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| An official explains a blown call at a CIS football game. |
During the CFL season, it has been
common place to see spectators get upset at the officials, besides frowning at
the fact defensive play rules the game this year. During contests, more
penalties have been called than ever before, and it seems like the consistency
isn’t there.
The complaints seem to go down the
ladder. At university, junior and high school games, it seems no one is happy
with the officials.
A couple of understanding coaches
have said to me that a new group of younger officials is coming up through the
ranks, because a number of older ones have retired. As a result, there will be
some growing pains.
Unfortunately, officiating in
football has a couple of common characteristics that go along with officiating
in any sport in Canada, which hamper officials from being as good as they can
be.
First, more resources need to be utilized in every sport to help
officials. In too many instances, officials are usually undertrained. Because
of this, they hit the competitive stage at a total disadvantage.
Second, there is a feeling in Canada that officials should not have to
be accountable. Part of this comes from the fact they usually go into games
undertrained.
Being unaccountable also becomes a big problem. It allows one to accept
a notion it is alright if officials do not get better at their craft.
As for the first point, to become a good official you need ongoing
coaching and support. Athletes in their sports receive continuous coaching to
become better. Officiating is the same.
It is still common place for someone
to go to a weekend course and become a referee. From there, officials get
placed in a game environment, where the abuse at times does not fit the game
day pay an official receives.
Officiating also is more than just about
making the right calls. The biggest skill in officiating is dealing with
people. Once you have mastered the skill of dealing with people you will run
into fewer situations where you have to deal with disrespect.
In hockey, one of Canada’s top
referees was Chris Savage, who had a lengthy career officiating in the major
junior ranks and worked a whole host of world competitions. When you talk with
him, you quickly realize how much there is to the art of being an official and
how much there is to learn about being a good one.
He approaches officiating with a
real upbeat passion for the craft and the game of hockey itself. A Medicine Hat
resident, Savage, who is pretty skilled as a coach, has worked with numerous
officials in that geographical area.
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| An official breaks up a scrum at a CIS hockey game. |
Those officials will all tell you they are way more confident and even
more excited to do their jobs thanks to the small tips they receive from
Savage. A lot of the tips are usually with regards to dealing with people in
various sorts of situations, which Savage encountered as a referee. The value
of the experience Savage passes on is priceless.
You wish someone like Savage was
offered a position with great compensation by a body like Hockey Canada to help
with developing officials across the country. As the old saying goes, in order
to be the best it helps to learn from the best.
With that said, the WHL should be
given big credit last season to having officials supervisors out what appeared
more than ever, when the league was going through a youth movement in that
department. They were really visible. Video is also often used to help
officials.
In the United States, more money in
thrown into helping officials, because the sports culture there is just way
bigger than it is Canada. In Canada, hockey can only really legitimately be
viewed as a “big sport.”
When officials in Canadian football
are compared to those in U.S. football, the officials in the Canadian game
always come up short. In the NFL, officials have weekly meetings where they
simulate what to do in almost unheard of complex and tough calls.
The scrutiny is also a lot bigger.
All one has to do is remember the heat placed on the replacement officials,
when the NFL locked out their regular officials in the 2012 campaign.
The tipping point came during the
“Fail Mary” game, when the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Green Bay Packers
14-12 on a Monday night contest that concluded Week 3 of the season. The
contest ended when Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson threw a Hail Mary pass
to the Green Bay end zone, and both Seahawks receiver Golden Tate and Packers
defender M.D. Jennings got their hands on the ball in the air.
Singles of touchdown and touchback
were made by the two officials nearest to the play, before a ruling of
simultaneous possession occurred resulting in a Seahawks touchdown. Before the
catch, Tate shoved Packers cornerback Sam Shields with both hands, which the
NFL later acknowledged should have resulted in an offensive pass interference
penalty that would have negated the touchdown and given victory to Green Bay.
That was the last game worked by
replacement officials, as the NFL quickly came to a new collective bargaining
agreement with their regular officials to bring them back.
To various degrees, all sports bodies
in Canada can make cases about the efforts they make to help officials. Even
with those efforts, strides should always be taken to put more resources into
officiating.
Also, officials should be a little
more open to receiving criticism. One of the ways you get better is to learn
from your mistakes.
If you have any feedback on this
blog, feel free to email comments to stankssports@gmail.com.
