To put things into perspective... There is a league over here that is Class 4 and services some of the lowest income families in the area. Controlling the sidelines is a major issue with these games, and there have been violent brawls in the past including players as well. Suffice to say, they need the strongest referees they can find. Well, despite the poverty of the league and the horrible fields, they are able to attribute $125 to the officials for each game. $45 for the center, and $40 for ARs. Even though they are Class 4, usually the referees assigned are at minimum a state referee, and sometimes include a few national referees. These referees can justify coming out on a Saturday to do 2-3 games in the morning despite the low level of skill due to the increased compensation. Nobody wants to go out and do a bunch of BS games for $15 a piece, but when you can make $125 for three U14 rec games that are back-to-back it is easier to justify. Last I checked, you only see $125 for the same length of time doing the professional level. The fact is, leagues have quite a large amount of cash flow. It takes sacrifices in other areas, but it is entirely possible to attribute more than the $20-25 a game towards officials. If they can get pay closer to $35, they can easily afford to be much more discriminating with new referees. Increase the pay to levels where it SHOULD be, get rid of ARs on the lower age groups, get rid of the ignorant kids who have no concept of what it takes to be a referee and are only in it thinking it will be easy money, and I guarantee you will have plenty of quality referees to go around. It has worked for so many leagues in this area I simply cannot fathom why the other leagues don't catch on sooner. It's also worth mentioning that as a result of the increase in quality officiating in this area, the skills of the players have also been allowed to blossom. I honestly believe there is a direct relationship between the officiating quality and the fact teams from this area continuously win state championships across the board at all levels of the game.
After first doing local recreational league games for two seasons, I contacted an assigner in the best local youth league, Northern Counties and worked matches for about two more seasons before graduating to mens. I never had AR's for any matches at the youth level except for tournaments. The matches ranged in age from U11 through U19 , with most depending on the season being U14 and older. In the spring I never saw AR's in any U19 or U17 matches either. It wasn't until I did U20's and U23's that we had AR's. Again, doing adult matches statewide, only the Champions League and select Garden State Soccer League matches have assistants. Heck, I've done State Cup matches in the Mens division twice with no AR's and once with one AR. I'm envious that other parts of the country have AR's. This Fall season, I've had AR's only once. It seems that everytime I referee an A flight match in Men's league it is as an ironman. I also feel bad for the players. I know they are getting my best effort with respect to fouls and misconduct, but I also know the players are being shortchanged with respect to offside. A match played by two quick and highly skilled teams is impossible to judge accurately for offside. It's too dynamic. I always tell the teams following the match that I could do a better job of tracking offside if I had AR's and that they should complain to their respective league. We have a shortage of referees in New Jersey or that is what the leagues tell the mens teams. Here in NJ most mens leagues pay $60 for a middle and $30-35 for an assistant. Over 30 leagues and womens pay $55 for the middle.
I'm with you here. I would honestly do more games if I got paid more, but making $20 for a 35 minute half game (which means I'm out there for at least 90 min from start to finish) is not worth my time. Not that I would consider myself a high quality official, but I do tend to know most of the rules and do actually try to do a good job. I really think if we are going to pass anyone who attends the class we need to make a seperate grade for those under 18 who do not pass the test. I know there is that Grade 9 thing out there (recreational referee?), why not give kids that grade. Pay them less and give them some incentive to learn all the rules and be a good referee. The fact that 10 year olds who don't even know 1/2 the rules are looked upon with the same grade level as me is insane. Seperate them and pay them accordingly. There is a place for older kids who don't know much....small sided games. However, when I do games with kids as my AR (U-14 and up) who have no clue what is going on, there is a problem. There should be some incentive for people to STAY a grade 8, stick around with the youth leagues, and get rewarded for their good service/work. That is just not there now. As for our adult games....I believe the standard is $46 for Center and $32 for AR, with some of the younger (U-30/O-20) games even paying less!!! ($40/25). This is nuts in my opinion for the younger men's leagues.
that's the exact reason TO HAVE THEM in this level. It gives them the chance to make mistakes when the pace is slower and learn from them. Also at this age, most of the parents haven't seen offside yet so the mistakes are less obvious. I also can make up and hide the mistakes they make easier at this level, then deal with it at half-time. this is better than them getting thier first real look at offside at a faster paced game on a bigger field.