Impact of Technology on Football

[IndyBison]

https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id...als-tough-spot

There have been so many articles on the shortage of officials. This is the latest, but I think it takes a little different approach. It still touches on the verbal and physical abuse aspect and the impact it has on the number of officials. When you read articles like this does it make you say, "they could really use my help. I think I might do that."? Or does it make you say, "I'm never going to become an official if that's what they have to deal with."? I think most people would say the latter.

I'm glad the awareness is being raised, but I think we need to push more to the positives of officiating. Staying in the game, giving back to something you love, the camaraderie between officials, having a "hobby" that ultimately doesn't cost money and you may actually make a few bucks. I think articles like this hurt our ability to recruit new officials. This is a video our state football association did a couple years ago to help recruit new members. I think we need more of this.



I've only felt physically threatened twice in my career where we need a police escort to our cars from the locker room after the game, but nothing happened with either. Youth games are the worst, and I haven't worked those in 15 years.

We are in heavy recruitment mode across the country for the Fall. I'm afraid the shortage issue will only get worse and more games will be moved to Thursday or Saturday or cancelled entirely, especially youth and sub-varsity games. Who out there is ready to step up and take your talents from the stands to the field? As I tell people, it's harder than you realize, but it's not hard to learn.

[ByeSonBusiness]

https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id...als-tough-spot

There have been so many articles on the shortage of officials. This is the latest, but I think it takes a little different approach. It still touches on the verbal and physical abuse aspect and the impact it has on the number of officials. When you read articles like this does it make you say, "they could really use my help. I think I might do that."? Or does it make you say, "I'm never going to become an official if that's what they have to deal with."? I think most people would say the latter.

I'm glad the awareness is being raised, but I think we need to push more to the positives of officiating. Staying in the game, giving back to something you love, the camaraderie between officials, having a "hobby" that ultimately doesn't cost money and you may actually make a few bucks. I think articles like this hurt our ability to recruit new officials. This is a video our state football association did a couple years ago to help recruit new members. I think we need more of this.



I've only felt physically threatened twice in my career where we need a police escort to our cars from the locker room after the game, but nothing happened with either. Youth games are the worst, and I haven't worked those in 15 years.

We are in heavy recruitment mode across the country for the Fall. I'm afraid the shortage issue will only get worse and more games will be moved to Thursday or Saturday or cancelled entirely, especially youth and sub-varsity games. Who out there is ready to step up and take your talents from the stands to the field? As I tell people, it's harder than you realize, but it's not hard to learn.

I am going to be moving soon, I was thinking of getting involved if my schedule allows it.

[IndyBison]

I am going to be moving soon, I was thinking of getting involved if my schedule allows it.

If you chose to officiate send me a PM and let me know where you are moving. I'll likely know someone in the area and can connect you.

Another thought comparing coaches to officiating, both ways to stay involved. The abuse officials take is nothing compared to coaches. We hear it for 2-3 hours on Friday night. They get calls from mom and grandpa all week. An official gets paid as much or more than an assistant coach stipend. We spend more time than just the game, but it's still less time than coaches. It's less stressful because you don't care who wins.

[OrygunBison]

If you chose to officiate send me a PM and let me know where you are moving. I'll likely know someone in the area and can connect you.

Another thought comparing coaches to officiating, both ways to stay involved. The abuse officials take is nothing compared to coaches. We hear it for 2-3 hours on Friday night. They get calls from mom and grandpa all week. An official gets paid as much or more than an assistant coach stipend. We spend more time than just the game, but it's still less time than coaches. It's less stressful because you don't care who wins.

I coach youth and it's not so bad. We just make everyone understand at the beginning of the season that being a squeaky wheel makes absolutely no difference and will actually take away from our effectiveness if we're having to manage that BS. They just need to trust us to do what's best for their kid. The only reason why we are there is to help every kid get better and to keep the game that we love moving forward. We back that up all season. For the most part, I only get good stuff from parents. They know that all of our main coaches get a stipend from the school district and almost all of us donate the money back to the program in one way or another. Since our district covers a low-income part of town, my own focus is getting some of those kids proper nutrition and making sure that they have the right cleats, etc. I also give a ton of rides to kids, probably driving around town for an additional 45 mins after practice/games. Probably the only negative thing from parents is that they tend to be very needy in youth sports. In the past 2 years, however, we've been able to get a parent volunteer to deal with most of that as well.

Officials, unfortunately, don't get to build that relationship with the student athletes/parents/etc. I have an enormous respect for guys that do it. We're mostly good with our refs, only bitching a bit when something is egregious...and only if it matters in the game. (...and because it is only YOUTH football, for fucksakes) We do our best to keep ourselves in check, though, and allow absolutely nothing from the kids to be said to the refs. We also get parents that like to get closer to the team and I will kick them out immediately if I hear any coaching from them or negative crap to the refs. They also have to stay generally out of our zone.

Around here, we get a lot of our youth refs from the local high schools. The HS coaches recruit some of their players to be refs on Saturdays. Those kids are cheap for the district and we generally take good care of them in spite of that. On more than one occasion, we've had a bad call from one of these kids on our sideline and you could tell that the kid was rattled. We've taken the time between plays to encourage them, even if the previous mistake hurt us. I'd like to think that that goes a long way to not killing their interest later on.

[ArKSU]

Was a Ref in my early and mid-twenties and I tried to return off and on for many years but they don't cut you any slack after 3 heart attacks and T1 Diabetes.

After all, God put Football on Earth to be enjoyed by all ---American Football, not the other kind.

[Bison bison]

Was a Ref in my early and mid-twenties and I tried to return off and on for many years but they don't cut you any slack after 3 heart attacks and T1 Diabetes.

After all, God put Football on Earth to be enjoyed by all ---American Football, not the other kind.

Must have been a hellova game!

[natstar1]

Indy said a couple things that reminded me of two stories.

I was coaching HS basketball and I once told a mom she should ref a basketball game. Her response, "I could never handle someone like myself yelling at me."

I received and email from a grandma that we "should practice making baskets." <----ground breaking stuff right there.