Verbally Abused Referees Shying Away from High School Sports

[wlaxnut]

This was a sad and disturbing article about one reason for the growing shortage of referees in high school athletics here in Massachusetts. I thought it was relevant to this forum as high school is where most of the talent comes from into division 1 women's lacrosse.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/high ... dMore_Pos3

[seacoaster]

It is relevant because we cannot recruit former players -- who should be the next generation of officials -- into the ranks of officials.

Anyone who knows the rules and has stood along a sideline and listened to parents yell (for example) "shoot it!!!!!!!!!!!!," when their daughter is nine meters away and defenders are guarding Little Flower's teammate, who is standing in front of the cage, understands why officials are getting harder to come by. It's a little like a self-governing society: you need to understand the basic rules in order to vilify the officials, and even then, a respectful decorum usually helps.

[8meterPA]

I find that if your kid is a defensive player you tend to think the refs are fine and every dodge is a charge and there is never shooting space and if your kid is an offensive player, you tend to think the refs stink and they get hit on the head on every dodge and there should be a yellow card.