I was fortunate in my club ball to have a Professional Coach, (1st coach of the NASL St. Louis Stars). I played for very strong High School & College teams. At each level, there were a couple of referees that stood out. They certainly weren't the best referees, but I could tell they were stand up gentlemen doing their best, and engaged well with the players. I moved to Peoria and joined a men's club team. Since I was a respected player, and on on the 2nd team so not in playoffs, one of the admin's asked me to ref some games. I did local matches and Bradley College as a club team. Moved to Arlington, Texas where I learned the finer points of my craft, and became a High School Referee. Moved to Pennsylvania, continued USSF & High School. Then to Kansas City. USSF & HS. Began College as some of the college officials remembered me from my playing days. Over to St. Louis and added Indoor and Power Soccer to the list. Became a NISOA Assessor. My entry into officiating was very natural as my parents were always involved in everything we did as kids. You gotta give back since others before you made it possible for me to do what I did. My wife is convinced that I'm involved so much that officiating is a substitute, since my college did not have any Fraternities, and now I have a group that wears polyester and probably has some sort of secret handshake or something.
I'm reminded of this: "I thought I'd find a bunch of guys who dress alike, and follow 'em around." (Mudhead).
I hung on for years past when I wanted to drop all of my volunteer positions because I believed nobody else would care as much. I have one left, and I want out next spring, but that will be tough. I don't think I can do it.
On Facebook I have closee to 700 friends, 90% are colleagues I have officiated with at one point or another. Really is kind of a fraternity.
And this is something that one of my friends noted. He played for many years, both in the United States and Germany, and only switched to refereeing when he was over 40. He told me that he had always had this image of referees as friendless loners which, particularly for this guy, made refereeing something that he shrank away from. But once he got into it, he realized how much socializing there is among us, band of brothers. This is a guy who made National Referee in his 50's and had the whistle for an Open Cup game between a MLS team and a USL Pro team. If he'd started earlier, he could have been a FIFA, IMHO.
There are probably thousands of guys that could fit into this description but did not become referees. I know many myself. They want to continue playing as long as possible, and some may view referees in general with disdain, as people who turned to refereeing because they were no good as players. Their friends and teammates have a similar viewpoint and so they don't want to be considered likewise by them if they become referees. Many would have tremendous potential as referees, being usually very fit, athletic, understanding of the game and the tactics and dark arts used, as well as the mental toughness needed. But most never do it, and for some who do, like your friend, it is too late to get to the very top. PH
And there is the dilemma. At one time, USSF had this illusion that they would simply convert top players into top referees, just a change of shirt, you know. Don't need to worry about bringing along referees from the mere amateur and youth levels. "They know the game so much better than those guys ever will, because they've been at that level." The problem, however, was money. Former great players became coaches, not referees. Coaching pays a lot more than refereeing, maybe even a full time job. So (essentially) nobody went from professional player over to refereeing. And that left us with referees who did not have experience with "the dark arts used." [nice turn of phrase, Pierre] How much playing experience does a referee need in order to know when he's being conned at the pro level? High school? College? PDL? USL? NASL? At what level of experience do you know enough versus being able, with that level of experience, to retire to the more lucrative side of the touchline? Couple that with the demographic facts. 60% of my referees are under the age of 19. Then they go off to college, get a real job, get a spouse, have children, would rather kick it around with their buddies than blow a whistle, etc. Almost none of my referees are in their 20's. Roughly 1% are between 22 and 32, but those are the central years for developing top level referees at the state level, who potentially could "go some place." The ranks starting filling up again after 30, perhaps as people feel they actually should get some exercise and getting paid for it isn't a bad idea. But those guys aren't going to become Nationals because they aren't looking to make a career out of refereeing. And women simply never come back after their teen years. I have a female majority among grade 9's and not a single female grade 6.
I think the "shame" factor also plays big role because only a small number actually become well-paid coaches anyway. The others may prefer to coach a youth team perhaps with their own kids playing. Whatever, they are in the "I will never be a referee" camp. I think most players into the college/ high level amateur level are familiar enough with the dark arts (not originally my words, but often used by soccer journalists/announcers/analysts and some referee instructors) to be able to recognize them but they still don't go into refereeing. PH
The smart players or the players that were little sh*ts know better then to get involved with refereeing. They see how much of a thankless job it is... My personal theory is that you have to be a bit crazy to referee. And the craziest players on the field (IMO) are.... goal-keepers. I've always wanted to do a survey amongst referee's to see how many of them played, were, or still play as goal-keepers. One of of my friends makes the point that most Goal-Keepers spend a lot of time watching the game so there is not much different while refereeing
Well, here's one. I spent years playing, and one day got tired of "crappy" refereeing and decided that yes, I could do a better job, and would prove it. I didn't plan to ref much, but figured even a few matches with a ref who actually knew and understood the game would be an improvement. I hope I've done a good job--teams and coaches are usually happy to see me with the whistle. But I think what goalkeepers have, as opposed to being "crazy", is the mentality to deal with failure. A keeper might not (or might!) get verbal abuse when they made a mistake that let in a goal, but it was darn certain everyone knew about the mistake and was at least thinking it. You have to be able to brush it off and not let it get to you if you want to play between the sticks.
I think GK's are unique because they volunteer to take hard driven soccer balls to their body. And it makes sense they have a thankless job. (Hmm sound familiar). On those rare occasions they do "come up" big; Usually, when nothing has been going on for 85 mins much like referees.
I always thought it was cuz us GKs were in the the right shape to handle the physical strain of standing in the circle of excellence all game . . .
Here is one survey that was taken on this forum: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/what-is-your-background-in-the-game.2021580/#post-32500540 Looks like voiceoflg beet me to it.
As an average only 9.1% of all referees that played should be GK's or former GK's, but according to this informal survey its 33% (11/33), remember I'm only taking into account the ones that played, not coaches or other) That's pretty high number of crazies out there . And I'm one of them.
This could also fit with thinking that referees are people who could not play very well. Goalkeepers are also often in this category, which is why they are goalkeepers and not outfield players. So it is not the same feeling of shame to become a referee that many outfield players have. PH
I've always found that interesting because that was never the reason I played keeper. I had played first base in t-ball. Now the ball was big and bouncy. I wasn't concerned whereas nobody else volunteered for the position. Now that I type it, that seems a lot like ref reasons "I'm not concerned about other's opinions of my reffing."