Dear Soccer Coaches and Parents,
I’ve been the Public Relations Director of the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) for the past dozen years, but that pales in comparison to being a referee for the past 45 years since I took up the whistle as a teenager in 1978. Additionally, I volunteer as a member of US Youth Soccer’s Referee Recruitment, Retention, and Development Committee and authored a book, Preventive Officiating, to help guide youth soccer refs.
The players eventually returned after the pandemic but many of our refs did not, causing referee shortages in both Eastern New York and throughout the United States. This referee shortage was far worse than anything that I experienced in my 45 years of officiating. It has eased a little in some local areas due to more referee certification classes and publicity surrounding referee recruitment.
At our peak in 2014, Eastern New York had over 4,000 registered refs, and we have approximately 3,000 today.
We lose more than half our referees in their first two years of officiating, and the number one reason is verbal abuse by the so-called “adults” in youth soccer, coaches, and parents. 
So, the next time you yell at a ref, you could be contributing to our referee shortage.
Please consider the following:
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Refs pay for our uniforms. There are five color shirts used by US Soccer (yellow, black, red, blue, and green), and when you consider short- and long-sleeve shorts, socks, sweatsuits, and shoes, the cost of a complete uniform is approximately $1,000.
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Referees pay hundreds of dollars in annual dues to US Soccer and their local referee association
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Refs attend monthly referee meetings given by their local association.
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To continue refereeing, referees must pass an annual rules recertification test, watch safety videos, and pass a Safe Sport test and background check every two years.
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With our ref shortage, many referees have worked overtime so your children could have a ref at their game. During this past winter, twice I refereed 11 hours in one day. Many of my colleagues have done the same indoors and outdoors. It is not much fun to ref all day on weekends and subsist on nuts and bananas, as there is not time to sit down and have an actual meal after working from Monday to Friday, but games must be covered so your kids have a ref.
So this Spring Season, instead of yelling at the ref, thank him or her instead. Our soccer fields would be a much, much better place if the only chirping came from the birds in the trees or flying overhead.
