Referee Resources

When most fans think about the game of soccer, they talk about players, coaches, managers and teams; very rarely do they talk about the referee unless they believe he had a bad game. However, the importance of referee’s in the game should not be underestimated. Without referee’s, there is no game, coaches can be missing, players can be injured, as we saw during the Covid-19 outbreak, fans can be absent. Yet, without a team of officials, no game goes ahead. Hence, our sport and everyone else associated with it, truly need to start giving referee’s far more respect; both on and off the field.

At Elite FC, we are trying to break the status-quo that currently exists on many of the playing fields of Utah and beyond. We are trying to develop a culture where every official who referees at our club games feels valued and respected, by players, fans and coaches alike. Unlike many other areas of Utah, our club has had full teams of referees attend over 99% of home games over the past four years, it is a record that we are very proud of. For this to continue to happen, it is important that we give young referees a chance, without us allowing them to develop, the game in our state has no future.

Therefore, there is an onus on everyone involved in the sport to help nurture and foster them through the process. This requires patience and understanding; always remember that they are doing a job where there will always be the human element to err involved. At professional level games, where there are four officials and a team of more in a VAR booth, they still get decisions wrong. Yet, people expect young amateur referees to make no mistakes and get every decision right 100% of the time, it simply isn’t possible. If players and coaches are allowed to make mistakes and not get abused for doing so, why aren’t referee’s? In this short article from December 2021, the reasons why so many young referees are quitting the game is well highlighted. https://www.fatherly.com/news/youth-referee-shortages/ This is something that we do not want to see happen at our club, we are asking everyone involved in the sport to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Aside from providing full teams of referees for games and getting a lot of positive comments from travelling teams for doing so. Our team of referees also get plenty of positive comments for the style in which they referee. At Elite FC we foster an environment that respect goes both ways; so, we encourage our referees to be very open in their communication with coaches and players before, during and after games. It has become a winning formula for us, and it is one that we will continue to work on and improve each season. We are always looking to further educate our referees and will continue to do so. In the coming Spring season, we will look to mentor our young referees through their games, and we’ll have senior referees present at games to help them become better officials. Our club is extremely proud of our referees and of our referee program, it is the envy of many in the state and we want to keep it that way. So, please, help us to help them. The more positivity we can create at games, the more valued our officials will feel and they will become better officials for the experience.

We are always looking to hire new referees, both male and female, we would especially like more parents and adults to get involved too. If you are interested, please reach out to the clubs referee assignor, Stephen Duggan, @ (435) 224-2966, or email him at stephenduggan1971@gmail.com Honestly, we would love to have you on board and help us to continue growing our referee pool.