Sportsmanship Decreases, Referee Shortage Increases

Referees in New York and New England have been taking a leave of absence, but not for the reasons you may think. Sports games everywhere are starting late, being postponed, or even being canceled.

It doesn’t matter if it's fall, winter, spring, or summer, even club or school ball, all sports across the board are experiencing difficulties finding officials. Refs are taking off the stripes for a few reasons, but the main one being a lack of sportsmanship. A local news station based in Connecticut did a report on the situation. They interviewed several referees from different sports and age groups. Almost all refs had the same thing to say. Peter Palermino of the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials says, “In some cases, there’s been physical contact in incidents across the country. But it’s frustrating for our people to keep doing that”. Inconsiderate parents and even players make the already daunting task of officiating that much more difficult.

Zerrell Stawlings, a football official for all ages, states the Pandemic is a contributing factor. “As we’ve seen from the pandemic, there’s a sense of entitlement from people feeling they could express themselves any way they want,” Stawlings said. Referees that feel underappreciated and abused see no reason to keep putting on their uniform, and who can blame them. It seems that if we want to keep playing officiated sports, referees need to be taken seriously and treated with respect.