Referees have the final word on everything that happens in a game. Yes, they may make a mistake. Yes, they may not see what happened. They will make calls based on what they see not on what the coach or spectators see. In most cases the referee is only 3 or 4 years older than the kids on the team. They all start out together. Young referees start out with the U6 and U7 games. Just as the players don’t always understand the rules, the referee is learning how to make the right call and learning how to try and see the whole field. They begin their careers outnumbered 6:1 and by the time they get to refereeing U11 and older it’s 22:3. These are someone else’s kids. Treat them like you would want your child treated if they were doing a really hard job in public. Salmon Creek will not tolerate the abuse of its young referees. No one wins if the referee goes home crying. Police your fellow supporters, speak up if issues arise. In severe cases, find out the person’s name or which player they were there to support and provide the information to the coach. On the other hand, sometimes there is a problem with the referee. Please follow these steps in handling it. After the game talk to the coach about what your heard or witnessed. He/she may not have witnessed the incident. Let the coach approach the referee after the game to discuss it away from the players. Continuing problems should be brought to the attention of referee coordinator. Many times problems can be solved by the referee coordinator assigning a mentor to the young referee. Training versus punishment is always going to be our first attempt.
