Crews or No Crews

[CO629]

With respect to HS Varsity Football, my association chapter is considering changing the way assignors assign games. Currently, games are assigned to individuals based on availability and position desired.

Changing to crews is being considered. Assuming you get on a "good" crew, I see the benefits of working with the same crew every week. But I also see several cons:

1. What if you get "stuck" on a lack luster crew?
2. What if you can't work a particular day of the week?
3. What do we tell the new officials? Can they rotate in?

I fear the "good" crews will be picked behind closed doors with the outward appearance of fairness. The current system spreads the games around based on indiviual reputation as an official rather than crew reputation. One or two slugs on your crew can make you look bad regardless of your ability. And I don't want to lock-out the new officials we've worked so hard to train.

I'm sure I haven't considered everything. I'd appreciate your input, pro or con. Thanks.

[Forksref]

We make up our own crews and we stick to them all the way through playoffs. There is always some turnover, but we keep filling spots with younger guys who are deemed as having potential and we develop them.

For playoffs, we have a rule that rookies and inexperienced officials are replaced with experienced officials.

I like the 'team' aspect of our crews. Working with the same guys week after week allows you to know each other better and we build confidence in one another and we communicate well. It's also fun to go out each week with the same guys. When someone has a conflict, we fill the spot with someone we know and have confidence in.

It doesn't take long for good young officials to get on a crew. We have a shortage of experienced guys. The young ones gain experience and are noticed when they are doing sub-varsity games. In the sub-varsity games we don't have crews since the games are mostly played in the afternoons and most crew guys have job conflicts. Younger guys get experience there under the guidance of an experienced official who white hats the game.

Our association rates the crews when playoffs come around. This is done by the FB reps who get input from coaches and other officials. We try to get all crews who are deemed playoff caliber a playoff game each year and the best crews will work farther into the playoffs. There is no perfect system that makes everyone happy, but the FB reps are voted on by the members of the association, so there is some accountability here.

Good luck.