From the various sports that Wilsonville High School consists of, for any of those to take place, the sport requires referees. Referees play a vital role in the production of any sporting event, but over the past few years, the accessibility to those referees seems to be going down.
Over the years, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, referees have slowly started to decrease. Our athletic staff has encountered much of a predicament trying to scramble to get referees at the last moment. There could be many reasons for this issue, but a big one could be fan behavior.
Josh Davis, Athletic Director commented on this idea saying, “The behavior of the fans has really changed why people want to officiate.” He also adds saying, “It’s really somebody’s second income and so they are like “I shouldn’t have to be treated that way.”
Fans have a way of getting to the referees and can tend to overstep with their own opinions. A lot of the time parents or students may disagree with a certain call, and it can impact whether or not referees enjoy giving up their time to do something they are supposed to be passionate about.
Most referees at the high school level see officiating as their hobby or their second job. With making only about $45 an hour, they are starting to see it’s not worth it to be dealing with fan behavior. Officials want to officiate because they enjoy it, and they don’t want to encounter poor fan behavior.
“I look at your generation, my son’s generation, and those in their 30s who should be stepping into those roles where you play and now you give back, but I’m not seeing a lot of those people wanting to give back like they used to,” says Davis.
Most of the time, people enjoy playing their favorite sports when they are kids, where when they later grow into adulthood wanting to give back to the sport they love. Davis shares his concern that he’s not seeing that spark of wanting to give back anymore. Unfortunately, that adds up and contributes to the bigger issue.
Without referees, it affects our sporting teams here at Wilsonville High School. Most of the sports consist of 3-4 teams, which means more referees are needed to officiate. Unfortunately, the lower level teams like JV2 and JV take the consequence of it.
Soccer and softball coach Tammy Sue Bradley adds to this mentioning, “It more impacts lower levels because the associations try hard to make sure that they have all the officials needed for the varsity contests.”
In some ways, varsity teams are affected by the referee shortage, but most of the time the lower levels are impacted more. Bradley says, “We have to change the times, we have to change the date, and sometimes we have to settle for having less quantity of officials than we see ideal.”
Much of these changes because of the shortage take a toll on the lower-level teams because there needs to be enough for varsity. It can affect the efficiency of the games and can put more stress on the athletic department having to make all the adjustments and changes in a short amount of time.
With the effects it has on the actual sporting teams, it also affects the budget that is given to the athletic department. The rates are starting to rise as they are trying to entice people to work by offering better wages.
“Prices have gone way up because what they are trying to do is get people to work because if they want to do it they want to make enough that’s worth their while,” adds Davis.
Many athletic associations hope that increasing wages will attract more referees interested in officiating sporting events. This does have its consequences, though, as many budgets have gone up at Wilsonville High School and other schools as well.
As referee accessibility has slowly decreased over time, athletic departments are hoping to increase the referee status. They hope that fan behavior will improve and the younger generations will start to fill referee spots.
The shortage has affected sporting teams and events, but athletic staff have been able to find solutions during those moments. It has helped all of our sporting teams succeed in what they do and go out and play the game they enjoy.