Perhaps the real question is why are there not enough referees?
The game needs referees just as much as marquee players, just as much as new drainage, just as much as players, coaches and spectators.
I'd be curious to know how many foz users referee or have refereed at some point. The foz users are some of the most passionate about our game, and if say only 10% of foz users have refereed, that's not speaking too highly for the appeal of being a ref.
When I first started, the Rooball concept was in full force. And you are refereeing 5 year olds kicking a tiny ball into pieces of PVC pipe. Now, some of the stuff I heard coaches saying, parents yelling out would make you cringe. Now, each year they used to take on 20-30 referees in Macquarie. Not sure as to those figures now. But I daresay you lose about 30% of that original group each year, for various reason. The most common reason and thought process is that it's not worth it.
So your second year, you start moving up to the full field and maybe go up to U/14s. (This has probably changed due to no refs being needed til what, u12s now?) and you get to deal with all the A grade coaches and parents who thought their children fart Armani cologne or perfume. The stuff you heard at Rooball, it gets worse, parents/coaches make comments after the game as you walk back to the sheds, or line up at the canteen. There's an unhealthy culture in junior sport whereby it seems acceptable to ridicule referees.
So, if you've made it this far, you start to deal with the testosterone filled adolescents and maybe some representative games. This is where the occasional player dissent from 14 year olds, turns into expletive riddled verbal abuse. From both players and coaches now. Players try and fight each other and tackles become more and more dangerous.
If you decide you're a sucker for punishment, the next step is all age, with experienced referees mentoring you as a linesman. Now all age is a very mixed bag. As I'm sure most understand. Some P grade games have the nicest guys all just having a fun, kick around in good spirits, whereas the next P grade game is riddled with more swearing, abuse, threats, dangerous tackles, etc. by this stage you decide whether you want to venture into state league referees and do some NPL youth games, where the parents are worse, the coaches are too and the players see mum and dad yelling, their coach yelling and think they can too.
What I've detailed, some happened to me, some my friends and colleagues. Some games were an absolute pleasure, even the tough and sometimes dirty games, were good. As long as everyone is respectful, there's no worries. As you get older, you can deal with things better. You have passive retorts. You can reason and liaise with players better. You can tell them, "I don't come and swear at you when you make a mistake and miss a shot, what makes me any different to you?". But for young up and coming referees, the abuse is not acceptable and turns people off. As a result, the referees are more inexperienced, and compound the issue.
Just my 2 cents on the referee situation. For the record, our region is quite lucky to have such a large number of referees. In Sydney, their "park soccer" (all age/juniors) rarely have official referees.
Originally Posted by zzzzzzzzzz
