Too few referees?
Too few referees?
Spectators regularly ask me, “Are there not enough referees?” as if they’ve heard over and over that there aren’t. Or maybe because they’ve noticed more games being played with only one official.
“Are there not enough referees?” is a difficult question because the answer is almost always “It depends.”
Several factors determine the health of an officiating program. Sure, the number of referees is a pretty big factor. But how many are “enough?”
Some factors that help us to decide are:
- The number of teams
- The mix of team calibers
- How many games at a given level are played regularly at the same time
- What the makeup of the officiating team is:
- Tenure
- Ranks
- Age groups
- Availability
Ringette Canada Officiating Demographics
The Availability Wildcard
Regardless of the numbers, whether or not there are “too few referees” always comes down to availability. By some statistics, Ringette reports that 95% of officials are involved in the game in other ways - as players or team staff. This impacts their availability at crucial times.
When over 50% of officials are under 19, we compete with part-time jobs, extracurricular school activities, study time, etc. They might not be in charge of their mode of transportation.
Having ten referees for every team is irrelevant if they're always busy doing other things.
Time to develop
It takes an average of nearly three years for a new official to develop the confidence and skills to move up to level two, where they can start to officiate higher-level games (U14, U16) and are able to “free up” a spot for a new official. Coincidentally, this aligns with the point at which we achieve only 20% retention. That is to say, when an official has begun to deliver on the promise they have shown, they are at high risk of leaving our program.
Our statistics show that 83% of officials who quit have been in the program for less than three years.
The COVID effect
Officiating rosters were fairly stable and sustained prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lost 2020 season began a cascade effect in officiating attrition that we will be working to recover from for some years yet.
First and foremost, the pandemic resulted in 46% attrition of the officials recruited in the previous three years. Two or more seasons of no games and encroaching life priorities left little reason for them to return. These officials made up 25% of the entire officiating team.
Of course, these losses were coupled with additional losses in longer-serving officials. Some of this attrition was normal and natural—retirement, career considerations, starting families—while some was pandemic-related—relocations to areas without Ringette programs, interest in new hobbies, past times, or other callings discovered in lockdown. The net loss to Ringette was 35% of the officiating team.
Meanwhile, sport organizations were not recruiting officials. Most provinces could not meaningfully recruit for two seasons, meaning that the gap grew even wider without recruitment to supplement even normal attrition.
The gap in officiating numbers is difficult to fill. To retain and develop new officials, they must be assigned to a sufficient number of games each season. We are limited in the level of game that they are suited to. Pushing them to higher-level games where they will struggle to succeed risks increasing attrition. Ultimately, the number of games our program can offer at U10 and U12 limits the number of officials we can reasonably recruit each season. These games will be shared with the recent recruits from the two prior years, which further limits numbers. Over three years, we will still retain only 20% of our new hires. It is a slow process to grow an officiating program.
In fact, since the pandemic's end, our officiating team's mix has changed drastically. Where 50%-55% of the team used to be competing for the same limited games in their first three years, it is now over 66%. A growing attrition rate among experienced officials contributes to this rapid growth in inexperienced officials. An ideal mix would see closer to 40% of our officiating team in their first three years.
What are we doing to combat these issues?
Ringette Canada is actively redeveloping the NOCP in order to provide better support for new and developing officials. This includes projects like:
- Formalizing a mentorship program (practice hours)
- Building an easier-to-understand and transparent evaluation program
- Ensuring that we teach necessary skills early, just-in-time, before they're required
- Allowing for ongoing learning through self-directed paths and online exercises
We are also working on strategies to help us recruit more officials in the 19 - 25 age range.
Officials who start in this age bracket level develop faster, achieving Level 2 six months earlier than others, on average. They have the confidence to take on the challenges of higher-level games (like Open) and are more likely to remain in the program for five or more years. In fact, when they remain in the program, new hires in this age bracket are likely to average 7 years of tenure, second only to the under-19 age bracket with an average tenure of 7.25 years.
New adult recruits can help manage the gap while we catch up to stable officiating numbers that we can sustain with past practices.