LAST FALL, AT a high school football game in Grand Rapids, Mich., I found myself focused on the visiting team’s sideline much of the night and its interaction with the game officials. In the fourth quarter, I finally had seen enough. “Why would anyone want to do this?” I said, thinking it was muttered under my breath. Judging from the heads that spun toward me, it must have come out louder than I intended.

For much of the evening, whenever something negative happened to those on the opposite sideline, the coaches, followed by most of their fans, reacted angrily and boisterously. I rarely heard an encouraging word but instead watched a steady stream of vocal arrows slung at the five men wearing the striped shirts.

Most amazing to me was this: All the emotion was coming from the side that had trailed by more than 25 points much of the game. The referees had little impact on the results and zero influence over which team won or lost. Those officials walked off the field that night, with the final score 40-6, to a verbal storm of insults that defied any logic.

A Fulfilling Role
Why would anyone want to willingly subject themselves to this abusive behavior by serving as a referee at a high school sports event?

For the past 20 years, I’ve been able to answer that question with confidence, as the officiating avocation has enabled me to remain part of the game I love. Officiating scholastic football has kept me physically active and allowed me to build important and, frankly cherished, relationships with my on-field colleagues. At compensation of about $70 per game, none of us has profited financially, yet it has been a richly fulfilling part of my life, and thousands of others can articulate a similar feeling.

However, nationwide, we are experiencing a shortage of referees, umpires and game officials, owing to widespread retirements of many and the unwillingness of others to continue to be targets of abuse. Far fewer younger people are willing to step up today to be next in line to pick up the whistle, mask or penalty flag.

In trying to address why the decline is becoming so pronounced, our organization in Michigan asked groups of former high school sports officials who had left officiating why they haven’t continued. In each survey, the top two reasons continue to be: (1) a lack of sportsmanship and, (2) a lack of respect shown to officials by coaches and adult spectators.

It’s ironic that, in school sports, which are extracurricular activities provided for the benefit of students, that our biggest challenges in recruiting and retaining game officials has little to do with the young people. Rather it is rooted deeply in the lack of civility and respect shown by adults.

Good Character
Can school leaders play a role in changing this downward dynamic? I believe so.

From years of observation, I see the person with the greatest impact on the culture of any sports program or team, from young kids to grownups, is the coach. Everybody takes the lead from the coach. If the coach is focused on team members and the opponent, the players tend to follow that focus. When a coach spends most of the time berating or “working” the officials, it does not take long for impressionable players and their fans in the stands to head down the same negative path.

Disagreements with officials’ on-field decisions is part of the game, but those schools with the most positive cultures are those that recruit coaches of character, employing coaches who can disagree with referees about calls without being generally disagreeable and abusive.

The most important role in school leadership is finding the right people for these important roles. When we have the right people coaching our sports teams and adult spectators following in kind, game officials no longer will ask why they do this. Rather, they will ask how soon they can come back again.