association.

For example, if the group has 30% varsity officials and 70% subvarsity officials, understand that your group will be governed by the 70% who do not work varsity contests. If you elect an assignor, the subvarsity guys will dictate who that assignor will be. Will that be best for the varsity officials?

Another situation would be if an association has 20 truly top officials and another 20 who are second tier, an elected assignor will be obligated to keep as many of those happy as possible in order to get re-elected. This can lead to some lesser officials getting games that they shouldn't.

Situations like the above lead to frustration by some officials and can spur people to break away and form their own officiating group.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Competition is the American way.
Numerous successful companies began because an employee became disgruntled with the current leadership and decided that it was better to depart, start his own business, and do it better.

There is nothing wrong with what is taking place in your area. Competition will sort it out.

As far as elections go, I've found that true democratic votes don't usually serve the best interests of an officiating association.

For example, if the group has 30% varsity officials and 70% subvarsity officials, understand that your group will be governed by the 70% who do not work varsity contests. If you elect an assignor, the subvarsity guys will dictate who that assignor will be. Will that be best for the varsity officials?

Another situation would be if an association has 20 truly top officials and another 20 who are second tier, an elected assignor will be obligated to keep as many of those happy as possible in order to get re-elected. This can lead to some lesser officials getting games that they shouldn't.

Situations like the above lead to frustration by some officials and can spur people to break away and form their own officiating group.

The problem with tilting the bylaws to give varsity officials a disproportionate say in elections, etc. is that it leads to people being held down as in the OP's scenario.

The longer I live in Wisconsin (17th season out of 32 now), the more I appreciate the value of no association controlling all of the game assignments. I've asked an association to hire for six of my schools (I assign for 23 schools at the varsity level), but we have an agreement that those assignments should be made with an eye toward giving people opportunities. Most conferences here are hired by commissioners who are hired by the schools. Schools typically hire their own subvarsity officials, but many of them have outsourced those assignments to other people. Associations can get involved through this outsourcing and it's a win/win as people gain experience and schools have their games covered.

None of us will be around forever. My knee is telling me that every day. We need to do what's best for officiating and not be self-serving and drive people away. Putting the best official on the best game isn't always what's best for the sport and what's best for officiating.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Terrapins Fan

We are a board of about 50 officials, the majority over 50, as I am, he was younger at 41. 10 years experience, The others that left were all around the same age and younger, they were not happy with their progress in the association, Personally I don't blame them but if they had been patient their time would have come.



I don't know how this is going turn out yet, but I do know that having to associations in a small area is not good. Not good for wages not good for assignments.



One of the people who left and is a college official, Ran for interpreter and lost to. Another ran for secretary and lost. So there's a lot of ego involved here.

A college official being held back cause of older officials blocking their progress.

Time shoukd mean nothing in getting good assignments. If the officials are good enough but not getting games because they're being blocked by older people I don't blame them from moving on.





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[SC Official]

Originally Posted by Rich

A college official being held back cause of older officials blocking their progress.

Time shoukd mean nothing in getting good assignments. If the officials are good enough but not getting games because they're being blocked by older people I don't blame them from moving on.

Exactly. Wanna know why there’s a shortage of high school officials? Well, one of the reasons is because of crap like this.

Seniority means something, but at the end of the day if your best officials aren’t getting a shot, don’t be surprised when something like this happens.