Kansas schools forced to play football on Thursdays due to referee shortage

The ongoing referee shortage in Kansas has resulted in shifting high school football games.

To accommodate the lack of referees, many schools across the state were forced to play games on Thursday night rather than Friday.

Scott Goodheart, a former referee of 19 years and current director of the Kansas State High School Athletic Association (KHSAA), told local news reporters that many of their referees have aged out, leaving a vacancy.

A recent story from News Nation Now detailed the referee dilemma high schools in Kansas are facing this season. Below is an excerpt from the News Nation Now story.

“We have a lot of veteran officials that have stepped away from the game as they should because they’ve done their time; they’ve done it now. Maybe their grandparents, maybe they just don’t feel safe or comfortable doing it anymore,” said Goodheart.

He said they’ve worked with 80 schools in Kansas to create a class for high schoolers to learn to referee games. However, not everyone decides it’s a long-term commitment.

“A kid does this in college, and they do it for three or four years, and maybe they go start a new job, and that job’s not allowing them the flexibility they had,” said Goodheart.

Next week’s game between South Central High School in Coldwater and Ashland was moved due to a lack of refs available. Their principal said this disrupts students’ schedules and leaves parents unable to attend games due to conflicts with middle school games.

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“As soon as one crew falls through or something happens, there’s not any replacements, then you end up with you all kinds of scrambling to make sure you get the game in,” said Bud Valerius, Principal of South Central High School.