As Bob M. mentioned we do 5 here for varsity in NJ. It's really unfortunate because I have a friend who just attended a college clinic this week and he had the opportunity to work in a 7-man crew with NFL and College officials giving him a critique. For those of us looking to move on to the college ranks it would be of great benefit to work in 6-man crews. The gentelman who got to work these scrimmages said most of the critiques were that "high school officials move TO MUCH" and it's a habit that's easy to get into because with 5-man you have to move that much more to ensure proper coverage.

I'd be willing to have the 5-man pay cut 6 ways but I know it wouldn't be a welcome suggestion by some people.

I would imagine a high school official who's used to working a 6-man crew have an advantage over someone whose only done 5-man when working scrimmages for the scouts. Would you college guys tend to agree with that? Is it all that different?

Ed,

In Section I, Rockland Cty. generally uses 5. The rest uses 5 at the request of the home team. We actively recruit schools to use 5 and now have almost half of them. We got the concession in our last contract that if a school asked for additional officials all would get a full fee. We are working very hard at converting some of the old stalwarts who think that 25% more officials means 25% more flags. Hopefully we will be there soon. We now use 5 in all playoff games.

In Sacramento, Ca. we use five man crews for all soph and varsity games. A few small religious schools will use four man crews. We use all five man crews when playoffs start.

We work 4 or 5, depending upon what the school is willing to pay for. Most are now 5. (from ND)

Good point Maxbk. I was thinking that as well. The continuity would be so much greater if you had 6 all the time and not just playoff time. Good habits form, the games have greater coverage, and you are much better prepared to advance. But, hey, at least we have 5 and not stuck with 4.

Just a thought.
 

I would prefer to work 10 games on a 5 man crew with the same guys all season, especially if we have a great rapport and chemistry.

I just don't like to work 7 man with a different crew every week.

REPLY: Joe...don't know about South Jersey, but we could never field enough crews to cover our games if we moved to six-man crews. Barely have enough to cover 5-man crews.

In Iowa, 5 man for Varsity, 4 man for JV, and either 3 or 4 man for MS.

Section II is four-man for all regular season varsity games, and five for playoffs. There were some individual schools that were willing to pay for five officials, but the section put the kibosh on that midway through this last season when it became clear that the contract dispute Section II is having with its officials in nearly EVERY sport was going to become a protracted pissing match in which the section wasn't overly likely to get what it wanted.

Oregon
 

Unfortunatly, our OSAA Handbook still states that four officials are required for varsity football contests. (That printed word thing)
Fortunatly, most officials associations have worked with their conferences on a local level and are providing 5 officials for most 4A football games. Some conferences work 5 for ALL varsity contests regardless of the levels.
Unfortunatly, the 4A Portland Interscholastic League continues to use poverty as an excuse and will not pay for more than 4 officials.
Fortunatly, the Portland Interscholastic League is the ONLY 4A league in the state that holds firm on this issue.

So to compliment our "official" title of <b>lowest paid football officials in the nation</b> <i> (confirmed by 11/04 Referee Magazine spreadsheet),</i> we are still working some 4A varsity football games with 4.

Varsity - Some 4, Mostly 5
Junior Varsity - 3, 4, or 5
Lower levels - 3 or 4

Chicken, egg and contract. Not enough good officials. How come those football guys make so much.

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I was just in Merrick and Oceanside last month - it aint cheap. It seems like Long Island has become a extension of NYC price-wise. Every time I go to LI, they seem to have squeezed more people in there. Yikes, it's crowded.

Next time you are in Merrick, stop by my house. I can't think of anywhere else in the nation where .2 acre "in the burbs" would cost you 1/2 million dollars but Long Island. Just saw a 1/4 acre lot where they built three houses.

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By the way, Sections IV, V and VI are 5 man (unless there are leagues within them I don't know about who are still going with four).

Have to think coaches are going to clinics and reading about complicated passing offenses. Then, putting them into their playbook. Take a coach who has been coaching football for 10 years and I bet his offensive scheme has become more complicated. Yet, if there are still four officials on the field the officiating has not been able to keep up.

Georgia.
My association uses 4 man jv and below, 5-6 man for varsity, always 6 for playoffs. We have also used 7 on some occations (mostly preseason for training purposes).

My wife is originally from Merrick and her cousin lives now in Oceanside - was there for a Bar Mitzvah. I can only tell the difference in the towns by the name on the LI RR station as I drive by on Sunrise Highway!

You're in Merrick? She grew up on Loines Ave. (As my father in law says - "When Long Island was farmland")

Guess I never thought about it but it is true, every town has a stop on Sunrise Highway.

Loines is about three blocks north of the RR station. There is a funeral home on the corner. I'm a quarter mile south of the RR station on what used to be swamp land.

I can think of a half dozen places around DFW, most of which are within a few minutes drive of here.