Washington officials finally disciplined for charity pink whistles
 

Washington officials finally disciplined for charity pink whistles - Prep Rally - High SchoolBlog - Yahoo! Sports

If you are behind on the topic, you can review this thread:
http://forum.officiating.com/footbal...ncer-pins.html

This just goes to show you that the Todd Stordahl doesn't seem to care about the thoughts/feelings of the officials' associations he is over.

To ban an entire organization from doing playoff games for 2 years while threatening then with decertification for wanting to support a worthwhile cause is wrong.

1. It's not about feelings, it's about power.

2. The penalty has nothing whatever to do with supporting causes, worthwhile or otherwise. It has everything to do with incremental punishment for a group of habitual offenders.

This post just goes to show that you really don't have a clue about this whole situation. There is so much more to the situation than what is in the article posted...the PNFOA has consistently disregarded the WOA rules and policies, and has basically told the WOA that they would do whatever they wanted...to me, this discipline is not enough.

An uninformed post but not unusual for you.

The WOA had an agreement with the basketball and volleyball officials to visibly support the fight against breast cancer and with the football officials to visibly support the fight against prostate cancer. The association knew this. It was explained that they couldn't violate the agreements in place. They chose to do so anyway.

Further, the decision to suspend the association from playoff games for two years was made by the WOA Board, not Stordahl.

They let football guys have a "blue flag" day for prostrate cance awareness. They let basketball, volleyball and socceer use pink whistles. But for some reason these guys were not allowed to do the same. Sounds like someone was trying to flex their muscle. Not surprisingly it was a basketball coach/official.

Another reason to Huck the Fuskies.

This is all about the Stordahl's....

Bungled from the beginning with his "I make the decisions around here" stance and his arrogant TV interview.

The board that suppsoedly made this decision is the same board that allows the WOA staff to consist of only Todd and Kerri Stordhal.

PR is a foreign term in this organization, from top to bottom.

Sigh...

So many people who don't know the whole story, read a few rants from columnists in newspapers, and then think they understand the whole situation.

The WOA has policies and procedures - including a process for gaining permission to do things like use pink whistles during games. The PNFOA did not follow those procedures. It's not the first time. They were told to do it right and basically told the WOA "screw you, we're gonna do it our way." Now they get the consequence - why did it take so long? Because the WOA Board only meets a couple of times a year.

This had absolutely nothing to do with the WOA not supporting cancer research, or not wanting officials to donate their money...it has everything to do with a small group of people in charge of this one local association trying to out-muscle the State association. Didn't work, so they went whining to the press back in the fall.

[QUOTE=rockyroad;760124]Sigh...

So many people who don't know the whole story, read a few rants from columnists in newspapers, and then think they understand the whole situation.

[QUOTE]

So why were other sports allowed to use pink whistles?

Because they followed state procedures for a uniform exception.

OK. So bureacracy is more important than common sense. Wonderful..

IIRC, they did follow procedures to request it and were told they were only allowed to support prostate cancer research.

Frankly, I don't care if this officials' association has consistently broken every rule in the book; WOA, and this Todd in particular, have been jerks in regards to this situation. Saying the local association isn't a group of choirboys doesn't change the fact that WOA board and staff are jerks.

Following a simple process that's put in place by the governing body is common sense as opposed to saying, Screw you, we'll answer to no one and will do what we want."

Thought you were smarter than that.

Why? Because an official from the association who is also a sportswriter portray them as jerks in his story or because an official from the association who works for a TV station was able to get a news story slanted in his favor?

Which, from what I can tell is exactly what WOA has done here.

I just want one of you apologists to explain why other sports were allowed to wear pink whistles and why football guys were allowed to wear blue flags but these guys were not allowed to wear pink whistles. Seems like an arbitrary and unsupportable decision to me. If the PNFOA perceived they were being forced to play under different rules (as it seems they were) then kudos to them for doing the right thing.

I'm definitely not an apologist, but what I read was that WOA assigned charities and you were only allowed to support the charity you were assigned. I agree that it was completely arbitrary and indicative of WOA being power-hungry.

Again, one more reason these processes are silly to me. The best crews and individuals should work the post season, not based on what organization you belong to. Even if they did not follow a policy as an organization, is this the reason to flex your muscles? And one of the reasons this is a PR nightmare for this state. Penalize the individuals that participated, I am sure there are people that did not participate. Oh well, just thanking God that we are not judged by an entire association action, especially when it comes to assignments.

Peace

I'm in the PNFOA and would like to hear the details on what rules & policies we've disregarded. (I'm not on the board, and I really don't know the details surrounding this situation outside of what's been released by the WOA.)
-JLF

And that is part of the problem. It seems or sounds like this was the big issue. If it was not, then tell the entire story. Just saying there are other violations seems a little silly if you are not being more specific.

Peace

So what about those in the association that did not participate in wearing of the pink whistles? Why should they be punished? (there had to be some that didn't participate)

How come College Football & No Fun League are allowed to support Breast Cancer Awareness yet HS Football cannot?

I came to my conclusions, not by reading just one article, but by searching for all the different articles about this situation & reading each one.

I don't know any apologists but I'll see if I can break down so you can understand it, even though I know you still won't agree.

In order to show support for two different causes, the WOA voted to allow basketball and volleyball officials to use pink whistles to show that officials' support breast cancer research and to allow football officials to use blue flags to show support for prostate cancer research. It's symbolic. Any official can donate a game check or any amount they choose to for with cause or any other cause.

I venture to say that if basketball or volleyball officials had chosen to use blue whistles, they would have similiar problems with the WOA for violating the directive.

I really don't see why that's so difficult to understand.

I don't no whether there are those that didn't participate or not. But I know the decision to go against the WOA was made by the PNFOA. The assoication made the decision for all of it's members, therefore are members are subject to any disciplie.

That's a really stupid question. HS football officials can support Breast Cancer Awareness if they choose. No one has ever said they couldn't. So why publicly violate what the WOA has said would be allowed? Why couldn't they just publicly made a contribution to a local charity association with BCA? The answer is simple. They weren't interested in Breast Cancer Awareness. They wanted to rebel against the WOA.

It's not symbolic; it's asinine. What possible purpose did it serve to deny the request the local association made other than to inflate egos at WOA by exercising arbitrary power?

The problem with your argument is that the WOA is the statewide organization recognized by the WIAA that all local associations join and agree to abide by their rules and regulations. They chose not to and knew they faced possible sanctions. The PNFOA has to abide by what the WOA decides, not the other way around.

What's stupid is some bunch of yahoos who can perceive one iota of logic in declaring officials of a certain sport can only publicly support one charity.

It's clear to me that it's time the WOA was disbanded. It's clearly more interested in exercising arbitrary power than serving the interest of the officials it purportedly represents.

Seriously, what kind of person prohibits a display in support of breast cancer awareness?

Wearing a pink whistle or using a blue flag is asinine???

I'm beginning to think you're either asinine or that you can't read and comprehend a simple statement.

[quote]What possible purpose did it serve to deny the request the local association made other than to inflate egos at WOA by exercising arbitrary power? [/qoute]

How about because a decision had already been read by the executive board, which is comprised of members from local associations from across the state, on how such situations would be handled so that there would be statewide consistency?

You don't even know what the WOA is comprised of, do you? You should like some of the fans I read, complaining about their state association.

Support all the charities you want, just do it within the guidelines that representatives from all local associations have previously agreed to. How difficult is that to do?

I swear you guys sound like fans, whining and complaining about officials. I'm done.

You're the one not comprehending simple statements. It's asinine to ban the pink whistle. The only purpose I can see to not allowing football to use the pink whistle when other sports were allowed its use is the exercise of arbitrary power. Statewide consistency would also have been achieved if it had been allowed.

The only real thing I know about them is they think they have the moral authority to dictate who can support what charity. But from their name I assume they are supposed to be an association of officials in Washington. Despite this, they seem very antagonistic and unresponsive to officials in Washington.

Except they can't because they don't work soccer or volleyball. The WOA acted like jerks and we're calling them on it. You can try to spin it as much as you want, but at the end of the day the WOA dictates to its member what charities they can support, despite what you say above.

It must be noted that other state associations did not care about this. We did the very same thing as a crew and we did not do it to raise money specifically for a specific organization. We even asked this of our state people and they said after this controversy broke, "No such problem in Illinois." So this to me is a power grab and the reason the WOA looks silly in this. Whether you agree or not whether these whistles or other items should be used is not the point. If you have allowed them in other cases, what is the problem in this situation? And it is especially odd when the officials were doing this with the support and help from the schools. Nothing wrong with following some rules, but is this the rule you want to stick your chest out for?

Peace

I will try to explain this again. And I know that some of you are basing your reactions to the WOA based only on what you have read or seen in the media. The problem with that is that the PNFOA has a board member who is married to one of the Seattle area newscast people, and so the original story was slanted to their side - oh, the big bad WOA won't let us wear pink whistles and donate our money. Not true at all...the WOA has specific procedures in place to apply for exemptions to certain rules - the uniform rule being one of them. My basketball association applied for, and was granted, an exemption two seasons ago. It's not hard to do...but the PNFOA guys did not follow the proper procedure and so were told not to wear the pink whistles. No one ever told them they could not donate their money. They told the WOA that the WOA had no jurisdiction over them and they would do whatever they wanted. It is NOT the first time they have acted this way...so the WOA Executive Board - not Todd Stordahl - decided to administer the consequence that the PNFOA was warned could be applied prior to the game in question.

So you guys in Texas and the East Shire and wherever else - you keep on reading your internet news stories and jumping all over the wrong people. The WOA did nothing wrong...they did not stop anyone from supporting any cause - they simply followed the by-laws and procedures that EVERY local Association, including the PNFOA, agreed to follow.

I will willingly grant you everything you just said as Gospel. WOA is still wrong in disallowing the whistles and they are still doubling down on stupidity in punishing referees for supporting breast cancer awareness.

See, I've heard both sides and the WOA is still acting arbitrarily in order to flex its power. Obviously, the WOA doesn't have a problem with pink whistles, but it will kill your career if you don't follow a procedure that they designed by themselves because they wanted a procedure.

Do you get the picture? The WOA thinks an arbitrary procedure is more important than breast cancer awareness.

I do not care what the procedure is; this is a silly thing to be upset over. For one I do not know how wearing or not wearing a pink whistle was such an offense. And just like things have happen other places and people have commented on those procedures, we can do the same thing here. Basically the penalty does not fit the crime. Maybe if they completely ignored a mechanic or if they said they would ignore a playing rule, but this over a Pink Whistle? Really?? I actually have no problem with a punishment, but you cannot blame everything here on the media either. That is pretty lame to say the media story is all slanted because of someone's relationship. I think that story would be the case no matter what. Kind of like how our state was hit for their actions in the State Finals over a jersey issue. Not every media story was not from one outlet.

Peace

The WOA and its supporters in this have picked the wrong "hill to die on." The only "reason" you have is a weak "thems the rules, folks". All that does is reinforce the opinions of the unwashed masses that they are the "typical" autocratic, unbending, field (or court) dictator.

Why didn't the WOA "allow" the request to use the pink whistles?

This whole deal reminds me of those officials who insist an incoming sub get inside the numbers before he can request a timeout when there is no advantage gained by calling it outside the numbers.

The BS meter just got pegged....

How did this Seattle area newscast person persuade Napoleon to announce to the whole world...

"There's one person who has the authority to make that decision, and it's not PNFOA."

Seems to me that Napoleon frogot about the Executive Board.


Make no mistake, this is all about Napoleon not getting his little photo op and the credit for the officials supporting a cause.

As a member of the WOA (but not the PNFOA) I know that the WOA has had problems with the PNFOA doing their own thing in the past. The WOA has told them on multiple occasions to do it the same way everyone else in the state does it or there will be consequences.

They didn't properly apply for the exception, the WOA told them don't do it (actually they told the entire WOA their ruling) and the PNFOA said we don't care what you say. This was not their first time breaking a WOA rule/policy/procedure on purpose so the WOA felt that the PNFOA needed to be punished. The reason for the punishment was only partially related to the pink whistles.

As a member of the WOA I am glad that the WOA finally told an association that has thumbed their nose at the WOA and the rest of the associations in the state to sit down and shut up. Heck, had they done this quietly and not been so public and rubbed Todd Stordahal's nose in it and brought the media in, no one would have known and there wouldn't have been a punishment, but the appearance of being generous and supporting charity was apparently more important then actually doing so.

Jasper

This is the whole problem. Instead of complaining that the paperwork didn't get filed correctly so denying the request, WOA should have worked with PNFOA to get it approved. Instead, WOA took an opportunity to grind an axe against PNFOA.

Again, what kind of person says no when someone asks to support breast cancer awareness?

It really doesn't matter how many different ways you try to explain it. The bottom line still comes out that WOA is more concerned about paperwork than women.

Again, I'd love to hear specifics. In the five years I've been here it seemed like we were generally sticklers for sticking to the WOA uniform/mechanics (well, except for this one time). If this really is for other stuff besides the pink whistles, I wish that could be made public as part of our punishment so we know what we need to change/look for.

I don't want to get us in further trouble talking about this here, but I will say that in the meeting where we decided to go ahead with wearing the whistles, we were told that a specific whistle color was not mentioned in the WOA uniform code. Personally, that gave me the impression that we might be in the clear if this eventually came to a head. In fact, in the e-mail sent to us last week, the bulk of the punishment (2 years probation and a reduction in playoff assignments for 2011 and 2012) is stated to be for our board "intentionally [ignoring] a direct policy interpretation given them by the WOA Commissioner". The actual "association-wide violation of the uniform code" only earned us a letter of reprimand. I don't have a copy of the WOA uniform code and I can't find it online, so I can't say for sure whether whistle color is actually specified. (As far as I know it's not called out in the NFHS rules or officials manual.)

We did go to a non-zero amount of effort to purchase and distribute the pink whistles to 100+ members. Hearing of this ruling and/or interpretation on essentially the eve of our benefit was probably a factor in our (admittedly emotional) decision to just go ahead with it anyway.

We're in the Seattle metro area, where there's a lot of media; we've got officials who are members of the media. There's not going to be any way to keep a lid on this story. If the story breaking was one of the reasons we were punished, that wasn't explicitly stated.

-JLF

Blue flags. LMAO

Someone must have a spouse at the Chicago Sun Times. ;)

Peace

WOA loses in the court of public perception. Even if they are technically right, they are also completely wrong at the same time.

This is the quote from Stordahl I do not understand.
What rules does the average public even know what we follow or do not follow? And I think they would get over it the minute they found out you were doing it to raise money and everyone on the field is representing the very same message. I guess common sense does not rule the day.

Peace

One of those dastardly "Seattle area newscast people" must have mis-quoted him. ;)

It seems to me that if there is a rogue association who disregards the state, then you punish them. What you do not do is punish them for wearing breast cancer whistles. What you do not do is then change your tune when the whole world is watching. And you definitely don't then flip flop again six months later when you think the whole world is no longer watching. If this pink whistle loving bunch of revolutionaries are as out of control as you say, then they will most certainly fall off the reservation again; and, when they do you can feel free to smash them into little pieces.

What you don't do is make a fool of yourself and your organization by punishing refs for wearing stinkin breast cancer whistles!

I think this sums up the situation perfectly...

Maybe WOA was wrong in telling PC not to use the pink whistles over bureaucratic nonsense... So shame on them.

Maybe WOA should have told them that in THIS case, because the cause was noble, they would allow it despite their lack of following protocol. So again, shame on them.

But they didn't. They told PC not to do it - IN ADVANCE of them doing it. How could they NOT penalize them when they blatantly did it anyway? If they don't penalize such blatant disregard for authority, future "Don't do that's" have no teeth.

Imagine your a baseball umpire and you (right or wrong) tell a coach, "One more word and you're gone." He then turns to you and says "Breast cancer." If you don't toss him, you're warnings have no further purpose and you have no credibility.

So you're saying you always have to double down on stupidity?

I can't say you're wrong about this; in fact you're probably right that having already taken the stupid action of denying the request in the first place, the WOA was committed to having to punish PNFOA in some way. However, the level of punishment given here is way out of line with the act committed and it doesn't give WOA immunity for being called out on the stupidity and general jerkiness of having forbidden it in the first place.

Yes, when the authorities are jerks you sometimes get punished for doing the right thing. That doesn't change the fact that the authorities are jerks or mean you shouldn't do the right thing.

Oh, and the WOA lost its credibility when they denied the use of the pink whistles, so this is really closing the barn door after the horse has left.

I dunno about you, but I took his post kind of tongue in cheek...on a side note, that's why we should never tell coach anything close to "One more word and..."

Ref: "Coach, one more word and you get a T!"
Coach: "Yes sir"
Ref: *Whack?!*

Could be, I didn't take it that way. It's so darn easy to miss that stuff on the internet.

Then why in the world didn't Napoleon tell the world that they applied, were told no and did it anyway?

Instead he said they didn't ask it was a dress code violation.

He's flipped stories on this so many times, it's comical.

Maybe he should check with the WOA "staff" before he shoots all his toes off on camera.

Don't you mean "double up"? If they were doubling down they'd at least be promising not to pile on any further stupidity beyond that.

The following is from an article written by the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, WA. This happened at the 3A Regional meet in Spokane. This is the same group (WOA/WIAA) that suspended football officals for using pink whistles.


The Kamiakin Braves won the sprint relay in 42.77 seconds, which is the fastest time in the state for Class 3A schools this season. They were then given their first-place medals, when an opposing coach noticed the team was wearing different color uniforms.

The rules state that if two or more members of a relay are wearing tights under the uniform, then all relay members must wear the same colors. Three of the Braves were wearing black tights and one white tights.

The meet's games committee convened and initally voted 3-1 to deny the protest and let Kamiakin move on. Another protest was then filed because not all members of the games committee were present for the vote. After much talk, the second vote went against Kamiakin, allowing Eastmont's relay team to earn the final state-qualifying spot.

"Coach (Cheryl) Schauble came over to me and told me," Johnston said. "I didn't think she was being serious until I saw her face. I didn't know how we got disqualified."

Kamiakin took the protest to the WIAA, but the appeal was denied.



Read more: Kamiakin's Johnston sprints to state - Sports: Track | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news

Actually the track uniform rule is an NF rule. They weren't the first team to get caught up in it. I seem to recall a Muslim girl who ran track made headlines for being in violation of it.

There was an Illinios (IIRC)) track team that suffered the same fate for the same violation several years ago. It's a stupid rule, and it is stupid to allow such protests AFTER the contest is over, but you can't lay this one on WOA. They were merely enforcing the NF rule.

I too would have a hard time finding fault with this decision.

Looks like the issue is far from over in Washington.
=======================

Refs punished for pink whistles take state association to court
by CHRIS DANIELS / KING 5 News
SEATTLE -- The “Pink Whistle” officials are throwing the flag at the organizations which govern state high school sports.

KING 5 News has learned the Pacific Northwest Football Officials Association filed suit in King County Superior Court against the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) and the Washington Officials Association (WOA). It asks a judge to overturn punishment the WOA handed down to the organization, after the officials used pink whistles in a game last October.

The PNFOA was using the whistles as part of a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and had donated their game checks to the cause. The group says the effort raised $4,734.

“We thought it was important to raise funds for Komen for the Cure, and that’s we wore the pink whistles,” says referee Gavin Anderson.

“There was no rule we couldn’t use a pink whistle,” says PNFOA President, and fellow referee, Jeff Mattson.

However, the WOA said the group violated uniform code, and a direct order given to them by the WOA commissioner Todd Stordahl. In May, the WOA issued a two-year probation for the referees, and docked them several game assignments for the 2011 and 2012 football playoffs. The WOA Board wrote in a newsletter that the referees showed a “blatant disregard of WOA policy” and “although some may not like the position taken by the WOA there has to be a line drawn and the WOA feels comfortable with the rationales used to reach this decision.”

The suit also alleges the PNFOA was punished for speaking to the media, and posting on blogs, about the controversy. The suit alleges the “content based restraint on speech and expressive conduct” is unconstitutional. It not only seeks to have the punishment rescinded, but also allow the PNFOA to break off as a separate organization with full authority to referee games. The PNFOA says the WIAA has a monopoly over interscholastic competition, and that WOA Membership is required to officiate at WIAA games.

“That is the ultimate goal, to break from the WOA and to allow the PNFOA to contract directly with the WIAA and the schools,” said PNFOA attorney Tyler Firkins.

“We’re setting a good example, taking a leadership role, what we think is right for all officials in the state of Washington,” adds Mattson.

“We wore pink whistles,” says Anderson, “It’s not that big a deal.”

A WIAA spokesperson said Executive Director Mike Colbrese was unavailable for comment. Stordahl was out of the office, and did not return our multiple calls for reaction.

I need a refresher on the authority of WOA and the relationship with WIAA.

If WOA is the gatekeeper for WIAA post-season assignments ....

This is fantastic. Simply do nothing and wait for another oppurtunity to punish the pinkies. Instead, now you are in a federal lawsuit.

This is a perfect example of the term overly officious.