Why officials quit?

[Kirby]

We continue to officiate every year though because there is no other feeling in the world than standing on the field on a Friday night with the band playing and the fans screaming for their team when the teams run onto the field. Their are some things worth overlooking if you enjoy what you are doing.

And I think if more people could experience this feeling, then all associations would have better numbers. I've been officiating for 5 years now and moving forward I want to make it part our crew's future seasons to try to work with more new officials.

[FredFan7]

I think sportsmanship and schedule are key factors. I have a young family and the wife and I have an agreement on how many games I'll do in a week. While I wish I could referee every opportunity, I must admit it's hard to come home for 30 minutes, change into my gear and leave for a JV game with my daughter bawling for her daddy. So for me, it's two games per week--one JV and one varsity.

I don't work pee-wee anymore because around here they play Sunday and Sunday is church and family day. Pee-wee is where you get your first taste of officiating football, but around here the worst sportsmanship is at the pee-wee level. So you have officials learning by trial and error and then you have coaches and parents exhibiting unsportsmanlike conduct that a HS coach wouldn't try because the state association would severely punish him. I've seen state final officials eject coaches from a pee-wee game, so it's not just the newbies that suffer. After a couple of bouts with a wild coach or parent I would think many new officials would say, "I'm giving up a precious day off for THIS?"

If an official wants instant gratification or money out of this avocation, they're in it for the wrong reasons. However, if an official quits because of the poor sportsmanship, I am sympathetic. I'd try to encourage him or her to keep it up, but if they ultimately decide to quit....well, what can you do?

[Jim D]

I started very young and worked for over 20 years before I quit. I quit because of the usual factors - my son was playing HS football, I was tired of the politics, the coaches and everything and I just felt it was a good time for me to walk away.

Luckily, I had some friends who kept asking me every year of two if I were ready to come back. After being out for a long time, I finally said yes and returned. I've enjoyed the second time around as much or more than the first time. It suprised me how easily and quickly it all came back.

[parepat]

I think that we also need to look at ourselves as a reason why people quit. I don't think we do enough to help young officials. Just the opposite. This year I heard from several guys fresh out of the class that they were reemed by older officials for mistakes they made during games. Of course they are going to make mistakes in their first year or two. I played football all my life up thru college and I can tell you that my first year in officiating I was completely clueless. We need to do more to help them. I was part of a class of thirteen officials 11 years ago. There are only 2 still doing it today. That is a terrible attrition rate and I believe that fault lies in part with us as mentors.

[SWFLguy]

I'm kind of surprised no one mentioned $$.
I know the trite response is-- "I'm not in it for the money".
But let's face it--if you want to get people to do something
on their off work time--you have to pay them well enough
for them to make the investment in their time.
If the pay was sufficient, we would not be having
discussions like this.
Plain and simple.

[parepat]

Originally Posted by SWFLguy

I'm kind of surprised no one mentioned $$.
I know the trite response is-- "I'm not in it for the money".
But let's face it--if you want to get people to do something
on their off work time--you have to pay them well enough
for them to make the investment in their time.
If the pay was sufficient, we would not be having
discussions like this.
Plain and simple.

Great point. It would probably improve quality as well. More money = more officials = more competiton for games = better officiating.

As it stands now, there is such a shortage of guys that even the worst officials work a ful schedule in our area.

I'm gonna go rent "Norma Rae" and "Hoffa" and start to organize.