Hello All, I need some advice. I currently assist a non-profit adult soccer league in California. In addition to playing, I also referee. We currently use our local referee association to assign referees, and we pay a seasonal fee to the referee organization and they pay the referees directly (no cash at the fields). This is done per the rules of our parent organization. The problem is, I'm not 100% happy with the referees who get scheduled week after week. I've made requests and tried to work with the assignors, but for whatever reason they can't seem to get us the referees we want week after week. Sometimes it's a problem with conflicting tournaments that need referees, but other times I'm not sure what the problem is (for example, I talk with some great referees that I've requested for our games and they say they've been available for months but haven't been getting assigned.) That being said, I'm considering the option of forming a small Referee Organization just for our league. Let's call it "Cinepro's Refs". I would ask the 10 or 15 local referees that usually do our games to sign up with Cinepro's Refs, and then I would do the scheduling with them directly. I just need to know what is needed to form such a group under the auspices of USSF. These referees are already USSF certified and members of at least one or two other local referee groups. Any thoughts? CP
USSF referees get assigned by USSF assignors, to USSF affiliated games. It's not much more complicated than that. Assuming you match that, then get a new assignor, the assignor works for the league
Or you could take teh assignor class and be your own certified USSF Assignor...that's a thing, isn't it?
I have sometimes found leagues/tournaments that have unhappy relations with the local referee association that assigns their referees. As NHRef says, if the assignor isn't doing what you need, get a new assignor. Yes, I've seen a local association get crosswise with the local adult amateur league, telling them what they were going to have to pay the referees, how many they would get, etc. That league eventually had one of their board members become an assignor. Assignors get a copy of the registered referees. The new assignor simply e-mailed the referees and asked for their availability. Problem solved. The local association was left out in the cold. Associations do not have a monopoly on the services of the referees in the area or even their own members. You may find that your pay scale doesn't attract enough referees (i.e. as many as you want) but an experienced assignor will be able to tell you what they've found will attract referees in your area. Associations have no standing within USSF.
Give a man a ref badge, and you pay him for a day Give a man an assignor badge, and you pay him forever
This is concerning to me, as it is not transparent and can lead to a situation where the referees are working under different standards than you think they are. Unless your assignor/ref association is totally above the fray, this smells very fishy. How much "overhead" is the ref organization skimming off the top from what you pay them? You pay them an amount, but then they pay the referees? How do you know that your referees aren't the worst paid in SoCal? Where I'm from, there is an assignor that is known for working with leagues with the lowest fees in town. He's the worst assignor, from a management standpoint. He gets the worst referees as a result of his tactics and the fees the leagues pay. However, the game fees come from the leagues/teams, not from him. If I were you, I'd ask for full transparency in the fees that your referees are getting paid. And I'd ask the referees directly. As with any line of work, there is an assignor fee that needs to be paid since the assignor is doing work. However, where I'm from, the adult leagues pay the assignor for his/her work, and then the teams pay the refs at the field. To simply answer your question - like others have said, there is no need to go through a referee association for USSF-affiliated games. A registered assignor can be used directly, and you can become one by going to a course. However, instead of thinking that the problem solely lies with the ref association or the assignor, look inside at your league and make sure everything is in order on your end. You have to make your league attractive to referees. If you have good governance of the league, good management of the referees, quality games, and attractive fees, you will get good referees. As I get better, I find myself being more selective and working for leagues that have good governance and good games. Having confidence that the league will support red cards and keep you safe is easily worth $5-$10-$20 a game.
Some things to consider about this issue: You say you are unhappy with the referees the league gets. What about the typical players and teams, are they unhappy with the referees? The fee that the referee receives is an obvious potential problem. If the fees your league is paying are too low then the referees will pick the matches that pay better when there are competing matches. Location of matches. Are the matches at locations that are difficult to get to, farther away, crappy fields, undesirable locations? If so you may need to pay more then the competing matches to attract the better referees. Time of matches. Are the matches at a time that is inconvenient? Reputation of league. Does the league have a bunch of pain in the ass teams that bitch, complain and misbehave (much more than usual) and are no fun to referee? Does the league not support the referees by reversing red cards or not punishing misconduct identified by the referees? Obviously you can get your own assignor for the league and assign the games directly and skip the referee association. What happens when your select pool of referees are all busy? Will the referees that you excluded from this group really be willing to step in and help you when you don't have enough referees? Or will they remember that you didn't want them to begin with? Does leaving the referee association really fix the problem or are there other issues that need to be fixed before you take that step?
Thanks for the feedback everyone. To clarify a few points, the pay isn't the problem. We are a co-ed recreational league, and we usually play 30 or 35 minute halves, and we pay the rate for 90-minute U19 games. I do this intentionally to make the league attractive to better referees. As I said, I've spoken with the "good" referees who live in the area and they want to ref for us but aren't getting assigned. In addition to running the league and playing in it, I also referee. So I'm aware of the association fees and they are not exorbitant (they're the same for all the other games and tournaments they assign). The problem is that we have to pay our referees through an authorized organization. I can't do fees at the field for one simple reason: we often have teams that are short players. I include the total referee costs for the season in the registration fees so even if someone signs up and plays one game, they are still helping to cover ref costs for the rest of the season (lots of players stop coming but never contact me or request a refund. And then they sign up again for the next season!) In the end, if there are no separate issues with USSF, this is probably just an accounting problem. I'll have to set up a non-profit corporation and pay the referees through that. Not sure if it would be worth the effort.
The assignor has the duty to manage all the referees on an equal manner. You simply can't get the referees you want every week because that would be unfair for other referees. I keep a record of all the appointed referees over the whole season and I try to distribute the matches on a fair way. Of course there are cases when the best performing referees might have some more matches, but in general there are not so many differencies.
All USSF cares about is that your refs be assigned by a certified Assignor (this is an affiliated league, right?). Why is it you have to go through an authorized organization? For example around here the teams pay refs in cash directly, Assignor/league are involved not a bit. So is the issue you don't want to have players see refs getting money for games they aren't going to get to play? Sounds like recruitment material, to me! Well to the extent you need to pay through an org, isn't your league's existing non-profit status enough? Again though I think maybe your local ass'n is making a bunion out of a bugbite and creating a problem that, shazam, they are eminently qualified to resolve. Such nice guys. Sorry if I 'm just being dense. I hope this is helpful, and I hope you and your league get to where you are having a better experience.
As an assignor I feel under no obligation to treat referees in an equal manner. They aren't equal. I do try to be fair, but that's a difficulty thing to accomplish. For one thing, my view of fair may not be yours. I will say that I generally have more slots than referees, so I'm using most, if not all of the referees who are available. I try to spread the referee slots around, but I have a priority system. Older, more experienced refs tend to get more centers. If you've done me favors in the past you are more likely to be treated well in the future. If you've late canceled, or even worse, not shown up, you aren't getting plum assignments. I may use you, but that's just because I need warm bodies. I'd take zombies if they could blow a whistle. Foul recognition I'd worry about later.
You do not have to form a non-profit organization to pay the referees. No matter who does the payments, however, you need to have your ducks in a row to avoid making the referees employees. I don't know the laws in your state. You need to find out, maybe from a friendly soccer player who is also a lawyer. We have a nice law in our state that specifically says that soccer referees doing non-professional games are independent contractors and not employees. Although many other areas have the teams pay the referees at the field, that only happens around here for indoor. In most cases, the league pays the referees and issues a 1099-MISC at the end of the year or the assignor pays through a service provided by the website they use (which issues the 1099-MISC.) The association only is the payer for high school and college games.
Still haven't answered some basic questions that might help us give advice: - Is your league affiliated with a USSF affiliated organization, such as your states/local adult soccer group? - Is your assignor affiliated with USSF by taking and passing the USSF assignor course It doesn't sound like you have a referee problem, it sounds like you have an assignor problem. The league hires/pays the assignor, so he/she works for the league. If the league is not happy with the referees, then get a new assignor. Any USSF assignor has access to the ENTIRE list of USSF referees in your state. Pay isn't the only referee issue, competitive level is, as is games actually happening. If your league is one where players don't show, that makes it hard for referees to want to work that league. The assignor is really under no obligation to use any set of referees (unless you make that part of his assignor deal/contract) just as the referees are under no obligation to work for any assignor or work any league.
I will agree with NHRef, with one quibble. In some states, USSF assignors do not have access to the entire list of USSF referees in the state. A number of states restrict access to USSF assignors who are active assignors. I believe that some will only give the list of referees who live in the area where the assignor is assigning. Why? There have been some bad actors who have become assignors solely to get the list of USSF referees. We had one such assignor who was only assigning unaffiliated games but wanted to use the list of USSF referees to be his pool of referees. I have heard, from a very highly placed source, that one guy in another state became an assignor solely to get the database in order to try to sell auto insurance to the referees on the list. (Remember that the list has the date of birth, gender and address of each referee, and the majority of referees are teenagers, who may just be in the market for car insurance and their refereeing may give them the funds to pay for insurance, not to mention that they are almost certainly driving to their games.) Just when you think you've heard it all, along comes something else.
It's an AYSO (formerly NAASA) adult league, so yes, we have the AYSO USSF affiliation. The only guideline is that we can't pay the referees directly. We must write a check to another organization that then pays the referees. Obviously AYSO doesn't have a lot of experience paying referees, so this rule might change in the future. But it is a lot easier to include the referee fees in the registration cost and then just write one check per season to the Referee organization. Like I've said, I know I have good, local referees that would love to come out and ref if they were scheduled to. I've asked the assignor to give me these refs, and they are included in the rotation, but I see more new (to the league) and sub-par referees than I want to.
Yeah I only get the ones who've selected my club as Primary in GameOfficials. Access to others requires coordinating with my neighbor Assignors. If people only knew what it takes to get these games covered...
I'm not sure which part of CA you are from but you should consider your assignor using GameOfficials or Arbiter. (If they don't do already) You can ask those referees you want to officiate your league to add to the Arbiter or GameOfficials group. If they're a good referee guarantee they have one or another or a functioning email to make the account. You can also pay the referees via ref pay or go pay. Many referees like that if you pay in a timely manner (and you don't have to pay them at the field).