Referee Safety

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- Being a referee is more than just making calls and throwing flags. This past weekend during a High School Football game in Texas, a referee, with his back turned to two football players, was knocked to the ground and then hit again.

School officials call this an attack.

Referees are used to hearing parents, coaches, and players complain about calls. However, the real danger can be during a play.

“There’s six officials on the field in high school football, and in some situations seven, and there’s 22 players out there. You can not see all of that,” Assistant Assignment Secretary Roger Short said.

Longtime referee Roger Short says officials are escorted by law enforcement into their games and when they leave after the final whistle.

Short says he feels safe when officiating in hostile environments.

Over the years, he’s heard plenty of complaints.

“There’s goofy fans, there’s die hard fan, and coming off the field, we may hear comments, but its never threatening to us,” Short said.
Wether they’re being hassled by fans, or being yelled at by coaches and players, officials still have to remain calm and bite their tongue during these situations. Though it may not always be easy, however, they do have clinics that they participate in to help get them prepared for these types of situations.

“Most of the time, I think the kids want to do the right thing, I just think sometimes your emotions overtake you, and sometimes, people tend to forget, even though these are high school kids, they are still kids,” Short said.

Short says basketball is the sport where officials are least protected simply because they’re in reaching distance from fans.
However, Short says most coaches keep their kids in line. Referees also try to diffuse any situation before it arises.

“We’ll send them to the sideline, and we’ll tell the coaches during pre-game, that if these kinds of things happen. We’re going to send the kids to the sidelines for you all to take care of it versus us having to flag and penalize you for it,” he said.

Short says even with this recent incident in Texas, he doesn’t feel like High school ball games have become more dangerous for referees. People just have to be more watchful of their surroundings.