Interesting letter from SoCal League, re referee issues

[Grace T.]

Referee's are actually well paid in SoCal soccer, especially given that most of their income is tax free. SoCal soccer league referees make approximately $60 an hour in cash. What you can do is make sure your club requests tax documents from the ref organization at the end of the season to keep this in check.

AYSO is volunteer but the rest of SoCal club/academy scene is paid.

Also dont forget SoCal has a huge adult league to where these referees have the opportunity to earn a very healthy living. To put it into perspective, working weekends and 1 night a week a CR is capable of earning upwards $1000 a week tax free. This is over 50k a year in cash or put in another way the equivalent of 70k a year but only working 2.5 days a week.

And to quantify this i am not just throwing random numbers out but refereed through college working some evenings and nights a week and was able to make close to 35k a year, 20 years ago, when i was just paid $27 to 40 as a solo CR as opposed to $66 now.

Yes up in the thread we were talking about this. The Biden admin irs cracked down on the supposedly tax free income. The higher letter leagues, which others here have noted get the better refs, rely on refpay which automatically tracks payments and issues tax forms. The higher letter leagues also require games to be recorded by veo, which means there is an official record of any outright corruption. It appears there may be a loophole in SoCal league still going on where refs get paid cash. I gotta say looking back on it the ref horrors I have seen were in calsouth/socal/tournaments including very high level ones. I have yet to see something truly egregious at the mlsn or ea level though of course even there I’ve seen errors. High school has also tended to be better though in my own experience I’d put it between the 2 other groups.

My son was one year on an interlocking gk system on his letter league team. It meant he had to sometimes had to cover the older b teams games. I didn’t realize it til you mention it but yeah there was a distinct shift in the tenor of those games. Parents were also crazier. It’s a truism that the younger & lower level you go the worse the parents get.

 

[sigmabody]

The higher letter leagues also require games to be recorded by veo, which means there is an official record of any outright corruption.

It would actually help immensely if all the games were recorded, but even more so if SoCal League didn't have their "we actively refuse to look at evidence even if it's presented to us" stance with respect to corruptions and/or misconduct, even if there were not many actual complaints and/or reviews.

At present, the officials can know with certainty that they can get away with anything, because the league actively ignores reports and evidence: there could be 100+ cameras recording a corrupt official performing overt and obvious acts, all submitted, and SoCal League would do absolutely nothing. If SoCal League just wasn't actively complicit in referee incompetence and corruption, then at least there would be some element of potential concern and risk for bad referees, and that might motivate some better behavior. Currently SoCal League is arguably the main part of the problem here.

 

[MochaRulz]

Yes up in the thread we were talking about this. The Biden admin irs cracked down on the supposedly tax free income. The higher letter leagues, which others here have noted get the better refs, rely on refpay which automatically tracks payments and issues tax forms. The higher letter leagues also require games to be recorded by veo, which means there is an official record of any outright corruption. It appears there may be a loophole in SoCal league still going on where refs get paid cash. I gotta say looking back on it the ref horrors I have seen were in calsouth/socal/tournaments including very high level ones. I have yet to see something truly egregious at the mlsn or ea level though of course even there I’ve seen errors. High school has also tended to be better though in my own experience I’d put it between the 2 other groups.

My son was one year on an interlocking gk system on his letter league team. It meant he had to sometimes had to cover the older b teams games. I didn’t realize it til you mention it but yeah there was a distinct shift in the tenor of those games. Parents were also crazier. It’s a truism that the younger & lower level you go the worse the parents get.

It is good to hear as the the kids move up the oversight and review helps and the quality is better! Errors are expected and part and parcel of the game. Im sure you and most of the people get that. They happen at the professional level as well and that is with all the tech and training they have to assist them.

In the 1st 3 years of u6/8/10/12 SoCal League, Calsouth and regional tournaments i have first hand seen some truly atrocious officiating, with games getting out of hand. 5 concussions, multiple bruised/cracked ribs, 4 punch outs, 2 almost life changing achilles injuries and much more. These are injuries that occurred due to intentional fouls and attacks on players and not a result of mistimed challenges or lack of coordination given the kids ages. This doesnt even begin to address the constant cursing/belittling of the 6 to 10 years olds by their own coaches on opposition teams. All of which could have been prevented if the ref made calls some calls and kept the game in check.

Dont get me wrong i made my fair share of poor choices by yelling and screaming at the referees initially as well when my player and/or child was targeted but have tried to address the issues through the proper channels now and hopefully affect positive change in the youth landscape!

 

[MochaRulz]

It would actually help immensely if all the games were recorded, but even more so if SoCal League didn't have their "we actively refuse to look at evidence even if it's presented to us" stance with respect to corruptions and/or misconduct, even if there were not many actual complaints and/or reviews.

At present, the officials can know with certainty that they can get away with anything, because the league actively ignores reports and evidence: there could be 100+ cameras recording a corrupt official performing overt and obvious acts, all submitted, and SoCal League would do absolutely nothing. If SoCal League just wasn't actively complicit in referee incompetence and corruption, then at least there would be some element of potential concern and risk for bad referees, and that might motivate some better behavior. Currently SoCal League is arguably the main part of the problem here.

You can force SoCal league to look at the video evidence by involving US Soccer and SafeSport! But i couldnt agree more that SoCal league is arguably the main problem.

 

[TopesWin]

It would actually help immensely if all the games were recorded, but even more so if SoCal League didn't have their "we actively refuse to look at evidence even if it's presented to us" stance with respect to corruptions and/or misconduct, even if there were not many actual complaints and/or reviews.

At present, the officials can know with certainty that they can get away with anything, because the league actively ignores reports and evidence: there could be 100+ cameras recording a corrupt official performing overt and obvious acts, all submitted, and SoCal League would do absolutely nothing. If SoCal League just wasn't actively complicit in referee incompetence and corruption, then at least there would be some element of potential concern and risk for bad referees, and that might motivate some better behavior. Currently SoCal League is arguably the main part of the problem here.

Ok, so post your "overt and obvious video evidence" here - - or stop whining.
Then start your own league, since you are so much smarter than everyone else. Oh, that's right......it flopped!!

 

[TopesWin]

It is good to hear as the the kids move up the oversight and review helps and the quality is better! Errors are expected and part and parcel of the game. Im sure you and most of the people get that. They happen at the professional level as well and that is with all the tech and training they have to assist them.

In the 1st 3 years of u6/8/10/12 SoCal League, Calsouth and regional tournaments i have first hand seen some truly atrocious officiating, with games getting out of hand. 5 concussions, multiple bruised/cracked ribs, 4 punch outs, 2 almost life changing achilles injuries and much more. These are injuries that occurred due to intentional fouls and attacks on players and not a result of mistimed challenges or lack of coordination given the kids ages. This doesnt even begin to address the constant cursing/belittling of the 6 to 10 years olds by their own coaches on opposition teams. All of which could have been prevented if the ref made calls some calls and kept the game in check.

Dont get me wrong i made my fair share of poor choices by yelling and screaming at the referees initially as well when my player and/or child was targeted but have tried to address the issues through the proper channels now and hopefully affect positive change in the youth landscape!

You've seen 4 "punch outs" in U6 games? Come on....

 

[MochaRulz]

You've seen 4 "punch outs" in U6 games? Come on....

U6 through U10 and yes. Here is one from a TFA tournament this summer. The referee was suspended for the remainder of the tournament. The video doesnt give the full picture of the game, however the layer throwing the punches was allowed to continue and play the next day as well. That was his 2nd or third round of punches he threw in that game alone. He also followed that up with a flying kick that luckily missed. The parents called him Tyson and cheered him on after the game. He was a TFA player and the referee admitted to favoring the host club.

TFA tournament.mp4

 

[Grace T.]

U6 through U10 and yes. Here is one from a TFA tournament this summer. The referee was suspended for the remainder of the tournament. The video doesnt give the full picture of the game, however the layer throwing the punches was allowed to continue and play the next day as well. That was his 2nd or third round of punches he threw in that game alone. He also followed that up with a flying kick that luckily missed. The parents called him Tyson and cheered him on after the game. He was a TFA player and the referee admitted to favoring the host club.

TFA tournament.mp4

Straight red. At least he blew the whistle. Sometimes the tournaments direct the refs not to card or card severely especially the Youngers because parents paid a fortune to play/travel/stay. Could that have been a factor?

 

[MochaRulz]

Straight red. At least he blew the whistle. Sometimes the tournaments direct the refs not to card or card severely especially the Youngers because parents paid a fortune to play/travel/stay. Could that have been a factor?

I wish either of the latter was the factor. The player was local and represented the host clubs team. The ref also blew the whistle at the parents not the kid, the kid was the after thought. The tournament ref manager escorted the ref of the premises but the tournament decided to let the player continue to play with the justification that "player would not have thrown punches if the game had been kept under control by the referee". The team lost both games they had left in either case. We received 2 different requests to provide the additional footage to US Soccer and local ref board to further the investigation. We were informed about 3 weeks after the incident the referee was suspended pending further training and disciplinary action.