Did anyone read the long article in Referee Magazine about background check on officials? Comments?????

I haven't had a chance to read it yet, what did you think? It was on the bottom of my list of articles to read. lol

Good question, it really doesnt matter to me either way. But there are probably officials out there with reconrds and it will surely narrow the field if they cant officiate.

They do a background check here in IL. When you submit your application, you have to send a copy of your Driver's license in.

NO background checks in PA, however if you are arrested for a felony, you are not permitted to officiate until it has been decided.

I worked a game last night and half the crowd thought I should be in jail!

ditto to that comment!

wl

It was a good article. I'm for the background checks. I'm glad they do them here.

tjones -

Do they actually DO a check, though? As I recall, I had to send in my license number and sign a form certifying that I had no felony background, but I don't know if they actually run a check on each official.

The Catholic schools in the area have become VERY particular about running bg checks and mandating that anybody who works with kids go through training regarding identifying various forms of child abuse. That's been applied to coaches, but not to officials (yet).