officials

NJSIAA Launches Referee Recruitment Initiative with $300 Rebates
All over the country, athletic departments are lamenting the pains of the referee shortage to officiate games. Although much has been said about what can be done to offset this shortage, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (N...

High school officials feeling impact of coronavirus sports stoppages
With many areas of the country on a virtual lockdown due to the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic, high school sports athletic associations have been forced to cancel or indefinitely suspend winter and spring sports. [caption id="a...

MHSAA dealing with potential high school officials shortage
[caption id="attachment_28864" align="alignright" width="300"] Image: David Sanborn / Creative Commons[/caption] In roughly a decade, the number of high school officials in the Michigan High School Athletic Association has dropped by 2,500 officia...

The importance of retaining quality officials
[caption id="attachment_26893" align="alignleft" width="125"] Michael Poploskie[/caption] As a baseball/softball official for more than 20 years, I have seen many officials come and go. Some leave because of the time constraints of their regular j...

Survey: 57% of referees say sportsmanship getting worse
A new survey conducted by the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) provides a glimpse into the minds of referees and some of the challenges they face on a regular basis. Among the findings, 57% of officials said they believed sportsmans...

New Jersey football refs walk off field over athlete protests
UPDATE: The two referees in the story below have been banned from working any more games for the remainder of the football season, according to NJ.com. One of the referees, Ernie Lunardelli, has hired an attorney and is unsure how he proceed. ...

Texas increases pay for high school referees
Texas' athletic association is increasing pay for high school sports referees, an effort to combat the sharp decline in those interesting in officiating games. According to the San Antonio Express-News, the University Interscholastic League's (UIL...

Between the Lines: What to do about the disappearing referees
[caption id="attachment_26932" align="alignleft" width="100"] Kevin Hoffman[/caption] It was five years ago when I first heard rumblings of referee shortages at the high school level. Pennsylvania’s longtime officials had noticed high turnover and...