Article pointing finger at Racist Referees

[Juulie Downs]

Originally Posted by LDUB

So you are accusing the officials of cheating....and you are saying they were cheating because they were racists

Yes, I am saying that. They were heard talking about it, and it was reported. I could give you a reference to a person (highly respected and trusted in the Oregon reffing community) who will tell you that that is exactly what happened.

However, I'm not agreeing with the person who wrote the article cited in the OP. There are biased refs, and there are bad calls made on the basis of racial prejudice. It happens. We on this board who try as hard as we can to do a great job, tend to forget that there are the lowlifes out there who don't have the best possible attitude.

And Jeff is right that the best way to avoid the appearance would be to work to actively move the best refs of color up to the various levels in all associations and in all areas. (I'd say the same thing for female refs, but that's another subject).

Still, it does "the cause" no good for someone to write an article blaming the loss of one game on the fact that all three refs were white. And then to claim that it's a pattern that ruins the dreams of kids. That's just baloney.