Ok I'm gonna go ahead and say it; I may not be a FIFA ref, but I have paid my dues and I find the title of " Grassroots " referee to be patronizing and insulting. There, I've said my peace.
Esse Baharmast had a response to this: "I'm a grassroots referee too since thats what national emeritus refs fall under."
That must mean that Esse has heard it too, and more than once. And since he may well have helped "craft" said moniker, he has a vested interest in it. I stand by my statement.
I was a true grassroots referee about 16 +/- years ago. We had a ton of rain that fall. The only field we had with lights turned into a quagmire. We were running around on the "grassroots" (the roots of the grass) in the mud. You left the field with a couple pounds of mud on each shoe - some players lost shoes in the mud. And then the dead grass began to decay and it stunk like a sewer. Fun Fun Fun. And there was no sense in "saving" the field and playing elsewhere, because as soon as soccer was done, pointy-ball was going to use the field under the lights and they'd ruin it even worse.
This may not be what the OP cares about, but FWIW, the badge doesn't actually say "Grassroots Referee." It just says "Referee," like in 2019.
Someone I know higher up in our state higherarchy suggested that there was no way it would say "Grassroots Referee" as US Soccer was too cheap to pay for the extra letters of embroidery.
To be fair, I went from a E licence coach to a grassroots coach as well, so it's not just the refs getting stupid names.
I absolutely agree that it is insulting. However, it is also an undefined IFAB term, apparently for anything other than "youth, veterans and disability" play, below the professional and international level. Cf. page 25 of the Laws of the Game 2019/20. What's wrong with "adult" or "amateur?" I suppose, as applied to referees, "amateur" on the badge would get a lot of demeaning comments. E.g. "Amateur Referee? You certainly are."
Why did they have to add "Grassroots" in front of everyone? Just call us refs, players, and coaches. I'd love to say I've gotten over it, but that won't happen until the inevitable grade change in 3 years, where once again, everything gets changed for no damn reason. I once heard a player curse out another player for a bad tackle: "That's some ****ing amateur-level ****." Opposing player looked at the guy, and in a dead-pan response said "This is an amateur league", and walked away. I laughed so hard I almost dropped my flag.
Why couldn’t they have called it “local referee” instead? Interestingly, in AYSO, regional referee is the lowest grade, not a middle grade, for refereees.
I have been pointing this out for quite a few years. Originally there was only one USSF referee badge. It just said "Referee" and all grades had the same badge. Here is a photo from an NASL match. The officials are a FIFA, a National and a State, but they all have the same badge. https://www.rwisoa.com/single-post/2018/11/12/Gino-D’Ippolito-to-Receive-the-RWISOA-Lifetime-Achievement-Award Nobody cared, least of all the players, coaches and fans, never mind the officials. It is time to go back to this, it avoids a lot of issues and saves money! (Incidentally, eventually the other two became FIFAs as well and then they all had the same badge again, this time a white one.) PH
So the interesting thing is part of the reason for the change was to mirror the coaches program. Which is funny because there are still like 5 levels of coaches licenses but referees have been reduced to 3 at the non international level.
Just for comparison, USA Track & Field has four grades. Apprentice (with a green badge), Association (with a light blue badge), National (with a red badge) and Master (with a black badge.) I've also had a navy blue badge, given to those who are working the Olympic Trials, to be worn for the next year.