I am very concerned about the increase of referee abuse in youth soccer.
Soccer is a fast-growing sport, with more and more teams playing year around. To be able to play, you must have an official to enforce the rules of the game, but the number of soccer referees available and willing to work is not keeping up with the demand.
Every year, many teen-agers become referees because they love the game and would like to have a job that revolves around the sport. However, we lose about half of these new referees because of verbal and physical abuse; many leave before their first season ends.
Obviously, the solution to our problem is to create a safe environment for our referees, but that is very difficult when coaches and parents won’t control their own behavior.
Soccer clubs constantly try to deal with this problem by writing articles for their newsletters, talking about referee abuse at monthly coach’s meetings, and assigning a mentor or field marshal present to help the referee and keep watch over the sidelines. But the message doesn’t seem to be getting through, and there are not enough volunteers to watch over all of the games.
If we want to keep referees, we must all help. If even a few people on each team could put a little bit of effort into it, we can make a big difference. Parents and coaches must be less vocal in criticizing each play or each call during a game.
If we don’t do something now about these behavior problems, we won’t have enough referees to officiate our games.
Bothell
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