The other night I had to referee a JV Girls and Boys game at a Christian School. My partner was associated with the school as an employee. The girls game went fine because the score was lopsided. The boys games on the other hand was tight from start to finish. My partner obviously blew 3 calls. One being an out of bounds call, another a foul on a 3 shot attempt and the final being a 24 shot clock violation that he called while he was the lead. All 3 calls went in the favor of the Home Team which he is associated with. My question is how or should I go about voicing my opinion to the assignor or my partner about the calls that he made that was in biased to the team he is associated with?

I often ref the girl's team from the school where I teach. (I also happen to be the boy's coach). It's something that's tough to do. I see these kids at school all the time and the coach as well.

I sat down with the coach and told her that when I'm reffing, I'm not the same buddy that she usually works with. I call her coach and she calls me ref. I've also warned her that I'd T her just as easily as the opposing team. To be honest, I havne't yet had a problem during a game.

The problems usually happen after the game or the next day in the staff lounge. This is when she'll start to question some of the calls. I usually tell her that she should have questionned them during the game and that now that the game is over, there isn't much I can do about it.

All in all, it doesn't bother me too much to ref at my own school. The fans will usually give you a harder time than the coach will.

Ren

If you have a good relationship with your assinor, go to him and speak with him confidentially. Don't accuse your partner of anything but simply address the 3 obvious calls that went against the other team.

JMO, but officials who are employed by a school system have no business officiating for the school that they work at. You leave yourself open to too many problems. Any appearance of a conflict of interest should be avoided.

Our football crew doesn't work a certain school because our umpire's wife is a teacher there. A fellow basketball official doesn't work a certain school because the head coach was his golf coach in high school. And the coach was actually the one that suggested it.

Ren, you haven't had a problem yet, but it's coming. It'll happen sooner or later.

If you have a connection to the school, you should not ref there unless there is some huge emergency/referee shortage.

Most referees can block this sort of thing out (some even tend to give calls to the visiting team), but all that is needed is the appearance of impropriety. All it takes is one last-second shot (which may be called correctly) in the home team's favor to tarnish that ref's reputation.

Our Association has a "conflict of interest" clause written directly into our constitution.You cannot accept a game if you are an employee of the school/organization that hires us,have a relative involved with the team,have any business reationship with the school/organization,etc.All officials must declare these conflicts-of -interest to the assigner at the start of each year.The assigner then keeps people away from possible problems(unless it's a real emergency).It seems to be working fairly well,as we get few complaints of this type.It's also good for the individual official.It keeps them out of a no-win situation.

I officiate in a small rural association with a relatively small number of officials. Some of our officials are teachers. Some of our officials are parents of players on the teams that we serve. Our commissioner does a pretty decent job of avoiding conflict of interest situations. In our case, however, some perceived or real conflict of interests are unavoidable. We have several officials that have kids playing on the varsity team. Our commissioner assigns those officials to do the JV games of that school on home game nights. It's either that or not have those officials available at all that night because they are there supporting their kids anyway. Is this a conflict of interests? Probably. Is it wrong? In my opinion, no. We don't have the numbers that a big city association would have. I have seen our officials do games in these conflict situations and I have not once seen the visiting team get a 'homer' effort.

Where do you draw the line with the conflict of interest policy? In a rural area such as ours your wouldn't have to dig too far to find a conflict for any official that we have. Examples would be: 1. Friend coaching a team. 2. You have children(players or not) that go to that school. 3. You are an alumnus of a school that you serve. 4. Everyone here in 'The Sticks' are related anyway. Right?

Our situation is pretty much the same as daves.

We have a small number of officials to fill the schedule. My personal preference is to do a game away from my school. But it is much more convenient to be assigned at my school. I finish class, go to the gym and get the game underway. No travelling time.

Ren

I reffed a lot of games at St. John Luthuran school, a perochial school in Wisconsin. I was a student there also. When I work games there, sometimes I get called a "homer" (last night was one of the 2 times) but for the most part I try to be impartial. I would give the St. John coach a T, as I would the opposing team. The only problem I have, is coaches and players acting as long lost friends, instead of coaches/players/spectators. It is a k-8th grade school, so the games are fairly easy, and not controversial. I don't have a problem with it, as long as there are no problems. If my situation were different and more controversial during the games, I would not. Talk to your assigner, head of association board, or upper level official and get their thoughts on it. It is also a matter of comfortability, I feel very comfrotable doing these games, and I think that is a big part of it. I feel good doing them, my partner does, players, coachs, fans, and everyone else seems to be ok w/ it, so I do them. How are things in your case?

I'll try to avoid refing the game with the team/player associated with me. However, I have one tricky act when if I need to do that type of game. First, pre-game with both coaches that if the no. of foul calls are 9 to 1 in favour of the friendly team, that is the game's character, not because of the refs. Secondly, T the friendly team early in the game for tic-tac thingfor laying my ground rule. Any future 'Homer'saying heard will not be tolerated. Any advise??

And you probably never will. That's not the problem. It's just the appearance of a conflict of interest that's a problem. Nothing has to happen for somebody to try and make it look like something happened. In your association's situation, I can see how it could be difficult to balance. Sounds like your assignor handles it as best as he can.

A local boys vasity coach goes to the same church that I do. We talk a lot of basketball, but i've only worked his games 3 or 4 times in the past 5 years.

Quote:

2. You have children(players or not) that go to that school.

I usually work a couple of games each year at the HS my youngest son attends. He doesn't play basketball and I only know one kid on the team, who also goes to our church. I've probably never worked one of these games were anyone other than maybe the prinicipal or AD knew my kid went ot school there. No problems but if one ever arose, that would be my last game there. If I worked at the school, I wouldn't officiate there.

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3. You are an alumnus of a school that you serve.

Everybody went to school somewhere. Besides that, I graduated 23 years ago.

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4. Everyone here in 'The Sticks' are related anyway. Right?

So far, I haven't run into much of that.

daves,in your case you don't have much choice.The only problem I have with any of the things you listed above is "children who are players".The biggest problem an official can have in this case is to call his kids stricter than the other players,so he won't be looked on as a "homer"..This is not fair to his kids,or his kids' team.Try to keep away from this one,if at all possible.
Btw,you'll never hear me say anything derogatory about "the sticks".We do a rural league in both football and basketball,with round-trips up to 90 miles.I've been going out there for a long time,and I love it.I don't know whether it's the different culture or not,but the people out there are always great to work with,and for.We never have any major problems out there.

Only can do so much.
 

Personally, I think you can have all kinds of conflicts. And it is always going to be hard in certain areas to avoid. I have officiated my alma mater a few times. But I have been so far removed from the school, I do not at all care if they win or not. The only problem is that everyone knows me. But you want to know something, everyone knows me at schools I did not attend HS or live. So what is really the difference? And I used to live in the sticks where I would see many of the same coaches and players, over and over again. But if you do work at a place or have children at the school, that would be difficult. But I feel that if it is not a varsity contest, or a game that matters in post-season capacity at a lower level, it should not matter that much who officiates those games. It is very hard to find officials for many lower level games. You assign those games with getting them covered, not where people are from in my opinion.

Peace

Excellent.

I do not work regular season games at the school which my daughter attends. My wife is also a teacher at the same school. I will work scrimmages and have even helped in a summer tournament. I don't get paid for these games (unless you count the pizza and coke).

I feel that I COULD work regular season games, but as Mark posted, I want to avoid any APPEARANCE of impropriety, so I scratch this school with my assigner for the regular HS season.

Mike

Unless there is an emergency NEVER work a game when you or a family member is associated withthat school.
Things may work out now, but when they blow up it will be a big one.

I think the general consensus here is that you should try to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, but that in areas that have a very limited number of officials, some supposed conflicts are unavoidable.

Last week, my son worked a freshman game at the HS he graduated from 3 years ago. After the game, I asked him if he felt any conflict (the home team won in a blowout). He said he didn't, and that the only difference working there was that he knew where the bathrooms were.

If I officiated at my former high school, the only advantages would be for me - I could get into the dressing room without waiting for management, they would give me free food, and I could take care of angry fans just by looking at them and saying "I know who you are."

That said, I would never officiate a varsity game there, and would only do a JV game under the most dire circumstances.

Varsity - No. Anything else - OK. A few years ago i did a varsity game for the HS i attended. My assigner said no problem it will be one sided game. I didn't have a good game. It was because i tried not to be bias. I won't do that again.

Our association has a "conflict of interest policy" that deals with the situation you presented. We don't want officials working a game in which they teach, coach (or have coached) or have an affiliation with ex-students or players. There are other "suggestions" we ask our officials to consider before scratching themselves from a particular team. If you would like a copy, leave your e-mail address where I can reach you.

Even better - "I know where you live." ;)

True, but I find that if you know where a fan lives, the converse is often true.

pirate, I'd like that, I find myself doing some games with schools/people that I am affiliated with and would be interested in looking at it. My e-mail is [email protected]

I know this feeling all to well. I work in a small association and have been assinged a few times to work the HS i graduated from just last year. My first year reffing, someone cancelled the day of the game. Our assingor was already working the game that had the guy cancel, i was absolutly the only one left on the list. I show up..and it's my school's team playing. so here i am, lil ole me working the quarter finals on girls i'm only 2 and 3 years older than in my first year reffing....I was scheduled to the the R but immediatly gave that up.... My school led from start to finish..thankfully.

Now in the summer rec leagues i do i don't care Michael jordan could be playing, and i'd probbably give him treatment the NBA guys do... but in a HS game, never take a game where there could be a conflict unless everyone else is at a funeral...there own that is..


Tyler

I watched a Varsity game a few years ago where one of the refs was dating the mother of one of the star players. The game went south right out of the gate. Subvarsity would be ok.

subvarsity is not important?
 

Why is there a constant in the posts that it is ok to work in a conflict situation in a subvarsity game? To these kids, and their coaches and parents, this is the most important game being played that day. Therefore they deserve a situation without a possible bias from the officials.

I don't think anyone said JV is not important. And i don't think we associate conflict of interest with JV. The JV games are more about learning and preparing for Varsity. I don't think we have JV teams going to State.

Voice of experience here...several years ago I worked a State Championship game in which one of the teams was from my school district (I teach 7th grade and knew only one player on the team)...they won and took home the trophy. Everything was fine...fast forward to next season: same team makes Championship game again, and I am at same tourny...get evaluated at top of list and do champ. game...the team loses by two in overtime: the you-know-what hit the fan. Letters to local paper, e-mails at work, nasty phone calls at home, etc...I will no longer work ANY game at ANY level for that school...again, I did nothing wrong, and was not the reason they lost, but to rabid fans, it sure LOOKED like it...it's best to just stay away from those games if at all possible.

It's the assignor's job to avoid these conflicts. When I assigned high school softball and volleyball in my area, I had a line on the availability form: "Are you, or a relative, associated with any school in our area"? We had teachers and parents who didn't work those schools' games, home or away. When my sons were in high school, I didn't work any of the sports where that school was involved, even though they didn't play the sports I officiated. When they graduated, no problem.

Bob

Repeating....
 

I've comment on this before. I don't think it ever wise, and particularly stupid at the varsity level. At other levels various degrees of "emergencies" happen. In my first or second year I became the emergency referee for a JV game my son was playing in. (Actually, he mostly played the bench, but no matter.) It was tied after 1, tied at half, tied after 3, and on a controversial call by me in the last 2-3 minutes our team (visitors) got 2 shots and held off to win by ~5. Ugly.

This year I ref'd one of my daughter's 8th grade games. The alternative was for them to have only one official. It was no big deal. I will probably ref every one of my daughter's games this year in the church league I help run.

My opinion on officiating games below varsity are:<ol><li>make sure both coaches know and agree, and <li>work at a level below your skill (e.g., varsity-capable official doing MS is not likely a problem at all).</ol>