I'm just a rabid football fans that loves to go to see high school games in the Paducah area. I'm old and have no one to yell for, I've been to see Mayfield, McCracken Co. and Paducah Tilghman. The officiating has been worse than awful, It's atrocious. Does anyone know what qualifications the officials are supposed to have. It's not like I just started going to games, I've been going for over 60 years in Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, and Alabama and these local official are the worst I 've ever seen this year. One game I went to was a little over 3:30 minutes, the officials were the reason.
High School Football Officials
- Thread starter Cobb4uk
- Start date
They're not high pay. Refs take a lot of crap. It is what it is.
Pay a fee, pass a test, get trained. The state is governed by the KHSAA, there are several official associations in the state that cover the 16 regions. The Louisville and Lex areas have the best officials, with N. KY, they train the most and produce the most college officials. You go out of those areas and you never know what you are going to get.
The older ones and better ones are retiring. Pay sucks and younger people don’t want to get into it. Sports doesn’t mean as much to them. Plus they don’t need players and parents coming out of the stands and assaulting them. Can’t blame people for not wanting to do it. I refereed basketball for 47 years and retired 2 yrs ago. I miss it to an extent but the best years were a long time ago.
One high school game I was at this season I saw more flags thrown in one game than I could ever remember on any level.
Thanks Don! I officiate BB in Indiana. It’s my fourth season, I started really late in life, but love it.
You are right about younger people not wanting to do it. I live in Southern Indiana and one of the officials that they use a lot for basketball is Billy Haynes who's 80 years old. He's from Henderson Kentucky and I think in the KHSAA HOF. He's well known in Kentucky and also did college games.
I was at the Miami Northwestern v Vero Beach game earlier this year. Miami NW had 32 penalties for 243 yards, and Vero had 18 penalties for 138 yards. That said, high school officiating is a low paying, thankless job. Several states are seeing shortages of officials now, and having more and more Thursday night games just so they can cover them.
The good ones leave and potential good ones never give it a chance because fans and parents act like jacka$ses. Why sign up to get treated like garbage when you’re only making a few bucks out of it?
It's not just in Ky. Georgia has such a shortage that some games have to be moved to Saturday or Thursday because of not enough officials. The shortage leads to inexperienced officials calling varsity games instead of calling middle school or JV games for a season or 2. Experienced officials are leaving for various reasons, retiring, getting older, with offenses today it requires better conditioning. Sadly some are leaving for personal safety, helicopter parents or handlers take calls personal.
Hey at least they have officials. KHSAA golf allows for players to keep scores with no officials to verify it. If there is a disagreement they always side with the girl whose score is in question because an official isn't there to witness what happened. So she can say she shot a par when in reality she may have shot a double bogey and there is no way to correct it. It would be like going to the Sweet 16 and telling the basketball players to call their own fouls, walks and double dribbles. Let me say having a girl that just completed her 3rd year of HS golf I know first hand there are a lot of cheating golfers out there.
Isn't that the way HS golf is scored across the country?
I have no idea since she has only played in KY. It should be a pre-requisite for a country club to host a region or state tournament that they provide enough volunteers to follow each group and keep score. In my opinion too much is at stake to depend on those kids to be honest because some just aren't.
I loved it too and that is why I did it for so long. Good luck as you go along.
Yeah I'm sure they are doing the best they can but just like with every other industry the labor market took a hit with the shutdowns to the point it will never be the same again. KHSAA are hurting to find help so the standards have lowered and are taking who they can to fill the spots. Doesnt mean they're arent some good new guys in the mix but overall the quality will suffer. Walk in any department store or restaurant and see how the service is compared to years ago.
The thing that amazes me is the constant missing of spotting the ball. I have watched and noticed several times the ball being a yard or two short of scrimmage. It is never marked that big of a difference long, couple feet maybe. But to mark the ball a yard or two short of gain is embarrassing.
cheating in HS golf is so bad, I played with lots of high schoolers who would shoot 85 but in HS play 72 regularly! I have been told college players don't lose balls either except in the bigger tourneys where there are a few officials watching!
They may be doing their best but I 'm not sure that's good enough. In one game I saw there was a on side kick and the kicker recovered the ball 11 yes latter, he was the first one there. After the play one of the players on the kicking team was flagged for a block in the back. Evidently a player fell on a receiving player on the ground after the play was over. They spotted the ball on the 25 yd line, giving the ball to the receiving team, the recovery was on the 49 yd line. No one could explain that call.
