Well, I probably won't ever use the comms. Someone once told me "If you have never used comms, you should never use comms." With that mentality, once the last person who uses comms retires, no one will be left to use comms.
I know I am late to the party, but this thread started with statement that ref was switching from hockey to soccer partially for health reasons. I find this strange. I played hockey for 20 years (27-47) and one of the things I always told people was how EASY old fart, non-checking hockey is on the body. The glide of skating versus the pounding of running. As long as your cardio could handle the load, it was an awesome, low impact workout. I would be curious to hear how soccer reffing is "easier" than hockey reffing. Assuming you are running the 3-6 miles per game that you should be.
THIS! I bought a set and I primarily do HS matches. Not because I need them, but because refereeing is a fun hobby to me. If I can communicate with my crew, we get our decisions right more often and can share a joke or two to keep us engaged on what is going on. I did tell one of my ARs to shut up on a college match though, they were talking to someone on the sideline and it was distracting.
I would stipulate that hockey (playing anyway) is easier on the knees than reffing soccer. And equal on back. At least for me.
For me specifically it was a spinal cord injury I had to deal with. A fall on the ice could be (really, really) bad. A fall on the grass, not so much. I will hopefully go back to hockey as well but have to take at least a year of the ice.