Referees...

[Meh Guy]

This'll be fun ;). How come referees always get a bad rap? Is it because they blatantly don't call a game right? Maybe that one bad call cost you the game? Or is it just because you don't like being called out on your wrong doings? ;) I've never really paid any attention to referees, as long as it wasn't a blatantly wrong call they were making. Another point, why argue with them? They made the call, what's the point?

Feel free to state your opinions, or ask me anything, since I'm one of the zebras :D (at least for hockey)

[Emerald Dream]

The best referees are the ones that are never talked about.

To be honest, I wouldn't want this job, because the pressure is unbelievable. Referees are expected to be perfect, and the few calls they get wrong does not make up for everything they do right (at least, not in any fan's eyes). It's hard to believe that any referee above a certain competitive level would purposely make bad calls. Unless, of course, they were paid off.

[Dortmund]

I can see why referees get stick. Sometimes it's extreme and unfair but it's the same as any job, if you get something wrong you expect someone to talk about it and complain.

The arguing element is simply down to frustration. I do it, professionals do it, every one does it really. It's again an element of letting the referee know you don't agree with his decision making. The majority of the time the referee has made the correct call, on some occasions he hasn't.

It annoys me that professionally managers in football aren't allowed to criticise a referee after the game. Why should they have this immunity? Especially if it's a valid point with penalties, offside decisions etc. A customer or client can complain if I do something wrong with my job so why are referees suddenly an exception in theirs?

[SethfromMI]

it can depend on the sport. I know many people feel some umpires in baseball try to make the game about them, not the athletes. some umps, like "Country" Joe West is infamous for kicking people out without any real provoking on the part of the athlete or manager. when you get an ump or ref like that, they are going to get a bad rap

many times it is just people are mad a bad call was made. sometimes it was the right call, sometimes it was a mistake. it is a lot easier to blame the loss on the ref than it is the team (even though sometimes refs can make calls which can give the other team a significant advantage in winning)

I would not want the job to take all the crap they do. most (or at least many) are just trying to do the best job they possibly can. sometimes they make mistakes.

the only refs/umps I actually dislike are the ones like Joe West. get your head out of your ass Joe West, people do not pay all that money to see an ump/ref

[marko1707]

Well people are getting crazy and for them it is always the referee who makes the mistakes. I am a handball referee and it is hard sometimes but I really like it

[Meh Guy]

You know, as a referee, many of my good ref friends are quitting due to the negative atmosphere created by certain people. However, I feel that some referees abuse their power like stated previously. For example in my league, we are allowed to throw anyone out if they start bitching about a call we made. Not only allowed, but encouraged. And this makes it almost impossible to call out the actually bad referees because everyone thinks you are just complaining.

[TroyH]

It annoys me that professionally managers in football aren't allowed to criticise a referee after the game. Why should they have this immunity? Especially if it's a valid point with penalties, offside decisions etc. A customer or client can complain if I do something wrong with my job so why are referees suddenly an exception in theirs?

They should be allowed to criticize them, although honestly I don't think its wise. Those referees are obviously going to end up officiating that teams games again and again, and if a manager is constantly riding them, it opens the door for bias to come in against them. Should it? Obviously not, but I think it's best to just let most decisions slide. Fouls in football are subjective anyway, so a manager is just giving their opinion on an incident (unless its offsides, which quite frankly, akin to balls and strikes in baseball, humans are bound to get wrong from time to time).

You know, as a referee, many of my good ref friends are quitting due to the negative atmosphere created by certain people. However, I feel that some referees abuse their power like stated previously. For example in my league, we are allowed to throw anyone out if they start bitching about a call we made. Not only allowed, but encouraged. And this makes it almost impossible to call out the actually bad referees because everyone thinks you are just complaining.

I also work as a hockey referee, odd that I should meet a fellow official on here haha. Well this is my 7th season, been doing it since I was in the 8th grade... We certainly aren't encouraged to throw coaches out. We aren't afraid to either, but our directive is essentially to only throw people out for disrupting the game in some manner. When coaches get mad I give them 1 warning (unless f-bombs start flying immediately) and threaten them with a bench minor. This shuts most guys up since they realize they'll end up making one of their players sit in the box for their actions. Others don't care and go on, and once they get the bench minor they basically aren't allowed to say another word to me for the remainder of the game or else they're gone.

Same with players, I'm very reluctant to give out game misconducts. Is it partially because I don't feel like filling out game reports after? Maybe... but also unless a kid definitely tried to injure somebody or is impeding the game and causing tons of problems, then I don't want to mar their experience with a stupid penalty that sends them to the dressing room.

[Meh Guy]

They should be allowed to criticize them, although honestly I don't think its wise. Those referees are obviously going to end up officiating that teams games again and again, and if a manager is constantly riding them, it opens the door for bias to come in against them. Should it? Obviously not, but I think it's best to just let most decisions slide. Fouls in football are subjective anyway, so a manager is just giving their opinion on an incident (unless its offsides, which quite frankly, akin to balls and strikes in baseball, humans are bound to get wrong from time to time).



I also work as a hockey referee, odd that I should meet a fellow official on here haha. Well this is my 7th season, been doing it since I was in the 8th grade... We certainly aren't encouraged to throw coaches out. We aren't afraid to either, but our directive is essentially to only throw people out for disrupting the game in some manner. When coaches get mad I give them 1 warning (unless f-bombs start flying immediately) and threaten them with a bench minor. This shuts most guys up since they realize they'll end up making one of their players sit in the box for their actions. Others don't care and go on, and once they get the bench minor they basically aren't allowed to say another word to me for the remainder of the game or else they're gone.

Same with players, I'm very reluctant to give out game misconducts. Is it partially because I don't feel like filling out game reports after? Maybe... but also unless a kid definitely tried to injure somebody or is impeding the game and causing tons of problems, then I don't want to mar their experience with a stupid penalty that sends them to the dressing room.

This mirrors me as well, just since in my league the coaches were especially annoying, so the league officials made the rule that if a coach starts yelling or arguing, you have the authority to toss them immediately. I don't do this, in fact, I take a lot more abuse then I probably should. I've only ever had to toss one coach, and that's because he literally started lecturing me about how to do my job after repeated warnings.

[Wyatt 13]

I play soccer and you cant not argue with the referees ever, that's a bad idea.

[TroyH]

This mirrors me as well, just since in my league the coaches were especially annoying, so the league officials made the rule that if a coach starts yelling or arguing, you have the authority to toss them immediately. I don't do this, in fact, I take a lot more abuse then I probably should. I've only ever had to toss one coach, and that's because he literally started lecturing me about how to do my job after repeated warnings.

I've probably given a dozen bench minors and given 3 coaches game misconducts I think though it could be 4. I think 2 were the same guy on 2 separate occasions though, lol.

I think a lot of people just paint all refs with the same brush so to speak. That is, they're going to remember the bad ones and forget the good ones (as mentioned before, being forgotten is the mark of a good ref in many cases). After a run in with a bad or perceived to be bad official, parents and coaches will be more apt to assume that an official is bad at their job and making the wrong calls.

Also a huge factor is whether the head coach of a team is constantly yelling at an official. Teams that have coaches that don't dispute calls and instead ask an official for an explanation politely or just stay totally quiet have more behaved players and parents. They see the example of their coach and follow it. The opposite is true as well and rowdy coaches produce rowdy parents, undisciplined players who feel its them against the refs, and undisciplined games which aren't fun for anyone involved. This is actually why I think good coaches are the most important thing in pretty much any sport.

[guy1233]

i loveto argue with basketball tes