Subsitute Ref When Partner Doesn't Show Up?
 

Oddball situation last night at a GJV tourney. I had 4 games in the main gym - 2 person game. There were also 4 games in the aux gym working the freshman games. One of the 2 guys working the freshman games did not show up. Evidently one of the home school's coaches decided to fill in and work with the guy in the aux gym for the first 2 freshman games. Here's where it gets interesting for me. The home team is playing in the third game in the aux gym, so the coach decides he shouldn't ref that game. So they pull my partner from the JV game and send the coach to the main gym to work with me. I tell the person running the tourney that I would rather work alone that with someone who is not a state certified official. They are adamant that I need to let this coach officiate the game.

At this point the guy who hadn't shown up, shows up. So crisis averted. My original partner comes back and we finish the night.

My question is - would your state/association allow anyone, who is not a certified official, fill-in if your partner doesn't show up? Clearly for a Varsity game, it would not be allowed. But for sub-varsity? In Oregon, I know they would not allow anyone not certified by the state officiate any state sanctioned game. But here in Texas, I wasn't sure what the rules are.

What would you do?

Not allowable in Utah...liability for one thing....

I assume you belong to an association in TX. That is where you should pose the question.

I've never understood the liability concern, but enough people bring it up I suppose perhaps it's real. That said, it's about the state rules, but the responsibility falls on the school. I know in Iowa, using an unlicensed official could result in a forfeif for the home team. I'm not sure what the punishment would be in the case of a tournament where the scheduling school isn't participating in the game.

Here in CO, I'd work the game and be on the phone with my assigner right after the game.

Here's a question, how do you really know the guy you're working with is properly licensed in your state? Especially when you have a last minute replacement?

Duh. Already did that. Was curious about how other places would handle it.

With this association, I would be told who my partner was when I was called for the last minute assignment, so I know at that point that the guy I should be working with was also assigned by my assigner, and therefore would have to be certified. However if, for some reason, someone else was there other than the guy my assigner mentioned, then I would probably have to take his word. I am new in Texas, so I don't know anyone - that makes it difficult to recognize if someone is in the association based on meetings and past games.

This would likely never be an issue with a Varsity game. I would think my partners would wonder more about me since I am new to the state - they likely know each other.

We are told to make sure we communicate with our partners as well, so I would likely call the person I am working with on a last minute assignment as well. That way they know to expect me as their partner instead of the guy they likely saw on Arbiter.

Duh. What happens in other areas of the country has no bearing on what your state or association requirements are. We don't blow whistles when entering the playing area, for example.

In my part of Rome, we are not assigned games by an assigner. The host school contracts officials for their games. I would work with whomever they schedule. The AD's evaluation of officials also determine our post season success. I leave it up to the host school's administration to follow State Association rules.

I know my situation does not reflect yours, but you asked how other places would handle it. Because of our system, I can't think of a situation where I would tell the host school that I would not work with their chosen partner(s).

That's easy...if the official has a patch, on their shirt as opposed to their eye, they are good to go!;)

Besides, that is the table crew's responsibility to make sure each official is properly patched...if it is deemed that the official has no patch, then the head table person can ask for a qualified replacement....right, chseagle?;)

(I may have created a monster @ Connell H.S. Eagles):D

Yeah, I was thinking that with situations like ours, we can be relatively confident any partner we get is appropriately certified and qualified (two different things). Our assigners are careful enough. But we put a lot of trust in our assigners on this issue.

As Scratch notes, however, that's not always the case.

I personally wouldn't think twice about it.

Apparently the first thing to go is your reading comprehension skills. :rolleyes: I was CURIOUS how people in other parts of the country would handle this. You can feel free to ignore this thread...

As far as patches go, they just this year are requiring patches in Texas, and they just this week "sold" us the mandatory patches ($5 each - complete ripoff), so not everyone has their patches on their shirts yet. Next year it should be easier to tell who is patched, but for now lots of people, including myself, don't have their patches on yet.

As RookieDude's apparent sarcasm notes, patches mean nothing. I'll bet I could go online and buy an Illinois patch right now if I wanted one. Here, it's IAABO patches, and they're always worn for varsity games. JV games, we wear them 99.9% of the time. Not sure on MS games.

5 BUCKS? Our Assignor sells them for a buck each...sometimes he just gives them to an official.

Yep. And they are about 1" x 2" in size. Someone is making some cash.