Bad behavior not helping refs shortage

SIOUX CITY — The email popped into the inbox, and the subject line “Assaults against officials” caught my attention.

The message included a link to a newspaper story about an April 9 assault in Fort Madison, Iowa, in which a parent who’d been ejected from a 3-on-3 basketball tournament game for yelling at the officials later punched one of them, causing the official to hit his head against a wall and momentarily lose consciousness.

The fan now faces a criminal assault charge — all because he disagreed with a few calls.

Stories like that don’t make it any easier for schools and athletic organizations already facing shortages of certified officials in all sports to recruit more men and women to voluntarily submit themselves to verbal, even physical, abuse.

“Hundreds of thousands of kids participate in athletics, and if they are witnessing officials get berated, ridiculed and disrespected, why would they even consider going into that profession or even taking officiating up as a simple hobby?” asked Lewie Curtis, director of officials for the Iowa High School Athletic Association. “Recruiting people to such an environment is virtually impossible.”

There are currently 4,208 officials registered with the IHSAA. That’s down more than 500 from five years ago, more than 1,000 from 12 years ago.

Retirement played a role in the decline, and officials are increasingly older. Curtis said more than 50% of Iowa’s certified officials are older than 50. A survey in Nebraska also showed older officials outnumber younger ones.

But the number one reason officials in both states gave for hanging up their whistles was not age. It was poor behavior of parents, coaches and fans.

“Imagine having to go to work and dealing with people taunting, ridiculing, yelling, etc.,” Curtis said. “It is simply not fair to expect officials to work in that type of environment.”

(Full disclosure: I, too, am a sports official, so the topic strikes close to home.)

To be clear, the bleachers at every game are not filled with raving lunatics screaming obscenities at referees.

Local soccer officials Theodora McElhose and Keith Felts work boys and girls games from youth to college levels. Felts, a 14-year veteran, says behavior isn’t that different now than when he started.

“It just depends on some of the parents,” he said. “I’ve never had anybody really say anything bad about what I do.”

McElhose said she’s never felt threatened, and a thick skin helps her ignore remarks from the stands. But she understands not everyone is able to block them out.

“It’s hard to put up with stuff like that for some people,” said McElhose, a 12-year veteran.

Again, it’s a big reason why officials quit, and it exacerbates the shortages at all levels of competition.

Nicole Goodwin, the athletic director and girls basketball coach at Kingsley-Pierson High School for 19 years, has seen other schools reschedule or cancel games because they couldn’t find officials. She’s coaxed retired officials to work games for her.

Goodwin said athletic directors talk about reducing the number of games teams play or moving games off the popular nights when everyone else is playing and needing officials.

Or they settle for playing games with fewer officials.

Sean Johnston, of Bennington, Nebraska, assigns umpires for Sioux City and Sergeant Bluff high school baseball games. He has 20 umpires — half the number he needs — to cover 375 games this summer. He still has dozens of openings to fill as the season nears.

If he can’t get two umpires for a game, they’ll play with one. Schools move games to the afternoon so they can get umpires, who will then likely call more games that night at another school.

It leads to overwork and burnout. Then add in some know-it-all yelling at you from the crowd for seven innings at the fourth game you’ve umpired by yourself that day.

“A lot of times it’s not worth the abuse for what you get paid,” said Johnston, who’s umpired 26 years at levels from youth to college and also officiates basketball and football.

Officials are expected to be perfect, but they’re not. They miss calls. Some are not as good as others. Unfortunately, because of the shortage, less-experienced officials must work varsity games before they’re ready, increasing the likelihood of mistakes.

In an age when everyone’s shooting video with their phones, videos of bad calls get posted on social media, go viral and generate nasty comments. In extreme cases, threats are aimed at the official. It’s a tough environment in which to retain younger officials, Johnston said.

“It’s just not worth it,” he said. In order to hold on to current officials and make officiating appealing to new ones, something must change.

“Treating people with respect has to be taught at an early age from youth through middle school and high school,” Goodwin said.

McElhose suggested tougher consequences for coaches and fans who misbehave.

Johnston said his local officials’ organization trains and mentors new officials, helping them improve and raise the quality of officiating.