Problem chain crew's

[maven]

Originally Posted by Ianr

I just finished my first year of officiating and really enjoyed it, I however have had a few situations where the chain crew has been less then helpful and in one instance I took away two phones and threated one with removal for arguing with his "friends" (chains on the home team side). what do you guys do with problem chain crews?

We had one game this season with a chain crew of newer officials, assigned by the conference assignor. One of the crew members is notorious for being a PITA.

At halftime he came in and announced that he would not be working the clip in the second half, because the sideline was too tight and he refused to risk getting his ankle stepped on.

My approach was to offer him a choice: he could do the job correctly, or he could leave and we'd find someone else (one of my crew is recovering from surgery and said he would do it). He asked if I was "kicking him out," and I said I was not, just giving him a choice. He chose to leave, and my guy helped in the second half.

I like handling it this way because (1) I'm not telling him what to do, (2) he has a choice, but (3) we insist on a standard of performance, and (4) get the job done right in the end, one way or another.