could you please tell me if it is a conflict of interest for a ref to be officating a high scool basketball game if he teaches at one of the schools in the game?

If so, who could I make an official complaint about this to?

Thank you so much!!

We rarely see officials working <u>varsity games</u> that are school employees.
But using school employees happens very often below the varsity level.
In most cases, the "conflict of interest" question is perceived, or believed, to exist by the losers.

Why do you think the official was cheating?

mick

Isn't it obvious?

His/her team lost - therefore the refs must have cheated. Look it up - it's in the rulebook at 11-42-3.

Send your complaint to:

My Team Lost
ATTN: Whining Dept.
1010 Needs A Life Avenue
Loserville, USA

It is amazing
 

ALL of Rule 11 talks about "conflict of interest" and losing teams can file a complaint.

All kidding aside, there is no rule against a conflict of interest.

Is it ethical, no. Is it discouraged, yes.

But there is no one to complain to, it is just one of life's lessons.

I mean, you could send a letter to the AD, but whio do you think hired the guy?

How about working your High School Alma Mater? I was assigned to mine for a home game (FR / JV) and when I reminded the assignor he didnt seem too worried.

I dont have children going there.

I didnt play sports there.

I havent been to a game in 10+ years

I do support their fund raisers for financial aid.

I do attend 2 or 3 football games there a year.

In the end, next time I think I'll politely decline. I just knew too many people. It didnt affect my play calling but I was concerned about future perception. Funny thing was, the visiting team thought my partner was the home grad. Uh, nope.

Anyone else out there run into this? How did you handle? Should I go where assigned or should I avoid this one next time?

I remeber the janitor from my last high school got assigned to the high school (where he works) like at the last minute. He walked in the gym and some people were like what?? I have to tell ya that was one of the best games i've ever seen called. Incident happened where the coach was getting a little mad and called the guy by his nickname trying to talk to him while he was on trail. He just sat there and ignored the coach till he finally called him by name or official. I dont remeber I was keeping stats for the coach that game so i had a good seat for it all. It was funny

Funny this topic should come up:
I received my schedule for the rest of the season today. In it, I saw I was assigned to work the in town rivalry game between the two city schools. I felt VERY good about getting assigned such a "big" game, but there was a small problem. My wife is the varsity girls coach at one of the schools. I will be working the JV boys game, so I do not see any conflict. I did bring it to my assignors attention, and he said he specifically put me on that game, (Head is now 5x's larger)and ask if I had a problem doing the game. I told him I could care less about the boys side of it, but just wanted to make him aware. He said thanks and that is that! Should be fun. The JV coach is also the girls Varsity coach.

If you toss you wife the next game of hers you'll call the school will make a killing on tickets LOL
One of the guys i've worked with was telling me how he called his wifes game when they lived in Indiana. He was the hero of the town for tossing his wife (yelling at him and his partner). LOL! It was funny. he said the next time he called one of her games the stands were packed.

Might be real fun to see, but I'd be reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally careful when I got home that night.

You are wise beyond your years, Grasshopper. Especially for one who can't even get a girlfriend (at least according to your "Away" message :D )

Chuck

Thankfully, I will NEVER do one of her games. I have already requested this of our assignor. Although, he said for kicks he would love to schedule that just for the fun of watching both of us go at it. (We are both rather animated people!)
Just doing to boys games is going to be interesting. I am just going to treat it like any other game, because I could really not care less who wins. I am more focused on the "nature" of the game. Like I said it is one of the two in town rivalries. I am honored to be assigned to it.

conflict of interest
 

OK alright, isn't a womens' right to WHINE??? :):):)

Thanks for all the responses but let's face it it is not the ethical thing to do and small towns in Texas get away with this stuff all the time! soooooooooooo there

Re: conflict of interest
 

Have you considered that there is a huge shortage of officials in Texas and this type of thing is sometimes necessary? Perhaps you could offer your considerable tallents and start officiating! :p

conflict of interest
 

OK, maybe I will, anyway there was a very simple solution, just talk to the other coach about the situation.........get everything above board, that's pretty easy, isn't it??

Oh yeah, we are going to go to the other coach and get him ticked before the game even starts? I don't think so...Ma'am, with all due respect, we are the officials. You are not going to get any sympathy here, you should be whining on the http://www.howlermonkeys.com board, that is where coaches voice their concerns about officials.

I am wondering why you are so convinced it's an ethics problem?? As a teacher, I have reffed my schools (Middle School) games before in a pinch type situation, and had no problems calling fouls on "my" students... I ref many former students when they get to the HS level, and have no problems there either...why is it such a big issue for you? In my experience, the team that gets the short end of the stick in those situations is the team from the school where the ref teaches - we tend to be harder on them than the other team...by the way angelseven - what was the score of the game in question??

Ethics are nice
 

In a perfect world.... Wait, that doesn't exist.

Firstly, often times schools are hard-pressed to come up with two officials and concern whether there is a conflict of interest is overlooked out of necessity.

Secondly, even though the potential for conflict of interest exists when an official is contracted for a game it is not an inherent that the game will be called impartially. For example, I was forced into a "conflict of interest" game last week, my students knew "I call them the way I see them" and they were going to be on the "short-end" of any marginal call.

Isn't it obvious?

His/her team lost - therefore the refs must have cheated. Look it up - it's in the rulebook at 11-42-3.
__________________
"It's not just because I'm a bi(@&- it's the law."

&

Send your complaint to:

My Team Lost
ATTN: Whining Dept.
1010 Needs A Life Avenue
Loserville, USA
-----------------------------
I love how some folks on this board are quick to tell another official, "I would have to have been at your game to tell you how I would've made the call in question." However, when a non-official ask a legit. question, these same people give a reply similar to the two examples above. Don't get me wrong, I REALLY LIKE this board. And I have learned and/or come to understand many rules of officiating from this board. Our assoc. does not assign officials to work varsity games at the same school they work. Yes, of course their is a COI when a high school employee officiates at his/her place of employment. Consider the trouble (perceived or real) an official could be in if they toss a coach, toss a fan, or goodness forbid, blow a call. To answer the question at hand. I would find the assigner of the game and ask that person about conflicts of interest. Keep in mind that you need facts not your just your perception if your team happened to lose.