For what it's worth!
 

I know this is a different scenario than the original post, but to add to the more general discussion...

Very early this season, a team arrived an hour after the scheduled starting time for the game. The bus had left late and then an accident (not theirs) delayed them. My partner negotiated with the coaches and they agreed to a shortened warm-up time, shortened periods, and an abbreviated halftime. I emailed our assignor after the game and asked whether what we did was okay. He informed me that we should stay out of that decision-making and just referee the game.

I wonder if our association ever tried to negotiate a "late fee"?

Re: For what it's worth!
 

I could see some real problems with being that late for a game, sometimes I am assigned multiple games at multiple sites, with first game in one town and second game in different town later in the day. This could really mess up getting to the second game/town in time for the second start time. I know, everybody will say, "don't schedule multiple games in different towns and you won't have that problem" true, but the games are scheduled by the assignor and he/she wants you on that particular game and knows how long it should take to get from Point A to Point B. Sometimes it creates a little anxiety even if the first block of games takes longer than expected because they get to be a little bit on the "foul-fest" side.

I can't see giving out any Ts for a bus being late. Stuff happens.

WTF!
OK...I changed my password...hopefully, this s*** will stop now!

BTW, I agree with the no T and let the league handle it.
As a board member...I can assure you that we have notified the league and are taking steps to handle this problem.

Good idea to change your password.

But why did you tell everyone you changed it to hopefully?

Re: For what it's worth!
 

Unless I've got specific information about the status of a team that is not present, I'll be gone before they get there if they're that late. I wouldn't just wait and wait hoping they will show up.

I think that negotiating the time down would be acceptable (and is specificlly authorized in the rules...although it is silent about who can initiate the idea of reducing times).

[/B][/QUOTE]

Good idea to change your password.

But why did you tell everyone you changed it to hopefully? [/B][/QUOTE]

I want to know how he got to pick hopefully. Mine is always *********. :p

I've had a couple of situations where the visiting team was extremely late. The first one was because one school had the game scheduled to start an hour later than the other school had. The other time was when a problem arose with the bus they were traveling on.

In both instances, the coaches were able to make contact with each other to let us know what was going on and that they would be there.

Even though it's extremely aggrevating (because we get fined if we're late to a game) to have to wait on the team to arrive, we must remember, <b>we work for the schools</b>.

In todays world, with just about everyone having a cell phone, being able to communicate shouldn't be a problem.

Btw, every instance I've ever had where the visiting team was late, they've always hurried as fast as they could to get dressed, take a few minutes to warm up, and get the game underway. We (officials) have never had to try to speed them up, they already felt bad enough for making us wait.

Also, our contracts with the schools stipulate that we are to wait 30 minutes after the scheduled start time before we can cancel/forfeit the game. However, if during that 30 minute late time, we discover that the team is on the way, we are required to stay and officiate the game.