There is a crisis facing youth sports: a referee and umpire shortage. The game officials who keep the peace and make the calls during youth sports competitions are hard to come by these days. Many referees and umpires are blaming the parents and coaches for the diminishing interest in refereeing youth sports.
While there is a shortage of referees across all levels of sport, including high school and college, the impact is felt the most at the youth level.
WKYC recently sat down with a veteran referee in Northeast Ohio, and he shared how his experience on the job has changed over the years. Al Ivy has worked as an official for 30 years. He has certifications and experience refereeing football, basketball and baseball.
“Walking to the car with your bag, and all of the sudden you’ve got two parents yelling at you. When the game is over, you’re chasing the umpire out into the parking lot. What kind of example are you setting for your child?” Ivy asked to illustrate just how intense the parental reaction to youth sports has become.
Ivy described incidents of parents getting into physical altercations and yelling at the kids on the team until they’ve disrupted the play of the game.
Last year Ohio lawmakers passed “Disorderly Conduct at Sporting Events” legislation, based in part on the same incidents that Ivy has witnessed in the stands and on the field. This legislation makes physical violence toward a sporting official, verbal assault of a sporting official or any conduct that creates an atmosphere, “to such a degree that the sports official is unable to continue their service at the sporting event without a stoppage in play,” punishable as a misdemeanor.
The legislation is a step in the right direction, but more change in the attitudes of parents and coaches will be needed to attract new referees to the profession. The majority of referees are older and looking to retire.
“They don’t want to be yelled at. As an official you are going to get yelled at. And the younger generation is afraid of physical harm,” Ivy said in reference to the need for a younger generation of officials to take over.
Ivy explains that the ones who are truly hurt by all of this are the kids who are just trying to play a game.
