One Official

[New AZ Ref]

Last night 4-man crew was scheduled to work a JV game.

I was the only one who showed (still don't know what happened to the others!)

Come kick off time, no one else had arrived, so I called a friend who was off and asked him to come in.

Delayed the game for 1/2 hour while waiting for 2nd official and he brought a third one with him.

My question is what if I couldn't find another official. I was ready to ask for either coaches or parents to help watch the lines and work it myself. As far as I know there is no association rule about how many officials are required to work a game.

How would you have handled this situation. Considering this is only my 2nd JV game, I sure didn't want to try and do it alone.
(I know, I should have called the WH before the game to verify, but I didn't. Probably won't make that mistake again.)

[mcrowder]

I've called a handful of 7th/8th grade games with just 2. R covers L's side, and H covers U.

But we have a standing rule that if only 1 shows up, you don't play it. It's not fair to either team.

And at JV, I would not do it with 2 either. Too many things to watch for at that age - have to have at LEAST 3.

[biglaz]

If this was in WI then you would need 3 officials. If there's not 3, there's no game. You'd need 4 for varsity.

[kdf5]

I did a 9th grade game by myself. It was the one of the most enjoyable games I ever did. Our local HS contracts with local officials and no one showed but me. The kids were great, the coaches and fans were great too. Afterwards the AD wrote me a check for all four positions.

[Deep]

In many states, such as Michigan, you can not work a game with unregistered officials, such as parents, etc. to cover the lines. I don't know if that's true in AZ or not.

Anyway, for a JV game, I wouldn't work with less than 2, and I'd be very hesitant to work with anything less than 3. I agree with mcrowder, it's just not fair to the kids, and there's probably a safety isssue.

[Rich]

Originally posted by biglaz
If this was in WI then you would need 3 officials. If there's not 3, there's no game. You'd need 4 for varsity.

I'm in WI -- we never work with less than 4, and as biglaz mentions, we're required to have at least 3.

Some great rules here -- no such thing as a 1-umpire game in baseball. You don't have 2, you can't play a game. Great if you ask me.

[jfurdell]

One-official mechanics
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- Stay in your car.