Click Here To See Dick Vitale Help The FHSAA Recruit Officials.
Recruiting
March 7, 2024 - Jacksonville, FL - Online Referee School Grows/Gains Publicity and Support. See Blowing The Whistle on Referee Shortage: How This Program Aims To Help Nationwide Issue, reported by Keith Dunlap, News4Jax.
----------------------------------------------
February 24, 2024 - The Real Cause of Losing Sports Officials (Abstract), Dr. Matthew Williams, The Sports Journal, February, 2024
--------------------------------------
November 11, 2022 - Mike Pereira, the former head of NFL Officiating, works with military veterans to attack the officiating shortage. Click here for information on the Battlefields to Ballfields program. Click here to see How Battlefields To Ballfields Is Training Veterans To Become Football Officials, reported by Ryan McGee, ESPN.com, November 11, 2022. For more on Battlefields to Ballfields, click here for the San Diego Union Tribune's article, Military Seen As Hotbed For Recruiting Sports Referees, reported by Tod Leonard, June 28, 2017.
------------------------------
July 14, 2022 – New Jersey – New Jersey Program Successfully Recruits New Football Officials. There’s Still A Severe Shortage of Officials In New Jersey and Nationwide. Program Expansion To Come. See Initiative to bring in more, diverse HS football referees shows early signs of success. Reported by Darren Cooper, Northjersey.com
---------------------
These valuable tips will help you recruit officials for your youth league. Click Here for Combating the Shortage of Officials In Youth Sports .
--------------------------------
July 26, 2017 - Crawfordsville, IN - Are We Nearing Crisis Mode With the Number of Athletic Officials?, reported by Jim Johnson, Crawfordsville Journal Review.
--------------------------------------
August 2009 - Click here for Santa Cruz official, Neville Owen's, excellent article Coach, You Can Help Recruit Better Officials.
Officials' Shortages Still Hinder High School/Youth Sports' Growth
August 2, 2023 - Reno, NV - Shortage of Nevada High School Football Officials Means Some Games Won't Be on Fridays, reported by Jim Krajewski, Reno Gazette Journal article published on msn.com
----------------------------------------
July 11, 2023 - Southwest Florida - Referee Shortage Putting Southwest Florida High School Football Schedule In Jeopardy, reported by Jaron May, NBC TV 2.
------------------------------------
November 23, 2022 - California - 'They Were In Tears': Unruly Fans Force California High Schools To Take Action, reported by Connor LeTourneau, San Francisco Chronicle.
--------------------------
July 14, 2022 – Colorado – Fixing The Officiating Shortage In Colorado Is No Easy Task. Reported by Alissa Noe, Colorado Springs Gazette.
----------------------------------
June 24, 2022 - Prince William County, Virginia - Referee Shortage Disrupts High School Friday Night Football Schedules For Local Teams, reported by Dave Fawcett, Insidenova.com.
-------------------------
June 22, 2022 - Tucson, Arizona - "It Has No Place In Our Game" Arizona Youth Sports Seeing Referee Shortage Due to Abuse, reported by Tina Giuliano, KGUN TV.
------------------------------------
June 22, 2022 - Delmar, NY - Shortage of Officials Has Reached A 'Critical Point', reported by Jim Franco, Delmar, NY Spotlight News.
-------------------------
August 10, 2020 - Miami, OK - Referee Shortage Keeps Getting Worse, reported by Jim Ellis, Miami News Record. The poor economy is not leading to a surge in officials in the time of the pandemic.
------------------------------
July 31, 2019 - Sonoma, CA - California's Sonoma and Petaluma areas experience a Growing Referee Shortage, reported by Greg Clementi, Sonoma West Times and News.
--------------------------------------
October 11, 2018 - Lansing, MI - Why Referee Shortage May Have Long-Term Consequences For High School, Youth Sports, reported by Eric Lacy, Lansing State Journal.
---------------------------------------
September 11, 2018 - Beauregard, LA - Parents, Coaches Lead To Officials Shortages Across State, reported by Chris Schoonover, Beauregard Daily News.
-------------------
July 18, 2018 - Iowa - Officials Shortages hit Iowa - and Iowa Fights Back. See Add One: How One State Is Examining The Shortage of Officials, NFHS.org.
----------------------------------
June 30, 2018 - Jackson County, MO - Shortage of officials has become critical in Missouri, reported by Tim Crone, Jackson County Examiner.---------------------------------------------
June 7, 2018 - Lockport, Ill - Illinois high school starts an officiating class to address severe shortage of officials. See Lockport High School Class To Address 'Worst Shortage of Officials' For Youth Sports, reported by C.R. Walker, Chicago Tribune's Daily Southtown Newsletter.
-------------------------------------
May 17, 2018 - Detroit, MI - Officiating Shortages Worsen In Michigan. See Ref Shortage In Metro Detroit Spells Trouble For Youth Sports, reported by Matthew Smith, WXYZ-TV
----------------------------
August 18, 2017 - Adrian, MI - Officiating shortages hit Michigan. See High School Officials Becoming Tough To Find, reported by Doug Donnelly, Adrian Daily Telegram.
-------------------------------------
August 17, 2017 - Madison, WI - Nationwide Referee Shortage Felt In Wisconsin, reported by Saira Anwer, WMTV - 15, Madison, WI.
------------------------------
July 5, 2017 - South Carolina - The South Carolina Youth Soccer Association institutes a month-long "Silent September" to control unruly and verbally abusive crowds. Silent September is part sportsmanship measure and part officials' retention tool as the SCYSA officials' data shows that poor sportsmanship by spectators is making it hard to retain new officials. See Poor Behavior Leads Officials To Silence Youth Fans, reported by Bob Castello, Greensville On-Line, July 5, 2017.
------------------------------------
June 28, 2017 - Bossier, LA - Local Youth Sports: Shortage of Officials? KTBS TV, Louisiana.
-----------------------------
June 16, 2017 - Washington, D. C. - Verbal Abuse From Parents, Coaches Is Causing A Referee Shortage In Youth Sports, reported by Nick Eilerson, Washington Post.
-----------------------------------
June 16, 2017 - Forbes's Bob Cook notes that increasing the number of female officials can help with the shortage of youth sports referees. See Women Are Largely Untapped Resource In Alleviating Youth Sports Referee Shortage, Forbes.com
------------------------
June 12, 2017 - Idaho - They're Out! Umps, Refs Have Had Enough of Your Yelling, reported by Michael Katz, Idaho Statesman.
---------------------------------------
May 10, 2017 - Poughkeepsie, NY - Abuse, Pay Driving Referees Away In Public High Schools, reported by Frank Scandale, Poughkeepsie Journal.
-------------------
May 10, 2017 - NY - Money May Not Be Enough To Grow Ranks For High Schools, reported by Nancy Haggerty, LoHud.com. Can schools pay enough to make it worth an official's while? Does verbal abuse offset any monetary benefits of officiating youth and high school sports?
-------------------
May 10, 2017 - Poughkeepsie, NY - Refs Say A Culture of Abuse Has To Change, reported by Mike Zacchio, Poughkeepsie Journal.
----------------------------
May 10, 2017 - Poughkeepsie, NY - Number of Officials Fails To Add Up, With Age A Concern, reported by Stephen Haynes, Poughkeepsie Journal. Where are the young officials? They're becoming harder to find in the Poughkeepsie area. And rest assured, Poughkeepsie is not the only place having trouble attracting and retaining sports officials.
------------------------------
May 2, 2017 - Tulsa, OK - Number of Oklahoma Sports Officials At Critical Levels, reported by Brian Sanders, KJRH TV-2.
-------------------------------
April 6, 2017 - After a year in which a number of States had severe shortages of officials, the NFHS launches a national officials recruitment campaign. See NFHS Launches National Officials Recruitment Campaign, NFHS.org.
------------------
February 1, 2017 - Corpus Christi, TX - Unruly Behavior Is Sending Some Referees Packing, reported by Roland Rodriguez, KRIS-TV 6 (Corpus Christi)
---------------------------------------
January 31, 2017 - Denver, CO - The number of officials drops by double digit percentage points in Colorado. See Youth Sports Crisis: Schedules Altered Due to Referee Shortage, reported by Kelly Werthmann, CBS TV - Channel 4 (Denver).
----------------------------
January 6, 2017 - Waco, TX - Here's another reminder that the constant verbal - and physical - abuse of sports officials is leading to a shortage of officials. See Let's Cut The Zebras Some Slack, by Bryce Cherry, Waco Tribune.
------------------------------------------
November, 2016 - Shortage of Sports Officials Reaching Crisis Stage, NFHS Report by Bob Gardner and Gary Musselman, High School Today.
October 18, 2016 - The Officiating Crisis: What Can I do? reported by Dana Pappas, NFHS.org.
Bakersfield, CA – June 9, 2014 – Fans don’t think about it, but their misconduct has consequences. In Bakersfield, they’re having trouble getting officials. See Kern County Association Faces Referee Shortage, Bakersfield Californian by Jeff Evans, June 9, 2014.
---------------------------------------
October 2007 - Growing Sports Face Slowdown - They Can't Find Refs. See UHSAA in Dire Need of Soccer Officials by Amy Donaldson and James Edwards, Deseret Morning News, October 8, 2007; See US LaCrosse's Men's Division Officials Council's Shout Out For New Officials, and even youth hockey is affected, US Lacrosse Men's Division Officials Council Web Page; and See Official Shortage Has B-N Youth Hockey Looking For Whistleblowers by Daniel Makarewicz, Bloomington, Indiana's Pantagraph.com., October 29, 2007.
The Christian Perspective On Shortages of Officials: See Football Without Refs by Kelly Boggs, The Baptist Press, July 13, 2007.
Stockton, CA, - Fan Abuse Turns Many Away From Officiating by Roger Phillips and Michael Sudhalter, recordnet.com, April 1, 2007. What can we all do about this shortage? SeeRelationship Between Coaches, Referees Is Key by Roger Phillips and Michael Sudhalter, recordnet.com, April 1, 2007. See the Special Reports Page for the recordnet.com series on the problems poor sportsmanship causes sports officials and other in youth and high school sports..
More Kids Playing + Poor Pay + Poor Sportsmanship = Too Few Officials!! Click Here For Too Few Officials, Oct. 2006 on California Connected TV
Recruiting
March 7, 2024 - Jacksonville, FL - Online Referee School Grows/Gains Publicity and Support. See Blowing The Whistle on Referee Shortage: How This Program Aims To Help Nationwide Issue, reported by Keith Dunlap, News4Jax.
----------------------------------------------
February 24, 2024 - The Real Cause of Losing Sports Officials (Abstract), Dr. Matthew Williams, The Sports Journal, February, 2024
--------------------------------------
November 11, 2022 - Mike Pereira, the former head of NFL Officiating, works with military veterans to attack the officiating shortage. Click here for information on the Battlefields to Ballfields program. Click here to see How Battlefields To Ballfields Is Training Veterans To Become Football Officials, reported by Ryan McGee, ESPN.com, November 11, 2022. For more on Battlefields to Ballfields, click here for the San Diego Union Tribune's article, Military Seen As Hotbed For Recruiting Sports Referees, reported by Tod Leonard, June 28, 2017.
------------------------------
July 14, 2022 – New Jersey – New Jersey Program Successfully Recruits New Football Officials. There’s Still A Severe Shortage of Officials In New Jersey and Nationwide. Program Expansion To Come. See Initiative to bring in more, diverse HS football referees shows early signs of success. Reported by Darren Cooper, Northjersey.com
---------------------
These valuable tips will help you recruit officials for your youth league. Click Here for Combating the Shortage of Officials In Youth Sports .
--------------------------------
July 26, 2017 - Crawfordsville, IN - Are We Nearing Crisis Mode With the Number of Athletic Officials?, reported by Jim Johnson, Crawfordsville Journal Review.
--------------------------------------
August 2009 - Click here for Santa Cruz official, Neville Owen's, excellent article Coach, You Can Help Recruit Better Officials.
Officials' Shortages Still Hinder High School/Youth Sports' Growth
August 2, 2023 - Reno, NV - Shortage of Nevada High School Football Officials Means Some Games Won't Be on Fridays, reported by Jim Krajewski, Reno Gazette Journal article published on msn.com
----------------------------------------
July 11, 2023 - Southwest Florida - Referee Shortage Putting Southwest Florida High School Football Schedule In Jeopardy, reported by Jaron May, NBC TV 2.
------------------------------------
November 23, 2022 - California - 'They Were In Tears': Unruly Fans Force California High Schools To Take Action, reported by Connor LeTourneau, San Francisco Chronicle.
--------------------------
July 14, 2022 – Colorado – Fixing The Officiating Shortage In Colorado Is No Easy Task. Reported by Alissa Noe, Colorado Springs Gazette.
----------------------------------
June 24, 2022 - Prince William County, Virginia - Referee Shortage Disrupts High School Friday Night Football Schedules For Local Teams, reported by Dave Fawcett, Insidenova.com.
-------------------------
June 22, 2022 - Tucson, Arizona - "It Has No Place In Our Game" Arizona Youth Sports Seeing Referee Shortage Due to Abuse, reported by Tina Giuliano, KGUN TV.
------------------------------------
June 22, 2022 - Delmar, NY - Shortage of Officials Has Reached A 'Critical Point', reported by Jim Franco, Delmar, NY Spotlight News.
-------------------------
August 10, 2020 - Miami, OK - Referee Shortage Keeps Getting Worse, reported by Jim Ellis, Miami News Record. The poor economy is not leading to a surge in officials in the time of the pandemic.
------------------------------
July 31, 2019 - Sonoma, CA - California's Sonoma and Petaluma areas experience a Growing Referee Shortage, reported by Greg Clementi, Sonoma West Times and News.
--------------------------------------
October 11, 2018 - Lansing, MI - Why Referee Shortage May Have Long-Term Consequences For High School, Youth Sports, reported by Eric Lacy, Lansing State Journal.
---------------------------------------
September 11, 2018 - Beauregard, LA - Parents, Coaches Lead To Officials Shortages Across State, reported by Chris Schoonover, Beauregard Daily News.
-------------------
July 18, 2018 - Iowa - Officials Shortages hit Iowa - and Iowa Fights Back. See Add One: How One State Is Examining The Shortage of Officials, NFHS.org.
----------------------------------
June 30, 2018 - Jackson County, MO - Shortage of officials has become critical in Missouri, reported by Tim Crone, Jackson County Examiner.---------------------------------------------
June 7, 2018 - Lockport, Ill - Illinois high school starts an officiating class to address severe shortage of officials. See Lockport High School Class To Address 'Worst Shortage of Officials' For Youth Sports, reported by C.R. Walker, Chicago Tribune's Daily Southtown Newsletter.
-------------------------------------
May 17, 2018 - Detroit, MI - Officiating Shortages Worsen In Michigan. See Ref Shortage In Metro Detroit Spells Trouble For Youth Sports, reported by Matthew Smith, WXYZ-TV
----------------------------
August 18, 2017 - Adrian, MI - Officiating shortages hit Michigan. See High School Officials Becoming Tough To Find, reported by Doug Donnelly, Adrian Daily Telegram.
-------------------------------------
August 17, 2017 - Madison, WI - Nationwide Referee Shortage Felt In Wisconsin, reported by Saira Anwer, WMTV - 15, Madison, WI.
------------------------------
July 5, 2017 - South Carolina - The South Carolina Youth Soccer Association institutes a month-long "Silent September" to control unruly and verbally abusive crowds. Silent September is part sportsmanship measure and part officials' retention tool as the SCYSA officials' data shows that poor sportsmanship by spectators is making it hard to retain new officials. See Poor Behavior Leads Officials To Silence Youth Fans, reported by Bob Castello, Greensville On-Line, July 5, 2017.
------------------------------------
June 28, 2017 - Bossier, LA - Local Youth Sports: Shortage of Officials? KTBS TV, Louisiana.
-----------------------------
June 16, 2017 - Washington, D. C. - Verbal Abuse From Parents, Coaches Is Causing A Referee Shortage In Youth Sports, reported by Nick Eilerson, Washington Post.
-----------------------------------
June 16, 2017 - Forbes's Bob Cook notes that increasing the number of female officials can help with the shortage of youth sports referees. See Women Are Largely Untapped Resource In Alleviating Youth Sports Referee Shortage, Forbes.com
------------------------
June 12, 2017 - Idaho - They're Out! Umps, Refs Have Had Enough of Your Yelling, reported by Michael Katz, Idaho Statesman.
---------------------------------------
May 10, 2017 - Poughkeepsie, NY - Abuse, Pay Driving Referees Away In Public High Schools, reported by Frank Scandale, Poughkeepsie Journal.
-------------------
May 10, 2017 - NY - Money May Not Be Enough To Grow Ranks For High Schools, reported by Nancy Haggerty, LoHud.com. Can schools pay enough to make it worth an official's while? Does verbal abuse offset any monetary benefits of officiating youth and high school sports?
-------------------
May 10, 2017 - Poughkeepsie, NY - Refs Say A Culture of Abuse Has To Change, reported by Mike Zacchio, Poughkeepsie Journal.
----------------------------
May 10, 2017 - Poughkeepsie, NY - Number of Officials Fails To Add Up, With Age A Concern, reported by Stephen Haynes, Poughkeepsie Journal. Where are the young officials? They're becoming harder to find in the Poughkeepsie area. And rest assured, Poughkeepsie is not the only place having trouble attracting and retaining sports officials.
------------------------------
May 2, 2017 - Tulsa, OK - Number of Oklahoma Sports Officials At Critical Levels, reported by Brian Sanders, KJRH TV-2.
-------------------------------
April 6, 2017 - After a year in which a number of States had severe shortages of officials, the NFHS launches a national officials recruitment campaign. See NFHS Launches National Officials Recruitment Campaign, NFHS.org.
------------------
February 1, 2017 - Corpus Christi, TX - Unruly Behavior Is Sending Some Referees Packing, reported by Roland Rodriguez, KRIS-TV 6 (Corpus Christi)
---------------------------------------
January 31, 2017 - Denver, CO - The number of officials drops by double digit percentage points in Colorado. See Youth Sports Crisis: Schedules Altered Due to Referee Shortage, reported by Kelly Werthmann, CBS TV - Channel 4 (Denver).
----------------------------
January 6, 2017 - Waco, TX - Here's another reminder that the constant verbal - and physical - abuse of sports officials is leading to a shortage of officials. See Let's Cut The Zebras Some Slack, by Bryce Cherry, Waco Tribune.
------------------------------------------
November, 2016 - Shortage of Sports Officials Reaching Crisis Stage, NFHS Report by Bob Gardner and Gary Musselman, High School Today.
October 18, 2016 - The Officiating Crisis: What Can I do? reported by Dana Pappas, NFHS.org.
Bakersfield, CA – June 9, 2014 – Fans don’t think about it, but their misconduct has consequences. In Bakersfield, they’re having trouble getting officials. See Kern County Association Faces Referee Shortage, Bakersfield Californian by Jeff Evans, June 9, 2014.
---------------------------------------
October 2007 - Growing Sports Face Slowdown - They Can't Find Refs. See UHSAA in Dire Need of Soccer Officials by Amy Donaldson and James Edwards, Deseret Morning News, October 8, 2007; See US LaCrosse's Men's Division Officials Council's Shout Out For New Officials, and even youth hockey is affected, US Lacrosse Men's Division Officials Council Web Page; and See Official Shortage Has B-N Youth Hockey Looking For Whistleblowers by Daniel Makarewicz, Bloomington, Indiana's Pantagraph.com., October 29, 2007.
The Christian Perspective On Shortages of Officials: See Football Without Refs by Kelly Boggs, The Baptist Press, July 13, 2007.
Stockton, CA, - Fan Abuse Turns Many Away From Officiating by Roger Phillips and Michael Sudhalter, recordnet.com, April 1, 2007. What can we all do about this shortage? SeeRelationship Between Coaches, Referees Is Key by Roger Phillips and Michael Sudhalter, recordnet.com, April 1, 2007. See the Special Reports Page for the recordnet.com series on the problems poor sportsmanship causes sports officials and other in youth and high school sports..
More Kids Playing + Poor Pay + Poor Sportsmanship = Too Few Officials!! Click Here For Too Few Officials, Oct. 2006 on California Connected TV
