PEEWEE gone bad

[hooper]

Mom,

This forum is not a friendly place to coaches or fans. You should know that up front. Second (and unfortunately) most people in this forum will not admit that there are ANY bad refs. Many tend to blame the players and parents, in fact.

If the officiating was that bad (and it could have been) I recommend talking with athletic director at the organization that hosted the game (ie: the person who runs the league). Ask him or her to come watch a couple of the games that these particular officials are working. Perhaps they had an off night. Perhaps they're novices and don't have much training.

My guess is not that they were not favoring one team but that they just weren't very good at what they were doing.

On the flipside, when you do see good refs, report them to the athletic director as well! He or she is usually the person who hires the refs and will continue to assign games to the ones who get good reviews and comments.

That being said, know that there will always be games that you think are called badly (and you could be right), but try to not emphasize this with your kids. Tell them "Well, refs are people too and they're doing their best. Just do your best and don't worry about them."