School alleges discrimination by Philly refs

[fullor30]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

Sure, but why would they be scheduled to work a game where one team was from the league they work? The state likely sends them out somewhere else (and probably should).

Now, if the crew had never worked this caliber of ball that would be another story.

A few years ago, there was a coach in the area here from one of the big schools in the city that got a crew of rural-area officials that probably didn't work a Division 1 game all season. Those officials called a very different game (pretty much any contact was a foul) and the city team ended up losing the game. The coach blasted the officiating afterwards in the press and, while I would never condone a coach doing so, I could understand some of the points he was making about how the officials get assigned to games. Let's face it - if you've never worked a team from a city conference where there's above-the-rim, physical play with D1 prospects on many of the teams in the conference, you aren't ready to learn how to do it in a state playoff game.

Maybe if this person in the article wasn't so quick to scream "racism" issues like this would've come out in this story and there would be something for the PIAA to actually look at and see if there was something to improve in the assigning process. Instead, they come off as whiny crybabies who don't like that they got thumped in a game against a very good team.

Good points regarding style of play. Years ago, my high school girls team was in the semifinals for state in Illinois. They were from the Chicago area in a tough physical conference. They played a downstate team. The officials that night were all downstate, rural officials. Good officials, but called a different game than Chicago area kids are used to. Early fouls took their studs out of game and although a heavy favorite, lost. Even as a fanboy, this was before I started officiating, I understood the difference in this game. As a coach, I might have emphasized the possibility of a different flow to game based on where officials were from. A foul is a foul can mean different things to different people.