Pennsylvania also brought back the soft red card. The state seems to be moving backwards in terms of high school soccer rules. What's next? Even is off? Four steps instead of six seconds for the goalkeeper to release the ball? Indirect free kicks to restart after injuries?
As a long-time USSF referee, I still shake my head at things I see in high school games. The culture is SO different. Here are examples of things that I've seen in just the past 3 days: 1) You are required to read a statement before each game about using abusive language, etc. Meanwhile, one of the teams is warming up to music that include the words "ho" and "bitch" being blared. This music was provided by the head coach. A little hypocritical to then be reading some statement afterwards about foul language and making sexist comments? 2) Each conference has their own mercy rule. I'm officiating in 4 different ones through Oct 31 and they ALL have different mercy rules ranging from 5 goals to 7. Why isn't it standardized nationwide or at least statewide? I'm sure someone some here may say it's no different than a USSF match where every club league has their own "mercy rule", but I don't feel I'm being hypocritical since you could be doing several different conferences on the same week and have to dig up old emails from assignors trying to figure it out before the match. 3) Road teams consistently come in late, except for the very top teams. When my team had to play a high-level match years ago in another state 70 miles away, I notified the home coaching staff by phone call that we were going to late by at least 30 minutes due to a massive car accident on the highway. It wouldn't be fair that they're going through their planned warm-ups and unfair to the referees as well. Upon arrival, they were appreciative of the call and the referees mentioned that they were able to go back home as a result and return instead of just sitting at the field and gave us ample time to warm-up. In high school, the road team simply walks by you with a simple "hello", feeling they have no moral explanation to say why they were late or even apologize to the home team and the referee crew, who rushed to arrive on time. In our neighboring state, you get paid extra if a team shows up more than 30 minutes late. In ours, the referees are told to take a hike (many are retired guys who sadly don't care). There is zero respect shown to referees in this regards.
High school soccer is a terrible industry. Rather than endlessly complaining about it, you should stop doing it. Like you said the retired guys who don’t care, if people like you who do care dropped out of their ranks, and they ended up with massive shortages where they couldn’t fill games, there would be changes. As long as you continue filling the games but just complain all the time, nothing even has a chance to change
I am assuming one of those signals to be when you put your arms to your sides for offsides, similar to a football signal for a false start. He's not kidding folks. Last I heard, it was $120 in NY. The negative is you get paid lump sum at the end of the year and receive a 1099. I think it's worth it rather than dealing with Athletic Director's secretaries and other political appointees who resend checks to you at the wrong address. You become a referee and bill collector, but are only paid for the officiating portion. Again, the retired referees are ok with this since they have all of the time in the world.
Nothing would have changed if I didn't return this year. Despite $300 rebate checks I received in December as a "newbie" referee as a supposed incentive to get more officials, they actually LOST 5 referees. The current contract is up at the end of the year, so I will wait to see what they do on the new contract. I am not obligated to return. Having said that, I am not sure if they would change even if half of the guys dropped out.
I’m not gonna keep on it and over. The only way referees can affect change in the treatment they receive from leagues is by not doing games. That’s it. That’s the closest thing refs have to the ability to strike. Almost nothing outside of refusal to work games will even have a chance to cause change.
Here are the old NFHS signals for direct free kick fouls if anyone is thinking of going to PA to do games.
Each section/region in New York State is different when it comes to pay. I work in Section III, which is in Central New York State and covers from the Syracuse and Utica areas. Our high school association has a contract with Section III for certain fees. We also elect our own assignor who charges us a fee for each game we are assigned. The fees are due at the end of the season. There are other sections/regions in New York State that have different contracts and fees with their officials. I know that in some areas the associations do not hire their own assignor and officials get their assignments directly from the section/region. I assume that these areas do not charge an assigning fee.
In this day and age, its comes down to a simple issue of school districts don't have enough bus drivers. Top teams usually have booster clubs and can afford to charter a bus to arrive timely. Many schools don't have that option. I am empathetic to this, I really am. I may be a bit peeved when districts know this problem in the morning and don't notify the home team/referees.
We might be heading that way in 2026. The main reason here is that the schools pay a central education company to adminster and therefore are able to use it as 'deductible' expense in figuring financial aid for the district, etc.
No offense to all of you negative people on here about high school soccer, but, as I have said many times on here, I assign about 2,800 HS and MS games that started about 6 days ago and runs to Halloween. It is a full time job that I take seriously. And, I get paid well. The reason there is an assignor’s fee is because most referees are genuine idiots. How they handle their full time jobs is beyond me. 90 % of my referees are USSF certified, so let’s not heap the criticism. i know @MetroFever is in my state but as far as I know, there is no state mercy rule, and my conference (the biggest in the state) doesn’t have one. i know who my best referees are and they are all assigned by grade. I also drop the ones who cannot keep up anymore.
If folks provide facts to back up issues/problems that could be changed, they are negative people? If we cannot agree that coaches, athletic director's or their secretaries should notify the opposing team and referees that they're running late, then I don't know what to say as this is simple common courtesy that shouldn't need to be legislated. When I do discuss issues with long-time referees (almost always, they're non-USSF guys), many times they are extremely defensive and find nothing wrong with the current culture because this is all they know. This is why almost nothing has changed over the years in high school soccer...which should be a positive experience for everyone involved. What reason would I have to make up that certain conferences in the state have mercy rules? If your conference doesn't have one, it doesn't mean others don't. My job is not to be the music police. I am there to officiate the game...when the road team eventually shows up.
If this is legitimately the case for road teams coming late in most cases, then there is no excuse to not be notified sometime during the day so that we're not rushing to leave work, etc, for a game that had zero chance of starting on time. Only ONCE last year did I get an email from an Athletic Director in the morning giving us a heads-up that a game would be late due to busing issues. I don't know about your part of New York, but at least one area does provide for compensation to referees for games that start significantly late.
You simply have no idea what you are talking about. Do you think the Athletic Department has the time and personnel to call you when they find out at 3:00 pm that a bus is running late when they are trying to juggle 10 teams going in different directions at that hour? And, your responsibility for the game begins when you arrive. Get the music shut off. Period. The mercy rule for varsity games is not sanctioned.
You are very defensive about this topic and defending the status quo. What is stopping the road coach from contacting the home coach that they're going to be coming late? Nothing. If a referee accepts a 4:00 p.m. game and it doesn't start in a reasonable manner, he should be compensated for his time accordingly as one area in New York does. Not every high school referee is retired and has time on their hands. Also, not all busing issues are discovered as late as 3:00 p.m. Almost every Athletic Director has a secretary who can make a phone call. I know folks who have worked or still do in this capacity and it is possible to make a quick call.
Do you get an assigning fee from the schools too? If so, then it sounds like you are double dipping. Doesn’t seem right to me. I have been a high school soccer referee for 31 years, worked for 5 different assignors in that time, and have never paid a fee to the assignor.
Here are the rest of them: We get dinged if we don't use these. GK violation serious bucket-list item.
I guess I'm glad that I'm not in New York. The last time I had a late team was quite a while ago. The JV2 girls team arrived about 15 minutes late. The coach was NOT a happy camper. They were from the same school district so it wasn't a long trip. There were only four turns the bus had to make to get from that school to the game site. And the driver got lost. I gently asked the coach if he wanted some time to warm up. "No! We'll just play!!!" They lost, of course, just not as badly as their bus driver.
I think at one point you were supposed to flap your arms for dangerous play, but then they changed it to a static T. As I said, when I began NFHS did away with the football signals for a couple years before bringing them back for a couple. I had the hardest time remembering what the signals were when they brought them back so every direct free kick foul for me was either pushing or handling because I could remember those two. Even if it was a trip, I signaled a push. Every indirect free kick was either offside or dangerous play for the same reason even if it was obstruction. A couple more things: you can tell when those signals were developed because the referees in the pictures are wearing solid black uniforms. That might be why it looks like they are doing a disco move for goalkeeper violation!
Ref training was a bit nebulous way back when I started, and most of what I learned past the basics was from Fair or Foul, which was a practical book for for refs. Unfortunately, the signals section didn’t distinguish between HS and others, and those of us who read it without any higher level instruction thought they were standard signals, including the flapping bird (at at the time the touchdown signal for a goal). What is now the too much time signal for a GK made more sense then—the signal was from when we counted steps, and it is the traveling signal borrowed from basketball.