On the front page of the Sunday, August 25, 2024, Free Lance-Star Sports Section, there was an article about the shortage of people in the area to officiate high school and recreational sports games. There are a limited number of local high school football officials, restricting the number of games played in one day.
Negative interactions with fans, players, and coaches and criticism in the sports online landscape reduce the number of people who will absorb the abuse. People don’t get rich working games. An official for varsity football or basketball may receive $100 to $125 per game as a contractor. Those working are more altruistically motivated to keep people active.
Sports rules are based on two main criteria: making the game safe and fair. Many rules are in place due to injury lawsuits, e.g., nets at baseball games and no glass containers at a triathlon. With rules, somebody needs to enforce them. Enforcement does not always please everyone.
Some rules seem ridiculous. But there are too many lawyers.
Officiating a triathlon this past month, I was accosted by two participants when I enforced a safety rule.
So I wonder, even though I’m helping many people, do I need to get up at 3:30 am to be abused by a couple of jerks? I’ve helped enough—no more triathlons for me. Track meets are still a work option.
More on my rant:
I started officiating intramural games in my first year at UVA. I worked Football, Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball, and Softball games. There was a lot of on-the-job training. Like most UVA students, we could read books and apply the concepts.
At that time, my motivation was to make a little extra money. You could call it “Beer Money.” At $3 per game, it covered my weekly food budget.
The summer after my third year, I became ASA certified and worked recreation league softball games and weekend tournaments in Staunton. That same summer, I worked as a Boy Scout camp counselor west of Staunton and worked games on my night off. The pay was better, and a weekend tournament could bring in $150.
Did I blow calls? You bet. Do I still remember some of my major oops? Yes.
As with all sports, judgment calls can not be protested; rule interpretations can. With the improvements in video technology, judgment calls can now be challenged. Still, officials do the best they can to remain fair.
In the mid-90s, I helped Terry McLaughlin and the YMCA time their Colonial Beach Triathlon, which exposed me to USAT officials. Another organization managed a double and triple iron-distance event at the beach, and we helped time their half-iron-distance event.
In 2009, Race Timing Unlimited timed its first triathlon. Over the years, we have timed triathlons for a multitude of organizations. Some of the events were USAT-sanctioned, and others were not. The race organizers of USAT-sanctioned events either hired a USAT official or enforced the rules on their own. Some did not enforce the USAT rules.
One of the events we timed sought USAT sanctioning after they existed for many years. The benefits of sanctioning include event insurance and increased participation. As part of our timing services, RTU provided USAT rule enforcement.
In 2016, I started working as a USATF official. Even though RTU worked 70 events per year, we still had open weekends. I planned to fill some weekends working track meets to make more revenue.
USATF has four official certification levels: Apprentice, Association, National, and Master. Moving up the levels comes from years of experience and working outside of the local association. A downside to the structure is that one can advance levels as a specialist. So, a master-level official may only know how to manage one event. My association-level certification is for vertical jumps (high jump and pole vault). I can read the rule book and manage other events. I usually don’t volunteer.
Many organized track meets look for volunteer officials or are officiated by school staff. I avoid these meets.
Since 2021, I have worked one triathlon per year in the USAT official role. With only one event, it’s not worth becoming a USAT-certified official. I get paid, but I have done it more as a favor to the race director.
The USA Triathlon Multi Sports Rulebook is about 100 pages long. For the event that I officiate, I can review those sections in an hour.
Last year, USAT changed how penalties are assessed. Rules that incur penalties are in place for safety and fairness.
Before last year, an infraction could incur a variable time penalty or a disqualification. We would observe a violation and maintain a list of bib numbers with the issue. Before the final results are calculated, we would post a listing of penalties and tell the timing company to add time or remove participants from the results.
The typical variable time penalty was 1 minute for one infraction, 2 minutes for two infractions, and disqualification for more than two.
The posting of penalties didn’t change behavior, as the masses didn’t feel impacted. So, they never knew what they were doing wrong.
The changed procedure was to institute stop-and-go penalties. If I see a violation, I stop that participant, tell them what they are doing wrong, have them fix the issue, pause them for 10 seconds, and then let them go.
The Stop and Go procedures seem confrontational. I need to stop a moving body, signaling far enough ahead for a smooth deceleration. Most don’t want to stop. If I see an issue on the bike leg, I would stop them in the transition area before the run starts.
In triathlons, using headphones on the course has always been a disqualification. As people leave the transaction area, if I see a person wearing headphones, I can stop them and allow them to return to their rack location, dropping the devices without penalty. Once on the course, disqualification is the only option.
During my one triathlon this year, I had two issues that made me wonder if it was worth helping.
An old guy in an elite tri-suit was not pleased with a Stop and Go penalty. I noticed his chin strap was not buckled while running his bike back to his rack after the bike leg. I put two hands up and told him to stop. I told him to buckle his chin strap. His response, “you need to be kidding, my rack is right here”. When I first saw him unbuckled, he was at least 100 feet from the rack. “No, buckle.” My body was between him and the racks. He said, “I’ve been doing this 30 years.”
I said, “You should know better,” twice: once because he wore an elite suit and once after he made the 30-year comment.
I thought the issue was over. But while I was at the finish line, there was a confrontation. He said, “You touch me again on the course, and I’ll lay you out,” and “You won’t be working this race next year.” I probably should have disqualified him for threatening a race official. He may be right about the latter statement, but why should I help next year?
The second issue started while I was at the finish line. Two people finished, and I noticed they were wearing headphones. I’m not sure when they inserted them. I chased them down and said, “Are you wearing headphones? Sorry, I have to disqualify you.” I had already done the same with a person finishing the bike leg. I did prevent a person from starting with headphones. He wasn’t pleased, saying, “I saw people using them last year.”
Within a few minutes of the second disqualification, a man I recognized but didn’t remember his name or from where verbally accosted me and my decision. He said, “This is a family fun event; you’re a” few expletives magic words “on a power trip.” He was wearing a finisher medal. I could not see his bib number—another person who should have been disqualified.
The safety issue for this “family fun event” is a two-loop bike course with the lead cyclist doing 30 mph. While lapping the field, lagging riders are not always in the right lane. If one of those laggers wears headphones and moves into the leader’s path, the outcome could be disastrous.
It’s the “rules don’t apply to me syndrome.” This syndrome is not only present in sports; I see it daily. People speed down I-95. They run red lights. I have a property zoned M1 near my house, where the occupants have 15 cars packed into six parking spots overflowing into the street. An auto repair shop is a valid use of M1 zoning for businesses that don’t reduce residential property values. However, unregistered cars, double-parked cars, cars blocking the fire hydrant, and cars in the handicapped spot make the business look like a junkyard. Even with complaints, the Sheriff Department, Fire Marshal, and Zoning Department have not enforced the ordinances, and the business thinks “rules don’t apply to us.”