Football Officials Association Ends Relationship with Youth League

 
In my experience, the youth football officials are the most inexperienced while the fans mostly don't say much. We were lucky to have two officials and glad that they showed up.

I can't imagine what kind of coaches, parents, and players take it that seriously to the point that they can no longer get officials. Serves them right...
 
Yappi said:
In my experience, the youth football officials are the most inexperienced while the fans mostly don't say much. We were lucky to have two officials and glad that they showed up.

I can't imagine what kind of coaches, parents, and players take it that seriously to the point that they can no longer get officials. Serves them right...
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Youth football is a training ground for new officials just as it is for younger players. And even veteran officials that work youth football still hear the abuse. Parents' and coaches' complaints at that level are without merit more often than not. And even if a complaint does have merit, it's freaking youth football.

It's really simple: there's a pay-to-BS ratio that officials are willing to put up with. That ratio has become smaller over the years as pay has stagnated and abuse has worsened. In the case of this league, it's clear that the ratio was bad enough that the association's officials weren't willing to stand for it anymore. So the EPOA gave the league the middle finger. Bravo to them and their membership for being united.

While it's hard for me to feel sorry for the TCYFL as it's clear they enabled the behavior and didn't pay enough for officials to put up with it, I do applaud them for calling out the offenders and not passing the buck to the officials. It's just unfortunate it got to this point before they realized they had a problem in the league.

Officials don't owe their time to anyone, not even the kids. As the article mentions, the league needs the officials more than the officials need the league.
 
When I manged a baseball team, we routinely had only one umpire. The reasoning was because of the cost. We were trying to keep it inexpensive and chose to limit the costs of umpiring (this was league wide).

Many times, there were close plays at second base where the fans thought the umpire was wrong. I explained to them each and every time that if we want better calls, we are going to have to pay for a second umpire so he can be closer to the play. For the most part, our parents (and players) understood.

There is a cost/benefit ratio for the teams too. Professional sports has the money that they can do instant replay with super slow motion in high definition. The cost to that has to be incredible but they can afford it. The lower you go, the cost becomes a bigger issue. Youth sports are already too expensive. If we are not careful, we may get to the point where a lack of officials may drive up the cost for all sports.
 
It is unfortunate that the combination of rising costs, fewer officials, and more helicopter parenting has steadily hurt youth sports.

That being said, I’m not a “what about the children?” kind of guy. Adults created this mess, now fix it if you really care about the kids.

It’s not the officials’ job to subject themselves to disgraceful pay and working conditions for the sake of kids playing football.

And actually, this league specifically called out the players themselves for their misbehavior. As I said in another thread, kids are a direct reflection of their adult mentors.
 
It is unfortunate for the community..hurts the kids and parents of kids that enjoy the game and watching their kids. I ran our local program for about 10 years, coached and officiated so certainly understand all sides. As an organization, we addressed behavior with coaches prior to the season and used that as one of the factors in selecting coaches. Our Board of Directors stood strong against any misconduct by coaches, players or fans. We also use only licensed officials and pay them more than lower level HS/MS. Not saying that issues didn't arise but when they did we took care of them immediately without exception. As a result, issues were at a minimum. Of course having a good group of local officials who were dedicated to preserving the league and helping it grow is a huge benefit. As long as they are happy and the leaders of the group continue to take a hard stance on misconduct the league should continue to prosper.
 
BobcatQB said:
It is unfortunate for the community..hurts the kids and parents of kids that enjoy the game and watching their kids. I ran our local program for about 10 years, coached and officiated so certainly understand all sides. As an organization, we addressed behavior with coaches prior to the season and used that as one of the factors in selecting coaches. Our Board of Directors stood strong against any misconduct by coaches, players or fans. We also use only licensed officials and pay them more than lower level HS/MS. Not saying that issues didn't arise but when they did we took care of them immediately without exception. As a result, issues were at a minimum. Of course having a good group of local officials who were dedicated to preserving the league and helping it grow is a huge benefit. As long as they are happy and the leaders of the group continue to take a hard stance on misconduct the league should continue to prosper.
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Kudos to you guys.

Too many league directors cower in fear to the idea of standing up to "paying customers." It's pretty clear where their priorities lie.
 
Yappi said:
In my experience, the youth football officials are the most inexperienced while the fans mostly don't say much. We were lucky to have two officials and glad that they showed up.

I can't imagine what kind of coaches, parents, and players take it that seriously to the point that they can no longer get officials. Serves them right...
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Unfortunately at the youth level the coaches and fans behavior is worse IMO. "Coaches" are sometimes just parents who played the game once upon a time-sometimes with little coaching training or experience. Parents just care about their child and no one else. Both sets probably only went so far athletically and live vicariously through the kids.
I'll bet if you hit the parents with "you want more refs- the dues per child will double" you'll get a huge decrease in " HOLDING!!!!! INTERFERRNCE!!!! HORSECOLLARRRRRR!!!!" the next game
 
nupanther said:
Unfortunately at the youth level the coaches and fans behavior is worse IMO. "Coaches" are sometimes just parents who played the game once upon a time-sometimes with little coaching training or experience. Parents just care about their child and no one else. Both sets probably only went so far athletically and live vicariously through the kids.
I'll bet if you hit the parents with "you want more refs- the dues per child will double" you'll get a huge decrease in " HOLDING!!!!! INTERFERRNCE!!!! HORSECOLLARRRRRR!!!!" the next game
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I'm of the opinion that, more often than not, you could have a full 5-man Friday night crew for a Saturday morning youth game and the parents and coaches would complain just as much. We would "miss" just as many calls in their eyes and they'd complain that paying five officials is a waste of money.
 
As a youth football coach, that last thing I want is for the refs to over officiate a game. Depending on the age, there are certain penalties that they can overlook or at some level give guidance rather than throwing a flag. They could call holding on pretty much every play but unless it really impacts the play or is way too egregious, then just let the play go. Maybe even give a kid a warning or a heads up that you could have called holding. Illegal man down field on pass plays is another one that can be called but unless the lineman is really down field, just let it go if he is not really impacting the play.
The other area that youth refs really come into play is related to safety. They have to protect the kids from over zealous coaches and parents who tend to overlook a potential injury.
The less penalties they call, the better the game will flow. Most of the time there is another game immediately following the current game so it helps keep the whole day on schedule. The calls/no calls will even out over the season. Typically the refs don't really care who wins so they are not intentionally making bad calls either way. Eventually we are going to run out of refs as the millennials just are not into all of that drama. So the parents and coaches just need to chill out and enjoy watching their kid push themselves and compete.
 
As an official in the state of Kentucky we run into the same issues as every where else. Our Association doesnt require anyone to officiate anything other than state assigned games (ie nothing other than high school). Guys do the pee wees for extra money. If we ever had issues we simply remove the issue. Always let the head coach know that his assistant is going to cost him 15 and a unsportsmanlike penalty, that usually shuts the assistants up. The main reason the fans get fired up is because the HC is fired up. We preach calmly approaching the HC and explaining what was called and why without stopping the game. And if you blow a call or
Miss a call we man up and admit it. It works for us way more often than not.

In this instance if it was that bad our association would quickly do the same thing. You can only warn adults so many times. I agree with the officials here.
 
The real question now is whether other officials will walk over EPOA’s back to take the games. Hopefully not, but the officiating community is unfortunately a bastion of backstabbing sometimes.

Refs are in a no-win situation when it comes to how tightly to officiate. Flag everything, you’re over-officiating and not letting the kids have fun. Don’t throw enough flags, you’re going to let the kids get hurt.
 
zebrastripes said:
The real question now is whether other officials will walk over EPOA’s back to take the games. Hopefully not, but the officiating community is unfortunately a bastion of backstabbing sometimes.

Refs are in a no-win situation when it comes to how tightly to officiate. Flag everything, you’re over-officiating and not letting the kids have fun. Don’t throw enough flags, you’re going to let the kids get hurt.
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I know the league has reached out to at least two surrounding associations..... both have politely declined to provide their services.
 
This would actually be a great opportunity for the parents to get some hands-on experience with officiating. Many of them think they can do a better job, now let them prove it.
 
Just from reading the article and the leagues facebook page, this is not a snap decision. In my opinion the officials have been talking about walking for a while now, and whatever the catalyst was going to be happened last week. Coaches and parents that don't know the NFHS rules simply believe they can treat the officials how ever they want. I've been doing this long enough where I will actually ask an angry parent or assistant coach to give me a definition or ask them a rules question. !00% of the time they don't know the answer and they are completely embarrassed in front of their crowd.
 
JackEd said:
Just from reading the article and the leagues facebook page, this is not a snap decision. In my opinion the officials have been talking about walking for a while now, and whatever the catalyst was going to be happened last week. Coaches and parents that don't know the NFHS rules simply believe they can treat the officials how ever they want. I've been doing this long enough where I will actually ask an angry parent or assistant coach to give me a definition or ask them a rules question. !00% of the time they don't know the answer and they are completely embarrassed in front of their crowd.
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They believe they can treat officials however they want because league personnel doesn't have the backbone to put a stop to it. After all, parents are their customers.

And often times, leagues don't need to put a stop to it. If an official gets sick of the abuse, all too often there will be another official ready to sell his soul. Associations crave as many assignments as they can get and many an official will prostitute himself for whatever price.

Not much different than high school assigners throwing their officials to the wolves to appease coaches and ADs. They would rather keep their assigning gig than piss off their customers. Thankfully, no one I work for kowtows to those parties.

Thankfully in this case, EPOA realized that the league was toxic and put its foot down.
 
No one wants to be an official and a cop. Both are begging for people but the public is just too stupid right now. God forbid the other team is actually better
 
It's going to take more strong stances like this for the perpetrators (and their enablers, i.e. league oversight) to realize that this is a very real issue.

In this case it looks like, for once, the majority of opinions aren't passing the buck to the officials. About freaking time people called out the real offenders and stop making the officials a scapegoat.

I agree with stripes - why not let the parents officiate so the season can continue? Perhaps they are now realizing that there is value in having trained officials and treating and paying them appropriately?

Sometimes it takes the worst-case scenario for people to wake up and acknowledge that there must be change.
 
I have "liked" just about every thread. All good stuff.

As a long time coach, fan, dad, ex player, and father of an official I can tell you it comes down to league administration.

I suggest every parent be required to take an online course.

My son had a problem parent every time he officiated this kids team. I told him to stop play and kick the man out. Make a point to embarrass him in front of everyone by not allowing play to continue until he left. Done, problem solved but it should never get to that point. Officials are not doing games to kick fans out. Younger officials especially get more easily intimidated and will simply quit doing games.

With everything said, our youth sports culture needs a serious reboot. Too many parents living through their kids. Too many believe each and every moment means the world. Too many believe their kid will play for OSU and moonlight with the Yankees.

Administrators and Officials Associations just need to continue to crack down and allow zero bad behavior. The OHSAAs recent stance was a great move. If we keep moving in this direction things should return to normalcy.
 
I know that there are so over the top parents in youth football. That being said, has anyone been to youth soccer matches? Parents are completely insane.
 
Baron Von Steuben said:
I know that there are so over the top parents in youth football. That being said, has anyone been to youth soccer matches? Parents are completely insane.
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The shortage of officials in soccer has been specifically problematic for the OHSAA in comparison to football. Not surprising if you think about it.
 
Our local youth league actually has a penalty for bad behavior. Too much complaining from the stands? Flag and 10 yards against your team.
Coaches and players get ejected. You will usually see a couple of these and that ends it.
I blame the league administrators for not having something in place to address this type of behavior immediately. You gotta nip it in the bud.
 
COLTCOUNTRY said:
Our local youth league actually has a penalty for bad behavior. Too much complaining from the stands? Flag and 10 yards against your team.
Coaches and players get ejected. You will usually see a couple of these and that ends it.
I blame the league administrators for not having something in place to address this type of behavior immediately. You gotta nip it in the bud.
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Many leagues do have policies in place. They aren’t enforced strictly enough or at all. The offending parents are paying customers, after all.

Policies mean nothing if you aren’t going to enforce them or aren’t going to support the people tasked with enforcing them (i.e. the officials).
 
MSL said:
Many leagues do have policies in place. They aren’t enforced strictly enough or at all. The offending parents are paying customers, after all.

Policies mean nothing if you aren’t going to enforce them or aren’t going to support the people tasked with enforcing them (i.e. the officials).
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Very true. It’s all about enforcement.
 
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