Sandbagging Fall League Teams

[Grace T.]

Interestingly ref needs love just put up his last (he’s wear a SoCal jacket but unclear if here in Cali) games which he earned $180 for 3 matches, 2 centers and 1 ar including a u19 game where he tracked 6 miles. All were at the same complex over a course of about 6 hours. None appear to have been the Youngers stat at the center circle games. Excluded drive times and prep time. So with time included needing to be there a head of time and to fill out match reports it’s a little over $30/hour for a very experienced ref. .

 

[Townfan]

There aren't many refs, who would satisfy the high standards of some parents, who would give up a day at the weekend for $180 (minus tax, minus gas money etc. Don't forget, Refs have to be at the tournament at the very least 30 mins before their first kick off and , especially at a tournament, won't get a break between games. The best and longest break a center ref gets is at the 10 minute half time, which will realistically only be about 5 minutes, chance to have a drink and get a bit of a sandwich, that's it. Gerson's example about, it's going to be 6hrs out of his day, at least.

Refereeing is hard. Physically hard, mentally a lot to deal with, split second decision making, management skills, a lot to know and apply. The reality is, anyone doing kids games is either doing it to help the kids, along the lines of a volunteer rec coach, or because they are learning (or both). There might be other motivations, like fitness, but money isn't really a primary one, its just not enough money to be so (apart for kids (who are learning)). I think parents and coaches need to have a bit of gratitude with a side order of patience. Most do, its a few jerks (mostly coaches!) who spoil it for everyone else.

Your son, is exceptional, if he can center a game as a minor. Refs don't hear the outcome of disciplinary. They do a supplemental report with 24hrs of the game and then the league deal with it. They don't hear anything about it.

I've noticed a lot of these coaches are British. They are over here on an E visa, those visas are tied to the clubs who employ them. They get sacked, they have to leave the country. Some of them are insane, dishing out abuse and dissent when some of the refs/AR's are under 18. Potentially they would get a 9 game ban, and i don't know many employers who would hire someone who couldn't work for 2 or 3 months out of a 2 or 3 month club season, and even a 3 game ban might make them question their investment in sponsoring the visa. Their misplaced passion and frustration very easily can earn them a one way ticket back to Scotland or whatever.

 

[Rollonyoubears]

This is a really good point.

Looking at one of the flight 4 brackets (there are 3 for this age group in SD) - the average CA rank is 126 with a range of 126 to 207.

For the Flight 3 bracket OP is talking about, the average CA rank is 122 with a range of 45 to 202. The bottom 6 teams fall within the ranking range of the flight 4 bracket. So as the @MochaRulz pointed out, this could be just as much about these bottom 6 teams playing in too HIGH of a bracket.

The other problem might be the lack of Flight 1 and 2 teams and brackets. There is only one Flight 1 bracket, one Flight 2 bracket. The flight 2 bracket in particular is listed as "SD Central" whereas the others are listed as "SD". So maybe there wasn't the option for the top Flight 3 teams to play in a Flight 2 bracket based on geography or available teams?

I agree completely that the bottom half of the bracket should have been playing flight 4.